My fastest ride EVER!

[JayC]

I went and did the Cycling Spoken Here Tuesday night ride last night. The ride is advertised as a 16-18MPH average pace. Within the first 5 or so miles, it was pretty obvious that what was actually advertised and what was going to happen did not match up.

This ride has a LOT of hills. According to my Garmin, there was close to 4300 feet of elevation change over 24 miles. By comparison, the Zack Attack route we've ridden in Clayton several times has about half that at double the distance. The CSH route goes back up Woods Creek and that road is nothing but a perpetual climb from start to finish.

Overall, the ride was enjoyable. I did think that the pack etiquite leaved a little to be desired. There was this woman that kept trying to get to the front of the pack and then she had 0 sprint ability so at every turn or every time the pace changed, she was right in everyone's way and got shuffled to the back then made her way back up front to get in everyone's way again. The ride leaders, who are actually friends of mine, ended up getting dropped about 6 miles in. Mark was on skates tho and Kendra hasnt been riding much so they led from the back :)

I never really felt outgunned at this ride and was quite bored until Woods Creek, which turned into a free for all. I did get dropped for a short distance on Woods Creek after taking a turn at the front and then getting shuffled clear to the back of the pack right as a breakaway started but I managed to catch back up.

I ended up averaged 19.3 MPH for the whole ride, which is about 1 MPH faster than my fastest group ride, which was in Clayton last year.

[Pugslyyy]

Good ride!

I tried a CSH ride last year, and my big beef is that they should advertise the rides for what they really are.

[JayC]

True.. and I was expecting that actually. I talked to Mark and Kendra after the ride and they're thinking about having different subgroups in the ride to better represent the actual pace. 19 MPH out there is cruising because there is a ton of climbing. Anyone who showed up expecting a 16MPH ride would have had a rude awakening. That and there is 0 regrouping. If you get dropped, you either catch up or you're dropped. Every man for himself :)

Here's the elevation profile.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/chart/get.do?xy.width=372&xy.height=140&episodePk.pkValue=2336781&xy.domain=totalDistance&xy.ranges=elevation&xy.autoFit=false&xy.legendVisible=false

[Zonda]

Congratulations Jay!!

[skiffrun]

I went and did the Cycling Spoken Here Tuesday night ride last night. The ride is advertised as a 16-18MPH average pace. Within the first 5 or so miles, it was pretty obvious that what was actually advertised and what was going to happen did not match up.
Since many readers of this forum are either new riders or thinking about "upgrading" their capability, it may be of interest to know that most rides are about 2 mph faster than advertised.

People getting fed up with the false advertising has led to the creation of rides organized by people wanting a ride at the advertised speed. One such ride is led by Mike Rogers, leaves from a shopping center @ Hwy-50 & Timber Drive (?); is essentially a MS-150 training series; I think Mike still does his ride. I can personally attest that he has stayed with the slowest rider.

(Jay: way to use the "competitors'" testosterone to get to your personal best fast time! & do I have the correct place for Mike's ride; I always get confused / lost when down that way.)

[skiffrun]

... . I did think that the pack etiquite leaved a little to be desired. There was this woman that kept trying to get to the front of the pack and then she had 0 sprint ability so at every turn or every time the pace changed, she was right in everyone's way and got shuffled to the back then made her way back up front to get in everyone's way again. ... .
Sounds like she was maximizing her ability to climb / minimizing her losses on the flats / sprints in order to keep from getting dropped. :rolleyes:

Actually, sounds a bit chaotic & group seems likely candidate for crash-boom & maybe resultant surgery for somebody (see recent Gyros site posts). :eek:

[JayC]

I think Mike leads his rides from the Food Lion at Hwy 50 and Timber Drive.

With the new Lowes Food center being built farther down 50, hopefully he considers moving down here. It would eliminate a couple of busy roads.

I asked him to post his rides here but since I havent seen him announce one on his mailing list since talking to him, I dont know if he plans to do that or not.

[skiffrun]

... there was close to 4300 feet of elevation change over 24 miles. ... .Does "elevation change" count, e.g, 1 foot of climb and 1 foot of decent as 2 feet of change? And does that mean essentially 2150 of climbing in 24 miles? 90 feet of climbing per mile & 90 feet of desending per mile.

[skiffrun]

I think Mike leads his rides from the Food Lion at Hwy 50 and Timber Drive.

With the new Lowes Food center being built farther down 50, hopefully he considers moving down here. It would eliminate a couple of busy roads.
"Food Lion" seems right. See, I said I got lost every time I went down that way. :o

[JayC]

Yea.. split it in half and you get total ascent and total descent. There are a lot of hills on that ride. It rivals some of the north Raleigh routes Ive ridden (Which granted arent too many). The last BJP ride I did had 1000 more feet of elevation change but was almost double the distance.

[skiffrun]

Yea.. split it in half and you get total ascent and total descent. There are a lot of hills on that ride. It rivals some of the north Raleigh routes Ive ridden (Which granted arent too many). The last BJP ride I did had 1000 more feet of elevation change but was almost double the distance.
Was that the 42 m "Assault on Flat Rock" w/ Slow Spokes on that WINDY day? That ride has those 3 hills out at the north end & the stuff to get out of and back into BJP, but otherwise a flattish New Light / Bruce Garner & down-sloping Gordon Moore.

I was looking forward to y'all doing the ride from Neal School because that would have (much) more climbing than the Dec 10 ride we did with Hal Marcus (was essentially a NW Passage ride), including a couple places y'all might not have been expecting. I figured I could compare your times to my times on same / nearly same circuit. But that ride cancelled for weather.

(I was in NW Illinois at the time "enjoying" flat, sunny, low wind, 38 F conditions between family issues.)

The more I ride the more I realize it ain't how fast you ride, its where you ride that gives the insight into capability.

[JayC]

Shop rides start back in a week or two so all the riding in alternate locations will be over. The rides will alternate from Cycling Spoken Here and that other shop in Cary.

The Cyclepath rides also start back next weekend and some of us will be riding out there as well.

[skiffrun]

Shop rides start back in a week ... .
I didn't follow the logic to the referenced comment.

Maybe you interpret my last post as looking for y'all to return to northern Raleigh. If that's the case, what I meant was I waiting to see the results from that day (the 17th), but since weather cancel, know will not happen.

[JayC]

Ah.. okay