On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:33:32 -0800, Claire Petersky wrote:
> "Neil Cherry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> Now this is cool! I've been leading rides for the last 8 years. When I
>> started I had no training but I did learn from very good leaders and
>> cyclists. The only thing different I do is we have no route maps. I
>> have an arsenal of routes in most directions and we let the days
>> weather decide which ones we use. One of these days I should write
>> them down. The clubs I belong to have too few long rides.
>
> Here, really, it works the other way. Ride leaders want to lead rides that
> they themselves want to ride on, with maybe just a slightly lower mileage or
> pace. As a result, if you're a beginner, you will be daunted by a list of
> rides that are much longer or at a faster pace, or both, than you can
> manage. 40 miles might as well be 400 for these people.
The one club I belong to, CJBC (Central jersey Bicycle Club) tends to
have lots of B's & C's (13-14 & 10-11, respectively). They do drive me
a bit nuts as I will lead members only rides (with a Lunch provided)
and they almost always give me the shortest ride (I won't use it).
There are only 2 fast ride leaders in the club, one rides far the
other rides hills.
> Mostly I lead rides that tend to be less than 25 miles and at the slower
> paces. When I lead rides at "leisurely" (10-12 mph), I nearly always get
> some folks who really should be at "easy" (8-10 mph), mostly beginners or
> seniors. But there scarcely any rides for these people. That's why we get
> adults at our kids' rides -- they are quite content to go 10 miles down the
> trail at 10 mph. My suggestion for this year's kids' ride series is to call
> these "family rides" so that more adults can feel comfortable going on them.
That explains the dilemma you spoke of in a pervious post. The one
with the slower than average rider. I normally won't get those riders,
those who are brave enough to try out the miles usually have lots of
experience. But I still watch over them like a mother hen. Things can
go very wrong on a 100 mile, un-SAG'd ride.
> If we don't make a place for beginners to go on club rides, they'll always
> feel like our club is elitist, or only for those who are really into
> cycling, as opposed to those who would like to give it a try.
The CJBC has plenty of support for them. In the area where I ride
there are at least 5 clubes who cater to riders in the 10 - 14 mile an
hour range. CJBC also has quite a few rides for the 8 - 9 mph avg
riders. The next group of clubs are the racers. Their pace 19+ is
above mine and that's generally thought of as their starting
point. They also don't ride the distances I ride. In the PFW I'm
considered fast for the distances I do but not at the top of the
bicycle chain.
One, very important, thing to note: I never look down on folks riding
at whatever speed they ride. I try to wave or nod my head when I can
(there are times in traffic when a wave can be a very bad thing). One
day I may not be able to ride my bicycle so for now I'll be jealous of
those who can and enjoy the time while I have it!
Smoke'm if ya got'em!
--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
[email protected]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog
