Winter spin roster is now up

The Winter spin roster for this Winter/Spring is now up on the front page. I've given two turns as leader to each experienced rider, so check for your dates, see if they suit you, and if they don't then please find a swap. John Marron has written a useful explanation of what your duty as a group leader entails, which will be up on the front page shortly.

I've tried as much as possible to put the racing riders on before the start of the season, and to make sure that Northsiders are only on for Dundrum days so they don't have to miss a Park spin. Hopefully this will mean that not too many people have problems with the days they're on, but inevitably there'll be some days that don't suit. If you can't do the days you've been allocated please sort a sub in plenty of time.

We've changed a few things around this year, mainly in that we've decided to stop labelling the spins things like 'Beginner' or 'intermediate', and instead give a listing of 'Short', 'Medium' and 'Long'. Groups are going to be split out by ability rather than experience, and the average speeds of each group are to be listed each week so as to let people decide with confidence which group is right for them.

This is to negate the situation that we had last year where 80 riders would show at the shop on a Sunday morning, and 60 odd of them would want to get into the last of the beginner groups, regardless of their ability. This will hopefully also make it easier on the leaders of the spins, in that they will have a fairly exact average speed to work to rather than having to guess what pace will suit the group.

I've only put people on the roster who I thought were likely to turn up and do a decent job, so I've left out plenty of people whose availability I wasn't sure about. If I've left you off the roster but you are available and want to help let me know, there's always plenty of room for more helpers.

Can't help feeling there's a little touch of people getting out of doing the washing up by dropping a few dishes now & then....

(I know the practical issues involved, but that doesn't stop me having a small whinge about it)

BarryR wrote:

Can't help feeling there's a little touch of people getting out of doing the washing up by dropping a few dishes now & then....

It's not so much of that Barry, more that there are plenty of people who either don't do the Sunday spins at all or haven't been around in a while, whether it's because of work, family or that they've moved a bit further afield.

I've only put people that I'm fairly sure of on the list, so hopefully we won't be let down very often, or at all. And then I've left guys like Denis and John T. off as they're the most likely candidates to fill in on the occasion that we do have a no show.

I'm sure I've left a handful of members off the roster who will be around and will want to help out, that's fine, I will put them on to the list as soon as they let me know.

Dave wrote:

We've changed a few things around this year, mainly in that we've decided to stop labelling the spins things like 'Beginner' or 'intermediate', and instead give a listing of 'Short', 'Medium' and 'Long'. Groups are going to be split out by ability rather than experience, and the average speeds of each group are to be listed each week so as to let people decide with confidence which group is right for them.

Does this mean that there might be a slow group doing the long spin, as well as a fast group?

Celeste wrote:

Does this mean that there might be a slow group doing the long spin, as well as a fast group?

That is certainly possible, I'm not so sure if it will happen in the earlier spins but it does seem probable that you will get one or more slow/medium groups doing long spins later in the Winter and into Spring.

We really won't know until we see who is coming out on the spins and what they want to do, but if as with last year there are between 8 and 10 groups on a Sunday morning, it should in theory be possible to have something to suit nearly everyone, both in terms of pace and distance. That's the theory anyway, we'll find out how it works in practice over the next few months...

This might help clarify things a little bit: orwellwheelers.org/news-and-events/352-find-your-group.html

Correct me if I wrong - If you are looking to increase your distance / endurance on the bike you have no choice but to also increase your speed - that may be fine for people who are interested in racing but there is a touring section for people who are not into racing.

Just added a par to that story on the front page which I hope will help further clarify the clarification:

"The speeds for each group listed in the table are estimates and will vary according to group size and weather conditions. In addition it should be noted that the start of winter training will be quite a bit slower than the end and that there will be no intervals or speed drills in any of the groups until January at the earliest."

Basically, the bottom line is that riders will be grouped by ability and the purpose of the initiative is to streamline riders into groups to suit the legs they have. There'll be no one horsewhipped into doing five hours behind a motorbike, or anything like that. (Except possibly Brian Ahern...)
And no one's going to be going mental for a several months at the earliest, anyway. By then it'll be obvious which group each rider should be in.

The main point is that there wasn't as much movement between the groups last season as riders got stronger than perhaps there should have been. Hopefully this will have a positive benefit for the quality of spins that everyone is getting.

That was a really good spin this morning, with a surprisingly large turn out given the weather and the rugby.

There were 65 riders out split into 4 groups, of whom about 30 first-timers. I got what was probably the least beginnerly beginners group ever, so hopefully we'll see all of them back out again next week. Thanks to all of the old hands who looked after their respective groups.

For the record, group 4 did an average speed of 24.1 Km/h for the 60 kilometres, if anyone in the various other groups could post their averages it would be great in helping people figure out exactly what group they should be in next week.

(edited - Thanks Celeste!)

First medium group - finished up at 25.8kph for 90km once home.

connect.garmin.com/activity/118545399

Roger

That was the first medium group, with Brian and Martin (and me)

Dave. Group that I took out, 68 kms door to door from Joe Daly's. Av speed was 24.4km. Strong standard for a new group. All riders are clear on what colour group that they should be in for next week.