BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

This seems like an excellent and positive way to spend that day, thanks, will try to make it.

This sounds good - is there a rough estimate of the elevation gain for the century? I've ridden centuries, but only in (flat) Ohio.

If I am not jetlagged, I want to do the century.

Always a good day, please join us.

top for tomorrow.

I was supposed to be at my "A" race for the season tomorrow but I am out due to injuries. Planning on riding the 35 mi route at the rally with my kid. It'll take the edge of me being totally bummed.

This will be a fun event-- lots of ride levels for all abilities. Hope to see you out there.

I am itching to ride my bike and I need to burn off all of that bad vacation food. I will be there unless I am sleeping

I really need to show up for this. Final numbers are not in yet, but after 2 weeks of traveling it looks like I have accrued a 525 mile biking deficit that I need to work off (weight-wise). That whole ultra thing is starting to look reasonable.

I've got afternoon plans with the kids, but I'm going to try to show up for the 35-miler.

@Ahlir: The Pittsburgh Randos are offering a 200K on Saturday, October 1st...not flat by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty typical riding for our area, and no Dirty Dozen hills or summits of Laurel or Chestnut ridges or anything like that.

damn. well being that it is after 1am and i can't sleep, i don't think i will be making it tomorrow. right now i feel like i could do it! but it may not be such a good idea. have fun, all! i may do my own solo ride when i finally get up.

Just finished the 65 mile route, pretty nice ride. The weather was fab.

I think the 35 mile route was more like 40 miles with just over 3k' of climbing -- my poor kid got more than he bargained for. This was his longest ride ever, and he said he had fun and would do it again. So I'll call it a win. Plus veggie burgers at the finish! Yes! Thanks Dan O for riding with us.

Did the 67 mile "metric" century. Nice ride, in almost perfect weather. Yummy endorphins.

Things got off to a bad start: I was running late and managed to miss the shelter on my first pass. I drove around randomly for a while (nobody had heard of any bike ride). I think maybe I was just too focused on spotting a parking lot full of cars with bike racks and people wearing too-bright jerseys. I guess everyone had left by the time I showed up (duh). Anyway, I scored the last remaining 65mi cue sheet and off I went. The route was good; that is, except for the stretch along a road that had just been milled.

I started to get tired after 50 miles or so, making the rest of the ride progressively less fun. In hindsight I should probably have skipped that last beer the night before. Though I don't think I would have been able to manage getting more than the 4 hours of sleep that I did. Sigh. At least for next time I'll have a better idea of what I'm capable of.

I spoke with one of the doers, Al, at the post-ride picnic. I was the only rider there, but he still offered to fire up the grill and make me a burger. I declined (not hungry yet and, besides, I'm in the middle of Michael Pollan's

The Omnivore’s Dilemma). Al told me that they had about 90 riders shown up, with about twenty doing the 35-miler. He wouldn't commit to a 65/100 distribution (I think he said that some people "cheat" when they declare their intended route or otherwise change their mind along the way). I hung around for a bit, sucking down cans of lemonade and listening to bike-geek conversation, then left.

Yep, I did the 35-miler, which was really 40, with Sarah and her son. I wish I had started riding at his age. Great weather, great day.

Ahlir, what time did you get to the finish shelter? I got there about 2:15 - 2:30, and they were tapped out on anything I wanted to eat. I was starving and headed straight out for something. I had stopped in Ellwood City and had 2 breakfast burritos about 10:30 because I could feel myself bonking out. Thank goodness because that snack stop at mi. 44 wouldn't have gotten me by.

And yes, that milled section of road outside Zelie sucked.

sarah q, how old is the son?

He's 12. And he's pretty slow. But he's got a lot of endurance. And a great attitude.

He likes the challenge of distance events -- he's more interested in going long than fast. Like me, I guess.

Awesome.

**He's 12. And he's pretty slow. But he's got a lot of endurance. And a great attitude. He likes the challenge of distance events -- he's more interested in going long than fast.**

KEEP HIM AWAY FROM REDAN!

General question, this was my first time doing a WPW ride. So, I saw the main group head out at 8:00 am ON THE DOT. And that's the last time I saw nearly anybody, pretty much all day. From my brief sighting, the group seemed to be 80% middle aged type A males intent on crushing this thing out in the least amount of time. I was pretty sure at the start, for the 65 mile route, I was biting off more than I could chew, but that has never stopped me in any case before. I had set aside all day, I could take 12 hours if I wanted. It was a lovely route, there were some interesting little towns that I would take my time going through, I check out old historic buildings, historic markers, strange little stores, whatever. Out on the road I would clip along at a fair pace. But my general impression of the WPW is that they crush out these rides to get them over with and get on to something else. When I got to the finish shelter, there was evidence that something ravenous had been there, empty food containers, full garbage cans, 4 people.

So to boil out an actual question from this, where are the slow people? Doesn't anyone just "tour"?

