dalava

I think DC Mayor Fenty shows up for the weekday rides

dglevy

i've been continuing to do the 8:30 am Sunday Bicycle Place Ride and the Hains Point sprints. i've even managed to finish the climbs and sprints in the sunday ride in the top 10 or 15 -- very satisfying. (that's in the B group, not the A group!)

MrCrassic: "Are you going to continue racing?"

i joined the Artemis racing club last year and have tried to race regularly. i did a couple of Tradezone & Greenbelt training races this year. but (a) my schedule is too unpredictable and i'm often out of town. so it's hard to maintain the very high level of fitness necessary to even stay with the pack. and (b) i find that racing is too dangerous at the level beyond the training races. i LOVE this sport but i like my bones just the way they are, thank you very much...

NomadVW: "I don't know about Alexandria, but we're in Annandale on Tuesday nights at 6:10pm roll out."

yeah, this ride has been described earlier in the thread. i did it many times, back when i was living in arlington. it's a great ride.

dalava: "I think DC Mayor Fenty shows up for the weekday rides"

just saw him there last week. [Deleted negative comments about Fenty's bicycle infrastructure policies. I'm more positively inclined, these days.]

dglevy

I saw a team-mate in a paceline on Wilson Lane, in Bethesda, a while back, and asked him about it recently. He said there are noon-time rides every weekday, Monday through Friday. I don't know what the start point is. Does anyone know about this ride?

BTW, I've changed my opinion about the dangers of racing. I think it is possible to race safely. I know someone who has been an avid racer for 25 years and has only crashed two times. And he is not the only one who has been successful in keeping the rubber side down.

heads up!

It's indeed possible to "race safely," but that doesn't mean you're safe from harm.

I think the only position to take about safety in racing is that "sh!!t happens," and from person to person, everyone's got a certain amount of that sh!!t they can take happening to them. For every guy who's raced 25 years and has no injuries to show for it, there's another guy who was just as skilled who got crashed out and quit the sport when the bad luck outweighed the fun.

Lithuania

starts at bradley and goldsboro every day at 12:30. Wednesday is the hardest day with it being all hills. Mainly the ones that the saturday 7am dcvelo ride does.

purefreedom

can anyone lists anymore daily rides in the DC/NOVA area, even ones that newbies can hang in? Thanks

dglevy

you can do the potomac pedalers (PPTC) rides. there are tons of them. that's a good introduction for someone new to paceline riding. some of those riders are quite fast and they're more patient with newbies than racers are. if you're that new, then i also STRONGLY RECOMMEND you google "paceline etiquette". it's not only annoying to be in a paceline with an inexperienced rider, it's also dangerous. visit several pages b/c there is no one hard and fast list of guidelines.

some of the rides listed here above are not that hard, if you're relatively fit. i think i mentioned the Bicycle Rack ride somewhere. that is pretty leisurely. i'd say it averages about 20 mph on the flat. the Reston Bike Club training rides (https://www.restonbikeclub.org/) are split into at least three groups (maybe four, if i remember correctly), based on ability. the 8:30 sunday morning Bicycle Place ride is also split into three groups, but the C group tends to be pretty small (five or six riders).

the PPTC site explains the gradations of rides from A through C.

if you're looking strictly for daily rides, i can't think of any that would be appropriate for a newbie. but the RBC training rides mentioned above are tues/thurs. the weekday 12:30 ride in Bethesda is daily. the previous poster said wednesday is very hard. (you have been warned!) it all depends on your fitness level. if you're 25 years old and fit, you might be able to hang on for the first 20 minutes or so, or even longer. that, alone, would be a helluva work-out. and, then, as time goes by and you got fitter, you could hang on longer. it's a great way to get fast--work hard or get dropped! but make sure you stay AT THE BACK until you get positive feedback from several racers (we're talking racers now, not 'riders') that your skills are sufficient to get in the middle of a paceline.

dglevy

I just came across information on a year-round Conte's Bike Shop Thursday evening ride out of Bethesda at 6:15 pm. Has anyone done that ride, know how fast it is? (The Conte's Bethesda website also lists a women's ride every 4th Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm.)

