Forum menu
I'm getting into my solo roadriding (it's just a phase!) but wondered what sorta riding you've got to be doing to join a club? did 51miles (with hills) on sat av. 15 mph and doing about 100miles per week at mo. I've no idea about roadies really. or just go on a social ride and see how it goes? It seems a bit serious!
My local club do an "easy" 35 miles on a Saturday morning at approx 16mph. More experienced group leaves from a different point but everyone meets at a cafe. Sunday sees a group do a short 50 mile ride with an option to break off for about 80 miles. 18mph average. No one gets left behind.
Average speed in a pack is faster than on your own so I think you will be fine. If the club is any good then they will look after you.
you have a few options really.
Find a road club local and join them for the day. Alot of clubs will do weekend rides, possibly have a fast day on sat and slow day on sunday. At this time of year there's alot of races on so some fast members wont turn up to some rides.
try and get some midweek club rides in as well, they normally last 30-40 miles and normally happen evenings during march -october. There good for your fitness although these are normally bunch rides and fast paced.
100 miles a week is not bad if its done with a purpose, i.e. training rides with a desired outcome. The pace your going at though would need to increase to stay with the medium riders. As a rule, a good average solo pacce is around 18mph.
Just now, concentrate in getting more miles in at a higher intensity and aim for the 18 mph average (with hills?).
As a guide, i consider myself quite a fast rider with good endurance levels. Just now during summer in my average week i do 150 miles commuting, 2 x weekday training rides with a group ( upto 40 riders, high intensity) @ 35 miles each, a saturday morning ( pre work ride ) of 60 miles, a sunday mtb ride of 30-40 miles and on another day i'll do another 60 miles ( long way home route), so anywhere between 350 and 400 miles a week. On my solo runs i'll average between 20 and 22mph over variable conditions ( climbs, flats ) etc. Road surfaces and wind are major factors in pace obviously.
I find road biking can get serious, and in a bunch it will be BUT you do normally start off at a nice warm up pace and generally weekend runs are 2 a breast for the first 20ish miles until the pace intensifies so you get a chance to have a chat and get to know people. most people will be there for the same purpose, which is training so a level of seriousness is expected. ONce your fitness starts being on level par with the quicker guys then its quite exciting as well as tough.
Keep with it because its a huge rush of adrenaline
thanks for the info guys. Very interesting, gotta up my speed. I'm just gonna carry on doing the miles and hopefully get faster/fitter. the local club do a social on sunday 36miles which would be perfect, but I'm at work on a sun:(
thanks for taking the time to post that radoggair, that is pretty serious!
I joined a roadie club for a first ride to see if it suited me last weekend and thourghly enjoyed it.
Riding that close together and getting to know some of the hand signals did worry me a little but once I got out the guys were great showning me the ropes even though I did opt for the higher paced group.
Good days riding 😉
[i]As a guide, i consider myself quite a fast rider with good endurance levels. Just now during summer in my average week i do 150 miles commuting, 2 x weekday training rides with a group ( upto 40 riders, high intensity) @ 35 miles each, a saturday morning ( pre work ride ) of 60 miles, a sunday mtb ride of 30-40 miles and on another day i'll do another 60 miles ( long way home route), so anywhere between 350 and 400 miles a week. On my solo runs i'll average between 20 and 22mph over variable conditions ( climbs, flats ) etc. Road surfaces and wind are major factors in pace obviously. [/i]
/bows in respect.
That's some seriously impressive mileage. well done. Puts my 120-150 miles a week to shame.
managed 17.5mph on a 40 mile roadride today (I left out the big ****in hill!)
good job, some improvement already. Unfortunatley 'big ****in hills' are essential to improving your fitness since we dont live in Holland.
Now, go and find yourself some other roadies or road bike club to cycle with, and that will help your fitness some more
Most clubs have easy and hard groups. You'd be fine. Just drop them a line before you turn up and talk to people.
I've never ridden with the slow group on Saturday but the fast group is not fast. About 16.5mph over 55 miles. With a Cafe stop. Sundays are more brisk 18-19mph over 80 miles with no stops so you need to be fit and fast. Still we wait as it's not a race. If you want to climb faster, u turn at the top come down and join back on the to the back of the bunch.