Thread started by Bruce Steel at 03.6.08 - 8:55 am

Hey, thanks to everyone who came out on pups last night. Didn't know what ability levels would show up.

When I first got involved in competitive cycling 20 years ago, I got my ass handed to me in every race I entered and every group ride I ever tried to do. I'm not terribly faster 20 years later, but I can turn the pedals a bit. Along the way, I've had the opportunity to ride with some of the top professional cyclists in the world which has given me the chance to see just how fast people can go on bikes and see just how limited my own abilities are. Being the fastest person in a tiny self-selected group of people on a ride doesn't make anybody king of the world and being the slowest person doesn't mean much either when you look at the big picture.

So unless you can kick Fabian Cancellara's ass on a bike, I encourage everyone to be considerate, be kind, and if you want an extra challenge, next time try pushing someone who's slower up the hills. I didn't have much time to prepare for the ride last night so I needed to be up front taking the con and keeping the ride moving, but next week I'll have a more concrete route and will be happy to lend a hand to anyone who wants to give a faster ride a try.

The game plan is to keep this a swift ride free of stoppages, but if anyone out there wants to try a faster ride but gets turned off by the cliquey nature of bike culture, please show up or drop me a line at 4wallsfalling@gmail.com. There's no shame in trying something new and sucking at it--that's how I fell in love with road bikes!

Drill it,

Andrew

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words of inspiration! we try to keep a vibe of openness at Cubcamp also, and its working out. I find that most rides posted on here can sound intimidating, until you actually go to them and unlock the awesomeness and freedom of encountering new friends.

Lil Pups is the Wednesday night ride, correct?
where/when do you meet?



SKIDMARCUS
03.6.08 - 10:05 am

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The first time my mom and dad carted my 13-year-old, 120-pound skinny, awkward ass out to an industrial park in Kansas City where a pack of adult men lapped me repeatedly they--and I--sure as hell didn't think I'd still be turning the pedals 20 years later! Everybody starts somewhere. Getting dropped isn't failure. Failure is when you stop trying.

This ride meets Wed at 8 pm at Silversun Liquors, opposite Tropical on Sunset and Parkman.

There don't seem to be any social group rides in between the extremes of so-slow-and-drunk-you-might-fall-over/going semi fast and running red lights/actual race pace training rides. Hopefully this, and other rides, can help to bridge that gap.

Drill it,

Andrew



Bruce Steel
03.6.08 - 10:42 am

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I've been needing to get out on more of these kind of rides and I just had a whole lot of extra time dumped on my lap.... so... see y'all next wednesday!



Roadblock
03.6.08 - 10:55 am

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Andrew, thanks for the ride last night, but regarding your first post, were you unhappy about how people rode? It seemed to me that you were in charge of the pace. Cole always likes to ride in front, next to the leader, and Vince and the rest of us fixed gear guys were just chilling behind you guys, going with the flow. I didn't perceive that anyone brought a competitive vibe. We all showed up just wanting to check it out, go with the flow and see what it was like.

I liked the ride, and I want you to feel successful about it. People are posting on LAfixed today that it was a really fun ride.



City Hobgoblin
03.6.08 - 2:39 pm

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See the 'Bike Vandalism' thread for my excuse for not showing up. Next week, though!



markedge
03.6.08 - 3:31 pm

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I'm getting a weird vibe from Andrew's post. We all followed his lead for the most part. I'm pretty sure most of us were fine with waiting for KC, but Andrew was eager to keep the pace moving with the rides philosophy/master plan. I figured this ride was going to be fast, but didn't expect us to leave riders behind. Oh well.



XPC
03.6.08 - 3:37 pm

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Bruce said,
"There don't seem to be any social group rides in between the extremes of so-slow-and-drunk-you-might-fall-over/going semi fast and running red lights/actual race pace training rides. Hopefully this, and other rides, can help to bridge that gap."





That's cool...






Joe Borfo
03.6.08 - 3:40 pm

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Andrew, i had a great time last night! That was the first time back on the bike since my wreck, and I was super happy that I can now place my ass back on two wheels. Great route and Length too.