@Mark - Yeah, the last thing I need is my kid riding a 'bent.

Steelers kicked off at 1 p.m. yesterday. I DVR'd it so I got to be depressed later w/o having to rush through the ride.

There are many middle-aged dudes with less stubble on their legs than me who have crushed a few of my dreams on these rides. It's humbling to say the least.

There are a few WPW rides that tour, they are listed as "D" rides (the rides are classified A,B,C,D based on speed). I don't think most of the D riders would attempt the 65 mile ride route. I've only been on one D ride so I don't know too much about them -- it was too slow for me. I prefer the C+/B- rides.

I think they had about 90 people at the picnic. Next year I'd like to see a recycling bin. But otherwise the picnic was awesome. We were there around 1 p.m. and there were still quite a few people there.

I think I am slow, maybe, I dunno, but I don't see a reason not to "crush it out" or anything like that. Lots of people do this for lots of reasons. I doubt I have met many posters here riding around, but I have met some cool people and they all ride for different reasons.

To add to your question, as someone who has not done a group ride but feels they ride a little faster than the "tourer" but doesn't crush everything, where do we ride? Seems to be a large gap. One such that it may keep me from embarrassing myself at a WPW ride or from trying to crush a Flock ride. Perhaps one of the regular "faster" types could set a representative route with some time standards?

@Sarah: Don't worry...until he's capable of growing a lush, full beard, he wouldn't be allowed to ride one anyway.

I ended up doing a bunch of housework, so missed out. Kinda bummed...I really wanted to at least do the 35.

The 35 mile route cue sheet called for 36.5 but the painted arrows didn't exactly follow the cue sheet. So there was a nasty hill(13%) somewhere around the 30 mile mark (State Rd in Middlesex Twp, maybe?) if you just followed the arrows (Ofcourse I was lazy and just followed the arrows). I clocked it as 40 miles when we finished.

I set out to do the century route, but got there just a tad late and missed the group that rolled out at 7 AM sharp. I took off at a pretty brisk B+ pace and just followed the green arrows. It was a nice route, hillier than I expected, but I enjoyed the workout. I got back to the park and no one was around, so I lost interest in doing any more riding alone and went home and did a bunch of housework.

@edmonds59: I got back by about 2:45; too bad I missed you. The food out on the table didn't look too good, even from a distance, so I stayed away.

Since I was the probably the very last person moving out I didn't actually expect to see anyone. I did catch up to a small group stuck at a railway crossing but dropped them soon after (bwahaha).

It is the case that people on these rides tend to act competitive, but you have remember that in truth most of them ride at the Cat 6 level, and that socially these events aren't really structured like our urban rides. So you should make allowances.

Which reminds me, the Tour "da" Montour is coming up on the 24th. If you want to experience the sheer excitement of Cat 6 racing, plus the thrill of dodging strolling families and cutting past seniors out for their constitutional, get yourself out there. (I can still hear that "on YOUR *L*E*F*T*!!!" from some dude zooming past me in full lycra and knobbies.) But seriously, it's a really fun ride along what (to me) is the nicest trail in the area. Do it.

I don't have anything against the fast guys, gotta ride the way it makes you happy. I am just a B personality in all things, apart from riding, I resist anything resembling urgency whenever at all possible. I am perfectly content to use their cue sheet and ride the route at my own pace and leisure, not my point.

I suppose what I lament, during this resurgence of all things cycling, the complete death or nonexistence of what, I guess, used to be called "day touring". Riding 70, 80, 100 miles, and taking all day to do it, and not checking your pulse rate, let alone your time. Just get done before dark.

As you say, Ahlir, these events aren't structured socially, etc. Why not? I generally prefer riding alone, so I will continue riding along at my own pace looking at the birdies and such, but I think it's a shame because a lot of people who might otherwise ride are put off by, as orionz said, possibly being "embarrased" by not making some meaningless completion time. I'm like a one man slow movement.

Some of those people may just not join group rides. My wife and I are training for DC with very much the touring speed if 80 miles/all day. We're perhaps similarly not motivated to get up early to be done by lunch.

I understand and I think agree with your desire for all sorts of different types to be out there, but don't despair just because you don't see them on the organized rides.

I would love to join a group ride but no one seems to be able to answer where I would fit and the general response is "just go and deal with it" when I don't wish to be the weakest link.

If there were a weekly group ride that I knew I could fit in with and could EASILY pick up on the protocol that would be great, but the gist I get is that I would be a nuisance.

Here's the ride classifications for the WPW. You can see where you fit.

http://wpwbikeclub.org/?page_id=34

from the page sarah linked, it looks like everything but "E" is considered independent race rides, and only "E" is really a group-style ride?

I'm spoiled by the Flock. I tend to think of rides as fantastic opportunities to attend rolling parties while avoiding getting lost. Anything else seems like too much work for me, but I'm extremely lazy

Oh, everything but A usually rides as a group. A tends to be pretty intense -- either you draft on the pace line or get dropped. B tends to be friendly but fast -- you might get dropped if you can't hang but for most people that pace is still "conversational".

