San Fairy Ann Cycle Club

WARNING! The following text is long and boring and could harm your health and general well-being WARNING!

Good evening all,

Here's something that's been milling around my head of late as the Scott brothers (or was it Schleck - I can never remember!) will tell you. Martyn has mentioned something like it before, but I'm just trying to get a feel for how many might be interested.

As highlighted by last Saturdays clubrun, the A group is, erm, kind of non-existent at the moment. This is due to lack of usual A-runners who are in competition, A-run leader supremo Tony Richardson (with his encyclopaedic knowledge of cafes - and hills - in Kent) recovering from serious injury, and the fact that many people are simply not used to leading a clubrun, myself included! Whether this is due to not knowing where to take people on safe and well-planned routes, or like me, the sheer fear of getting 20 of your fellow club-members lost and miles from home on a Saturday afternoon, I'm not sure, but the situation could be greatly improved with a bit of team work.

Now we have a substantial number of similarly fast-paced riders who will want to train over winter, and I like to think, with a bit of friendly, competitive company on the way, surely it would be good for us to all get together and plan some interesting, varied and different-from-the-normal 'Rye run' routes for the Autumn/Winter ahead. I'm working on some route ideas of my own already, but I'm also interested in what other peoples opinions are on the matter. The poll above gives you an idea of what I'm trying to find out - are people who come out with the fast A group more interested in training vs social? Are there enough people interested in planning and leading their own ride, even if only for one weekend? Etc etc...

Basically, what I would like from the ride is for each regular A-runner to devise their own route/s with their own preferences so that we get the biggest range and variety out of the group. If each person leads a group on their own favourite local ride, for example, then we might all find some brilliant new roads to explore for the future rather than sticking to the same old ways. You could plan to have a café stop or not – being the leader it would be your choice. Just as long as everyone who came along for the ride knew what to expect, there shouldn't be a probleme, and if there was, we would still apply the good ol’ clubrun etiquette of waiting for anyone who might get dropped or have a mechanical fault etc. If there was no café stop, we’d just need to make everyone aware that they should bring along sufficient energy to get them round!

Personally I’m in favour of a free-for-all leader program, agreeing on a week-by-week basis who wants to lead next week's run, obviously with the forum here to make organisation simpler and warn people of what to expect in the next clubrun. It would just make a change to get some new routes/places and ideas to keep the motivation up during the dark winter months (not that we’re there quite yet thanks God!) as well as building up fitness together for the next racing season. The Intermediates and other groups seem to pull this technique off OK, but the A-group has seen a distinct lack of organisation ever since Tony has been out of action. I appreciate you might not want a dead hard ride every weekend, but there must be enough people to make it work consistently.

You know who you are A-runners! I’m thinking Phil & Scott Webb, Dave Seager, Mike Piper, Ian Sutton, Michael Barnes, Ian Nield, Simon Charlesworth, Phill Cloke, Rob Tipples, Neil Cambell, Richard Poynter, Damien Cairns, Steve Berry etc etc… the list goes on and on! What do you reckon to sharing out the club run responsibilities when this racing season has finished and we’re all back to clubruns and training? (This doesn’t apply so much to the fine fellows such as Phil Cloke/Simon/Neil etc who already put a lot of much appreciated effort into leading the groups week on week!)

Not that I expect many people to be bothered to read all of the above, but I hope to get some responses! Cheers!

Hi Joe

Just to let you know i read all of the above and i agree with everything you said in there especially with the fact that we'll be on the A run for training. Im sure a lot of people will agree with what youve come up with like i do because if its a bit more organised more people will turn up as it will be more enjoyable

Joe

I think what you are trying to do is really constructive. I'll add my tuppence worth, which I hope will help.

Firstly I am just starting to get back in to the cycling lark and went on the 9 am ride on my fixed last week - I don't think I have ever done such a flat run (not a criticism but being on a fixed I would have liked a slope or two to get out of the saddle and give my bum a rest). I still have a few aches and pains but take drugs on the ride to mask these and pay later like a true pro. I'm aiming to work my way through the groups and be hopefully back with the 'As' in a couple of months.

