Shop rides

Posted by PeterD Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:25:00 GMT

There was a recent post on MTBR that covers what the ride is supposed to be about:
I spend a lot of time training and riding with a focused goals. Racing is great but it’s good to recalibrate once in a while. I went to the Passion Trails Wednesday night ride tonight and remembered why I started riding in the first place. Good people, friendly vibes and just a damn good time on a bike.

It was great to hear this.

Did remind me of some things meant to say before the last ride I lead, which I thought I would post here:

• Pace – One of the questions we are often asked is what pace the rides go at. That is hard to answer, as these are group rides, so we go the pace of the folks on the ride and have lots of regroups. If you have ridden with any of the others on the ride, you can get a feel from them what pace it will be. The ride description also sometimes gives some information related to the paces. Other than that, about the best we can recommend is come give it a try.
• Socialize – These are meant to be social group rides, not training rides. Half the time, the ride leader is deciding on the route to use as he/she rides. And even if they do know their route, they may not say it so as to force everyone to stay as a group. If you go hammer off the front, the ride leader may decide to change the route on you (happened to 2 guys on a ride I lead a few weeks back).
• Regroups – We generally regroup at both the El Camino/Ralston and Alameda/Ralston intersections. If you are up front, wait at these until everyone is together before crossing the road. On the trails, we regroup at most trail intersections. Not everyone knows the park, so we want to make sure we all stay together.
• Good citizens – We need to ride safely and legally on the road up to the park. Follow the rules (stop at stop signs, etc.) and be careful of the cars. This will keep it safe for you, and will also keep others (drivers, pedestrians, etc.) from thinking cyclists are bad citizens. This also holds true on the trails, where we should yield to others when appropriate.
• Control your own destiny – There are some lessons to be learned from the jumps behind Carlmont – just because a trail looks heavily ridden does not mean that you or I could ride it. If something looks difficult for you, feel free to get off and walk that stretch or ask about alternate routes around. There are some challenging parts to Waterdog (and, of course, at the jumps), and we have to leave it to you to decide what you and your gear can handle.