Topic Title

One thing I was not surr of was in the last 10miles what the craic was? All out or keep it together? Some people shot through and the pace maintained but I was pulled back a couple of times? Mainly confused!

If someone can explain that would be marvelous!

Cheers
Sharpy

Another good tidy ish ride with the steady group.total 91 miles for me.head wind all the way home after I split from the group.sorry to the few on my wheel at the roundabout in easingwold.didn't have enuf time to judge the speed on the car approaching the roundabout.better to be safe than sorry

One thing I was not surr of was in the last 10miles what the craic was? All out or keep it together? Some people shot through and the pace maintained but I was pulled back a couple of times? Mainly confused!

If someone can explain that would be marvelous!

Cheers
Sharpy

I think the plan was to ride quicker but keep it together. It's easier to do on a straight road obviously but more difficult with lots of turns,etc. What seems to help is: when you are coming thru on the right - in the "fast line" - keep it smooth and avoid surging too much or kicking. I'm sure I am as guilty as anyone but I noticed one or twice Sharpy that, when you were moving to the front, you tended to gap the rider you were moving in front of. If a few people are doing that it tends to break things up a bit and only helps to make things a bit scrappy. Maybe that's why you were "pulled back". Good ride though. Good to know we can crank things up a little bit (and start reminding the legs what's in store come March/April onwards) towards the end and still have a sizeable group left.

That was a good ride this morning, thanks guys. Good pace and safe riding by all.

Sharpy were you the lad on the black and white trek? If so then I second Cam's comments, I did pull you back once as you carried on riding very hard when you came through, then you were nice and smooth after that!

Good training for me today, except, there I was, about 10miles from York, knackered but pleased I was still with the group, when someone rode through from the back, with no warning (or at least none that I heard) which instigated a surge from everyone else. I was unfortunately taking a drink (and, did I mention knackered) but before I knew it everyone had disappeared up the road and left me.

Needless to say I couldn't get the wheel back. Many, many thanks to Matt who hung back for me (and who also helped me out earlier in the ride). I would have had a cold lonely ride home otherwise.

Now, I don't Mind being left behind as a rule (in fact Will and I agree that if I'm dropped I'll see him at home ) if I can't stick with it in the faster group then so be it, i know the way back. BUT what I did mind was not having a chance to react and even try to stay on.

Don't get me wrong, the rest of the ride was great and I was actually feeling like we were riding together well as a group. I'm not going to get better if I don't hang on to you but I guess today was a stark reminder to me that I'm not as strong as you guys.

*edited because that sounds a bit negative. Maybe I should have said I'm not as strong as you guys - YET. . Thanks for the ride*

Good ride today and a bit of a wake up call for me! Managed to hang in there until the end but was on the limit a couple of times

Jess and Sharpy - I agree and was equally confused as to what the 'form' was towards the end. It seemed to deteriorate into a bit of a free for all - if that was the intention that's fine but it would be good to have some communication.

Thanks for the ride guys really enjoyed it

Will

Good training for me today, except, there I was, about 10miles from York, knackered but pleased I was still with the group, when someone rode through from the back, with no warning (or at least none that I heard) which instigated a surge from everyone else. I was unfortunately taking a drink (and, did I mention knackered) but before I knew it everyone had disappeared up the road and left me.

Needless to say I couldn't get the wheel back. Many, many thanks to Matt who hung back for me (and who also helped me out earlier in the ride). I would have had a cold lonely ride home otherwise.

Now, I don't Mind being left behind as a rule (in fact Will and I agree that if I'm dropped I'll see him at home ) if I can't stick with it in the faster group then so be it, i know the way back. BUT what I did mind was not having a chance to react and even try to stay on.

Don't get me wrong, the rest of the ride was great and I was actually feeling like we were riding together well as a group. I'm not going to get better if I don't hang on to you but I guess today was a stark reminder to me that I'm not as strong as you guys.

