FLCC> Sunday Slow Rides vs. Moderate Rides

Sat Jul 21 15:06:17 EDT 2007

Though I won't be going on this ride (it's my only
Grassroots day), I strongly suggest stopping at the
speedville store.  it's one of the few bike friendly
stores around (meaning the person behind the counter
doesn't look at you as though you just arrived from
mars) and they have killer homemade carrot cake.  I
would lower the average speed of the front group to
16.5-19.  There might be some really fast people
occasionally who go faster, but that's typical of what
I'm used to. Wayne
--- Marilyn Dispensa <mdispensa at gmail.com> wrote:

> FLCCers,
> I was in the frontish part of the moderate speed
> ride. My clock averaged
> about 15.5 or so and I didn't feel completely wiped
> out like I did on a past
> ride i did trying to keep up with the fasts.  It
> wasn't that long after I
> stopped in marathon that the last of the moderates
> pulled in.  People
> seemingly spread out, but in the end, everyone was
> within 5-10 minutes of
> each other.  Within the moderates, there are
> different speeds. I think the
> key is having a few more regrouping points and an
> awareness of the whole
> group to make sure know one gets dropped. 
> Personally, i think that my
> average speed (my comfort zone) tends to be 16+/-
> 1.5 depending on the
> terrain, length of ride and my mood. If i'm
> averaging less than 14, I'm
> often feeling a little too slow. If I'm averaging
> more than 17+, i'm
> probably going to feel pushed (which is sometimes
> good!).
> I think as more people feel like they won't be the
> only person on the ride
> who can't maintain a 17+ pace, a larger range will
> come out and hopefully
> more people will be able to participate in their
> comfort zone.
> 
> The other questions i have is the idea of group
> awareness. When I was in a
> club in Iowa,  each weekend ride had a designated
> "leader" who made sure
> people 'signed' the release form, had maps, knew the
> rules of riding in
> groups and introduced newbies to the group.  During
> the peak of the season,
> there were A,B, C rides. On A's the leader would
> stay with the slowest on
> the way out and back,on Bs, they'd stay with the
> slowest on the way out, but
> not necessarily on the way back. On Cs, no one was
> guaranteed that the group
> would wait.   Maybe this is a little complicated but
> I think the important
> thing is to set the expectations for the ride such
> that people have the
> confidence to come out.
> 
> Marilyn
> 
> 
> 
> On 7/21/07, Steven Powell <sp35 at cornell.edu> wrote:
> >
> >  FLCCers,
> >
> > Here's an attempt to discuss the different groups
> that have evolved for
> > our club Sunday ride so that people have a better
> idea of what to expect
> > this week.
> >
> > For reference, last Sunday the moderate ride group
> averaged about 14 mph
> > for the 65 mile ride from Ithaca.  There also was
> a slow/leisure group that
> > did a shorter loop from Virgil -- I am not sure of
> their average speed, but
> > I would expect 10-12 mph, typically.  The moderate
> group was started for
> > people who wanted to do the longer Sunday club
> rides, but did not want to
> > hammer to keep up with the lead group.  Also the
> moderate group will take
> > more rest stops that the lead group, and will
> attempt to re-group at several
> > places to allow everyone to catch up.
> >
> > *So what does this mean for this Sunday's ride?*
> >
> > If you want to the full 47 mile strenuous ride
> with lots of climbing (3950
> > ft) then meet at East Hill at 9 am for the
> published Legge and Ford Hills
> > ride.  Both the lead group which probably averages
> 18-20 mph and the
> > moderate group which averages 13-15 mph will
> depart from here.
> >
> > Alternatively, Marcie Robinson will lead the
> slow/leisure group, departing
> > from the Caroline Elementary School (east of
> Ithaca on state Rt. 79) at 9
> > am.  Starting at Caroline will shorten the ride to
> about 31 miles, but it is
> > still a very challenging ride because it still
> covers most of the hilly
> > terrain.  Andrejs has made some excellent
> suggestions about shortening the
> > ride further (see below), and this group might
> consider turning left to
> > Speedsville after Legge Hill at the intersection
> of West Creek Rd.  This is
> > an unmarked intersection, but there is a stop sign
> there.  This would reduce
> > the ride by another 9 miles or so, bypass Ford
> Hill, but still cover Legge
> > Hill with its spectacular views.
> >
> > I drove the full 47 mile ride yesterday and noted
> that there is a
> > convenience store in Speedsville.  However,
> Speedsville is not on the
> > published route, but can be reached with a couple
> of detours.  The first
> > chance to go to Speedsville is by making a left at
> the stop sign at West
> > Creek Rd at mile 20.7 on the published cue sheet. 
> This is a 1.2 mile
> > detour.  The second chance for Speedsville is to
> make a left at another stop
> > sign at Creek Rd at mile 29.0 on the published cue
> sheet.  This is a 0.5mile detour.  Everyone should
> keep these short detours in mind if they are
> > running low on water or food.  The convenience
> store is open on Sunday (I
> > checked).
> >
> > See you Sunday.
> >
> > --Steve Powell
> >
> >
> > Dear FLCCers,
> >
> > There were some posts on the list about last
> Sunday's moderate ride and
> > it's great to see news of people enjoying the
> Sunday rides. Makes me
> > wonder, though -- was there a slower group, too?
> Did everyone not in the
> > fastest group go with the moderate group? And, how
> fast *is* the
> > moderate group? Could some of those who did that
> ride report their
> > average speed? It would help others evaluate what
> they are in for.
> >
> > It looks like I'm not going to be able to join any
> FLCC rides for about
> > another month -- off to ride slowly in other
> parts. So, if there remains
> > any interest in the slower ride, I can offer route
> suggestions but not
> > much help on the ground. But, I'm very interested
> to hear any plans or
> > thoughts about such a ride. It looked for a while
> as though there was
> > some demand for it, so it would be good to keep
> the option perking.
> >
> > This Sunday's scheduled ride is one that's pretty
> tough to adapt to a
> > shorter or easier version. The great part of it is
> the two climbs --
> > first up Old 76 and over Legge Hill Rd; and then
> over Ford Hill and back
> > on Glenn Rd. As I recall, there was quite a bit of
> cussing and spitting
> > after the first time we did this ride. I was
> thinking about abandoning
> > it but, then, thought it deserved another try or
> two. The Legge Hill
> > stretch has a lovely "lost world" kind of quality,
> it's so far from the
> > prevailing landscapes of our region that you
> wouldn't guess you're
> > within a short ride of Ithaca. So, it's on the
> schedule for this week.
> >
> > What to do for the slow riders? To get to see the
> "meat" of this ride,
> > how about meeting in Caroline Center (park on
> Buffalo Rd just up from
> > the intersection of Old 76). Follow the route from
> there to Legge Hill
> >
> > Rd and over the ridge to the West Creek Rd. If
> you're bushed, turn left
> >
> > to Speedsville and take Old 76 back to Caroline
> Center. If you have a
> >
> > bit of work left in you, continue on over Ford
> Hill and Glenn Rd to
> > return via Old 76 to Caroline. If you take your
> time, it will be a ride
> 
=== message truncated ===>
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