Spectrum Ride - Route and OLH time to hang?
02-06-11, 07:36 PM
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Spectrum Ride - Route and OLH time to hang?
I'm interested in jumping onto the Spectrum ride sometime in the upcoming weeks with the rash of warm weather, but I've got winter legs (= out of shape) and am not sure I can hang with the pack.
Anyone know the current route? I'd like to be able to at least ride route once I get dropped.
Also, for any that have recently hung with the group, what would you say your Old La Honda climb time should be to hang off the back?
Anyone know the current route? I'd like to be able to at least ride route once I get dropped.
Also, for any that have recently hung with the group, what would you say your Old La Honda climb time should be to hang off the back?
02-06-11, 07:54 PM
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22-23 min? Group riding is harder efforts for shorter periods though, dunno how applicable it is.
Only way to know is to try it.
Only way to know is to try it.
02-06-11, 09:44 PM
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Route: Homestead, Foothill, Page Mill, Old Page Mill,Page Mill, Arastradero, Alpine, Portola, Mountain Home, Canada to 92, Canada, 84, Whiskey Hill, Sand Hill, Santa Cruz, Serra/Foothill.
02-07-11, 12:05 PM
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Thanks - that route is familiar to me and super helpful. I'll try and draft off the back for dear life sometime in the upcoming weeks and if I survive (unlikely given my current fitness) I'll report back.
02-07-11, 03:35 PM
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Group usually slows, rarely stops entirely for the stop signs.
@hhnngg1 It's much harder to sit on the back of the group than in the middle. At the back the elasticity of the pack snaps harder, i.e. you have to slow more and accelerate harder to hang on. If you're safe with pack riding, sit in the middle. If you start to get dropped people will go around you and you'll naturally be shed off the back, but you have a better chance of hanging on there than if you intentionally sit on the back.
@hhnngg1 It's much harder to sit on the back of the group than in the middle. At the back the elasticity of the pack snaps harder, i.e. you have to slow more and accelerate harder to hang on. If you're safe with pack riding, sit in the middle. If you start to get dropped people will go around you and you'll naturally be shed off the back, but you have a better chance of hanging on there than if you intentionally sit on the back.
02-07-11, 04:35 PM
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Spectrum stopping for a stop sign???? Crazy talk! I find Spectrum one of the easier rides to sit in on. You can literally sit there protected and barely pedal for a lot of the ride. It does test your pack skills though more than any other ride (imho). My OLH time is 90 minutes, maybe less if I stopped making myself anaerobic by constantly cursing & complaining. 
Last Saturday, there was a cop sitting at the woodside/canada intersection. Luckily the person in front (of the PV ride), did a foot down stop for others to follow.
Last Saturday, there was a cop sitting at the woodside/canada intersection. Luckily the person in front (of the PV ride), did a foot down stop for others to follow.
Last edited by pelikan; 02-07-11 at 04:39 PM.
02-07-11, 05:41 PM
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Group usually slows, rarely stops entirely for the stop signs.
@hhnngg1 It's much harder to sit on the back of the group than in the middle. At the back the elasticity of the pack snaps harder, i.e. you have to slow more and accelerate harder to hang on. If you're safe with pack riding, sit in the middle. If you start to get dropped people will go around you and you'll naturally be shed off the back, but you have a better chance of hanging on there than if you intentionally sit on the back.
@hhnngg1 It's much harder to sit on the back of the group than in the middle. At the back the elasticity of the pack snaps harder, i.e. you have to slow more and accelerate harder to hang on. If you're safe with pack riding, sit in the middle. If you start to get dropped people will go around you and you'll naturally be shed off the back, but you have a better chance of hanging on there than if you intentionally sit on the back.
02-07-11, 06:25 PM
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I dunno. I don't see it that way. If someone ahead of me is getting gapped in a strenuous moment I don't hold it against them. I give them the benefit of the doubt. If you're on one of the flatter sections and keep letting gaps open by being inattentive or whatever, that's another story.
02-08-11, 04:45 PM
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Where people usually get dropped is on Arastradero and on Canada on one of the rollers, and possibly Alpine if you're hanging off the back after Arastradero. Some people wait at the top of Alpine & Portola, and catch the ride there. I guess you're less likely to get dropped. And if you get dropped on Canada, you can catch the group coming back the other way.
02-12-11, 08:41 AM
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Actually, since I'm not a "regular" at most of the fast group rides in the area, I almost always choose to sit in the back until the first big major gap forms, and then I'll bridge the gap but usually still sit in the back of the next group up. It's not that I'm too lazy to pull, but I know that as a generally unrecognized rider in a pack of roadies, they'd rather not be tailing someone they don't completely trust/know - even if I've never come close to having a problem in a group ride.
If I know a lot of folks on the ride as well as the route though, I'm happy to pull in front - did this a lot in Socal, but I don't know the groups here in Norcal as well since I just moved here recently.
If I know a lot of folks on the ride as well as the route though, I'm happy to pull in front - did this a lot in Socal, but I don't know the groups here in Norcal as well since I just moved here recently.