I AM Traffic
03.6.08 - 6:23 pm

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I actually want to see how doable these rides are with a strict, mountain bike.
I've held it and lost it on the Juggernaut rides.
But, I'm going to place my blame on limited gearing.
That 42t high-gear tends to get a little monotonous after going 20-30 miles.
When I'm not carrying anything on my back, I tend to notice a rollercoaster effect of myself keeping speeds between 15 and 25mph.
However, once I get some good shoes, I'll probably ease myself from the elleptical over to the treadmill to help myself out with speed/distance woes.
I just don't want to end up in the tail-end, and then become lost in an area I'm not totally, familiar with.



bentstrider
03.6.08 - 8:09 pm

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Know how you feel bentstrider! I've been losing it on these harder rides too, but i feel like L'il pup's is the next step for me. It's a short ride with no stops and the pace isn't that crazy. I did lose pup's this week because I've been pushing myself too hard for three nights. I just started a new training program for myself but I was a treadmill fiend until i started getting problems with my joints. Spin classes really helped me get my speed up. I go to one at the Y. I'm still in the back of these rides and getting dropped but I'm just going to keep at it and not let it get me down, hope you do the same :)



RC
03.7.08 - 12:35 am

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Last night was a bit of a disaster... I think people had different visions of what the ride was going to be, and without clear leadership it got a little sloppy.

Me and my band of merry men (all 3 of us) bolted after getting unsolicited drafting instructions. Ha.



City Hobgoblin
03.13.08 - 10:05 am

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"There don't seem to be any social group rides in between the extremes of so-slow-and-drunk-you-might-fall-over/going semi fast and running red lights/actual race pace training rides. Hopefully this, and other rides, can help to bridge that gap."



awesome. what was last night's distance and average mph?
argh. i guess i can find out next week.



soso
03.13.08 - 10:18 am

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CH,

For those of us who weren't there, could you maybe give an un-biased overview of the ride dynamics? It seems like this is a recurring theme on this particular ride. ie. different people's view of what this ride really is and the structure of group.

I don't often hear about the breakdown of the ride due to this. Its usually, someone hijacking a ride or things of that nature.

Thanks




stevo4
03.13.08 - 10:20 am

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Hey Hobgoblin,

Sorry you felt the unsolicited drafting instructions where a turn off.

I was trying to keep the pack together but it might seem unwarranted. Since technically this isn't my ride, I left it to Andrew who didn't show so I didn't have a route in mind.

It did seem like you wanted to do a casual hour ride which isn't the description of this ride. That's cool. No Offense.

We did about 35 miles a few others were dropped near the end because the levels were different.

This is about the distances I have in mind for these rides unless Andrew shows up again, then it's his call.



PaulyD
03.13.08 - 11:20 am

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Sure, here's my perspective:

Basically Andrew and RC didn't show, but about 10 people did, and we had a good cross section: myself and 2 friends from k-town (fixed), a few other fixed gear riders, a few roadies, and a gal on a hybrid.

I don't think anyone hijacked, it was just a case of, like you said "different people's view of what this ride really is".

A route was proposed by a road guy: 40 miles to the beach and back down Wilshire. A few people said that was a bit much, and I objected to riding on Wilshire/3rd street. A shorter route was proposed, still going down Wilshire, and that seemed to be accepted by everyone.

Since this was advertised as no-rider-left-behind, my friends and I stuck back with the gal on the hybrid going through some hills early on. But it became clear that different people had different visions for how they wanted to ride. My friend was a little put off when he was instructed to draft, and living in K-town we don't like Wilshire anyway, so we split.

It wasn't a big deal, and no hard feelings at all to anyone; we did a really fun 15 miles through Boyle Heights.

But I think the ride should have been tailored to the less experienced elements. We should have asked the gal on the hybrid what she wanted to do, and let her lead.



City Hobgoblin
03.13.08 - 11:24 am

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Hey Paul, no worries.

I'm not exactly clear on what this ride is either. Last week it was advertised at 30-50 miles, but we actually only did about 15.



