gds
12-31-1969, 08:00 PM
On Jun 23, 10:46 pm, "Mike Kruger" <Mik...@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
> A few questions about club ride leaders.
>
> It seems to me that complaining publicly to the ride leader during a ride is
> occasionally appropriate. I can think of two general sets of issues:
>
> 1. Safety concerns
> 2. Social contract concerns: if the ride is advertised to be at a 13-14 mph
> pace for 30 miles, going 16-18 mph for 40 miles isn't appropriate.
>
> (Perhaps there are other things that I'm forgetting.)
>
> But people often do complain -- possibly not realizing how petty and mean
> they sound -- and not every ride leader has a very thick skin. If you've
> ever seen this problem, how has it been dealt with?
In our club the saety issues pretty much take of themselves. We are
club that probably averages an age in the mid 50's and almost all
riders have many years of experience. We have very few examples of
running lights or other obviously dangerous riding.
The social contract, especially as to advertised speed is an issue in
every single club have ever ridden with. When I'm leading a ride I
will always sweep at or near the advertised speed. The exception is
when I know all the riders well and the ride evolves(devolves) into a
competitive ride. Then it is game on.
But like any social contract it is a two way contract. so, most rides
that I lead will go at ~18-20 mph on the flats and will be listed as
such. So, I'm happy to sweep at 17 or 18 mph. But I won't sweep at 14
mph.
Part of the problem (I think) is that most clubs have a listing that
uses an average speed. Well on many rides the average isn't very
usefull. Around here we have lots of climbing. So, when we go up Mt
Lemmon we will be climbing for a couple of hours at 7-9 mph and come
back down at 30 mph. The average will be 14-16 mph and that doesn't
sound very fast unless you understand that it includes 3 to 6000 feet
if climbing depending how far we go. Or we can cruise out and back on
a frontage road that is never more than a 1% grade at 20 mph for a
much easier ride.
> A few questions about club ride leaders.
>
> It seems to me that complaining publicly to the ride leader during a ride is
> occasionally appropriate. I can think of two general sets of issues:
>
> 1. Safety concerns
> 2. Social contract concerns: if the ride is advertised to be at a 13-14 mph
> pace for 30 miles, going 16-18 mph for 40 miles isn't appropriate.
>
> (Perhaps there are other things that I'm forgetting.)
>
> But people often do complain -- possibly not realizing how petty and mean
> they sound -- and not every ride leader has a very thick skin. If you've
> ever seen this problem, how has it been dealt with?
In our club the saety issues pretty much take of themselves. We are
club that probably averages an age in the mid 50's and almost all
riders have many years of experience. We have very few examples of
running lights or other obviously dangerous riding.
The social contract, especially as to advertised speed is an issue in
every single club have ever ridden with. When I'm leading a ride I
will always sweep at or near the advertised speed. The exception is
when I know all the riders well and the ride evolves(devolves) into a
competitive ride. Then it is game on.
But like any social contract it is a two way contract. so, most rides
that I lead will go at ~18-20 mph on the flats and will be listed as
such. So, I'm happy to sweep at 17 or 18 mph. But I won't sweep at 14
mph.
Part of the problem (I think) is that most clubs have a listing that
uses an average speed. Well on many rides the average isn't very
usefull. Around here we have lots of climbing. So, when we go up Mt
Lemmon we will be climbing for a couple of hours at 7-9 mph and come
back down at 30 mph. The average will be 14-16 mph and that doesn't
sound very fast unless you understand that it includes 3 to 6000 feet
if climbing depending how far we go. Or we can cruise out and back on
a frontage road that is never more than a 1% grade at 20 mph for a
much easier ride.