Outrageous, isn't it?

BigDummy:

"Out of interest, do you people wait for someone to accelerate and overtake you to take a pull, or do you move over when you feel you've done your turn?"

What should you do? The fast group I rode in, we all took turns in turn, so I didn't really move over. Couldn't really tell if anyone else was, but it didn't feel like it. Had a lot to concentrate on, so may have missed it! I could get right into that – the smooth speed we were doing was great and it never felt like a stretch, just nice and relaxed but way faster than I'd have done on my own.

You should peel off when you are done.

Smee – Member

Did the Southern Upland Sportive yesterday. What is it with people who ride these events – they will not take a turn on the front and are happy to just let you drag them along into a nasty headwind.

Learn to track stand and wait – works for me!

cynic-al – Member

You should peel off when you are done.

He did say peel, didn't he? 😆

Well I left at 9:10, so should really have passed you between Elvanfoot and Wanlockhead. You weren't the guy who's saddle bag fell off were you.

Nope.

it was dusty and they couldn't see you?

cycling weekly seems to have taken on the mantel of Sportives mag for the masses so it probably about thime they did some basic "how to ride in a bunch" technique type stuff rather than constantly bang on about hill climbing, cadence and gears.

That was the whole purpose of having club runs and split race categories (3/4 and E/1/2) so that the 3/4's can learn the technique required to sit in a fast moving bunch and by the time they move up to 1/2 they have the necessary fitness and experience not to bring the whole lot down in a clash of carbon. Spotrtive being a relatively new thing over here, most people riding it aren't from a club background.

Try talking nicely to them and explaining the basics of what you're doing – it may take a few goes to get the message across but most people should get the idea fairly quickly.

Clearly the problem for smee is that he doesn't know what he's doing either so how can he instruct people in group riding. Other than just thinking to himself 'I wish these lazy good for nothing wheel sucking batards would read my mind and take a turn at the front' he didn't appear to do anthing to help. Of course had a he bothered to say 'can someone take a turn here please' then he couldn't have posted about it on here as he would have been in harmony with his fellow riders. Communication is key.

Sportives. Hmm interesting observation. In UK these are run as non competitive, and IIRC one last year was ousted by the UK cyclosportive organisation, or whatever it is called as the event was publishing results in a time order, i.e saying who came 1st, 34th etc.

However, here in France, they are fully competitive. I did one in beginning of June, 150km 3500m of climbing and the winning time was 4 hours 12 minutes….to me, that's 4th cat road race pace at the minimum!

The Marmotte awards placings overall and on an age category basis.

The UK ones, are IME relatively way overpriced, relatively poorly marshalled, and generally populated by lots of Timothy's on their £3000 Pinarello's. One good example being a friend doing one down south and overtaking a bloke on a full dura ace prince complaining that the hill they were going up was really hard, at which point my mate pointed out that he was in the big ring….

Also IME , I've joined a road race club over here, and have done quite a few sportives here in the last 6 months, and I honestly don't think that the riding 'discipline' is any better, than in the UK sportives I've ridden. Only difference is that the french don't get het up about it, and don't go, oh the English ride much better than us, we're rubbish' they just accept some people are crap at riding in a group, and DON'T TAKE THEMSELVES OR OTHERS ANTICS TOO SERIOUSLY!

My old road club in Sheffield, sounds like it's at risk of falling apart because some people (newcomers in last 2 years or so) have come in and are really trying to lay down the law on riding as a group etc,literally shouting at people and causing arguments at all the meetings. OK you need some rules and some etiquette, but at the end of the day: IT'S ALL FOR FUN.

My old road club in Sheffield, sounds like it's falling apart because some people…

[hijack]What club is that, just out of interest? Always like a bit of local goss 😀 [/hijack]

I couldn't possibly tell you, you might be in Rutland.

Are all roadies a bit prissy or is just this thread? Doing my 2nd proper road ride this weekend but if there is going to be so much squeeling I may not bother.

I am mugsys_m8, so its the *other* one then? Hehe.

mugsys_m8 what is your issue with 'Timothy's on their £3000 Pinarello's'? If someone can afford a nice bike but isn't a very good rider then who cares, apart from you obvioulsy. Seems quite a bitter comment. What price of bike is acceptable to you for not very fit riders to buy?

Are all roadies a bit prissy

You know when there is a STW thread about whether a rider descending a piece of singletrack should give way to someone climbing it? And it goes on for 3 pages of increasingly hysterical abuse? And some people suggest that anyone riding to a safe breaking distance is a homosexual? And the people who like climbing hills claim that people who prefer descending them share too much DNA with crayfish?

This is the road equivalent of that very same thread. 😀

……you forgot "all carbon frames break and are rubbish"

Gary_M I'm sure you are a good bloke but you are getting a bit carried away fella. Its not like the OP called his thread "Gary_M is a knob".

Have a sit down pal, they're just bikes.

What price of bike is acceptable to you for not very fit riders to buy?

If you spend more than £1,500 on a road bike and really aren't any good then mockery almost inevitably follows, surely? Calculating the acceptable bike price:talent ratio is a similar exercise to calculating the acceptable body fat:coverage of swimming costume ratio. You may think you look lurvely in that teeny-bikini, but everyone else is yelling "thar she blows".

