😁
Half wheeling = any overlapping of wheels by the rider behind.
In 35 years of riding and racing, I've never heard overlapping wheels called that.
In 35 years of riding and racing, I’ve never heard overlapping wheels called that.
I've heard it called that but it is wrong 🙂
Would you overtake a solo pootler riding primary on a twisty road with less tham 1.5 m space or would you sliw behind them and wait for a safe space to overtake?
Depends, if I knew it was you I'd slow down and sit on your wheel!!!
Otherwise I'd wait until I could use the other side of the road.
In 35 years of riding and racing, I’ve never heard overlapping wheels called that.
In 35 years of riding I've only been in a few peloton stylleee groups, and that was the term used to warn us about staying in line as we headed up for the front or back to the back 😜
Always thought half wheeling was when you are overlapping with the rider in front.
Not my understanding? Thought it was when you were side by side and one rider edges slightly ahead (half a wheel) to push up the pace.
Only ever my understanding of half-wheeling too. An older guy I used to ride with used to get unbelievably aggressive with any body who did it. The younger riders would do it just to experience the full Basil.
This is all bringing back repressed memories of being overtaken by chain gangs from a certain club in Richmond Park on a Saturday morning…
This is also why I’ve not summoned up the courage to join the local shop ride yet in my new locale.
Jonv
Would ypu accept a car blasting past within inches when you are riding primary on a twisty road? Why is it acceptable for a group of cyclists to do so?
Next time it happens i am going to repot them to the police because local police fine car drivers for doing this. Its dangerous. If i had wobblwd or sweved they would have hit me
I don't know why you keep asking me, it's not relevant to the point. You said you wanted them to pass with 1.5m space. That's a fair request, irrespective of what i think or not.
You said it was your legal right. It's not. In the HWC it's a should, not a must.
I want you to stop arguing with me, it's my legal right to correct your factually wrong statement.
I keep asking you because i want to hear your answer. I want to know how far your defense of dangerous and anti social cycling goes
I think your refusal to answer speaks volumes
I'm not defending it in the slightest.
I made one single statement pointing out that the HWC clearly says should, not must.
The rest was never an argument, I have not given or expressed any view on it so how that speaks volumes or constitutes a defence of dangerous cycling is entirely in your own imagination.
Go back and look at what I have (repeatedly) said and please point out where I defend it?
You may be getting the flack that should have gone to others. Cant be arsef looking back
Sorry
Im an old beffudled man
Thankyou.
Now, seeing as you asked. FWIW, I lead group rides, not chaingangs. The club limits these to 8 max
The closest my groups come to it would be riding two abreast as is our legal right, when conditions allow. And other times we may ride 'at pace' (it's all relative) in single file, when conditions allow, where typically the stronger riders will do a turn of a couple of mins on the front, and then peel off and drift back before rejoining the line. Maybe not at the back, maybe another rider will open a gap so the stronger 3 or 4 can rotate at the front in this way. We 50 something overweight desk jockeys can sometimes hold 35kph for up to about 6 mins like this before we're all ****ed!! Go us!
If we encounter another slower group or rider I will slow the group's pace to keep a gap until the road is clear to pass. Then I will call ahead words to the effect of 'passing on the right if we can please' and then we will give it some welly to pass in a way that doesn't take up all the road for a longer period, and then we'll hold that pace for enough time to open a gap behind so we don't merge and create a group that's too big. Is it 1.5m? Depends on the road but it will be announced, and it won't be 'inches'. Is it like a car or HGV passing? I don't personally agree - we don't weigh 37T, and even giving it beans our relative passing speed is probably about 10kph, which is fast jogging speed, without the wash, etc.
I don't think proper chaingangs working through and off are appropriate on the road in general - but there's a few roads in the Surrey area where I live where it can work. I've done it on closed roads and done right it is exhilarating. I understand why you don't like being close passed unannounced by chaingangs or fast groups, and I've never said you were wrong about that.
I used to think half-wheeling was overlapping…it’s not
THis thread, the attitudes, the disucssion and the downright bloody mindedness of people completely highlights why i Zwift for my road rides, not road ride.
It all seems very very defined and serious for what should be a fun activity.
I thought this was MTB group rides at first, but its roadie world.
Myself for MTB group rides albeit small groups.
Wait at the top of climbs, wait at obvious junctions, like the forks conudrum.
For archey roving shoots, everyone stays behind the archer shooting. Dont kill the land owner.
Its easy, basic common sense.
PS Even though I dont have a road bike I like the GCN Show for some reason 🙂
I used to think half-wheeling was overlapping…it’s not
Yeah me too, but ultimately, who cares?
