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koribeyer

Speeding Up
May 29, 2008
409
5
I know we discussed this before last year but there was never much consensus. As I am now trying to break into the Portland cycling community (which looks awesome) I'm looking a lot at how thy rate rides and trying to find something interesting but not too hard for me.

They have this system. The speed is for what the group will maintain on flats (even if there are none on the ride)

Ride Difficulty Scale For Road Rides
Pace Rating             Terrain
A 12 & Under -19kph          1 = Flat
B   13-14 MPH -21kph         2 = Flat / Rolling
C   15-16 MPH -25kph         3 = Rolling
D   17-18 MPH -28kph         4 = Rolling / Hilly
E   19-20 MPH -32kph         5 = Hilly
F   21-22 MPH. -35kph        6 = Hilly Mountainous
G   23+ MPH. -fast            7= Mountainous    

I hope you guys don't roast this summer. And I hope it eventually breaks 20C here...
 
Hmm, seems overly complicated.

Novice group : Riders who have never ridden more than 50km at a time, nor climbed any significant slopes (more than 100m in length). And perhaps seldom, if ever, take a casual bike ride of more than 10km at any time. Expect to see a mixed bag of gear including hybrids, platform pedals, 3 speeds, cycling in sandals or tennis shoes, etc.

Intermediate group: Riders who ride between 50km and 100km at least 2x monthly and can tackle shallow to moderate (6%) slopes no longer than 1km in length. This would include most of the typical 'commuter riders'. Expect to see mainly road type bikes with lower end gear , a few platform pedals and mixed kit between cycle specific and gym clothes.

Advanced group: Riders who ride between 100km - 200km at least 3x monthly and are comfortable climbing 6% + slopes longer than 1km in length. Expect to see consistent use of higher end road gear and kits. Won't be any platform pedals in this bunch.

Race group: Riders who ride between 100km - 200km at least 4x monthly and are comfortable climbing 10% + slopes longer than 5km. Also include at least 1 race event per month. Team kits and gear are de riguer. Or stealth kits and gear for those in between sponsors.

Speed really means nothing - riders will naturally increase their speed as they ride more and take on more challenging routes with others.
 
Yeah, agree with Tim on his summation.

Not if we patent the idea and get some TCC decoder rings... that will upload the code to an iphone app that plots the course on GPS, sets your alarm to wake you up and lists all exit point train stations. Have your settings turn off your alarm and postpone the ride automatically if it's raining.

The sky is the limit... :cool:
 
I like the Portland idea, but yes, it does seem overly complicated and you could probably get away with 4 categories for each. However, if the categories are for the whole area and not just one club, then it makes sense. But it`s mainly for club/s whose members are primarily training and racing and hence, you can look at a planned ride and decide if terrain and pace fits in with your schedule. Interesting to see what they class as mountainous compared to here! GSAstuto`s suggestion fits more a touring/social cycling club scenario like TCC but I would rate more via pace, than distance.

For me, I would go with the Portland system. If I compare myself to GSAtuto`s classification, I would be in the intermediate group as I tend to ride 50 – 60 km with only one ride so far this year over 100 km and just the one time trial. However, went somewhere different yesterday and decided to go exploring up a side turning and 7 km later when the road finally gave way to permanent gravel I had climbed 550m (I checked on the way down) with the last 3.8 km from when it ramped up, yielding an ascent of 390m. For the whole ride, I just did 55 km but clocked up 1150m of climbing. So, intermediate, race or advanced? But, via Portland system probably 7E. Plus, I don`t have any team kit!
 
Not if we patent the idea and get some TCC decoder rings... that will upload the code to an iphone app that plots the course on GPS, sets your alarm to wake you up and lists all exit point train stations. Have your settings turn off your alarm and postpone the ride automatically if it's raining.
Does it stop you drinking at a sensible time the night before? No?
 
No one posts routes here, so you can't just look up the elevation/grade etc.
An easy ride here is under 20/ 30km, flat, and at a pace that kids and people hauling kids can do, so the system is skewed toward easy.

TCC has called going up Hinohara/Kazahari easy.
I'm just trying to wrap my head around it all.

And everyone uses miles here. So annoying.
And do I have to really carry a bike lock here? Annoying.

On the other hand, the dedicated paths have no gates and are FAST. :D

Actually, I once thought that categorizing riders by how fast they could climb Otarumi (Takao side from Family Mart) was probably an accurate-ish way to get a feel of people who would be similar paced. For instance, I averaged 16-17 minutes (slower than personal best)

Slower than most in this club but faster than some.
 
I still think the key point is just a combination of ride frequency, distance and the hills that you can climb comfortably. With that being said, I'd say that generally speaking most riders will fall into an intermediate / advanced level if they ride somewhat consistently over the course of a year or so. Under a year and inconsistent will be generally speaking novice to intermediate. Anyone who races or enters race-like events at least 3x in a year will be training enough to be in advanced - race group.

What would be nice is instead of rating how hard the ride (or how good are the riders) is rate the social intention.

NOLB - 'No One Left Behind' - The way HFC does its weekend social rides. With a skilled caboose picking up stragglers.

WATT - 'Wait At The Top' - Riders agree to reform at the top of hills. Thus no one should get dropped just becuase they can't climb as fast. And the faster climbers get the benefit of a little slack time to chit chat.

RUD - 'Ride Until Dropped' - Pace is not slacked to the lowest common rider and instead is held at a solid 'group pace' . If you fall off the back, then you agree to be dropped and on your own. Up to discretion of the group whether to slack pace or wait up at strategic points.

So - for example - tomorrow's 'Petes Pain Fest' ride would fall under a WATT ride. Cause we do our best to stay together, however, we ride hard up the hills as we can with agreement to wait at the top for regroups, mechanicals, etc. Doesn't really matter if you are Intermediate, Advanced or race, you'd be ok on this ride. Though there is generally a RUD portion which is the first transit. So - if you couldn't keep pace on the relatively flat transit TO the hills, then the group would probably suggest you simply drop or bail, cause the hills will be too challenging and we do have time constraints in getting a fairly long ride completed in a day.

I'll be happy to do more Tomin No Mori - NOLB rides, as well. There are bail out points and as long as the riders are prepared for a bail out, there is no issue in doing a ride part way.
 
I went out on a women's intermediate/advanced ride here and flew past everyone in the group of ten (except one woman on a Ti bike:)) . I was super happy and will try an intermediate coed ride next :bike::D
I was grateful for every West Tokyo climb that made me want to puke on the way up (most of them) and everyone who has waited at the top for me.

Similarly to how Tim explained, rides are also designated as
Group (everyone stays together)
Regroup or Nongroup (wait at points)
Drop

Good riding, friends.
 
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