City Hobgoblin
03.13.08 - 11:27 am

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hey all-
couldn't make it, glad a ride happened! if anyone's coming next week, have some different ideas about how to keep this a faster paced but friendly, no drop ride and something appropriate for people who want to do something in between the midnight ridazz and racing bikes ends of the spectrum, of which there seem to be many.

people who have done this a few times, what would you be most interested in? seemed like a swift, up for it bunch of folks last time. i have a few routes in mind with minimal stoplight/sign induced drag and some good sections where the throttle could be held open for sustained periods of time.

as someone above mentions, yes, this ride was intended to be 30-50 originally. but an hour of solid riding with some fatiguing vectors like long hills and hauling ass sounds good, too. like i said, ideally it's about medium hard if the end points of your difficulty scale are racing and being drunk going 3 miles an hour.

i'm bored to death of riding the bike path, but with a quick group it could be quite fun to head out to the path, come back through the park and then head down riverside to come back up sunset then over to elysian park for a climbing loop. or something like that.

i've also thought about taking a low traffic route to a no traffic area like an industrial park and doing laps and maybe throwing in five sprints to contest.

and have other routes in mind as well.

that's a bit vague perhaps, but i think with the volume of bike riding going on in silverlake it's just a good idea to have a steady ride there for people to do, whatever it is.





Bruce Steel
03.13.08 - 3:40 pm

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i don't know how to edit posts.

that first graph should you know, finish a thought at least. so:

if anyone's coming next week please share idea you may have about how to make this a faster paced but friendly, no drop ride and something appropriate for people who want to do something in between the midnight ridazz and racing bikes ends of the spectrum, of which there seem to be many.



Bruce Steel
03.13.08 - 3:47 pm

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Andrew,

I have reposted your ride info form BikeBoom.com these last several weeks here on Ridazzz to keep it alive.

I looked at this ride as a harder rider and was willing to push as had as possible with the group.
30-50 miles is good for me.

I like the no resting for 30 minutes idea. A few 5 minute stops are fine other wise the ride will take us 3 hours.

Let's sidebar on this and discuss you original idea for the ride.



PaulyD
03.13.08 - 4:15 pm

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Hey CityHobgoblin,


you're in ktown?
where at?

I am too and want to ride with some other cats. I'm kinda new but can keep up pretty well.


-J-



Justin
03.13.08 - 5:55 pm

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@RC
-I'll probably just lay extra resistance and time into the elleptical.
That thing brought my weight down a few, years back and helps maintain my moderated shape.
Another cool thing about it is that while you get your workout, your knees are pretty much safe.
As for the nutrional aspect of the whole thing, I fail miserably in that area.
I, for one, am a junk-food junkie that has take the Century-Vitamins to supplement.
Other than that, the distance part of cycling, I tend to have no problems with.
Whether it be 20 miles, or 100 miles, I'll hang with the group as long as the speed is maintaining that aforementioned, roller-coaster effect.



bentstrider
03.13.08 - 6:14 pm

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Justin, yeah there are a few of us K-towners. I live near 8th and Hobart. A Wednesday ride has been developing with some of the K-town fixed gear guys, for the last 2 weeks we've gone to Lil Pups and gone to korean BBQ after.




City Hobgoblin
03.13.08 - 6:36 pm

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CH,

8th & Hobart? Dong ll Jang is my favorite Korean place in K-town. Well Manna on Olympic is also great for big parties and all you can eat. And then BCD near LACM start is good for a 24 hr. place.

I don't ride Fixie, but maybe i'll sell my roadbike and get one just to join you guys...



stevo4
03.13.08 - 6:41 pm

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Cool man, I'm at 2nd and Normandie, and I don't have a fixed gear (don't shoot) but would still love to ride sometime.

i have been going on some solo missions through downtown, and to to bev hills and what not....trying to figure out which way to go tonight.



-J-






Justin
03.13.08 - 6:49 pm

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werd! Come hang with the k-town scuzzbags! Piles of smiles.



City Hobgoblin
03.13.08 - 6:52 pm

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Justin,

I have 2 words for you, which, really equals one word:

Cub Camp. = Fun.

See you tonight!



stevo4
03.13.08 - 6:53 pm

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haha I think I would get dropped at cubcamp actually.
Thats a pretty long ride, although I'm tempted to try it anyway.
I need to get a light too.....bleh.

CH,
lets do it up sometime soon man!!


-J-



Justin
03.13.08 - 6:56 pm

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....and that was actually 3 words and an equal sign!


-J-



Justin
03.13.08 - 8:29 pm

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