CR - Saturday 8th November

[Amy]

[quote="Antloony"]I wonder whether its just a simple case of the groups being to big. The 18's seems to be the most popular and the numbers keep creeping up until your left with 16 plus riders in a group which in my opinion is way to large to A) control and manage and B) is a danger as it makes the group more difficult to get past by other road users esp through the lanes. Maybe limit group size to say 12 and leave 5 mins before setting off the next group. I guess in such large groups you'll always get a wide diverstity of strength and it can be a little frustrating sat on the wheel of some one that just dies at the first sniff of a hill knowing your meant to stick at their speed. If its kept sensible I see no harm in the odd little dig so long as the group reforms quickly afterwards, after all this isn't a bad way for people to improve a little strength wise which hopefully will enable them to eventually move up a group.

I also think sometimes people don't pay enough attention due to having a good chin wag which is great but when your gabbing away like Hilda Ogden you may not hear the calls for a rotate or a shout of steady or stop. Its all about awareness when riding in a group, Im sure 99% of us are more than capable (says he who nearly wiped out Mr today ) of riding in perfect formation down to the cafe, sometimes we just need a reminder to just take a little more care and be more aware of our surroundings and whats going on around us.

We're all there to have a good ride and enjoy ourselves so lets make it that way before it ends up becoming like some precision military drill complete with drill sargent VC barking orders at us. I for one don't want this and I feel it would put off newbies to the club straight away, last thing we need is to lose our monicker of The Agreeables.

As for the dreaded puncture stops, yes,in my recent experiences all etiquette seems to have flown out of the window the majority of the time. Maybe a rule of one stop we all stop should be implemented till at least untill someone volunteers to stay behind leaving the others to continue. I can honestly say 99% of the time I will and do stop to lend a hand though the past 4 times I'm the only one that has.

I'd love to continue but my teas on the table and I ain't missing home made beef casserole for nobody

[Grahame]

If I'm the lead VC for a group I go through what I expect of that group before we leave CSS, but recently I've been worried that I'm boring people, they've heard it before, or don't want to listen, I then stopped coming to the club run for a month or so, 'cos I got fed up of being "the boss" and just wanted to enjoy riding for a while without any responsibility other than for myself and common sense. I'll start doing it again.

I've had feedback that people like the discipline (easy Marky Mark - no Max Mosely (or similar) pictures, please) in my 17mph or 18mph groups, and feel intimidated about moving up into the faster groups by the lack of similar "group feel" or discipline. It's a difficult one to judge, as one man's group discipline is another man's tedious, boring ride. However, that is what we started the "B" training group for, so I think people need to be more honest with themselves about what they want from a club run. If you want to attack, don't hijack a "designated speed" group, and don't sandbag down a group unless you are prepared to play by that group's rules.

Finally, if you are not happy about how the club runs work, volunteer to help do something about it. The constitution of the club prevents Adam from becoming a VC, but he has previously volunteered to lead groups on the club run, and I applaud him for putting himself forward for that. Any more volunteers? There's plenty of spaces for more VCs I'm sure.

[Rob W]

I would like to say sorry to Marek also for not stopping inthe training group.But i didnt hear any shout.I must admit idid a short turn on the front,i wasnt feeling to strong the wind was terrible.

[Sylv]

So, the general consensus seems to be that Marek was too out-of-breath for anyone to hear him shout for puncture (that and the wind carried his words away)

There you go - all is well and no harm done

[kieran]

just to stir up some muck...

what about Marek's buddy?

[Marek]

Good point Keiran, I saw him fall off the group, but had assumed it was because of the pace, he did not call. I held back a bit to see if he was catching up, but looked like he was soft pedalling waiting for the next group, which is what I had told him to do if he got dropped. Did not realise he had punctured, also I did not know he had not bought his pump, whoops. He didn't stop the other groups as he had a cannister, although this blew up. He was ok and he will be back, in better weather hopefully.

Cheers

Marek....

[kieran]

if he realised he'd punctured did he know to shout out? Next time he will I'm sure?

[Rotherham Steve]

An overdue big thankyou to Ant who gave up his training group run on one of my last times down. I punctured, thankfully at the front and on full view. Put my arm up, and Ant stopped to help. Good job, for 2 reasons - don't know where I am once I get south of Yorkshire, and my pump didn't work. Still haven't bought a CO2 pump, still got Ant's 200psi in my back wheel, and still very very grateful. Cheers!

On a different note, gotta say thanks to all of you at Addiscombe. In any of the groups I've been out with, I've found the atmosphere really positive, friendly and encouraging. Whichever group I've been out with (including the "18.5 group" oops sorry..), I've always felt that if I had a problem and people realised, they'd help. In my local Saturday run, if it's anything other than the early warm up phase, you puncture and you're on your own. They're all nice people, but you guys are something else.

Thanks again!