Submitted by secret mile muncher on Wed, 26/04/2006 - 4:44pm
Posted in
We have been chain ganging on a tuesday night for a few weeks now and I thought that we ought to discuss if what we are happy with the way things are being done.
I am concerned that folk may be avoiding coming out on a tuesday night because of the intense & flat road nature of chaingang riding.
There have been two rides leaving the club at 6-30pm, the chaingang of six or so and a smaller group 3-4, doing more varied rides.
I propose that once a month instead of a flat chaingang ride that we do a longer hilly ride with a more gentle pace between the hills.
Please post your comments on the chaingang, don't be afraid of being blunt!
[sydear] Chain gang format??
personally chain ganging is not my thing, dont mind the odd one.
for me the Tuesday is more of a good steady ride with a mix hills and pace, may be a bit of chang gang. Mind you as I hardly get out, why should you guys listen to me.
:)
*Syd - sorry for moving your post! ./ah
preference...
Any kind of ride where my lungs are not burning as I try to tag on the back with that ongoing sensation of the being in the process of being dropped is good with me.
Fast(ish) flat, push up hill, tea/beer involved I think would be pretty much ideal given my lack of commitment over the last months :) This time of year its very much a case of my own pace please... but thats my issue not the collectives!
Meeting everyones needs and abilities is going to be a 'mare for anyone; as it is if I am taken with the need to fit more miles into the day I know there is a more social ride on Sunday, a mixed and flat out ride on a Tuesday, and a flat out for 30 mins on a Thursday.... that's not bad going is it?
I am concerned that folk may be avoiding coming out on a tuesday night because of the intense & flat road nature of chaingang riding. - It's not the flat nature - its the intense nature - seriously!! But you guys are in shape, you should be doing that. However I cannot deny the level of fitness of others does put you off - but thats my doing isnt it, which kinda' negates it (lots).
Your views are important
Syd, your point of view is important, the VC Melyd is not an out and out racing club and never should be. The type of rides needs to match the greatest number of riders rather than strongest riders.
Need for a chaingang
To get 6-7 riders from our club alone chainganging at speeds equivalent to local road races.
Or local chaingangs of the past few years is quite an achievement considering we have only been doing them for a month. It’s a shame people feel intimidated, if we are going to race we need a ride where we can concentrate on speed the chaingang gives us that opportunity, hopefully removing some of the competitiveness from the club ride.
Maybe we should also have a slower shorter ride or a mountain bike ride on a Tuesday
Comments please, also volunteers to lead the rides to lead the rides would be good.
My ten pennies worth
Agreed Its a bit odd at the moment, as the majority approx (5 or 6) are chain ganging on a Tuesday, whereas it is the minority (approx 4) doing the regular ride.
I think in an ideal world it would be better if the emphasis was on the regular club ride, with the majority doing that, but with the same group of people who are specifically speed training or just into pain doing a chain gang.
This may occur naturally when we see the numbers riding as we did last summer.
Personally and possibly selfishly, I enjoy the chain gang sort of stuff, its that sort of thing that I started cycling for (something to get the testosterone and adrenaline moving again after years playing bloody golf!) However having said that I am not against taking a weeks break in four, to take in a different type of ride, however we have to make sure we dont get in the situation of people only appearing for this one week out of four.
However I am with you on the point that it never wants to get to the situation where those who are not chain ganging feel disassociated. This club has built its strength in being welcoming and inclusive for all,we cant build a club around a handful of sadistic nutters !! No offence SMM :)
HA HA Intimidating
Can you imagine any bunch less intimidating than us, or me specifically !! (A hamster on a childs bike, I ask you, how scary ??) ha ha
So thats why our illustrious leader is sporting some discreet bum fluff around his usually highly polished and suspiciously varnished pins ! :) he is secretly hankering after his MTB.
in reply to Dan
The numbers will rise when its warmer / lighter / generally more nice again (just a shame they are not as active on here in the meanwhile) - in the meanwhile you sadists do what you enjoy ... if I had kept up the pain in those salt encrusted dark days of road silage ingestion I would be keener to be out now! Its a damned fine thing you are up at that pace and ready to represent the club (if you so wished).
But I do hear what SMM is saying - the winning indgredient to the VCM is not taking ourselves too seriously - and being more than blood, sweat, and tears... balancing the two is the issue - IF and WHEN it presents. Is it an issue at the moment - I am not so sure - there are slow and fast rides, and people know it (people who read this guff do).
Chain gang
This could end up being a right can of worms but....
Lets not be afraid of running 2 rides on a Tuesday I think we are all realistic enough to accept that barring a couple of us(no names) the majority of us mad enough to want to race this season need the high quality training the chain gang gives us, alright it may hurt and it may not be warm & fluffy social riding that is a brilliant part of riding with you guys! but for us who have committed to racing, especially those who only have limited time to dedicate to training,it is the only way some of us (myself included) will have chance of hanging on to a bunch. we are talking about April to July when the numbers of riders on tuesdays have historically gone up to 20 plus so give it a couple of weeks and Iam sure the regular riders will soon outnumber the nutters! As for the format the only change i would suggest would be to do reps on the actual race circuit,in order to make the training as close as possible to the racing we are most likely to do.
Hope this doesnt offend anyone!
cheers Justin
Simulation of a real race
Also if we could shout and swear at each other a lot more then that would be great in reproducing the real race scenario. And also for maximum authenticity could we have someone crying for their mum and wanting the pain to stop (I will volunteer for that one) and also a vomiter would be a nice touch too (Probably the job for Jase as he's usually had Sausage, Egg, Beans and Chips just before he starts a ride, so it cant be that hard for him)
reps justin
two laps for you nex week then.
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