C is definitely a group ride type of thing -- usually we all regroup at turns or rest stops or what have you. But we are riding as a group at a 15 mph avg pace so we're moving along at a decent clip.

Cool. So I guess I would categorize my ride Sunday as a solid D/2/65. The post for the rally didn't seem to say what the rating for the rides would be. Ideally I suppose I would like to increase my fitness level until I could do something like a D/2/120. That's a days ride. I have little-to-no desire to increase my speed.

@edmonds - all last summer, i would go probably every weekend and do exactly what you're talking about. i'd get up and out early (which for me means about 9), head off in some direction or other, grab lunch along the way, make a day of it. i also always brought a book and a towel, and ended the ride by reading for an hour or two on flagstaff hill. it's a hell of a way to pass the summer.

unfortunately, this year, i think i was in town maybe one in four weekends, and each of those was filled with whatever i needed to get done but couldn't on the weekends i was out of town, so i think i've only done it once or twice this year.

i am totally down with a group ride like this if someone wants to set one up. i think part of the problem with getting people to go on something like this is everyone has their own idea of what their pace is, and moving at it and stopping and going whenever you like is generally only feasible when you're on your own. but i think it can be done, and i would love to go on such a ride.

I used to be able to ride about class A on a daily basis around north park in my younger years, and I did a century once with some guys and it was definitely a class A ride, but I am probably more of a B now on my single speed on a good day. When I do long rides on my road bike and I am trying to exert myself and act all type A-ish, I like to ride alone. But I like the flock rides also. It is nice to have a good balance. Cburch gets on my case about being all type A. He is not. You really do enjoy te scenery when you arent racing to the end, but I am goal oriented and that is satisfying for me. I think it is the challenge.

@Sarah...

I have seen the ride classifications before, not entirely useful.

I am just gonna hunt down some GPS tracks and ask for an expected time. As for getting into a group in general, never seemed as open to new riders as I would have expected.

@edmonds59: Sounds about right, though I might be inclined to rate the terrain as 3 or even 4, given the descriptive phrases on the WPW website. (There's only one climb, somewhere early on, that I recall as being real work.)

@orionz06: Personally, I find the rating system does an imperfect job of reflecting reality. It's safe to say that A or B+ rides are hammerfests, and D or E rides are conversational-paced cruises; the middle range is far less consistent. Also, keep in mind that larger rides often break into multiple groups (more-or-less deliberately), so that people with more compatible styles are riding together.

I'd suggest starting with C-rides with the WPW or Major Taylor, and see how it feels. Talk to other riders (or the ride leaders), see what other rides they'd recommend, and go from there.

(If you ever wish to head out into the boonies for a long-ish ride at a rolling average of 14-17 mph, I'm usually down for such shenanigans.)

@orionz06, I disagree about them being not welcoming to new riders, at least in my experience. I am fairly new to pgh ('06) and I was a new cyclist at that time too. Very unsteady, terrified of traffic, a nightmare with clipless pedals, etc. WPW (and later MTCC) welcomed me into the group. Several excellent riders from the club encouraged and mentored me. I am a much much better rider now than I was when I got here, largely thanks to the friends I've made through the cycling community.

Sure there are going to be a few dicks in any group of people but in my experience the WPW is a good group of people and I'd recommend giving it (another) shot. My 0.02 anyway.

Also I recommend riding with Dan if you have the chance. Right now I am dealing with a sprained back but usually I am usually up for a long 14-16 mph avg ride to where ever too, as long as it doesn't involve any dirty-dozen-esque hills.

ETA ... or turkeys

I'm the ride leader for Team Decaf, the "Dan" referred to by sarah_q.

The Tuesday Night Decaf rides, rated C, have become faster. To me they have become B- or C++ paced. There are many regular riders who like to crush it out, but we have started to attract a few slower riders who stick together.

This week (9/13) I'm leading the ride and planning to state up-front that I'm riding at a real C pace, not racing to the finish - stopping maybe a few times at hill tops or to regroup. Anyone who wants to ride ahead at rocket speed or chill with me is welcome. 6:15, meet at Taza D'Oro, Highland Park.

The WPW sounds like an interesting group. I ride the Tuesday rides, but I had no idea that WPW are as big as they are. They sound like a group that could take me to the next level. I'll have to do more research into them.

Dan,I might take you up one of these days.

i did the metric and it was my first meeting of the WPW. everybody seemed very nice to me. i enjoyed the ride and found it very well organized.

i lost the main pack at a light and then a intersection. i found two other riders and we had a great ride.

i always ride alone and i wasn't sure where i'd fit. Those guys were moving out i'll say that. i finished at 4:11 so i'm not sure what group i'd fall into by the rating system.