Did a couple triathlons this year and really enjoyed them but back injury means not got more lined up and have had to put the idea of a century ride over the summer to one side for now. I am running a decent amount for a marathon in September and can cycle for a couple hours but not sure what level of fitness most folk will have on the road bike. I know there will be quick boys but just a ballpark so don’t get arse handed to me by everyone and hold folk up. I was thinking if back is better by end of the summer some cross races would be fun and help set up bike fitness for next year. Ta

How long is a piece of string?

how about speaking to the club you’re thinking of joining, then make your own mind up.

i would say impossible to answer fully, depends on the club, depends on how they do the club runs etc. What might be worth doing is have a chat and see if they can give some idea of average speed and distance for the runs. compare to what you are doing and go from there.

Theres a Club near me (I don’t rideout with them) that ask you if you can do averages of 17mph.. in the South Downs, which kinda gives you an idea I guess..

Theres a Club near me (I don’t rideout with them) that ask you if you can do averages of 17mph.. in the South Downs, which kinda gives you an idea I guess..

They’re not interested in new blood or developing that new blood the? I would have expected that clubs would have had a variety of levels, horses for courses.

for the record a piece of string is half as long as twice as much of it

I guess you’re right though, just never ridden with anyone other than couple mates who are non cyclists on the road and no idea if i’d be steamrollered or hold my own on a club ride. I’ll email them and see what they say, did a 30 mile ride few weeks ago in a couple hours.

EDIT: SBZ if you’re still after grad med info drop me a line

Wouldn’t a proper (decent) club cater for all abilities via a schedule of different paced rides ?

Alot of the medium to larger clubs will have a series of rides catering from social riders there for a bimble and chat and some cake at a cafe stop to racers wanting a hard training ride. Average speeds vary so much on terrain – on a solo ride I rarely average over 17mph on a typical ride over 50 miles but dont have any problem keeping up with the fast groups. The midweek chaingang (which is made up a few racers from a number of local clubs) is a bit different, i really need to dig deep to keep up with them and my main aim for the summer is to make it to the end still in contact with the main group. The same bastarding climb has me dropped every week! 🙁

Alot of the medium to larger clubs will have a series of rides catering from social riders there for a bimble and chat and some cake at a cafe stop to racers wanting a hard training ride. Average speeds vary so much on terrain – on a solo ride I rarely average over 17mph on a typical ride over 50 miles but dont have any problem keeping up with the fast groups. For what its worth on moderately hilly terrain if you can average 15mph solo then you will probably do ok with most club rides outwith the racing orientated ones.

The midweek chaingang (which is made up a few racers from a number of local clubs) is a bit different, i really need to dig deep to keep up with them and my main aim for the summer is to make it to the end still in contact with the main group. The same bastarding climb has me dropped every week! 🙁

The biggest club local to me has a variety of rides, but the starting point is being able to average 15mph for 3 hours or so over hilly terrain.

IME a good club will have a number of paced groups and be happy for you to come out riding a few times before joining in order to find your pace.
A couple of important considerations:
1. If you ride in a big group ‘through and off’ you’ll ride a couple of mph faster than you do on your own or with a couple of mates
2. Ride with any club regularly and you’ll get faster.

IME, find your local club, get out riding and you’ll be in there with them before you know it… you sound like you’re happy putting effort in, which is what it’s all about tbh

Road riding with a club can be more fun than MTB sometimes, enjoy

Most clubs will have a variety of groups. Try for the middle group first and see how you get on. To be honest, even the fast group in most clubs won’t get mean till the last ten miles.

I’ve ridden with a couple of clubs who’s middle group were animals. ‘you get dropped, you’re on your own’ sort of thing. But they weren’t so fast. It was easy to keep with the pack.

Our local club has social, medium and fast rides, speeds vary with routes and who turns up but its the ethos of the ride thats different, fast group will leave you if your dropped, the others wont.
Find a club and go do a slow group ride then go from there.

can you ride solo for 50 miles. If so you’ll probably be comfortable. Ours caters for novice roadies. Saturday cafe runs the slow group average about 16mph for 50miles. Easy in a group. Fast group can be 20mph average over 80 with hills. Make sure you get out in the right one!

best bet is if you know the local area well, join a club run and if you get dhelved then you know your way home. keep doing that and eventually you’ll hang on. Unfortunately, such is the mentality of alot of club runs that if you puncture or get dropped they dont wait for you, whereas in mtb’ing, you puncture its a good time to gossip. Last week we done 2 club runs of 102 and 108 miles at about 19.5 average with 4 of us, but the Tues/Thurs bundy runs of 35 miles, where anyone from any club meets for a ride, we average about 24mph with alot of tough climbs in.On these runs, we can start from a group of 40 but be down to 10-15 at the end such is the intensity of the run
But, the only way to get better is sticking in there and giving it your all

You’ll find most clubs have a few groups. We have two set Sunday rides, 100km at about 18mph plus. That could be faster but there are always riders in transition so we have to slow the pace now and again.

The second dide is about 30 miles plus, at 10-13mph but even the newcomers end up doing about 15mph avarage.

Our rides are Chilterns based, zig zagging the Ridgeway, very punchy climbs if that helps.

During summer we hold three more rides some are sessions for the roadies and some are introductions for total newcommers. So if we do that I’d imagine many others do

cheers guys gives me an idea of what to aim for

No problem.
Some clubs though are a bit specific in what they do. I think this is where the reputation for roadies being rude comes from.
For example our club encompasses all aspects of riding and is very welcoming to everyone including kids and even lady females.
But we also have another outfit nearby and they are race specific, ride with them at your peril, if you can’t hack it they’ll shell you out.
However when they want an easy day they’ll join us, well as easy as a 18/19mph ride gets.

I recently retired as a decent tt rider and was a member of
at least 10 clubs/teams, and they all vary. generally they’ll have at least a fast and a slow group, if your at all fit the slow group will seem very sloooow! Some clubs stop for a tea and some like to be back for lunchtime. I found the whole politics thing with some clubs very difficult to stomach ie clubrun captains and committees…theres much less beer involved with roadies which is why Im back 🙂

i’ll drop the local club (derby mercury) a line but I’m on placement in Mansfield for 9 weeks so going to get in touch with the cycle or tri club there