I'm all in favour of a 'collective responsibility' for the rides and not always being dependent on one person. I tried as much as possible to be looking for new routes (and cafes) but this takes some research and practice - i.e. cycling the area sometimes several times so it becomes almost second nature and once 'you've got it' it should remain implanted on the left side of the brain though as you become senile this is not necessarily the case.

The cafe stop is a dilemma. I personally like a short stop (not more than about half an hour) as it good to catch up with people briefly and discuss the Kantian dialectics of shimano v campag and other issues that have a global impact. However I have felt for a long time that the stops are often too long and when you get back on to the bike it takes a good 15 min to loosen up. I did a club run in Auckland in March, which started at 7am and was a fastish pace covering about 80k. We were back by 10, which was great for having the rest of the day to do other stuff, but everyone dispersed and I would have liked a drink afterwards to have talked to people.

In light of discussions on the subject in the past, I think a club run has to be in essence a social ride but usually the pace and terrain mean that you usually get a decent workout. I would like to see the group doing more through and off when the roads permit it but at a sensible pace - sometimes in the past the person who goes to the front thinks they have to continually lift the pace and it becomes unsustainable over any distance and the group fragments.

Be interesting to see what the response is.

Hi all
Just would like to put my opinion on this matter onto the forum.
I totally support tony view on club runs ie a short 30 minutes-ish coffee/call of nature stop is the way i would go, even if it is just to exchange a bit of banter.
Secondly the concept of through and off style of training is a brilliant idea, on the club rides i have been on this year it appears that other riders are scared to overtake the leader in fear of repurcussions, at least everybody rgardless of chosen group would gain some training and experience in following a wheel.
Many thanks

A common theme amongst all training manuals is the following commandment:
"And he didst say that thou shalt knock out long and steady millage when thou starteth the off season. Do this and you shall have a base upon which to build."

This is swiftly followed by the second, and perhaps most important law:
"A builder needeth no base to build a hovel. For he who doth constuct a tall tower, a solid foundation must be lain."

However, that wasn't properly understood and so the following simplification was issued:
"The magnitude of the towering might of thine strength shalt be determined by the foundation. Obtain a base of sufficient proportions and thine enemies shall shy away in fear."

And finally:
"Displaying thy manly power by ripping off the legs of thine enemies shalt be reserved for races, intervals and the Marden signpost."

Sorry, got slightly carried away there.

Basically, I think that the ride should be a solid pace* without random attacks and perhaps a little longer than the current rides.

Also, how about the idea of stopping for food near Marden? We've got a lot of pubs locally to stop at (eg. Unicorn, Westend, Duck). Get in 3 or 4 hours of solid base training then socialise properly once we're nearly home. That way, people who need to get away early can, and people who want to laze around all afternoon chatting can also do so.

* with pace determined by the time of year ie. slower in the winter than the summer.

edit - I'd be happy to lead a ride, but all the roads I use have white lines down the middle so people might not like the weight of traffic.

I'd be happy to lead a ride, but all the roads I use have white lines down the middle so people might not like the weight of traffic

Rob, I presume you are referring to when you go out on your own. I also admit to often riding alone on slightly busier roads that would be most unsuitable for a group. Could you perhaps sort out some quieter ones for what seems to be developing as sensible structured riders.

It seems many people are thinking on the same line here, which is good news to make forward progress! (Great to hear you're getting back on the bike by the way, Tony - bet it feels good ) Thanks for the feedback so far! Keep it coming

Rob T wrote:perhaps a little longer than the current rides

Yep, I would be inclined to agree there. The problem I often occur is I'm just not hungry when I get to the cafe stop! Scott Webb suffered this problem last saturday, but then after such a long cafe stop (as they seem to turn into) if you haven't had anything to eat, when you set off again, your stomach starts rumbling! So that might link in with what Rob said about later stopping as well...

