Saturday sufferfest - the glorious resurrection

[Claire]

It's spring and it's light at 6am now - and it happens that Saturdays at 6 may once again be suitable for my schedule. Anyone else?

My pitch looks much like this (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt in the interminable winter - with the notable difference of non-dangerous, non-icy roads and daylight.

It's a generally non-stop/steady 100k in a revolving paceline averaging 31km/h+. The more the merrier.

[Claire]

Soooo... If anyone's intending to do the ride this Saturday (the 29th), post a reply here so I know whether to expect anyone. It's slightly less fun to ride 100k solo.

[WendellC]

I am interested in resurrecting the ride, as I have dropped by a number of times and was disappointed by the solitude (although there was one other rider a couple weeks ago).

Just not sure about this Saturday (April 29).

[mfarnham]

I'm interested, assuming we get sufficient numbers. 5 at least.

Martin

[Claire]

I'm interested, assuming we get sufficient numbers. 5 at least.

Martin

Geez, I was willing to settle for "company" but Martin's gotten all demanding. I'm surprised he hasn't instituted a minimum height requirement.

I will admit I kinda agree. I may do an alternate 6am ride if no one else replies here in the affirmative.

What about Brad... Craig... Andrew N... ? We had seven out a few months back in the deep darkness of winter. Humph.

[Sig Isaac]

Looks like a low probability of precipitation on Saturday morning, so I'm in. I'm sure you'll hit 5 riders before the end of today.

Hot Damn! I've been looking forward to the Sufferfest for a long time. Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this, Claire.

[leftcoaster]

minimum height requirement is 5'9"




for drafting..........

[BPhelps]

I am intrigued, but non-committal, more because of the pace with a wee group of two or three. Just getting back into the saddle.

[Claire]

I am intrigued, but non-committal, more because of the pace with a wee group of two or three. Just getting back into the saddle.

Commit, Blair!

There's a possibility of a gentler enforcement of the rules - which are fluid/ill-defined but do sometimes include the possibility of dropping riders who aren't well matched to the pace - in order to potentially attract more bodies (taller=better) in the early days of the resurrection.

Are you enticed yet? Oh, there's also the possibility that I will have cookies in my pocket for sharing (at the end of the ride so you have to stick it out). Maybe.

But you should just come because the ride is awesome.

[mfarnham]

Blair, with you we'd be six (plus lurkers).

Get on the bus.

Martin

[Bosie]

Alas- working
Enjoy!

[Greg Miller]

I'll be there, or I'll meet up along the waterfront. Looking forward to it!

[AJ Neale]

I'm in.

I'm 6'2"

I like cookies. A lot.

Andrew

[Claire]

Well, I for one am downright giddy with anticipation. I recently received notice that we might even have a representative or two from the FulGas team tag along. This calls for an extra early night and time enough to sip an espresso all Euro-like, pre-ride.

C.

[Stéphane Tran]

Thanks for organising this ride Claire, it was a good one! I'm glad we didn't get rained on.

[Claire]

It was a fine day for an early ride: Nearly no wind (just a pleasant puff of a tail wind along Dallas), a solid crowd of a dozen bodies at its peak, and few enough at the finish line (coffee) that everyone got cookies.

Let's do it again soon!

[AJ Neale]

And kudos to Martin for personally escorting newcomer Paul all the way home from Lands End .... very Canadian of you. We owe you both a cookie.

Andrew

[Paul.L]

Thank you very much everyone for letting me come, being welcoming, and letting me hang at the back. I will never forget my first group ride. Special thanks to Wendell for those pushes, and especially Martin for all his help.

[WendellC]

Thank you very much everyone for letting me come, being welcoming, and letting me hang at the back. I will never forget my first group ride. Special thanks to Wendell for those pushes, and especially Martin for all his help.

Good job hanging in there Paul, it showed a lot of character! We have either all been there or still are!

In terms of that 80 kph close pass on Lochside Drive (which has a speed limit of 30 kph) (attached frame still), our formation prior was loose prior to the punishment pass, which may have "antagonized" the driver. Not to condone the ridiculous behaviour, but we can work on tightening things up.

I was not able make out the license plate from the video (its an older camera with a slower frame rate), but we have a clear description of the vehicle. And yes the video timestamp is off.

[mfarnham]

Hi All,

Good ride. Good riding with you Paul. And by the way, I got cookies too, courtesy of Paul, at Fol Epi!

Wendell, I was just logging in to PM you about that truck and whether you could catch a plate number. He made another appearance up by the McDonalds as we turned off the highway (yelling at us manically out his window)...might be worth checking your film just in case. He's got some loose screws and poses a serious threat to cyclists, given what we saw. By the way, I agree with your assessment that we should have been tighter there. If he'd approached at the speed limit, I'm pretty sure we'd have had time to tighten up to the right. But he came up so fast that there was no time to respond--of course, that's just an argument for alway riding tight.

Another lesson...more of us should ride with cameras. I've got one that I'm forever neglecting to hook up. If we could report more of these drivers and the police at least followed up by talking to the drivers, that might give them pause about reoffending. We know conviction rates are low, but if there's video evidence of past dangerous driving, that should boost conviction rates and may therefore serve as deterrence.

See you all next Saturday, hopefully.

Martin