okay, so last week we experimented with splitting the group to combat the size issues we face with about 70 riders.  it seemed to work well although there were a number people that should have been in the fast 6:15am group left in the main 6:00am group.

however, what last weekends ride gave me was a lot of new data on what times people are doing for the course.  i setup a strava segment to capture the “race pace” only section from roe hwy around to guilford.  what was astonishing was the fact that alec/brian managed that section at an average of just under 38km/hr. click on the link to see what your own times were.

now, one thing was clear.  the fast group was still too fast.  alec and brian still managed to overtake all of the main group and reach the servo before anyone.  the idea of the split and headstart was so that we can allow a time window that firstly allows more people an opportunity to regroup, and secondly not have the fast guys sit around for ages waiting to head off again.

looking at the times in the link above i am drawing a line at dean roser who finished the segment just on the other side of 2:09.  according to strava flybys, this meant that he got to the servo at 8:50am.  the difference between him and alec/brian is pretty much 15 min.  therefore, if alec/brian get to the servo with dean, that allows the remaining fast group riders 20 min to get in, whereas it should only take them 15min.  therefore anyone faster than dean (i.e. 2:09 or better) is in the second group.  everyone else is in the first group.  some of the times listed are from previous weekends where we stopped at gooseberry, so some people can minus 5 min off their time to reach our current segment time.  this also allows everyone back to about 2:29 to also reach the servo in time.

so, that brings me to the second change, the start time.  we need to push the fast group back another 5 minutes to 6:20am.  for alec/brian to get in the same time as dean, they need to start 5 min later.  any earlier than this and they will still catch and pass the front of the main group.

the other issue we have is what if a faster ride starts in the 6:00am group and gets to the servo way earlier than dean does.  to combat this, we are setting a fixed regroup window.  8:50am – 9:10am.  if you are sandbagging in the main group and get to the servo early, then you will be waiting longer.  there is also no need to sandbag as the fast group has a 5min period of grace to get to the servo.  also no more checking the clock to see what time the first people arrived.  within this fixed window there will be two departing times to keep the size of the group down.  the first group will leave at 9:00am and the second group leaves at 9:10am. this means that some of the 6:00am group and some of the 6:20am group will both leave together in both groups.  this way, no-one is sitting around for too long waiting or needs to decide to leave early without the group.  if you are just getting to the servo at 9:00am and see the group heading off, it is then up to you if you want to go straight away, or fill your bottles and wait for the 9:10am group.

i am aware that conditions can change and if we have a particularly windy, slow day, we can make that call at the servo to allow a bit more time.  however, this is on the basis that i expect the first of the main group in at 8:50am with the fast group not far behind.

summary.

check out the strava segment for your time, or someone of similar ability to you.  if you are faster than 2:09 for the segment, you belong in the fast group.

the main group leaves at 6:00am.

the fast group leaves at 6:20am.

regroup time is now hard coded.  we expect the first riders at 8:50am.  first batch of riders leaves at 9:00am and the second at 9:10am.

if anyone comes in after that time, maybe hang around till 9:20am to see if there are any stragglers.

see the original post and the first update for even more info.

ride route – spr 2016 uwct training course