Naming our rides (my rant)

[Marcus]

Love the rant Josh. To quote Laurent Fignon, "The cyclist who doesn't know how to lose can never be a champion". As a newer B/C rider I don't mind being called ABC, 123, or do re mi, nor do I have any resentment at all for faster riders. I just hope to emulate them. Like you though, I do like being in the right group for the day and I think your rant will help ensure the descriptions are useful. Also I love posts like this one from Lister,

"Bigger group today, probably 12, and everyone made it to KGT together without much waiting. Cool to see the junior girls jamming the climb and cresting the hill 4th and 5th. We re-grouped at the top, and had a full-on Tripleshot I-hope-you-like-jammin'-too experience all the way to the beacon sprint. Many thanks to Ian, Roland and Rolf who pulled hard but steady on Dallas and gave the others the fast paceline experience without pulling it apart. Kudos to the C's who dug deep, stayed on the wheel and challenged for the sprint. Welcome to Deb and thanks to Simon for bringing her out and keeping her on the group."

From a B/C perspective it's behaviour like that, which is rampant in TSC, that makes it fun to ride with everyone while getting faster and more knowledgable.

[Lister Farrar]

The only label that is useful to an entirely new rider is a speed rating (eg. 28-30, 32-34, 36+). The average flat cruising speed and whether a ride is drop or no-drop are the two basic things I'd say people need to know in order to successfully self-select their ride.

Maybe. If they know what they can do, and more importantly, what they can do in a group. Many newcomers who have ridden by themselves with a bike computer might think 25 km is too fast until they try a group ride.

Also, I missed this on the first read of Josh's first post. Can we allow for a bit of the Tripleshot tradition in the slower group description? The C group last Friday definitely had a jam from KGT and did 2.5 laps at Beacon, ending in a sprint, and all seemed to enjoy it.

Can we say that we definitely "re-group at the top of KGT" and then "may increase the speed to Beacon Hill if the group desires", and "faster riders are welcome to help pull and keep newcomers in the group, so they get the TS paceline and drafting experience."?

[Rolf]

Maybe. If they know what they can do, and more importantly, what they can do in a group. Many newcomers who have ridden by themselves with a bike computer might think 25 km is too fast until they try a group ride.

Ja, ja, good points.

[Brian S]

Interesting take on the ride classification from a similar (read large and varied) club like ours:
http://www.glotmansimpsoncycling.ca/tra ... s/saturday