"Clearly the problem for smee is that he doesn't know what he's doing either so how can he instruct people in group riding. Other than just thinking to himself 'I wish these lazy good for nothing wheel sucking batards would read my mind and take a turn at the front' "

Its like you know george 😀

What price of bike is acceptable to you for not very fit riders to buy?

If you spend more than £1,500 on a road bike and really aren't any good then mockery almost inevitably follows, surely? Calculating the acceptable bike price:talent ratio is a similar exercise to calculating the acceptable body fat:coverage of swimming costume ratio. You may think you look lurvely in that teeny-bikini, but everyone else is yelling "thar she blows".

+1

I'd love one of those Planet X pink roadies, but by God, you'd have to be **** good to ride it…

…or have quite a thick skin. 🙂

mcboo amazing contribution to the thread, well done. it's almsot as if you were smee in disguise.

Gary_M I'm sure you are a good bloke clearly you know nothing about me.

Trail_Rat – you taught me everything I know.

Gary_M – you really do need to learn to chill. Its only a bike ride. I ride my bikes for fun and had lots of fun yesterday.

lol at Smee and irony of above post.

its probably more to do with what/how they are used to riding than anything else – i've ridden with clubs and groups, and all of them use different methods for changing from the elbow to take 2min stints at the front to peeling off when you have had enough. i've also ridden with chaps who do through and off, but come to the front from being at the back, which didn't make sense to me.

i think its best to have a quick chat about what/how you are going to change over otherwise you won't know.

as an aside, was the course any good? i considered doing it but went mtb'ing instead.

'how else are novices like me supposed to learn?'

You could try some early season 'Reliability trials' you could say they are a cheap low key sportive. The main difference will be that the majority of the riders will be clubmen. Don't let that put you off, early season they should be pretty chilled out, but you will learn to ride proper good in a bunch with those guys.
Reliability Trials are only about a fiver and are common place.
Though sportives and reliability trials are nothing like 'racing' in a bunch, when it's tight and fast you can't even see the horizon it's freaky I tell you.

The course is pretty good, but some of the road surfaces aren't the best. The descents down to Mennock and from the top of Talla are the highlights. I hate the link road with a passion though.

I'll give you this Smee, you always give good thread…. 😉

as an aside, was the course any good?

Pretty good in general, couple of hard slogs – st marys loch to moffat and up the a701. Finish was stunning, hail and emergency blankets were added bonus 😉

Best bit for me was climbing the Devils Beeftub – awesome climb.

Would I do it again? Maybe.

Genius thread. Rolling with laughter here. It's just missing glupton really, I do miss his/her comedy road comments.'ooh I'm concerned about altitude sickness on the Marmotte' and so on.

im somewhat baffled by the op. when im on the front if i get tired i peel off and join the rear. then the person behind sets the pace and this continues.why didnt you just drop out of the front and move to the rear ?

All the ways of bunch riding are valid. I rode with some roadies in France the other week, on that ride the second man came through, my last club was pure chain gang i.e constantly rotating, my first club used to do a stint and pull off.
On all occasions it was done naturally without a word being spoken.

Why didn't I drop off the front and slow down? Easy, I was riding at the pace I wanted to. I wasn't wanting a tow, just wasn't to pleased at others helping themselves to a tow and sitting two inches of my rear wheel.

AndyP – there were plenty folk suffering the effects of altitude sickness on the way up the Galibier…

if you cant be arsed with fannies on sportives should get your arse to a decently sized audax.

Were certainly no idiot riders on the 300k audax me and smee did (except smee, me and the guy on the recumbent) although that may have been the 16000ft of climbing involved that put most idiots off !

8 quid for 11 hours riding – no marshals – no broom wagon – no support …. mens rides – like it used to be in the early days of the tour !

400 and 600s are next on the cards for us as 200/300 conquered.

Guy riding LEL shortly rode me and my mate off his wheel on the lecht(200k in) but im sure he wasnt shouting wheelsucker as we died on a climb – we tried to work when he let us but he was just super strong

Why didn't I drop off the front and slow down? Easy, I was riding at the pace I wanted to. I wasn't wanting a tow, just wasn't to pleased at others helping themselves to a tow and sitting two inches of my rear wheel.

if your on the front and you want people off your wheel … ride erratically …

do this with anyone beside or infront of you and i guarantee you will end up in a ditch !

You could slam the brakes on and point to the pretty windmill, a la London to Brighton.

I've no problem with Timothy's on their £3000 Pinarello's. It was merely an observation. (says little punter me who has just splashed out on a custom carbon frame) Just like another observation to me that the more (to me) annoying contigent are on the more expensive bikes. Just like my observation that in winter, most old boys on a steel frame with mudguards and good sized flappage will be a well disciplined rider. Like I said IT'S JUST FOR FUN.

Finbar: I always thought the Rutland vs Other inter club banter was just like the old kids drama: Jossie's Giants!

This thread is why I don't;

a) belong to a road club

b) do sportives…

You could slam the brakes on

If you want to expand your knowledge of swear words and put downs this is an excellent way of doing it. Worked for me anyway.

When I started group roadie riding and hit the anchors hard whilst up front, the entire group rode past me and each one took the time to explain to me the error of my ways in a very colourful manner. Very educational.

………….puts me off ever riding a road bike, ever.

I woud find it frustrating….when you know if everyone does their turn then (i) it's less boring (ii) you get to chat to folk) (iii) it's more satisfying (iv) speed increases significantly.