Vicelord

hahaha

One of these days I will ride with the Haus guys. They are seriously fast.

jeebusaurousrex

Sandbagging feels good...as evidenced by countless Cat6 races on local MUPs and commuting routes daily.

trussdude

It's just not the same around here without them!

GiantDefyGuy

I wasn't really being literal with the "racer guys" thing.

I don't race, so all those guys who are really fast and wear matching club kits and stuff ARE racer guys to me. There are usually a few groups of 10-15 riders with matching kits.

zv2011

I guess people have love/hate relationships with these types of rides. I love them, but $100 is pretty damn steep, 30 bucks is about all I usually pay. I am from Texas, the Dallas area, and there are a lot of these rides around here. We have the largest organized century ride in the nation, if I'm not mistaken, the Hotter n Hell 100 and the end of august a couple hours north of Dallas. It invites about 13k riders, so I have some experience riding in extremely large groups of varying skill. I don't find them incredibly dangerous, not any more so than any other group riding, you just have to be careful and pay attention. They are really a lot of fun, unless you normally have a big group to ride with, it's generally the only time you will get to ride in large packs (besides a real "race"). Just don't be dumb and watch out for idiots. I think if you are well-conditioned and can ride with some of the "faster" people then these riders generally have more experience, so less risk involved.

1. The rest stops will provide all the food/water/gatorade you need. But you probably only want to stop about twice, since it takes a long time when lines are long. If you want to get ahead of the bulk of people then you'll want to skip the first, and stop at the 2nd, and so forth.

2. There will be some really fast people even though it isn't a "race". You should have no problem grabbing a paceline. Generally there won't be any rotating of the paceline, and I wouldn't trust one of those anyway since people don't know how to do that properly and it only invites accidents. So just grab a wheel and "wheel-suck". It's very easy to blow yourself up though, so make sure you aren't red-lining in the first 30 miles (it's very easy to do, trust me). Expect it to go a lot faster since you'll get to draft. If there's significant climbing a lot of people will get dropped off, so look out for people slowing down a ton on climbs. Make no sudden moves, always look around you and be predictable.

3. If you do blow up or have serious mechanicals, they have SAG wagons that will pick you up and take you to the finish.

4. Have fun, it is supposed to be a fun ride, you can push it however you like though. If you find yourself in no-mans land with just a couple other riders, try to ride beside them and they will usually talk to you if youre into meeting new people.

shuffles

Don't kid yourself; every ride is a race. Except when you're riding with your wife, but come to think of it, that's a race too.

When you get to the start, get near the front. You'll be able to pick out the guys that are at your fitness level pretty easily just by looking at them. Those that are going to seriously punish you look completely different from those who are just normal fit riders.

Have fun, and don't worry so much.

banerjek

You need to decide how you want the ride to go.

There will be a couple thousand riders out there, so you will get stuck in traffic if you're not up with the fast riders near the front. However, chances are you aren't as fast as they are, so if you draft off groups that drop you on the climbs, eventually one that is about your pace will catch up with you and you can ride with them. One other advantage of being near the front is the food/drink is plentiful and lines are not an issue where support is provided.

As others have warned, these type of rides attract many inexperienced cyclists. Very few know how to ride in groups (keep in mind, you fall into this category), but they do anyway so you'll see all kinds of stupid stuff. I normally avoid pacelines on group rides -- I only ride with others when I can tell they know what they're doing and they actually want me to ride with them. Overall, I think it's not a good environment to test your speed.

If you want to treat this like a race, take off early at a brisk pace, but don't ride hard early on trying to keep up with people who are stronger than you. As you don't have much experience riding in groups, seek out smaller pacelines where people seem to be aware of their limitations (i.e. they'll be further apart and more relaxed). Above all, have fun. That's what it's all about.

Inertianinja

I did a bunch of these last year, but I'm over them. They cost way too much, the food is awful, I can never get anyone I know to commit to them, and transportation can be ridiculous.

This year, if i want to do a long ride, i've just been going out and doing long rides. Above ~50 miles from home, i'll bring a second tube and a few extra food bits.

GP

Be careful with pacelines. Guys wearing matching jersey and bibs may look like pros but that doesn't mean they ride like one. If a group acts sketchy, back off.

Team in Training. I'm sure they're a great group and really nice people but I avoid them like the plague. They seem to have a high percentage of sketchy riders.

Don't act like a dick, get pissed or yell at people who are holding you up. The "race" thing has been covered enough but this ride may be a major accomplishment to those slow people on mountain bikes or hybrids.

Enjoy the food and camraderie. That's what you paid for.