Rob T wrote:without random attacks

Hmm, I'm not sure about this - one does like the occasional bit of competition to stir things up, but essentially, yes - continual attacks the whole way through the ride is a bit much and breaks things up. Through-and-off tends to enable everyone to hang on (just!) whilst still producing great training for those who want to work away at the front.

Rob T wrote:pace determined by the time of year ie. slower in the winter than the summer

Actually from experience, the pace tends to be dictated by whether Mike Piper is out or not!

Rob T wrote:all the roads I use have white lines down the middle so people might not like the weight of traffic

Maybe it's just me, but the main roads usually seem to be the safest - more room, easier for traffic to overtake etc and it's easier for through and off and long stretches of fast running Personally I like a good mix of road types but certainly have no objections to white lined roads!

RichardHooper wrote:short 30 minutes-ish coffee/call of nature stop is the way i would go, even if it is just to exchange a bit of banter.
Secondly the concept of through and off style of training is a brilliant idea, on the club rides i have been on this year it appears that other riders are scared to overtake the leader in fear of repurcussions, at least everybody rgardless of chosen group would gain some training and experience in following a wheel

Well said (and in far fewer words than me ) Agree with all that

And Tony, you're spot on as well! It's about time we stopped relying on you to lead the A run all the time, especially with 400 other members As you say, it takes a bit of planning, but once you've taken the first step, it probably becomes a lot easier and it would be brilliant to have lots of members who are confident of leading a run. Oh, and my new Garmin Edge 705 GPS bike computer should help I can store each of the rides we go on it from now on, so I don't even need to bother remembering where I go anymore!

Well said Joe.
Last year Tony and I thought it would be good to have a directory of 8 good rides so that any A group could say shall we do the xxxxx ride with most knowing the route approximately. Not that we want repetition but 8 routes with some small variations would mean repeating a route only twice over the winter. I pencilled out the 'Ashdown Route ' which i know you love!!!
Plenty fast flats with a few big climbs up to Ashdown .
I think it is also important to have a finish time- if its a 10 start then its nice to know that 55 miles at 18mph plus a 30 min stop means back for 1.30 as I am sure my wife would appreciate rather than saying i've no idea- maybe between 1 and 3.30!!
Do you think we should put a speed limit on the flats of say 25 mph so everyone knows that any train is not going to continue accelerating til it breaks apart as often happens? (with Mike cycling on his own to get a quick haircut)

Yes, I think I remember some mention of those plans - we have the perfect resource here, with a section for 'Cycle Routes' and 'Cafe Stops' - we just need to stir up enough people willing to lay a few down so we have, as you say, a decent catalogue to chose from. Until everyone is back out regularly on the clubruns again to talk it through, it might be difficult to pin people down and get them into the leaders spirit! But a bit of time spent recording routes (i.e. on Google Earth) would help and save a lot of effort in the future.

And, yes, it might be nicer to be able to give a specific time to be back rather than my usual shrug of the shoulders!

As club run sec

I think this is the way to go I am looking into putting a Rota together for the Months ahead.

I dont mind if Joe would like to put together the Rota

This is certainly a step in the right direction

Do you think we should put a speed limit on the flats of say 25 mph so everyone knows that any train is not going to continue accelerating til it breaks apart as often happens?

Yes I think this suggestion is a very good idea, in capping breakaways to 25mph. It would at least give people who did drop off the back after say a small incline or sharp turn, the chance to get back onto the group, where as at present in my experience, once you get dropped, that curtains until either someone slows the pace up front, or the group gets to a junction and waits, or in my case, a nice long incline, where I can actually get back on myself

Not a bad idea, apart from military canal down to Rye of course

Do you think we should put a speed limit on the flats of say 25 mph...?

You're talking about the elite Fairy 'A' group – limiting it to 25mph on the flat? That's not only ridiculous but completely unmanageable too, what if you have a tailwind?!

then well just have to limit it to 40 then muwahaha