THis thread, the attitudes, the disucssion and the downright bloody mindedness of people completely highlights why i Zwift for my road rides, not road ride.
It all seems very very defined and serious for what should be a fun activity.
Posted 18 minutes ago
You’re not meant to be having fun on a a road bike surely - it’s just for the pain and suffering 🤣
It all seems very very defined and serious for what should be a fun activity
It’s really not all that serious. Certain rules exist which are there for safety of you and other riders but that aside, riding with a group of your mates can be ace
Chain gangs form a very small portion of club rides. They are far more serious, and tbh not all that much fun, and I tend to avoid them
But a chain gang is about as far away from our Saturday club bun run as your average enduro race is to pootling round your local xc loop in the woods. Ie just like mtb riding, road riding takes many different forms, and in a good club all standards of riders and tastes are catered for, and beginner riders should be made welcome and looked after
It all seems very very defined and serious for what should be a fun activity
Ultimately there needs to be some definition/rules, not to kill the fun but help the group work well.
Group works well, everyone has a better time 🙂
riding with a group of your mates can be ace
Yeah i've struggled with it when i've done it with groups, egos kick in, bloke on front gives a kick, others struggle on hills, then bloke nails it over a crest and goes... it's then on...
Sometimes i'm one of the bad-guys in the above scenario, sometimes i'm one of the sheep.... But none of the rides have been massively enjoyable... there's no adrenaline for me. The only sense of 'woah' and 'arrrrgghh' is brought on by the cars, not the fun factor of trails, roots, rocks and jumpy bits.
Yeah me too, but ultimately, who cares?
What an odd statement.
Half wheeling = any overlapping of wheels by the rider behind
As with a lot of things in roadie-land, there are similar terms but with specific meanings. Half wheeling is where you have a normal group ride, 2-abreast and one of the lead riders is constantly slightly ahead of the other. Often caused by using too big a gear compared to the other rider, it pushes him half a wheel in front so the other rider works harder to try and bring himself level and suddenly the whole group will be splintering behind.
As I said earlier (and seemingly what prompted this thread by the OP) the opposite is true around here. The Chaingang’s and faster group rides are incredibly informal and enjoyable. Turn up, make pretend smack talk, pull through till you can’t, sit on until you either recover or can’t and then solo in as hard as you can or if you’re still there- sprint for Waitrose roundabout glory 🤣
Everyone is really really enjoying them being back on this year too it seems- there’s a great atmosphere.
Club rides would be different as they need to cater to a paying membership’s needs with inclusivity and matching reality with the billed expectation of pace/behaviour etc.
If you go to these unaffiliated rides with your own objectives then life gets so much easier. I don’t expect anyone to wait, anyone to tell me the route, anyone to warn me of anything or to do anything to facilitate my ride. I know roughly how long I want to be out and how much power I want to do and maybe use the group to go a bit further than I would solo. Hopefully I’ll have a few chats and shared laughs along the way and other people will get what they want out of the experience but I can always say goodbye at the next junction and carry on with the solo ride I’d have been doing anyhow.
In fact, Zwift offers some great comparisons.
Chaingang = zwift race
Drop ride = Pace parter
Group ride = group ride (Everyone moaning. Constantly. About everything. 😉🤣)
/tongue in cheek
there’s no adrenaline for me. The only sense of ‘woah’ and ‘arrrrgghh’ is brought on by the cars, not the fun factor of trails, roots, rocks and jumpy bits.
Well yeah but that’s not got anything to do with group rides, sounds like you simply don’t get much excitement from road riding. Which tbf is completely understandable.
I’ve been struggling with getting much excitement out of it either recently tbh. I use to get bored around the 50 mile mark. Now after about 10 I’m looking forward to the end. I enjoy the end result, ie getting fit, but the journey there has lost all enjoyment, whether I ride solo or in a group
tjagain
Full Member
Thats certainly posible. My local road club are notorious for bad riding. ERCYou never get your 1.5m space when they overtake and they never warn you they are about to. One day I’LL wobble as they blast past inches from my bars and take the whole group down.
My experience is that All chaingangs are horrible to share roads with
Really!
You'll find the only ERC group ride is a beginners ride, and they don't go very fast at all.
Just because ERC are easily spottable in a group because their kit isn't black like lots of other clubs, it doesn't mean its their ride. The groups are made up of lots of different clubs and some people who aren't in clubs too.
I have never really like riding with the fast group as there are usually more people sitting on than working!, but occasionally I do for a bit, then I drop back and join one of the smaller better working groups, none of which are group rides organised by any club.
