Every week, our club president posts possible routes for the Saturday and Sunday club rides. Generally, the routes are a mix. Sometimes, the distance is a bit longer, but the roads are comparatively flat. Other times, a lot of climbing is involved, but the routes are a bit shorter.
Among newer riders, or riders who are coming back after some time off the bike, distance always seems to be THE measure by which a riding decision is made. The magic length is about 45 miles. Anything beyond that, and people will either beg off, or come up with a shorter route of their own.
Here’s the curious thing: Routes are usually 40-60 miles. There really isn’t a lot of variation. At the beginning of spring, it’s relatively easy for people who haven’t ridden much to start out with shorter rides, between 30-35 miles, and quickly work up to the 45-mile range. From there, stretching to 50 and even 60 isn’t a big deal.
So why is it that when he posts a ride, it’s always followed on our club’s Yahoo group by inquiries about the length? It shouldn’t matter by now — just jump in, and if you’re left behind, you’ll have a cue sheet or a map, or a Garmin display to get you home safely.
Oh, what’s that? You didn’t bother to follow the link the club president left with the route information? He posts turn-by-turn directions as well as a Garmin map. There’s really no excuse not to make a small effort to become acquainted with the directions we’ll follow on ride day.
And yet, it appears that for some people, that small effort is too much trouble. It results in riders taking wrong turns during the ride. Sometimes, their mistakes are discovered, and someone is dispatched to chase them down and get them back on the right route. But since our Sunday rides are not no-drop rides (at least for the A riders), often no help is sent.
We’ve got a ride coming up Sunday that I’ve never ridden before. Well, to be correct, I haven’t ridden about a third of the route. So I’ll be sure to have the cue sheet with me.
It’s a good thing, because after the route was posted today, one of the first responses was: “Joe, I have just one word: howlongisit?”
I was pleased to see the response: “Nottoofar.”
😀
In my group it isn’t a distance, but a time issue.
Some of us have other commitments on Saturday. A 30 mile ride is approximately 2 hours, 45 miler 3 hours, etc. Some guys have the entire day free and some need to be home by noon. Thus when we plan, we need to know the mileage.
In our groups it has to do with the Summer heat. Our weekend rides start at 7AM, so anything under 40 miles means: no additional hydration needed and just a single coat of sunblock. Anything over that means, plenty of hydration and additional water bottles to splash yourself with
If the cue sheet/map is posted, then so is the distance!