CWCycles Wendesday rides

[Wannabe]

Chris, have you given thought to the idea of perhaps having another (extra) ride on a different day in the week, as we discussed. I would love to be able to ride with you guys, but I have other commitments on a Wednesday night. Sure there are other guys in the same situation.

PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!!!

[Karl Beaton]

Hey Chris, please have slower group. I am sure the group will grow even further. Thank you for all what you guys are doing for us ....

[Karl Beaton]

 

 

What an awesome ride last night !! The pace was hectic at times, but then again, it is supposed to hurt now and again. Thanks Chris (and your team) for your time, effort and commitment to our weekly rides - trust me, most of us would not have done this, was it not for the peace of mind that you are keeping a close eye on our safety from the vehicle/s.

 

welcome to the HUB old man

[Desi]

I would also join if there was a slower group.

[Morne Veer]

Chris, have you given thought to the idea of perhaps having another (extra) ride on a different day in the week, as we discussed. I would love to be able to ride with you guys, but I have other commitments on a Wednesday night. Sure there are other guys in the same situation.

PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!!!

 

I think we can count out riding on Monday nights and Friday nights for obvious reasons. With a current ride already in place on Wednesday nights (which seem to work great for most) and proper mtb-ing at Meerendal on Thursday nights, it leaves us with only Tuesday nights. In saying that, it would be unfare to expect Chris to sacrifice two evenings in the week - the man is married afterall :-)

 

Perhaps we should just be patient and wait for summer to arrive when the late sunset would give us an opportunity to perhaps do a formal ride at Magic Forest on a weekly basis without needing the assistance of a back up vehicle - just a thought.

[covie]

Sorry couldnt make it Chris, doc says its a tension headace, now what tension can I have except living with girlfriend two daughters and three female dogs lol.

 

I think a starter , intermediate , advanced group will be a good idea, i think a lot of us are starting to get to the point where we can nail it hard for 35 KM's but we are not quite there yet. So its kind of intimidating to get dumped with a bunch of quick fit riders and then the embarrasment if your the one holding people up especially in the uphill sections.

 

Food for thought?

[Mr Legs]

I noticed last night that there were a few riders that simply disappeared before we reached Spes Bona for the first time. This is not surprising as I was doing 45-50k's /h between the Boland/ Lubbe st robot and the Graanendal robot, just to keep up. Maybe we should consider having three groups, the first group will be the young, slim and superfit, the second group the normal guys, who can easily do 50-70kms, but not at an ave of +30km/h, and then an absolute beginners group. In this last group some of the experienced and fitter riders can take turns each week to act as group leader and guardian.In this group nobody will be dropped and the the group agrees to ride at the pace of the slowest. This will encourage riders who are not sure of their abilities or who are simply not fit enough to join a group with the assurance that they will not be left behind in the dark. I am sure that there are many riders who would like to experience the joys of night riding, but perhaps need some sort of guarrantee that they will be looked after. I am sure this will introduce many more riders to the group and many of them will quickly progress to the faster groups.

[Chris Willemse]

Hallo everyone.

 

Thank you very much for the input and all suggestions. I would love to have another night taking you all out but then I might need another wife in the future as well. Yokes , she supports me in what we doing.

 

Lets stay at this stage on Wednesday nights. I do agree that we need to go back to the 2 groups starting at different times and therefor I would like to suggest the following.

 

6:00 SLOW GROUP will start at Chris Willemse Cycles. They will be on the same route as the fit riders but it will be shorter.

 

6:30 "FAST GROUP".They will do a longer loop than the 6:00 group.I would like to do the loops to allow the fast group to catch the slow group towards the end and would like everyone to ride the last few KM together as one group.

 

I am looking forward to your input and suggestions please

[covie]

Would it be logical (all three groups on a wednesday) Slow riders to go around 5:50 short route, medium riders to go 6:15 (short route) and quick fit riders starting at 6:30. Then we use a support car for the first two groups and a seperate car for the fast group?

 

Alternativly the slow group stays slooooow lol 18-25KMH limits?

[Mr Legs]

Chris

 

I don't think it is the distance that creates the problem, it is the pace. My suggestion would be for both groups to do the same route, one just at a slower pace than the other. A 30-35 km is a bit too short, 50-60 seems more like it. I will pop in later today to speak face to face, maybe you can fix my speedometer while we chat!

[Chris Willemse]

No problem Mr Legs.

 

I am waiting for you. I have no problem with 1 route. Should work perfect if the slow group starts 30 min before the main group.

[Curlygirl]

Chris

 

I don't think it is the distance that creates the problem, it is the pace. My suggestion would be for both groups to do the same route, one just at a slower pace than the other. A 30-35 km is a bit too short, 50-60 seems more like it. I will pop in later today to speak face to face, maybe you can fix my speedometer while we chat!

 

I thinks thats perfect! Longer route but at slower pace ( ave 20km/h ), not that i've done the route with you all yet... however next wednesday Covie and I will be there, come hell or high water

[Morne Veer]

In a perfect world it would be fantastic to have 3 or 4 groups, but for now, I believe two groups should be the way forward.

 

Perhaps this is not the right time to comment on safety, or perhaps it is the best time.....???? But,

 

I am stunned to see so many of the riders still not respecting the traffic rules and fuelling the fire with poor road use during our rides. Last Wednesday whilst we were giving it horns at an average of 44 km/h towards the silos, I politely asked two gents in front of me to stay on the left of the yellow lane and was given a very nice "f-off" as a reply !

