Second Slower Sunday Ride Group

Some people may prefer to ride a little more leisurely on Sunday mornings, and indeed many new riders have dropped out because the pace has become too fast. I therefore suggest we organize a second group of riders who can either leave at the same time or, say, half-an hour earlier. The route can be the same as for the faster group, and the two groups could meet up at the same coffee/tea/cake stop. This would encourage not only more cyclists of all ages to join, but also help those who are older than the average to enjoy a more comfortable ride. Also, it would induce more discipline re route selection prior to the actual meet. Last, but not least, it would allow those faster riders to enjoy longer stretches at higher speeds without the need to stop and wait for the slower riders.

Alternatively, at least one person should drop back each week to help the slower riders, especially with regard to those who don't know the routes back to Crouch End.

Last year we would see up to 25 riders in one day, now we rarely see more that 14 or 15, and only ever one girl!

Open for discussion tomorrow.


Michael

this always gets discussed, but nobody ever gets on top of it.

mike, if you want to , you can make the first move and next time you are out, you can lead the slower group on a ride.

i will be glad to do this once every 6 weeks or something like that, and probably not in june as i am racing every weekend

i do however disagree with the same coffee shop thing. we only stop at the coffee shop for 20 minutes, and it would be too hard and waste of time to wait and meet up and have a chat. it should be two groups. two rides. one fast, one slow. and the slow one will have to be slow and approx. 50 miles, not 70 miles, as beginners will not be able to do this distance.

I think it is up to the regulars to chip in and dedicate a sunday out of 8 or something and help the development of riders.

and none of this let's sort it out 45 minutes into the ride, it never works. the seperation will begin right from the beginning as it will never get done once we are out in the country side.

I've been riding with the group since last April (up until recently, I was probably averaging seven rides in eight) and yesterday's group of 19 was the largest I've ever been out with for TWG, so I wouldn't say we're scaring people off.

Perhaps another option is what inadvertently happened yesterday: we were all together for the first 30 miles or so, and then split into two groups, one of which did a shorter ride, the other of which took things to extremes and did about 70 miles at pace. It could be agreed that at the 30-mile point/2-hour point/whatever point that everybody decides which of two available options they're feeling up to.

It'll mean the opportunity to get to know new riders etc whilst still being able to be dorks and race away when the urge hits us.

I too think that people like to chat and ride together at least for a while. It is nice to have it open and flexible, and it is good to have variety in the routes (length, difficulty, speed). However, it does seem to make sense sometimes to have a shorter option for those who wish to go back earlier, particularly when the route is long, the group very big or the bike a bit wobbly.

so maybe at a designated 1 hour into the ride pee stop, when we are out in the country, we will make it official then and have the group split from there?

i.e. the route that goes through tottenham, on the top of the hills, when we all wait there for a piss,

i think because of the various needs of the riders ...

slow and long, slow and short, fast and long, fast and short, it is always going to be hard to find a good balance, but this might be the best way?