If you want to see the number of different clubs that ride around east lothian, just check out the ERC organised TT, you'll find only 7 out of the 26 riders that rode yesterday were ERC, leaving around a dozen different clubs, all of which probably go on the chaingangs too.
if you’re still there- sprint for Waitrose roundabout glory
Newbury really does lack enough signs on the edge of town. The one into Enbourne is good. I like to try and drop the sprinters over the Poggio/Enbourne hill and solo to the line!! 😄😄
Did a Newbury CC ride on Tuesday, it was great only two people!!
You still haven't told me what bike you were riding on the Sheepdrive ride yet. I would guess the Diverge given you username.
Yes I said in another post you guessed it 👌🏻
Lightman ERC are notorious for bad behaviours. Their reputation is shit. If you are a part of them you should address it
Aggressive and arrogant towards other road users. Thats their ( imo) deserved reputation
I have been on the receiving end of aggressive and dangerous riding by groups in ERC tops many tines and so have others i know
Sorry I'll qualify that.
Perhaps there are other groups of numpties as well and ERC cop the blame
Apologies
My posts last night probably come over as more aggressive and unpleasant than intended. I blame the whisky
Sorry
Lightman ERC are notorious for bad behaviours. Their reputation is shit. If you are a part of them you should address it
There's a long running and quite well known event called the Dunwich Dynamo - an overnight ride from East London up to the Suffolk coast, about 200km. It's quite "underground", there's no actual organiser, no entry fee, no insurance, it just sort of happens on the weekend closest to the full moon in July. Feed stations have sprung up along the route, often just enterprising locals putting a BBQ on through the night but the fire station opened up once and did an amazing trade, they raised thousands of pounds for the firemans' charity from selling burgers. Pubs stay open late, the cafe on the beach opens especially early. It's all quite organic and you get a very varied field - recumbents, tall bikes, leisure cyclists, club riders, fixies, even kids or folk on MTBs. There's a FB page for it but not a lot else.
Anyway, one of the larger London clubs got themselves a reputation for treating it like a race - they'd set off at 10pm or so and absolutely smash it, full on chaingang the whole way. Setting off so late (most people are on the way by about 8pm) meant that they were going through crowds of other riders inc people who'd never ever ridden that sort of distance and were on hybrids, and who were rather unused to a large group coming past at close quarters.
The FB page would light up like Christmas about this one club every single year. To be honest, it was a bit of a mix - many riders were just unused to seeing anything like that so to them, it looked dangerous, reckless, stupid etc but to the club, it was simply normal riding, just a bit faster cos there was no vehicle traffic. I never had any issues with them but then I know what a chaingang is and how to ride in one.Every year there'd be some poor club rep thrown into the FB group to "address the concerns" but the club really didn't know what to address - for them it was simply normal riding and they couldn't really understand what (if anything) they were doing wrong.
I think I may have come across groups from the same London club when I did Ride London a few years back. As you say, they were clearly well used to riding as a fast group. However, they were taking no account of the general level of incompetence of the average sportive rider, so were passing far closer than I would have led a group when passing much slower/less experienced riders. We've had a number of "discussions" among ride leaders in my club about approaches to passing our own slower groups when our paths cross on rides!
for them it was simply normal riding and they couldn’t really understand what (if anything) they were doing wrong.
I think this is the issue. For club riders who slipstream being within inches of other bikes is normal and acceptable. For those of us that are solo pootlers its very unpleasant and feels dangerous to be passed closely
For club riders who slipstream being within inches of other bikes is normal and acceptable. For those of us that are solo pootlers its very unpleasant and feels dangerous to be passed closely
Agreed. And also they have accepted the risk involved as being OK for the benefit they gain.
You haven't. You're not getting any benefit so you shouldn't be exposed to that risk.
Anyway, one of the larger London clubs got themselves a reputation
WHich one? Not the one that shares part of it's name with the event in question is it?
I was descending with my son age 11 in Mallorca recently and some German bloke started whistling at me to get out of his way, really odd behaviour he got most upset when I continued shepherding my son round the switchbacks.
I may give this offensive group ride a crack again tomorrow!
Hay fever is bad so will be staying in Z2, which means all the smash-wait-coast folk will be looking on in pity as I winch up the hills in 31-32 🤣
Better check the route.
This is the sort of thing that puts me off riding in a biggish group. Sounds like a chore.
But if this is what you enjoy doing then maybe be firm in agreeing what you all want at the start. Just like others have said above.
Shame I won't see you, currently pissed on a train back from London, can't see a ride happening early tomorrow! They are heading to Leckford I think
Agreed. And also they have accepted the risk involved as being OK for the benefit they gain.
You haven’t. You’re not getting any benefit so you shouldn’t be exposed to that risk.
Believe it or not, but having another rider behind you reduces your aero drag, you go quicker for less effort. Not much, but it's a benefit.
