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Needed speed for group rides?

japanviking

Speeding Up
Jul 13, 2010
279
6
I would like to expand my rides to reach more interesting surroundings than central Tokyo can offer. I am very tempted to join the advertised rides here on the forum but I am not sure I can keep up just yet.
I have commuted 50km's per day a few days per week on my MTB and I also bought my first real road bike a few weeks back.
Yesterday I took the long way home from the office and totalled 85-90 km for the day. I still felt good on the bike when I came home.

I think I can average 28-30km/h over a 100km flat distance.

Would I be dropped to quickly to join a ride?
 
That's a super-great average...especially in the heat and humidity of recent :) !
You'd have no problem joining TCC rides at all. Cresting mountain passes (toge-goe) may prove a bit fatiguing at first but you'll develop a knack for that with practice - no doubt !

Don't worry - I got constantly dropped when I first ventured into the mountains suffering so much I could feel my heart in my throat...:eek:

Practice makes perfect so come along and join more TCC group rides !


I would like to expand my rides to reach more interesting surroundings than central Tokyo can offer. I am very tempted to join the advertised rides here on the forum but I am not sure I can keep up just yet.
I have commuted 50km's per day a few days per week on my MTB and I also bought my first real road bike a few weeks back.
Yesterday I took the long way home from the office and totalled 85-90 km for the day. I still felt good on the bike when I came home.

I think I can average 28-30km/h over a 100km flat distance.

Would I be dropped to quickly to join a ride?
 
Bravo Tom,

Couldn't have put it any better..... your speed a long the flats are pretty good so you'll have no issues keeping up, normally everyone attacks the climbs at thier own pace any way and then rejoin at the top.
 
Yamabushi basically killed me a few weeks back, but I eventually made it up the mountain.

I have since stepped up my game, pushing harder than I did before (but still not up to his standard, of course).

Get out there, have a ride and if you get left behind, so what! I did, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

It will learn you.

Owen.
 
Just make sure to bring a 3 day survival kit with special infrared sensitve glasses to read the road marking sticks! Just kidding, but getting dropped is an honorable part of the experience. By the way, the 'Half Fast' crew also has rides that are typically at more moderate and even beginning pace. Its another option if you want to ride with others and slowly build your endurance (and social ride time).
 
Tim, that story of the stick trail has become urban legend. You've come a very very long way since then.
 
...getting dropped is an honorable part of the experience...

Indeed it is!

On my first real climb, James and Tim left me in their collective dust to suffer and die! I think on that ride we started with about 20 or more people and only 8-10 completed the first climb. That being said, although I suffered, I did slog it out and eventually make it to the top, completing the day with 191km under my belt. It's a ride I will always remember!
 
Pete - that was a bloody slog if there ever was one! I was wandering around hallucinating at the top thinking I had taken the wrong turn - then wham! Everyone comes by. Hauling back to Tokyo was only possible by the soba break we had and your encouragement to keep pushing! Anyway Viking, just go for it, and don't believe a word of what they say regarding 'gentle' or 'capuccino' or 'latte' or anything warm and fuzzy. Just ride the hardest, fastest and bestest you can . Everytime you will get a little faster and farther - thats how it works.
 
I always want to join more rides too but am rarely confident enough. When I do join -- yes I get dropped on the climbs -- but people are really nice and then I am SUPER motivated to train harder and harder.

Tips I've learned
Eat when other people eat -- I found knowing what, when, and how much to eat a constant mystery in the beginning ( well, I still do to some degree)
Having you own map or knowledge of the course is nice
Have a sense of humor
Hang in as long as you can ...

Personally, I keep thinking about organizing an intermediately paced ride-- except that rarely organize weekends in general.
 
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