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Wed A rides
Roll call! Anyone planning on riding from the shop tonight? I cannot make a 6PM start from the shop but could potentially meet you on the road. Respond please if you are planning on riding.
On the subject of the Wed A ride: do we feel we have enough interest to continue this one? If the res loops were any indication the attendance this year is already on the lighter side.
There are many options between the Tuesday B ride potentially splitting into A and B groups as the season progresses, the Wed "fight night" ride out of New Hartford and the Thursday A ride (also out of New Hartford). Do we feel we have enough interest to continue the Wed A ride?
Thoughts would be appreciated. Pat
Pat & A riders,
I'm not planning to ride with the group this evening. Unfortunately, I had conflicts for the month of April and have been a little behind on training. That being said, I am interested in participating in Wednesday A rides in the future.
It seems like participation started declining last year. Perhaps, the pace/route was too intense? Maybe, more of a focus on skills/training development would help.
On a related note, how does this tie in with the goal to have members compete under Eastern Bloc p/b Benidorm?
Jamie
I would encourage any club member who is interested in racing to give it a try. If you purchase a racing license with USAC your affiliated club (and team) is listed as "Benidorm Bikes / Eastern Bloc Cycling Club".
For tips on racing you can ask anyone with racing experience, although you run the risk of them never shutting up throughout the entire ride ;)
For this ride in particular we do not have as many ride leaders as some of the other rides and attendance has been on the low side this year. I will not be able to lead the ride through July and August so I wondering is we have the interest to keep it going this year.
My 2 cents - I'm definately interested in wed night high paced ride. Couldn't make it tonight but it is unusual for me to not show up. Was there the last 2 Wednesdays but surprised that ended up riding solo.
Having said that I'd catagorize myself as more of an A- or B+ rider. I typically cannot sustain A class racer pace....but always willing to try.
Still interested, will try and make it next week
My 2 dollars: all well-attended rides with longevity need consistency and planning.
Planning to me means if you look at forum threads, the two most popular rides (Tuesday and Friday) usually have discussions going a day (usually 2) ahead of the ride. The Wednesday ride? Morning of if that.
Consistency to me is like the Thursday night dumpster ride. From what I see on Strava, it always has quite a few participants and there's never a post about it. People just know it will happen and they show up.
And then there's the "A" racing thing with a different route each month but...I beat that horse to death a long time ago and no one wants me to drag out a rotten, smelly, dead horse. To beat. More.
> .....and no one wants me to drag out a rotten, smelly, dead horse.
Well that's never stopped you before..
You make some valid points. However, I would like to clarify a few things.
The Wed A, RP, RIP, whatever ride has been using the same monthy routes for several years now. We should have them linked to the ride calendar though and I will look into that.
This ride was traditionally attended by racers, as you well know, and the majority of the former participants are either no longer in the region, or no longer racing.
In the past this ride did not compete with other rides either in the same timeslot or be sandwiched between Tue and Thur rides as it is now.
I am just trying to gage whether or not this ride can remain viable this season. If so we will need more ride leaders to step up as I will not be able to attend a Wed ride after the end of June.
I won't be able to make it this week, will shoot for the 31'st.
My 1c - I've noticed through the years a lot of regular riders that attended this ride are now riding the Fight Night ride. I'm not sure if that's because this is ride is more "race pace", or the other ride is more fun.