Numerically rating rides and riders with software
 

I'm on a lot of group rides with Meetup. One problem we have is its difficult to tell people how hard a ride is quantatatively and for a rider to know what their capability is. It would be nice if stava or one of the bike apps could give a rider a numerical rating based on some trial runs and give a route a numerical rating based on a pace so people would know if they could keep up or not.

Distance and vertical do a pretty good job, although I'll grant that lots of small rolling grades aren't the same as one long sharp one.

What could help is if Strava went beyond the traditional categories of climbs (HC, 1-4) and added a few more lesser category climbs, which could help with the sharp but short climbs that may be toughest for less strong riders.

On most group rides I participate in the organizers post relevant details on Facebook: Distance, route, rest stops if any, anticipated speeds, terrain, whether it's a no-drop ride, etc. Helps me decide whether I'm fit enough for the group and/or route. If it's a group I'm unfamiliar with I hang at the back and tell the other folks not to worry if I drop out, I'll get home on my own.

here's an example of a ride I'm setting up currently. https://goo.gl/EfoFcM .
Its broken in two loops so riders can skip the second loop if they choose. Also, the first loop is longer but with bailout spots so riders can skip the second loop if they want, and possibly just drive to the restrauant to eat. I'll probably have two leads, a fast lead and slow lead to help keep some organization. I've been putting some thought into this ride because its something we will repeat several times per year. Its a mix of road biking and trail, the road bike part is nice, the streets are really wide and traffic slow so its a good place for novices to get some road experience. Its all really flat and not blind corners either.

Clubs often use a rating system when advertising the ride so that riders know what to expect in terms of speed, climbing and distance. A club I used to belong to used the following system.

D pace = 12-14 MPH average
C pace = 14-16 MPH average
B pace = 16-18 MPH average
A pace = 18-20 MPH average
AA pace = 20-22 average

and so forth.

flat/rolling/hilly/mountain are used as a subject descriptor with an objective indication of total climbing and max grade.

A ride might be advertised as B pace for 45 miles, rolling with two large hills, 2500 ft climbing @ 6% grade max.
Or B/45/RH/2500/6% for short.

Could add structured/unstructured (nodrop/drop) and so forth.


-Tim-

The problem with that list is we have a lot of people who wouldn't even make that list and there are lots of gradations on the low end. I'm a pretty good biker but even I have difficulty placing on the list sometimes due to knee issues. Also this list relies on self rating and too many people overestimate their level, especially when they haven't ridden regularly.

One of the good things about Strava is it helps users objectively evaluate their real performance on popular segments vs subjective impressions.

For example, practices vary on A and B group ride speeds. One casual group I participate with once in awhile often splits into A and B groups if they have enough riders. Their B group is around 10-12 mph; the A group is around 15 mph. But this is a fairly social group. Officially it's not no-drop, but in actual practice they prefer to keep everyone together. So they'll adjust the pace to suit the slowest participants. I've been on a few B group rides that pushed 15 mph when all participants were able to keep up.

Another group I've tagged along with only once describes their B group as around 15 mph and A group around 20 mph. I found it easy to keep up with their B group's actual pace of closer to 14 mph, but didn't care for the B group's usual route. Besides being a bit boring and too familiar it includes the least suitable part of the MUP for a group ride -- a narrow, winding part of the path through heavy tree cover with limited visibility. It's really not suited to fast solo rides, let alone a ragged pace line of 20 riders. That path is mostly a 4-foot wide sidewalk shared by nearby residents who are walking or jogging, often with kids and/or dogs.

So I've considered trying the A group route, which is mostly public streets. But I'm checking not only their published routes, but also the actual Strava riding data for participants. I know from Strava the usual ride organizer is pretty fast for a guy in his 50s-60s, with Top 10 speeds on many popular segments. So if he's riding hard and expecting the group to keep up, I'll be dropped. But I need to check the actual speeds for the group rides, checking data for participants, to see what their real pace is. If it's closer to 16 mph average overall, I can hang with them on their usual 20-30 mile weekday rides.

But they claim they average 20 mph on their weekend 50-60 mile rides. I know that's beyond my capability right now.

So there's one tool you can use to help would-be participants decide on an appropriate pace for the group, and whether they're able to keep up. I'd encourage anyone who's considering group rides to use Strava. Even if they don't care to publish their rides they can set everything to private and still use the Strava tools to evaluate themselves against others on popular segments. It's a useful tool for evaluating ourselves without being competitive.

The problem (for me) with the "letter grade" categories is I have no idea how they translate to someone who spends most of their time riding solo-- because 20mph in a paceline and 20mph alone are two radically different things. Beyond that, I have NEVER seen a local group ride (that is, 5+ people riding the same route together) average above 18mph on Strava. I did a charity ride with about 200 people, and there were guys who ended the day with +19mph averages, despite me riding in their group for 50+ miles, and finishing 20 minutes in front of them at an 18mph average. So who knows what any of it means.

Average speed for group rides isn't particularly helpful if there are a lot of stops, regroups, or neutral rollout/rollback sections. On my usual Saturday ride, the average speed from the shop is 20-21, but if you can't hold a wheel when it gets to the hard part, you'll be on a solo tour of Offthebackistan.

Better to tell folks what to expect when the group is rolling.

Is a D ride really 12-14 mph? Whenever I ride with my wife, our average never exceeds 10 mph. So she could never join any organized ride listed as D?

Even if D is that speed, there still is a problem where there is still several ranges below. Some struggle even to keep up at 8-10 vs 10-12, for instance. I guess they would be E and F riders, which sounds a bit dis-spiriting.