today’s uwct training ride (24th jan) was pretty massive.  there were over 70 riders in attendance and this meant that we were continuously getting split at lights. people were stupidly taking risks and going through red lights to stay on the group, even though the group was not going very fast and it was easy to get back on.

our regroup at the top of kalamunda is also getting too big for the area.  the servo regroup is ok, as long as we don’t get in the way of any customers.

there are also a number of riders that are not making the 20 min cut-off.  although we have said that it is a race pace ride, the more we can look after our riders the better.

so, what is the solution?

• splitting the group is the obvious thing, but getting people to self select into 2 groups is always hard as people will want to be in the “fast” group and get picked up by the next group if they get dropped.
• so we will split, but the “fast” group will start 15min after the main group.  this means that we effectively have a chase group.

so who should be in each group?

• if you currently make it to the regroup point within 10min of the lead riders, then you should be in the second group.  anything past this and you really need to be in the 6:00am group.

so what else will change?

• the regroup at the top of gooseberry will now be removed.  basically all the hills will be at race pace.  make sure you dose your effort as there are lots of hills to go after the goose.
• the ride out to the hills in both groups will be at a steady, neutral pace, not at race pace.  there are too many traffic lights and intersections to negotiate which would encourage people to take unnecessary risks. however, to stop people taking further risks vying for position before the bottom of ridgehill rd, the race pace section begins after the bridge over roe hwy.  where bushmead rd becomes helena valley rd.  it is then all on till we are back to the servo after guilford.  remember, race pace does not mean it is a race.  all road rules must be obeyed.  do not take unnecessary risks.  see the map below for where the neutral section starts.

what about the regroup and finish?

• the servo after guilford will still be the focus for refueling and  regrouping.  the 20min limit will still be set, but will start from when the first group hits the servo from either the fast or main groups.  this is why it is important for the fast riders not to be in the 6:00am group or it would mean no real change to what we currently do.  this hopefully will allow more people to be at the regroup point before we head back into the city.
• the run into the city will still be the same.  once we are past the lights at bassendean, we are back to race pace all the way to coffee.  for anyone wanting to do some extra km’s once we hit the city, it is best to organise that at the servo regroup.

at the end of the day this is a club training ride to allow our members some solid training leading up to the event.  it is open to all riders, but just be aware that if they do not want to align to how the club runs things, then they will be asked not to come back and in the worst case, asked to leave the ride straight away.  there are lots of riders that do our rides that may not necessarily read the blog.  please forward this onto them so that they know what we expect on this ride.

see the original post for even more info.

ride route – spr 2016 uwct training course