*edited because that sounds a bit negative. Maybe I should have said I'm not as strong as you guys - YET. . Thanks for the ride*

I think that's fair enough Jess. There was a little bit of discussion out on the road about picking things up after Crayke and I was thinking about suggesting we start doing shorter turns (like you did on the A168 ) when there was big surge in pace. I am guessing that some clubs adopt this method of training on rides when riders start attacking (like in a race) but only fair to say at the outset if we are doing this... which we didn't. I actually thought that someone was shooting off to go for comfort break initially (we talk far too much about toilet habits on this forum!) but obviously not

It sounds like I missed some fun times by oversleeping today!

Cam & Nick - Fair comment, on the a168 I was nervous about cutting the wheel coming across the front so probably stayed out and on the power longer than is ideal, something I will work on.

On the last 10 I initially thought you were after my Jelly Babies Nick

Again if we adopt the more surging/racing approach in the last 10 then its all good, just good to know what I should be doing.

Good ride though and enjoyed the pace,

Sharpy

PS - Feel free to keep talking to me / pulling me back etc very green to the racing and the training rides at this time of year so loads to learn!!

Ooops, might have unintentionally upset the apple cart

Jess, that was me who pressed on after Crayke, sorry, as Cam says a few people had mentioned the intention to lift the pace a tad there but I definitely could've communicated a bit better I guess.

We were a bit untidy at the end, compared to the A168 where we were very smooth but its an opportunity to adapt to another style. For sure, races aren't always nice and smooth, lots of times there are surges and you need to scrabble for a wheel to follow. Its a useful technique which you cant learn on a turbo or out on your own. If you turned up to a race expecting everyone to do steady through and off you'd be in for a shock. Once in a group or breakaway though, you need to know how to expend the least amount of energy to maintain the pace. The general ride and especially the A168 teach you the that but we never practise the untidy part. You couldn't organise it anyway, if you did it would be tidy

It wasn't my intention for it to be untidy when i lifted the pace but I will admit I consciously didn't try and organise it for the reasons above, neither did I hear anyone else try.

To Sharpy, you seem to have the motor and hopefully more rides with us will teach you more of the technique required. If they let me out again....

And from the steady group. We kept it pretty well together apart from the A168 bit and the usual dig over Crayke - did anyone get the average speed for the ride?

The A168 bit was very raggy with there being large gaps in the line coming through. I arrived at the same place and at the same time as the rest of you but I bet I used less Watts than some to get there, simply because the man ahead of me was the unflappable Rich who rode smoothly though regardless of what the man in front of him did. That delivered me for my turns on the front with no perceived additional effort.

Apologies for my dodgy cornering. I never got round to replacing my headset bearings and it seems to be making my back wheel do odd things on corners.

Think the steadier group averaged just over 19mph today.
I was a little surprised to find myself still hanging onto the first group as we came into Boroughbridge, although i was chewing the bars and had to sit out a few turns to get there.
When i found myself on Steve's wheel the through and off was much easier to manage, so thanks for the smooth riding Rich and Steve
There did seem to be quite a bit of surging going on to get to the front, apologies if i was one of the guilty ones, although i don't think i had the legs to be doing any surging
Almost managed to stay on until Haxby, but the wheels came off just before i got there (damn wheels, really need some new ones )

@damian - you are right of course, attacks are how races are won and as such should be practiced in training. Just we don't usually (at least not in January). Happy to embrace it - though I don't stand much chance of launching one myself with you lot

*edited to add - damn I really thought that would take us to 3 pages!*

Damien, I wouldn't apologise for going hard on a training ride in th midddle of January, The guys battering everyone in November are the ones who need to explain themselves. Put some sting in the legs at the end of the ride...a little pain never hurt anyone.

Good ride I thought. Enjoyed it.

Nice and tight on the way out and stuck together well down the A168. Picking up the pace on the way back certainly made it interesting.

It was ragged for a time but, once people collected themselves and realised what was going on, it seemed to come back together with everyone coming through.

Admittedly, I got a tip off that the pace was going to pick up (cheers Damian) and was able to react quite quickly. Probably would have been a bit peeved if I was caught cold.