Winter spins- start this Sunday.

The Winter spins will be kicking off again this Sunday with a spin leaving from Dundrum at 9:30. This will be a find your feet and find your group spin, as usual we are expecting plenty of newcomers and returning riders who haven't been out in a while, so it will probably take a while to get everyone into their most appropriate groups.

We will be repeating the colour coded group system from last year to help people find the group that suits them best- to check out the groups have a read of this page.

In a change from previous years we will be staggering the start times of the groups to ease congestion getting away from Dundrum.
The new start times will be as follows:
Red group: 9:00am, 26-29km/h;
Orange groups: 9:10am, 24-26km/h;
Yellow groups: 9:20am, 22-24km/h;
White groups: 9:30am, 20-22km/h.

Please note the start time of the group you intend to ride with, if you miss their start you will always be welcome to drop into the group below, but you must respect their pace.

The Winter spin roster is now up on the front page. It's based on much the same lines as last year's roster, with spins for all levels building up in length as Winter rolls into Spring, and spins from the Phoenix park every second week for Orange and Red groups.

As always most senior members of the club have been given two dates on the roster to help leading either a White or Yellow group. Please check what your dates are, and if they don't suit you arrange a swap. If you can't or won't help out please let me know in advance instead of just failing to show up on the day. Conversely, if you've been left off the roster and you want to help out let me know, a spot will be found for you.

Stoked as I am to be down as a group leader for the first time, I have a new child imminent so I might not be able for 25th Nov.
It's only a short easy one though, so I might be able to get clearance from the boss by then. I'll arrange a swap if not.

Could you repeat (because I know you've said it before) how leading of the orange group works? I know there is no official leader, but is someone designated at the start, or does everyone need to arrive knowing the route?

Brian, I'll swap you for 28th Oct for 14th? Thanks

Anybody else looking to swap for Oct 14th? I've already entered the cyclocross race. Can do most dates in December and after Christmas.

Celeste wrote:

Could you repeat (because I know you've said it before) how leading of the orange group works? I know there is no official leader, but is someone designated at the start, or does everyone need to arrive knowing the route?

As you note, there are no designated group leaders for either orange or red groups, but usually a majority of the riders in these groups will know the roads, so there is no call for a leader.

While this means that you do not need know the route to ride in these groups, it also means that there probably won't be anyone looking after dropped or struggling riders, so you should very definitely know how to find your own way home.

Eric wrote:

Anybody else looking to swap for Oct 14th? I've already entered the cyclocross race. Can do most dates in December and after Christmas.

Hi Eric,
I can do the 14th in exchange for 30th December. How does that suit?

Sorry Declan, should have said, I'm away Dec 30th and Jan 6th.

suits me anyway if it suits eric :)

That seemed to go fairly well anyway- we had 150 riders out from the shop, including about 60 first-timers.

Hopefully a majority of the riders found a group that suited them and will know who to go out with next week, but I'm sure that there were plenty who found themselves in a group that may have been too fast or too slow. With that in mind it would probably be helpful if people could post the average speeds from their groups today, to give us the best chance of getting everyone into the right groups next week.

Red group did a lap of the small lake then decided to go back to Blessington for coffee, but I cut off and headed home at that point (on the clock!). Average was around 29km/h.

I have to mention Denis's contribution to this morning's spins- it may be a statement of the obvious, but to take on 60 first-timers all on the one morning is a massive undertaking for anyone, and yet it was all done in a calm and unflustered manner, with everyone being made welcome and looked after.

There is no-one who does more than Denis to help newcomers find their way both into the club and into the sport, so it was entirely fitting that of the dozen or more helpers who chipped in (thanks guys!), most of them had started out as first-timers in Denis's groups over the last couple of Winters themselves.

Fergal wrote:

Red group did a lap of the small lake then decided to go back to Blessington for coffee, but I cut off and headed home at that point (on the clock!). Average was around 29km/h.

Thanks Fergal. That'll be the Park group for next week, and will probably average marginally over 30km/h for what will be a very flat spin.

With a 9:00am start for the Reds from here on you'll probably all be home before mid-day next week!

Sandra wrote:

suits me anyway if it suits eric :)

Hi Sandra, there's a cross race on the 28th too but I'll commit to doing the 28th if I can't swap with someone else and you do the 14th, that ok?

I'm not trying to be difficult, just trying to justify buying the cyclocross bike by doing a few races - there's only 4! So if anyone would like to swap Oct 28th and/or Nov 25th for a Sunday after Christmas, I'd really appreciate it.

I was with Seamus's yellow group. We had about 14 people, 4 or 5 new to Orwell. We went to Blessington via Manor Kilbride, discovered a new coffee shop (Sweet Blessington?) in the little shopping centre when the usual coffee shop was too full, and returned via Eadestown/Rathcoole/Saggart. I had 70k from the shop, 24.5 average. We managed to keep the group together quite well for the first day. I think most of the people were in the right group for their pace, but maybe a couple might try orange next week.

Hey,

I'm looking for a swap for the weekend of the 28th Oct, I'm abroad so can't lead. Anybody want to swap? (apart from 4th Nov/2nd Dec)

Thanks, Niall