november rides....outside and inside

[ny biker]

NY, is your bike club the Potomac Peddlers? Today at lunch one of the board members was talking about using your club as a model to change the way they do things. From what he described, it sounded familiar. I am not involved with the board of this club, but the members are getting older and older, and except for the group I ride with on Wednesdays, all the other rides are "we are out to drop you," or you end up riding alone in most cases. I am involved with AMC as a leader and the administration of the bike committee, as opposed to this group, as the philosophy is totally different. But, I thought of you during the conversation.

I'm an on-and-off member of Potomac Pedalers, but the club I ride most often with (and lead rides for) is the Oxon Hill club, which is smaller and focused on riding in southern Maryland, whereas PPTC also has rides in other parts of the metro DC area. My experience with most PPTC rides actually is of the "we are out to drop you"/you end up riding alone variety. For the most part I only ride with them if I know the ride leader personally or it's a route that I really want to ride and am comfortable doing alone.

[Crankin]

Well, the guy I spoke to seemed to be enamored of the way the rides were listed. I will tell him what you said.

[ny biker]

There are plenty of people who like the club, so either their experience has been different or they don't mind getting dropped/riding alone. The ride listing is fine. Their website is more complex than that of other bike clubs I've seen, with more options for displaying and filtering the rides on the schedule. I can't speak to how hard or easy it is to post a ride since I've never done it. They typically post the schedule for the entire month during the last couple of weeks of the prior month, and I think the individual ride leaders send the info to a ride coordinator (one per ride category) for a mass posting rather than each leader posting on their own.

I think the issue I have with them is one of culture. My impression is that all bike clubs or organizations that try to have group rides struggle to some degree with pace inflation and keeping riders together. But different groups have different approaches, cultures and expectations.

[Crankin]

I went to spin today, as it was raining and yucky out. The group ride was rescheduled to Friday, so that works out well for me!
Class was hard. I felt a little bonky in the middle, but that happens sometimes when I am inside, where overheating is easy. It is well ventilated, so I just dialed down the intensity for about 15 minutes.
I disliked going to this class when i belonged to this club before, and it still is annoying today. It's the people in the class. I like to get there early to warm up, and the vapid conversation bugs me. It's hard for me to tune them out. Back in the day, the instructor was someone who rode outside, her DH was a racer that knew my son and exchange student, and her rides were great. The class itself is great now, but the fitness director, who teaches it, was giggling about the "nozzle" of the new saddles on the bikes, saying they were too long and hard. Oy. I wanted to say it's called a nose and if you wore bike shorts, it wouldn't hurt.
But, I kept my mouth shut and worked really hard.

[ny biker]

Last night's post-work hill ride was rained out, but the sun was out today so I'm planning a ride tonight. It's been breezy today too so I hope that has helped to dry out the leaves on the roads.

I've got some new clothes to try out. I have an Endura fleece jersey that's hi-viz pink with lots of good reflective bits, but it's not windproof. Some months ago I scored a Gore windstopper base layer on sale from TE, so I'm going to try it tonight under the Endura jersey. I'm thinking I'll wear a lightweight wool layer under the windproof top.

[Crankin]

Temperatures are going up, but there is still quite a breeze, but not 40 mph gusts like yesterday. It was 33 at 8:30 AM, and even though it was predicted to be 40 at 10, when my rescheduled group ride starts, I knew the real feel would be less. I got the urge to go to yoga and I did...
But I came home and got on my heavy commuter tights, a heavy base layer, regular LS jersey, and my winter jacket. Wore my heated gloves. The wind, and increasing clouds did make it feel colder,and I was, for once dressed correctly. Just did a little 11 mile loop, to get fresh air and continue my mindful feeling from yoga. This helped me when I started feeling like complaining about my slow speed. In fact, when this happened, I slowed down, and in the end, ended up with same average I usually have at this time of year.
It is going to be warm this weekend, 50-60. Doing 25 with a friend tomorrow, and not sure about Sunday.

[ny biker]

I rode about 17 miles last night. My pace was slower than usual and my legs were feeling it at the end (and this morning). But after not being on the bike for almost 2 weeks and lots of sitting and eating during that time, I had no expectations of speed. This whole year has been a fitness yo-yo for me -- every time I reached a point where I felt I had built up some strength and endurance, something happened to keep me from riding and cause me to start all over again. But, what matters is just getting out and riding when possible and enjoying the experience of it.

The new outfit that I tried out -- lightweight wool long-sleeved base layer, Gore Windstopper baselayer, Endura fleece jersey -- would have been good for slightly warmer temperatures. It was 45 when I started and a few degrees cooler when I finished, probably closer to 40 in the middle of the ride when I was in neighborhoods with lots of trees and creeks and relatively little pavement. I started with a vest on top of it, was able to remove the vest about a third of the way into the ride, but had to put it back on towards the end. I was comfortable going uphill but cold on the downhills and when I picked up speed on flat roads. The Windstopper fabric does indeed block the wind, but the base layer has a mesh fabric in back and on the insides of the sleeves. This kept me from overheating, but it also made my arms cold. So I will probably not use this same outfit again until the spring when things start to warm up again. In the meantime I want to test the Windstopper base layer with a Pearl Izumi jacket that I have. The jacket has a fleece inside and a wind resistant outside. I always seem to need a vest over it in order to be comfortable, so I'm hoping this base layer will combine well with it.