Matias

Here's a good link w/ maps for the weekend rides

https://snappletriteam.com/?p=881

zatopek

I did not read read all the posts on this thread: sorry if this redundant. Go to the Potomac Pedalers site. They sponsor rides in DC, MD and VA that range from slow, easy and short to very competitive, hard and long. Also, The Bicycle Place shop (near East-West Highway in Bethesda) has some smoking weekend hammerfests. National Capital Velo Club and DC Velo clubs do a bunch of rides as well. Best thing to do is go to the aforementioned club websites for more information or cruise Rock Creek Park/Beach Drive on weekend mornings and hook up with a group and ask riders what's going on.

dglevy

thanks for posting! just to clarify, that link shows a few weekend rides. it doesn't mention the other DC-based sunday morning rides, apart from the Bicycle Place ride. also, bear in mind that the Bicycle Place ride route evolves slowly over time. i don't know how frequently the site admin updates the map. but it's still very useful b/c there is no other map of the BP ride that i'm aware of. [See 10/31/10 post listing corrections to that map.] regarding the Rock Creek Park ride maps, i get dropped way too early on those rides to get the gist, when i dare to go, so i don't know how accurate they are. if someone knows, PLEASE POST!

i appreciate your wanting to help out, but most of this has already been covered. in order to keep the thread from becoming too long to read through, it's best, i think, to post only new information.

and a propos of the new information you mentioned, i just happened to come across the NCVC site today and, yes indeed, there is a ride that i wasn't aware of. it's their Arlington Hill Ride, every Tuesday at noon, only 17 miles long, meet point only 1 1/2 miles from Key Bridge. according to the description, two groups go out, one ten minutes after the other. i assume the pace for the faster group is "A" pace and the other closer to "B+", or maybe a bit faster, since it's sponsored by a racing club. if others know more about it, please post.

this thread is doing great. it may well be the most comprehensive listing of fast rides in the DC area, at this point. keep up the good work, y'all!

dglevy

i was scrutinizing the NCVC site and came across more info. go to the home page of NCVC - National Capital Velo Club and click on the 'rides' tab. there's a nice list there of fast rides in the area. it's not comprehensive. for example, my fave, the Sunday 8:30 Bicycle Place ride is not there. but it's the best list i've seen thus far on one page. there are several NCVC sponsored rides that i was unaware of, too. of particular interest, since it starts downtown is the off-season Sunday 9 am Espresso Ride. it looks like the information on that page is from 2009, so if it is incorrect, PLEASE POST!
8/25/18 update: The Espresso Ride is still going on. Here's the updated link. NOTE: THIS RIDE IS ONLY OFF-SEASON.
Rides ? NCVC

dglevy

Here are details on the Conte's ride I pulled off the MABRA listserv:

contes of bethesda thursday night ride:
"it's an A-B training loop, about 25 miles with just a little more,
shall we say, civility, than the other more goonish ride on thursday
evenings. we start at the contes bike store on old georgetown and
woodmont. (parking in the garage on woodmont, low ceiling: take your
bikes off the roof and drop them in the store first!) we spin out to
macarthur blvd and back.
leave the store at 615pm usually back by 730ish.
more at
https://contesbikestores.com/goto/bethesda"

dglevy

i went to do the Downtown Breakaway ride yesterday but no one was there. i've written to the original poster to see if it is taking place this year or not. hopefully, i'll hear back.

okay, i just heard back. the ride still exists, same location, same time, but one day later, on wednesdays.

see posts #62 and 71 for details.

dglevy

I did the Wednesday 6 pm Downtown Breakaway ride last week. (See posts #62 and 71 for details.) Very hard for me but I had to leave the ride early anyway b/c of another engagement. I chatted with the ride leader about this thread and he sent a follow-up.

