Topic Title

Two reminders in one posting - I know you're a forgetful lot. Firstly, this Saturday's training ride will do the northern route - York - Tockwith - Wetherby then north up the A168 to Boroughbridge; Milby, Helperby, Easingwold, Crayke, Brandsby, Whenby, Sheriff, and back to York. (It's worth noting that this route - and variations on it - gets used quite a bit over the winter as it's pretty "weather-proof"; a few minor adjustments and you're on safe, gritted roads for pretty much the entire ride). 9am outside the gallery. I'll be sending everyone off in groups of ten as soon as I get there - we really want to avoid the massive road-clogging groups of last week.

Second reminder is for the OGM on Monday - details in Ginie's threads elsewhere on here but the reason for flagging it up is that it's the meeting where next year's events are agreed. So, all the racing stuff you want to see on the calendar depends on there being people to run it, support it, marshal it; share the jobs around and you'll all get to ride most of it plus you'll have the satisfaction of making one or two of the events happen. Please come along and get involved - to put a well-known phrase to more appropriate use, "we're all in it together"

won't be able to make next couple of Saturdays..Have a good ride

I'm planning to be there, but I'm still trying to ride pretty steady so may well disappear off the back fairly sharpish. Mr Broomwagon, could Saturday be the day my glove and I are reunited? If you're not planning to be there then don't worry

If you get dropped Andy.il ride with you seeing as I get dropped.havnt completed a full training route yet.so hopefully this Saturday

Should be out...at last!

Andy M - indeed it could be - but did I ever mention it's not actually a glove - it's glove(s) ? Some grey Altura ones.

Oh, that changes things - they're definitely not mine I only left behind a single Craft glove. Nevermind! Looks like you've just acquired a new set of gloves

I'm just posting here about the "ten to nine" steadier ride in case anyone misses it in the other post.

This Saturday, there will be an experimental earlier ride at 8:50am leaving from the square aimed at riders looking for a steadier ride. It should suit rider who are less experienced, returning from injury or those more experienced riders who want a steadier ride to suit their training periodisation.

This ride will not be easy - you will be going on a Clifton training ride, not a social ride. However the main aim is keep everyone together, particularly up hills and after junctions which will mean easing off at those places.

I will be there at 8:45am with the aim of setting off at 8:50am. I am hoping that there is a group of 8 to 12 - if there are fewer, we will wait for everyone else.

I just want to suggest a few points to help with the aims of keeping everyone together. We will do through-and-off for most of the ride with the aim of keeping close and tidy with short turns on the front to keep things flowing. There are posts elsewhere about how to do this if anyone isn't clear.

The rider at the back has an important job because you have the best view of the bunch. We will count how many people are in the group when we leave and your job is to make sure that there are that many people in the group! If someone drops off, you need to shout to everyone else to "Ease off" to let them get back on. Those in the middle of the bunch need to shout forward so that everyone knows to ease off.

At hills and junctions, we will inevitably split up. At junctions, we will slow down until everyone is back on and then shout forward "Back on" and the speed will increase again. At hills, we will slow or even stop at the top to allow the group to come back together.

If the ride is too much for someone, you can go home on your own but only with the rest of the group's knowledge that you know your way home and that you are happy to head home on your own. Otherwise the rest of the group will get you home.

This is the route: http://app.strava.com/activities/26904541 (we will not do the Milby TLI loop just after Boroughbridge). The only hill of any note on this route is at Crayke.

This is an experiment for this week only and will only happen if enough people want it (i.e. enough turn up at 8:45am ish) and the feedback is positive on forum afterwards.

just to let people know. i wont be at the square in the morning.(something has come up) but im hoping to head out on my own and head towards easingwold where i hope to latch on to the 8.50 group, if anyone knows what sort of time the groups will be around easingwold then it would be appreciated

Very approximately 11am. Do route in reverse and hopefully our paths will cross! We will look out for you.

ive worked a route out and seen your strava route. going to head up hovingham and coxwold then drop down to easingwold for 11ish.

I'll be out for the 8.50am as it's my first training ride since my injury break. Looking forward to it!

I'll just add that at least one of the 9am groups will be steady -ie my one! - so if the ten-to-niners turns out to have 35 riders, just leave some of them behind and it'll be fine...

I'll not get my lazy bum there for 8.50. No problem though, I'm happy to ride with any of the groups, though that route seems to suit me more than the others so I might look for some of the familiar tough guys (better prepare myself for a battering then).

I am very interested in feedback on today's ten-to-nine experiment. Please post your thoughts on this, if you were on the ride or not.

Here are my thoughts. There were 14 who set off from the square with a real mixture of abilities which was great - there is clearly demand for a steadier ride. But I was determined not to turn this into a social ride - everyone there wanted a training ride and I think that should represent a challenge, not just be a social chat for 3 hours.

The ride started very steady as everyone found their feet and we started to up the pace just before the A168 with 30 second turns on the front. Through to Boroughbridge the pace was steady and those unfamiliar with through-and-off started to get it. To be honest, we were reasonably tidy all the way to Crayke when the group inevitably split but we waited at the top, re-bunched and set off again. 15 riders returned back to York (we picked up 1 in Crayke!) all in one piece and with an average speed for out-of-town bit of 18.0mph which sounds very reasonable for November. My Strava here: http://app.strava.com/activities/27396741

On riding standards, it was tidy-ish and I would probably give a 7/10. Good marks for respect to horses, calling out holes, cars, safety at junctions and even Carol questioning the size of the genitalia of a white BMW driver who cut us up on Haxby Road. I just have a few points that would improve the safety for everyone.

1. When you roll through to the front, knock off your speed gently as you roll to the left hand line. This keeps things steady behind you. It can be hard to judge but everyone today was really good at telling others to knock it off a bit.

2. If there is a gap on your right (or left), don't jump into it unless you are sure you have enough room and you aren't just about to take out someone's front wheel. I saw a couple of manoeuvres today where people assumed that there was a gap and didn't look. Thankfully no damage done.

3. Don't assume that the people around you know rule 2 above. So protect your front wheel and don't overlap the wheel in front. This can be hard with changes in pace (see rule 1) and you don't want to be slamming on the brakes either as this brings other dangers. Better to have a gap in front that you are closing than always be overlapping and braking.

Hope this is helpful.

For me, the pace was just right but I'm interested to know what everyone else thought - too fast, too slow? While the objective of keeping everyone together definitely worked, we need to know how it was in terms of effort.

As I said, please let rip with your opinions and then we can have a collective decision about future weeks before next Saturday.