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Bagel Ride- Saturday Sept 1st


CBaron
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Ok, I'll play....

In case any of you skinny wheeled punks are out there hiding in the wings, I'm contemplating showing up to the weekly Saturday AM "Bagel Ride".  I can't recall the EXACT details from memory, but they roll out from Parmer & Tech Ridge around 7:30am.  Its a pretty big group sometimes between 30-50 riders.  At the 'midway' convenience store refuel, the group splits off into a long and short group.  Long usually goes 70-80; short 50-60 miles.  I'm thinking about doing short.

So if you can handle the mileage, HOLD A PACELINE, and enjoy the melodic hum of 50 pairs of tires singing along the central Texas tarmac, feel free to join in.

Later -CJB

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On 8/31/2018 at 2:40 PM, CBaron said:

HOLD A PACELINE

Cody - I have a cross bike and when the trails are wet, I'll ride it on the road.  However, I've never understood exactly what it means to 'hold a paceline'.  Does this just mean that you go the same speed as the dude in front of you and keep a reasonable distance off their back wheel?  Is there some sort of roadie etiquette that I missing out on here?  

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To me, holding the paceline means a few things:

  1. Confident enough in your riding and your group's riding to ride very close to each other.
  2. Not doing abrupt moves, braking, accelerating hard, or not keeping momentum and bike position when going from seated to standing or vice-versa or drinking.
  3. When its your turn to pull, don't go harder than the group's speed even if you feel very strong, if you can't pull for very long, that's OK, do a quick turn and move back so as to not explode.
  4. Not panic over every single thing on the road.  I've been in so many group rides where people point out everything and do some harsh maneuvers or just the fact that one hand comes off the bars turns it into a scary situation.  Ride over gravel, point things offline.   When in a tight group, the best thing to do is to follow the wheel in front of you.  There's little chance you'll be able to react to something pointed by the person right in front of you.

#2,3,4 are one reason why I don't do many group rides to be honest.  I need to get faster so I can go on the faster and more experienced group rides.

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AntonioGG is pretty much on target.  "Hold a Paceline" (or "comfortable in a paceline") is sort of a code word for most of the things that Antonio mentions.  It essentially boils down to when you show up to a group ride of 40 ppl (the numbers on Saturday) and everyone heads out for 50-70 miles, at a very steady speed, in elbow-to-elbow proximity....you will not be a danger to yourself or those around you.  

I'm introducing my youngest son (9 yo) to road cycling.  He's been darting around, hopping off curbs, and generally goofing off.  I've had to tell him that in "this world" being steady, holding a smooth line and being predictable is the "cool way to ride".  Its the difference from being a rally driver and an F1 driver.  If any of you are out there and want to work on developing these kinds of aptitudes, then I'd very much recommend the Saturday morning BSS Parmer ride(s).  There are 2 groups.  The short-group does about 25 miles and is pretty much open to all abilities and levels.  They usually have 4-8 riders.  I've been meaning to bring my 15 yo son out there for some of his 1st real group rides.  The long-group does about 35'ish and they usually contain some more experienced riders.  I've seen this group vary from 6-20 riders.  When I came back to road riding about 2 yrs ago, I jumped into their long-group rides about half dozen times to work on getting my "pack legs" back so that I could get comfy in a group again.  I've now since moved on to this Bagel Ride as a next level up in pace/size/speed.  The Bagel Ride group is very "civilized" in that the riders are experienced and are not there to prove anything.  But that doesn't mean that its not fast and challenging.

If we ever had enough people around here (this forum) that wanted to work on some of these basics, I'd be very willing to do a few basic rides to show/demonstrate some of these scenarios.  There are a handful of do's & don'ts that can take you pretty far.  AntonioGG summarizes a good bit of them above.

Cheers -CJB

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To keep this thread going....  (I wish this could be broken off into its own unique post.  Maybe beginning with Tree Magnet's question)

 

Here are a few good videos about road riding, group riding and general riding safety when on the road.

 

This is a pretty good video on how to save energy when in a group ride.  This is very necessary for rookie pack riders because you'll almost always be over-matched at first.  But it also goes hand-in-hand with learning safe 'pack skills' because they are almost one in the same.  I wish this video had more than just 3 riders shown because it would make the skills (and need for safety) much more obvious.  My personal add here is to be VERY CAREFUL when in a side ways echelon to not overlap wheels.  [it can be done by experienced riders, but it always increases risk dramatically]

 

 

 

 

 

General Road Riding Tips:  [I do wish they'd mention that when standing up while road riding, your bike will move back about 4-5" and thus when in a pack can create problems)

 

 

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I'm nursing a back injury this week.  I was planning to do the Bagel Ride and go with the long group.  Not so sure at moment.  I've been contemplating taking it down a notch and doing the Parmer BSS shop ride instead.  I haven't ridden all week do to my back but I'm hoping to commute to work by bike tomorrow as a test ride.

-CJB

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I've been doing the Bike Austin Sunday morning rides that start from the Peddler in Hyde Park. It's a good group of experienced intermediate riders. Rides are anywhere from 40-50 miles with a 14/15 mph pace. All of the rides are no drop and have a ride leader and a sweep. Rides start early enough that traffic is seldom an issue and we're usually drinking coffee at Flight Path by 11. Rides and routes are posted here https://rides.bikeaustin.org/Our-Rides/.

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  • 4 weeks later...

When you said bagel ride I thought we were going to New York🤣. I've done a few large group rides in my time one being the five boroughs tour of NY. Stay close enough to the guy in front of you to save strength by drafting, don't be erratic on your bike, don't always trust the guy in front of you to make good decisions meaning you occasionally need to look up the road a bit and be prepared for anything especially road furniture (islands, signs, roundabouts and always try to cross railroad tracks at 90*). As far as shoulder to shoulder that pretty much sorts itself out as long as you don't get bars, pedals or wheels tangled. Oh and always be aware of wheel overlap of the guy in front of you that's a guaranteed way to meet the pavement personally. 

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Did the 5-borough ride with my non-rider wife on a crappy rented tandem rental a few years ago.  We waited too long to register and had to pay for the only remaining rider packages that were VIP packages at $400 a piece.  The good thing is that the VIP riders got to start towards the front so we avoided having to walk parts of the ride like some others had to do.

We probably averaged 10-12mph because of the constant shoulder to shoulder traffic and the 2 flats.  But my wife got to take some great pictures from the backseat of the crappy rented tandem.  

Back to the Bagel ride.  Rode it a few weeks ago and may ride it again this weekend if weather permits.   

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