New ride group needed? 14-16 mph

[Warren Lopour]

I need to move up from the Easy Riders group (11-13 mph). A few rides back I rode with what I thought was the next group up. It was both and exciting and a scary ride. Exciting because I averaged over 17 mph (very fast for me), scary because the group rode in a dual paceline. What I need is a group the averages 14-16 mph, with maybe some practice at single pacelines. I'm hoping there are others that have that need -- just look for me at the next ride. Or, if that group already exists, just let me know.

Warren

[Dave Greymont]

It seems that there is always a small bunch of riders that start with the Easy Riders but then break away into their own group that averages about 15 mph. That works good for me and the length of the Easy Riders route is about right. We could ask if the Easy Riders want to break into two groups right from the start and maybe it would attract other riders who struggle to keep up with a faster group.
Geezer Dave Greymont

[dsiemsen]

I feel your pain. I think the problem is that we talk in ranges of speeds, and then we are all suprised when we are crusing along far in excess of this. I wonder if we shouldn't talk about average speeds. I've been keeping track of my averages (especially now with my new bike) and find that I am consistently 14.7-14.9 mph.

Now, last week I moved up a notch, and the average was 15.7. I could keep up, but that meant I had to ride a higher gear and mash the pedals on the hills, and my knees were speaking to me angrily the next day.

I might propose keeping track of the average speeds (most computers will do that) and maybe we can work out groups on that basis.

Dennis

[Dave Hallaway]

There may be some confusion here, the speed ranges are average miles per hour. You will go much faster and much slower at times during the ride. Some nights you may also have an average MPH which is faster or slower than planned.

[Warren Lopour]

Dave G.

YES. Just because you are doing the short route doesn't mean you need to ride with the Easy Riders. See my comments on the "Lost Rider" thread on this bulletin board. Just make it clearly known at the ride start what speed you want to go and how far you want to go. You'll likely find others that will join you. It is good, however, for someone to be the leader. That person needs to designate the next regrouping point so we can keep track of folks. It isn't necessary for the leader of these faster groups to ride at the last position (i.e., "sweep"), but it is a good idea to account for everyone at the regrouping stops. Note, as the groups get faster and go longer, there are fewer stops. The fastest groups often don't stop at all and may just drop folks that can't keep up. Again, the policy for this should be set by the "leader" for that ride.

Dave S,
Yes, we do mean average speed as recorded on you cycling computer. Just to be clear, this is NOT your overall speed (the total distance divided by the elapsed time for the entire ride -- including regrouping stops). It is you average speed only for the time your are pedaling. Most cycling computers automatically stop counting time when the bike is not moving. Some of them can, however, be set to a mode where the clock never turns off -- that will tend to give you much lower average speed (unless you never stop).

Dave H,
A good example was last evening. We did the extended airport loop (get to Simpson via CR9 and CR11) with a South breeze. Lots of hills and wind on the first part of the ride, my average was 13.9 at Simpson. By the time I got back to the bike shop my average went up to 15.2 (which means I probably averaged over 16 mph for the last portion of the ride). Also, I've noticed that I tend to record my fastest time on evenings when there is no wind and the route has only a few hills. The air temperature can also make a difference.