Walton Park Criterium March 26, 2011
Wintergreen Ascent May 7th, 2011
B Ride Info & request for input
Submitted by Gallagher.Sean on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 13:54. Tags: 
Greetings all,
In an effort to get a B ride established before the race season begins and people start traveling on the weekends, I’d like to hear your thoughts on when the B ride should be and what you expect to get out of it.
I’m nearly fully recovered from a recent surgery and am looking to get back on the bike to begin rebuilding my fitness for the upcoming season next Sunday, the 17th.
I propose having the B ride on Sunday morning at 8:00am. I know this is early but you’ll thank me when it’s 90 degrees at 10:00am come June. The main reason for the early start is due to family obligations. This just the best time for me to lead a ride on a consistent basis but it also gives other club members a chance to ride with other team members if they can’t make the Saturday ride.
I propose riding from the shop due to the centrality but would be open to starting from Earlysville or perhaps somewhere downtown (my office the Miller Center for Public Affairs has plenty of free public parking and is one Old Ivy Road so there’s easy access out of town) as well depending on the responses I receive.
I’d be open to changing the location every other week if that enables more folks to join in too.
The main focus of these rides for me, is to rebuild the fitness I lost while laid up so that I can hang with the pack on the Saturday ride and the Tuesday/Thursday rides if i can ever make it to one of those.
I also see this ride as a place for juniors or riders new to the sport to learn and become comfortable riding in a pack before they enter their first events in the sometimes hectic CAT 5 races. I’d also love to see some of the dirt riders come on out and learn to love the asphalt if they are not already participating in the Saturday ride and if the more experienced riders need a recovery day I’d love to see that happen too.
That’s about all I can think of right now. I’ll post the first ride on the calendar for 8:00am Feb. 17th but will leave the following weeks open until we can discuss it further. I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions.
Cheers,
Sean
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8:00 might be a little
8:00 might be a little early for me…especially since I am a wimp in the cold, but I’ll try to support the effort. I think it’s a great idea to give an option for people looking for a base-miles type ride and want to work on riding in a pack with others.
I agree it’s early. I may
I agree it’s early. I may be able to push it to 8:30 or 9:00 but if it’s cold at 8:00 it’s going to be cold at 9:00 too.
Glad to hear you like the plan James. Hopefully we’ll be able to drum up some interest.
I would be up for a good
I would be up for a good b-ride. 9:00 – 10:00 would be better but I will ride when the ride goes.
Hi Jeff, Glad to see some
Hi Jeff,
Glad to see some more interest. I’d love to ride later in the day too but in order for me to get any time on the road while the sun is up I’ve go to go early. I really don’t like the cold either but we can just pretend we’re in Belgium training for the classics. You have to train the mind as well right….
Sean
Change of plans. Given
Change of plans.
Given the lack of enthusiasm for an early start I have brokered a deal with my wife to join the Saturday ride so she can do the Tri Club Sunday ride. When it warms up we can reevaluate the ride time or alternate Saturday and Sundays if there is demand for that.
I’ve designed a route that’s 34.5 miles long and follows the Saturday shop ride until Boonesville. At Boonesville the B ride would split off by turning right on 801 and heading back to Earlysville via Nortonsville and Simmon’s Gap Rd. We’d then take Reas Ford —> Woodlands back to the Shop. This should put us back to the shop just before or at the same time as the A ride.
There are some nice advantages to this proposal.
1. We take advantage of the slightly warmer temps.
2. You’ll meet more club members this way.
3. We can all ride as a group (depending on size for safety of course; we may have to let the A group go ahead just to split up two larger groups but my guess is that the B contingent is going to be small at first) at least until Free Union.
4. Riders can choose to go shorter or longer depending on how the feel.
I will ride sweep for the B ride so that no one gets left behind. The goal would be to ride to Free Union with the entire team since that part of the ride is supposed to be a warm up.
I’d like to have folks make a choice at Free Union whether or not they will be choosing the B option or going with the main group so it’s easier to make sure no one gets left behind.
In a few weeks once we start to get stronger we could change the route and just follow the main group so that if someone wants to push it but want a back up option they can rest assured that there will be another group to join should they get shelled.
If anyone really liked the Sunday option better and just hasn’t spoken up please let me know and we can reevaluate. Like I said, I don’t mind switching every other weekend from Saturday to Sunday since some folks might always have a standing commitment on Saturday’s and its always nice to have options.
I’ll post a map and cue sheet in the image gallery.
Take care,
Sean
I’d like to suggest that
I’d like to suggest that we make this a fluid ride to coincide with the racing season. While the first two rides might be more base type rides we move into long climbs in March and in April phase in rolling terrain where we work on speed. Not only does it work well for training purposes but exposes everyone to all types of group rides in preparation for races.
Alan
Hi Alan, I like your
Hi Alan,
I like your ideas and I agree with you in that we’ll begin to push a little more as the season progresses. The ride will be fluid to a point but the main purpose of this ride is to offer an alternative to the “A” ride which tends to be a bit more aggressive. Not in a bad way, but we want to offer a kinder, gentler training ride for those not looking to push so hard this early.
This doesn’t mean that I plan to go out and spin around in Zone 1 for two hours it just means that you won’t be going into the red just to hang onto the back of the pack before getting shelled halfway round the circuit.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be getting to the mountains on this ride simply due to time constraints. It’s about an hours ride to the bottom of Swift Run Gap (Route 33) from Earlysville so I’d guess about an hour and 25 minutes from the shop.
I’m all for planning rides in the mountains we’ll just have to change the starting point of the ride and possibly the time as well. I’m hoping to get in at least one Wintergreen ride before the TT even though I’ll probably be out of town for a mountain bike race that weekend and not racing in the TT. I still love riding out there even if it hurts.
Thanks for your input. I think we’re off to a great start and I look forward to riding with you on Saturday.
Sean