Inertianinja

hah, i didn't want to be the one to say it, but it's true. i respect their whole thing, but i ride far away when i see a purple shirt going 2mph uphill on aerobats.

himespau 

What is that "team in training"? I've seen them on various commutes (usually going the wrong way or abuptly stopping and turning around both on bike and running) and fundraising literature in some local restaurants.

jeebusaurousrex

What, you don't like it when 20 riders sequentially start screaming "ROUGH ROAD" every few seconds?

merlinextraligh

damn straight

noise boy

And here is the roadie egomaniac version of reality. Much better to enter a real race where none of the money goes to anything other than the promoters.

OP do the "race" have fun, try not to crash. Go as fast as you want to, don't worry about the fast guys getting away. If you want it to be a sufferfest it can be, if not, it doesn't have to be. Have fun.

Vicelord

You guys are making me fear what I'm going to be seeing on this ride.

I'm far from a professional rider... FAR from it, but between the 2,000 miles I've ridden on the road (all as hard as I possibly can, I'm just competitve as ****) and all the questions I've asked both here and at my LBS, I feel like I've learned a lot of stuff and gained a lot of experience faster than most probably would. All this talk about heavy traffic with people swerving around on hybrids, yelling out rough road while going 2mph uphill on aero bars..... are you guys serious?

I guess at least now I know I'm not at risk of finishing dead last... barring mechanicals and unforseens of course.

canam73

If you want to donate money then donate money. The charity won't refuse it because you didn't do their ride. Then go enter what event turns your crank. Riding your bike doesn't actually find a cure for anything.

banerjek

The 2mph thing is an exaggeration unless you count people walking their bikes up (which you may see). Everything else is real.

You won't finish anywhere near dead last, and it won't be scary out there. People will range in shape from very overweight on crap bikes making you wonder what made them decide to do this ride to people who are obviously very fit and experienced. Based on your posts, I'd guess you'll be somewhere in the middle. The vast majority of people that do these rides have fun. You'll have a great time riding, you'll meet interesting people, and you'll learn useful things too.

The advice to avoid large groups is serious. You'll see plenty of riders doing it, but they don't know how to communicate with each other or react when something goes wrong. This means it's easy for small things to cause a crash when too many people are close together. So long as you use your head, you'll be fine. If something feels dodgy, it probably is so that's a good time to hang back.

GP

Yes.

If you want to do an organized ride with better riders, look at the vertical feet climbed. If it's <4,000, you'll see a lot of poor riders. Go >10,000 and you'll weed out some of them.

I do both but I'm mostly there to eat as much as I can and BS with friends. I do an easy ride in August every year where a group of us make a 45 minute stop at Starbucks and enjoy those iced coffee drinks with whipped cream on top.

Inertianinja

right, it's an exaggeration. the real advice is:
look out for people on aerobars on these rides. personally, i have seen a lot of Team In Training people on tri bikes (or road bikes with clip-on aerobats) on these rides. it's added danger to begin with, because they don't have direct access to their brakes. especially avoid people on aerobars going slowly up hills - slow pace + aero position + aerobars = wobbly unpredictable rider with no brakes.

OP: don't stress. just go do the ride.

Vicelord

well I wasn't stressed in the least bit, until some of the posts in this thread. HA.

I'm excited actually.

zv2011

Don't be scared to ride, just practice safe riding.. some things are out of your hands. Riding out on the road by yourself with 1 ton cars going past you is surely more dangerous. If its a good event you won't have to worry about traffic or anything as they'll have things blocked off. I haven't crashed on any of these rides, though I've seen a couple.

You'll probably have fun, and if not, you don't have to do them anymore and you can come here and fear monger. win win!

banerjek

Fixed.

Aerobars are a poor equipment choice for a ride with thousands of recreational cyclists. Anyone using them on a Fred RR has questionable judgment and is likely to ride beyond their abilities.

ericsday

thats expensive

joe_5700

Just enter the event and have fun. Don't listen to Mr. "It's not a race" Bob. Once you are immersed in the river of riders, you will actually be doing a pace that is a few mph faster than your normal average. Some people are going to pass you and you will be passing others. I would NOT follow anyone too closely. You never know if there could be an angry Triathlete or 50 in this event. Just stay to the right unless you are passing and limit your rest stops. Try to ride in your drops as much as you can stand it as well to help you keep your speed up. If you are competitive as you say you are, you shouldn't be on your hoods much anyway. Did anyone mention it's not a race? Sorry had to.

Inertianinja

Good. I was worried that the cumulative effect of the responses would make this seem like a bigger deal than it was.