<<Note that I post any last-minute schedule changes to the "Ride News" forum at the PPTC website. Usually I'll get any cancellations notices up there by 4:30pm.>>

[6/16/10] i just checked for today's ride. the last minute updates are in the right hand column on that web page, under "Ride News".

dglevy

i did the NCVC Sunday Espresso Ride today. (normally it's on sunday but, since today was a holiday, they did it today.) it's a great ride! there were about 40 or 50 of us at the peak. the pace was fairly easy outbound--about 23 or 24 mph on the flat sections. but then it got a lot harder when we hit glen mill road (in or near potomac). i got caught unawares at the back of the pack. by the time the split happened, we were too stretched out and it was too late to jump across. so i ended up with the B riders and we took a shortcut on boswell lane, rejoined the A riders at the next regroup point at the entrance to great falls national park. nice rotating paceline on clara barton and then a nice peloton, 3 riders wide, doing a steady 26 mph on macarthur for a couple of miles. sweet!

there were a couple of re-group points so, if you're fairly fit, you won't get dropped. more details on the ride in my post #90 in this thread. on the the NCVC page i linked to, there is a link to a map of the ride. it looks slightly out of date, e.g., they turn right on goldsboro, not wilson lane. maybe the cue sheet, on the page, is up to date b/c it has the turn onto goldsboro. in any event, it gives you at least a rough idea of where you're going.

fasterTHANyou

I passed you guys coming back in to town on MAcArthur. I got a late start and was heading out of town.

dglevy

Regarding the map for the Bicycle Place Ride, Sunday mornings, it is useful because it's the only map that I know of for that ride. But it is out of date in a couple of places:

• As of 2010, the climb up Mountain Gate Drive (marked red) is only in the summer months; and there is no descent down to Great Falls (marked red), the ride turns right onto Falls Rd instead. (The AA riders might resume descending down to Great Falls once the road construction is completed. But the rest of the ride has only once or twice taken that spur in the three or so years I've been doing the ride.)
• The map is way off at one point: The ride turns RIGHT onto Newbridge Drive, then right again on Democracy Blvd. (That longer route was tried for a short while, then abandoned.)
• Lastly, it doesn’t show the ‘extension’ down Beach Drive and up Ross Drive.

Quel

It's his thread, and he has been continually updating it himself.

wens

I misread the date as 9-10-07, I deleted my post.

mzeffex 

The expresso ride is still Sunday at 9 am.

dglevy

This thread has over 4400 page views and still going strong! I have finally gotten around to summarizing all the rides in one place. They can be found here:

WEEKLY FAST GROUP CYCLING RIDES IN THE DC AREA

Please post corrections, comments, to this thread and I'll try to keep the page up to date.

Some questions that I couldn't answer, thus far:

• Is there indeed a 7 am Sunday ride, and does it do the same route as the 7 am Saturday DC Velo ride?
• Is the tues/thurs Goon Ride only seasonal, or does it run year round?

dglevy

There is a new Sunday morning ride sponsored by District Velocity. Link here. I've heard good things about it but haven't ridden it yet. Here is the current text on that page:
In February 2011, we kicked off a new Sunday shop ride. Comprising both A and B groups — the former being a fast and aggressive 60 miles, the latter a steady and strong 40 miles — the rides leave at 10 a.m. from Francis Scott Key Park in Georgetown, which stands across the street from the Bicycle Pro Shop in Georgetown. Anybody is welcome to join in, but come prepared! The A ride is not a no-drop ride — and yes, we’ve all been dropped from it — while the B ride moves along at brisk pace and regroups at certain points. (Check out the Garmin data and map for the inaugural A ride here.) Both are great for pushing yourself or gaining new fitness.

dglevy

I believe I may have mentioned in the past that the Hains Point noon rides tend to be easy spin/social rides on Mondays and Fridays. That is not necessarily the case, at least for Mondays. The past few weeks, the Monday rides, while not as intense as the Tu-W-Th rides, were still hard rides.

dglevy

I crashed out of racing last year (T12 vertebra compression fracture was the most serious part of it...), will not be racing anymore. So I'm not keeping the list as up to date as I would have otherwise. But I'm riding again now, so, if I come across new info, I'll post. If someone wants to take over, feel free.