We went out to Hampshire this morning for 3 circuits of the 33.5 mile course that we will be riding on during the event. The temperature was moderate, between 60 and 80 degrees during the ride, and the wind was between 8-11 mph.
The good result was based on an average moving speed of 21.3 mph and only 12 minutes of stopping time. The very short breaks between circuits definitely led to a couple of misadventures as the riders that weren't ready to saddle up on time had to work their tails off to get caught up with the group. One of our members ended up completing a circuit without his helmet, which got left behind. The course starts out with a long gentle descent, and catching up to the peleton required a pace of at least 30 mph on this section of the course.
The good result was based on an average moving speed of 21.3 mph and only 12 minutes of stopping time. The very short breaks between circuits definitely led to a couple of misadventures as the riders that weren't ready to saddle up on time had to work their tails off to get caught up with the group. One of our members ended up completing a circuit without his helmet, which got left behind. The course starts out with a long gentle descent, and catching up to the peleton required a pace of at least 30 mph on this section of the course.
There were about 30 bicycle riders at this training session from across Northern Illinois. Gary and I were also part of the EBC contingent (Gary had to leave after completing the first two circuits due to a family commitment). All things considered, the 30 of us held together fairly well
So how did our group of EBC'ers celebrate accomplishing this goal? Afterwards, we went to Wendy's. We're definitely going to have to work on our celebrating.
Link to Felix's Garmin Data:
Link to Felix's Garmin Data:
Link to Con's Garmin Data
Link to the Garmin Data:
ReplyDeletehttp://connect.garmin.com/activity/embed/110150227
Link to the data from Cons' GArmin:
ReplyDeletehttp://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/110144728
Martin - Got a good laugh from your tips. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. Advice to other riders, if your wife drags you to a party the night before the ride, drinking diet cokes is definitely not a good idea.
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ReplyDeleteThanks, and I totally agreed with what Ruthie said, hence the light-heartedness. We all knew there would be growing pains.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun for me; the second or third century I had ever done.
Looks like there are some comments missing.
ReplyDeleteWhat were the tips?
And what was the removed comment? ;-)
ReplyDeleteComments that include disparaging remarks about specific individuals have no place on this publicly accessible blog. Heck, we don't even name the names of riders that fall on top on the authors while stopped at green lights
ReplyDeleteAfter the Sunday ride, I wrote a tutorial about how to assert oneself in a group-ride situation by shouting a lot of commands at the group. This (the tutorial, not the shouting) was done to make people laugh and not take things too seriously. I did this in a sarcastic and irreverent way. (Hey Buddy, the only sacred thing to this Eskimo is SNOW.) It seems I may have caricaturized riders from other groups, but I really liked everyone I met and never wanted to single anyone out. It was equal-opportunity spoofing.
ReplyDeleteI removed my "Tips on Group Riding: How to Be A Leader" voluntarily to avoid controversy. It is still available for $199.99 (US) or 20 Euros; let me know if you are interested. Send money to my paypal slush fund. For an extra $5 (or half an euro) I will spell-check it.
Do not poke me in the eye if you feel I am making fun of you...I am doing that mentally whether you know it or not.
Martin the check is in the mail, send me the tutorial. I am not easily offended. I am not going to hold you responsible for any nervous breakdown and future therapy I might need after reading it.
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