Topic Title

We're due a trip south this Saturday - weather forecast looks pretty cheerless so get your upper lips stiffened and remember your freshly-made New Year's Resolutions! There'll be two groups, and just check on here last thing in case of weather dramas.

Right... without wanting to start a lynch mob is there a plan to start pushing on a bit more?

The last few years the pace has started to lift after new year but was wondering what the masses think? Or it is one to discuss in the morning?

Or am I just on the wrong ride...

Just putting it out there *hides under desk*

Cheers

Sharpy

Just get it bossed and see if anyone is up for it, if that's what you want. You either get the ride you want or you ride off the front.

Do you come on these rides CS? I ask because you always have a lot to say about them but I never know if you are out on them.

I am just trying to drive discussion so people get what they want / expect from them, which avoids confusion and time wasting in the square. If it turns out everyone wants a social 3 hour ride I will go and ride elsewhere (as I suspect will a number of others), no skin off my nose, but in the past this has been a good session and I think its good to keep it that way.

If I am shouted down so be it, but at least I have asked the question or made some suggestions, which is more than most do.

Does the club not want people to challenge the norm or introduce provocations, or is that frowned upon?

Peace and Love

Sharpy

No the rides are too hard for me. I don't get out much. I rarely post on the forum nowadays either so I'm not sure how far back you're taking my comments from.

I will be out tomorrow as it happens though, with a young lad I've been mentoring. I want him to ride with different groups. The Clifton line out is different to the VC which is different to Leeds, Feath etc etc.

See you tomorrow, you can't miss me I've always got a flask in the bottle cage.

Always happy to push on, especially after Christmas

Giles.

Darren never rides !

The whole point of these training rides, agreed again when we met last September, is to be steadily progressive until March/April when we all generally disperse to do our own racing thing. Two groups have evolved this year, one brisker than the other and not by much. The brisker group, of which I am generally a member, has already been returning faster times before Christmas than at any other time in recent years. So, let’s sensibly and steadily build momentum and no silly heroics along the way.

I don't think I'll be out tomorrow, but I agree with the above. Most folk aren't racing for a few months yet so a gradual build should be the plan. Those racing sooner/riding some 'cross can always do more high intensity work during the rest of the week or before/after the ride, which seeing you ride at the moment Sharpy I'm sure you are!

Ramp it up, ramp it up!! (quick check in the 'cyclists suicide manual'...).

Everyone has their own ideas and objectives and the diplomatic approach is to accept that. No-one is right or wrong and voicing your preferences Sharpy is to be commended I say. Better that than say nothing and not get what you want out of it. I suspect there will be fairly even numbers in each camp, so that way we can make our own selection and be happy

Probably not out so nothing to add, but can't wait to see if this makes 3 pages tomorrow.

I will see what I can do Jess

CS I have PM'd you not sure if notifications are working so thought i would mention it in here as well.

I am not asking for us to smash it out at race pace all of a sudden, I was merely asking if we were going to start raising the pace.

While overall pace might have been higher it seems the fitness of folk seems to be higher, certainly when I look around there are not people blowing at the pace being ridden.

Anyway, I am going to slope off quietly and hide in the corner.

Cheers

Sharpy

I'm sure tomorrow will be at least 2mph faster than any ride I've done this winter, but 30 winters in the legs gives you a bit of resilience and as a guest I'm happy to ride at the pace the regulars want to ride at. It's all miles in the bank.

Okay, okay, I've bitten...

(Before I forget - will be good to see you and yours tomorrow Darren. Hope the weather's better than forecast although I know you can do "stoic". And for those that haven't met him I'd point out that Darren's one of the fastest blokes we've had in a Clifton jersey recently - during the race season).

Training rides and pace. As a couple of others have said, for most people the season starts when the road racing season starts - which is end of March / early April. With that in mind, we generally keep the pace on the Saturday rides steady - it creeps up through winter naturally as riders' fitness builds - so it continues to fulfil the "long steady distance" side of things. With the turbo, and now with the Heslington circuit, there are other opportunities to go hammer yourself (and others) but still no other opportunities (apart from the Sunday club run or the shortened TonyG variant) for a long-ish group ride. We usually start doing faster rides - laps of Bishopwood / Escrick - in March, to start bridging that 20mph > 25mph gap.

This isn't embroidered into the club constitution or anything, nor is it a club rule that you're not allowed to break a sweat until after Lent. But it does seem to form the common ground between the traditionalists and the those of us who pick over the small print in Joe Friel; do the steady endurance miles and then build the speed on top of 'em - but the latter only really takes a couple of months. Start it too soon, or too hard, and you're over your peak before the Seacroft Wheelers season opener.

I'd hoped that the "two groups" set-up was catering for the breadth of abilities that we now have. Given that Kit Gilham used to occasionally come on these rides - even back when there was just one group - and comment that the pace was just fine, I'd reckon it should be. But if there are people who want to hit it harder - now - then great, ride harder. I'd suggest making it clear you want a fast ride and there's a third group then. The important thing is that everyone knows what sort of ride they're heading out on.

End of (my) chat!

I will get in my box.

Cheers

Sharpy