 

As a result of guys bunching together,sometimes three and four next to each other, a few vehicles were forced to overtake us in the opposite lane. We must remember that safety should be first on our agenda and should all of us do our bit to look out for all the cyclists in the group. At those speeds, especially at night, a cyclist being clipped by a vehicle would most certainly bring down half of the bunch.

 

Chris, if you can PLEASE re-iterate before the start of the next ride, how important it is for the guys to keep to the left and to stop at the traffic lights. We do not want to give the motorists any more reason to "hate" us by showing a disregard for traffic rules, signs, etc.

 

Looking forward to the next ride or should I say time-trial :-)

 

ps: Kudos again to Chris for money / petrol, time, etc. spent each Wednesday night !!

[GLuvsMtb]

I thinks thats perfect! Longer route but at slower pace ( ave 20km/h ), not that i've done the route with you all yet... however next wednesday Covie and I will be there, come hell or high water

It would be great to see newcomers to mountainbiking joining the night ride. I don't like the fact that riders had to turn around 10kms into the ride because the race snakes hijacked the ride this week.

If we decide on 2 groups and a slightly shorter distance, we need to stick to it as riders prepare themselves accordingly. I have a feeling that there will be a few tired TransBav legs on Wednesday. Let the 10 odd race snakes go off at 5:50 and let the other 50 of us ride at a civil pace.

[Lounge Lizard]

I agree with the idea of a slower group but not less distance. As mentioned before - we can handle the distance but the race snakes kill us on pace. Wednesday - it was a tail wind and downhill all the way to silos - so of course all feel strong and go like hell - but the return into the wind - and those bl@@dy hills at full speed - eish. We were going to make our own night group after wednesday - but from other replies - it appears a slower group is required by a few others too - so it would be great if we could get this working better.

 

My views on the Group ride

 

We have many riders who want the distance but not the elite race pace.

 

[With no race snakes, somebody still needs to do the up- front work (into wind etc.) and if the riders are 99% wannabes and wheel suckers the group goes super slow – i.e. they must really be fit enough]

 

It appears that there may be a shorter time/distance requirement for some newbie / limit time riders / etc. So, we need 3 groups.

 

[how/can organizers manage 3 groups re routes/backup vehicle?]

 

It is a problem when the 1 group joins or waits for the other - i.e. join slower with faster riders - because they all take off at full speed again - dropping the slower guys - and instead of two groups we have chaos murder death kill.

 

[how do we stop riders joining another group – i.e. slower trying to hang on to another group?]

 

There are always guys who are in the race snake category who go ride in a slower group and push the pace too hard (!@#$%)– and worse, splits up the group too much and in the second half of the ride they just do their own thing and ride away from the others - some guys desperately hang on but eventually it’s a long split group with murder death kill at the tail end.

 

[How do we keep these snsofbtchs in control ?]

 

If the groups start only 15 min apart they catch the earlier group too soon.

 

[Probably not practical to split the depart times further – not many can start earlier than 6 pm (it’s a race from work to ride location) – and will the race snakes start later – say 7pm ?

 

[Get home too late, wife, girlfriend, anger, your food is ‘in the dog’, murder death kill.]

 

It is too problematic to try and arrange the times so that all the groups rejoin at a point along the route – the split times are too short.

 

[let’s forget deliberately trying to join along the route]

 

Cyclists think only of themselves. They don’t like rules and being told when to wait, when to slow down, when to work in a group.

 

[All who want to join in the Wednesday rides must be told it is on condition that they are team players – not individuals who do their own thing. The organizers go to great trouble and sacrifice to assist with their safety and support. If they don’t follow the group rules they are not welcome to join in. Example: - if they break a chain, nobody helps or waits and they get mugged or run over on their walk home they will want to accuse the organizers. If you want to join the group, you join the rules.]

 

So, the suggestion:-

(although I am documenting it, my impression is that this is basically along the original ideas and thoughts of the organizer – the Big C himself )

 

Before the start (and in web rides notifications)

• All Riders must know that they individually have a group commitment if they want to join the Wednesday parade.

• If riders are not prepared to ride by the rules, they are not welcome.

• If they find they are in the wrong group (example too slow for them) they can work more into the wind and ….Tough Sh!t, they can change next week.

 

The Groups

6 .00 pm “Short Snort” - 25/30 km for “novice or time limited” riders

6.15 pm – “Determined Donners” - 40/50+ km for slower “iron baldies with boeps” and so on.

6.30 pm “Race Snakes” - 40/50+ km for the “main manne what counts”

 

AND the Group Control

(1) A Group Captain must be appointed for each group.

The group Captain (and helper if available) will basically:-

• Wear a clear ‘marker’ – best would be a “neon safety vest” over their cycle top.

• Identify himself to the group before start.

• Brief group on their commitment (to stay together), route and pace

• Be responsible to keep the group together.

• Set the general pace

• Tell riders were to regroup (i.e. if some race up / down hills etc.)

• Wait for the group at intervals/regroup points, and confirms all present.

• Monitor (slows pace) when guys fall behind at stops/traffic lights etc.

 

AND

 

(2) Groups must be kept Separate• Groups must not stop at the same place at the same time

• If another group catches up – they must pass – no riders swopping groups.

 

 

Phew !....

[Chris Willemse]

Hi everybody.

 

Please spread the word as far as possible that we will have 2 rides as from Wednesday.

 

6:00 will be the slow ride and

6:30 will be the fast ride.