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Forecast is dry and warm-ish if a bit dull for Saturday. Plan is to do another set of quick laps and see if we can continue winding up the pace a bit further. 09:00 in the square. If everyone can cope with a return to Bishopwood then that'd be my preference - it's just the widest/quietest/safest local venue for non-stop fast group riding.

The clocks change on Sunday and the chaingang will kick off next week so we can then review what everyone wants from the Saturday rides.

Should be there - may link up at Stillingfleet (assuming that's how you get there...)
cheers,
tom

Sounds good to me.

Last chance to try and get to race pace before Dirtwheels next weekend. Yikes!

No can do tomorrow, summer bike out and heading to the hills. Have fun, is the race there this Sunday? Might get the bike trailer out for our daughter to see her first bike race.

Damien yes it is there on Sunday@10oclock but remember the clock are changing.What time are Rubens and Toby heading out?There for nineish?

Yeah I will be getting there for a little after 9.. Hopefully with my shoes this time

See you all about 9. Looking forward to it!

Well, just how wrong can a 24hr forecast be? Arrived in the square to fog, headed out to Bishopwood with a group of just under a dozen and more fog, and duly set off for five swift laps in, you've guessed it, fog.

Not that it seemed to slow things down; despite junctions being rather nervous affairs the roads were dry and so good progress was made. The presence of Kit Gilham certainly didn't slow things down but he was very well-behaved and it all stuck pretty much together until halfway round the final lap where the group split in two. I'm afraid I was concentrating too hard on the wheel in front to indulge in much button-pressing, but a bit of on-screen analysis suggests a first lap of 23.6mph and each subsequent lap winding up a bit faster, with 24.1mph overall and Normalised Power at just over 250W.

I reckon the past few Saturdays have pretty much done what they were designed to do - anyone heading into early season races (ie my kinda races, not Kit's kinda races) shouldn't get too many surprises as far as speed is concerned - although it'll vary a lot more than the steady pace of these rides. With the chaingang starting next Tuesday, what does everyone want from the Saturday rides? Do you want to continue with these kind of sessions, or should we return to the N/S/E/W winter routes but just wind the pace up a bit as they go along? Or alternate? Thoughts on here, please...

For me, as a racing novice, whether it's the laps in the fog, or the brisk NSEW runs I get just as much benefit. Apart from my midweek turbo sessions (now to be replaced by chaingangs) the saturday session is the one where I know I'm going to get a good workout with a like-minded group who will push me every time. At this time of year the laps seem good to me as they let me know where I am and what I need to do for the races, whereas the NSEW rides stretch me over a longer distance. Perhaps we could alternate laps and the 60-miler week-by-week?

That's my input, for what it's worth...

After a string of upsets, starting with a chain snap just before the February snow and then time away when my Dad left hospital after an op, I thought I'd finally set up for Saturday I could show up. But then I've got what seems to be tendinitis at the back inside edge of my knee, and anything anyone has ever said about it is "don't touch your bike", so I resigned myself to not riding. This after consoling myself that I could manage the Autumn 100km Audax route in 4 hours flat, so can't be too far off base-fitness levels for Tockwith.

Anything that gets me closer to the 40kph hour-average would be welcome - hopefully I'll be out next week. Are the circuit sessions shorter than the 60mile rides?

Five laps of Bishopwood works out just under 30 miles, three laps of Wheldrake is about 35 miles (so an extra lap of Bishopwood would take it closer to the usual "evening race length" of 30-odd miles). With a steady ride out and back it makes about 55 miles.

I think the last few training rides have been great.....On balance though would be happier if the training rides now resumed to the usual format - doing the N,S, W and E rides (I plan on doing the chaingang during the week). People can choose to stretch themselves on the hills if they want (on the W and E rides at least) and there is the opportunity to line out in group towards the end of the ride....Saying that - I will be down at least 2 out of the next 3 weeks - but then have a few races lined up so won't be out on the training rides as much in the summer months.

Ont the Malton TR surely we can push it hard AND keep it together now most people are up to a certain fitness because we have just about got the riding tight and tidy ok.Saying that the curcuit has been good and done a job.I dont mind what we do except most races do have a hill to break it up that is where the races are won and lost.I do hillwork on my own but if there are more people u can push just a bit harder.Either way dont mind.cheers

I'm unlikely to be there more than one week in three, so I wouldn't attach much weight to this, but for me at least the fast circuits are great training; but so would be a determined effort to push on the hillier circuits (within reason) taking advantage of improvements in fitness across the group. So a mix is good.

It's interesting that the fast circuits seem to attract more heavyweight visitors tho'... I think they are a fair part of what has made them rewarding for the rest of us too.