summer is approaching fast and last sunday’s taste of it was an indication that it may be a warm one.  along with the heat, comes longer days and more riders returning from hibernation.  as such we are making a few changes to the sunday ride to  account for all three.

firstly, the start time.  as of the 3rd of november (i.e. the first sunday ride in nov) we are changing the time to a 6am start.  this is for all groups – long, short & coffee.  please make sure that others that you ride with that may not read the blog know about this or they may be a little lonely this sunday at 7am.

this earlier start time primarily allows the long hills ride to get back to the city before the day gets too hot.  however, there are lots of occasions where riders have started the long hills and have not had a good day, so have waited for short hills at the top of the first climb.  this is why we need all groups to change their start time.

the sun is also getting up early, so we can take advantage of not having daylight savings, by moving our rides forward.  however, we will not be matching this ride with daylight savings changes for a few key reasons.  firstly, it is very rare that we get a 40 deg day in october or march.  secondly, come the end of feb, the sun is not rising till 6am.  likewise in october, there is both limited light and a higher risk of riding into the sun during this time. therefore the 6am time change for the sunday rides will be in effect from november through to the end of february.

to account for more riders coming out we want to split the rides where we can.  this means that, if numbers allow, we will have –

• a fast/long hills ride
• a long hills ride
• a fast/short hills ride
• a short hills ride
• a relaxed/short hills ride
• a coffee ride.

although it would be best to split at the top of the first climb, this is not always practical and therefore we will break into groups in the carpark before we leave.  this will be modelled on the saturday rides and therefore have a look at the map below to see where you need to meet.

there is already an unofficial relaxed, short hills ride that has been operating for a while, so we will formalise it from now on.

the main caveat around splitting the groups is the number of riders in each group.  there needs to be a minimum of 12-15 riders in a group to make this work.  if, for example, we go to split the long hills and everyone thinks that they are so fast that there are only 5 people remaining in the second group, then there will be no split.  trying to fight your way into the wind with a small group is just not fun and a group that small creates a bigger risk being harassed by traffic.

hopefully, by riders, self seeding in the carpark, we can filter the groups out into safe sizes.  remember that these are club training rides and as such are run in accordance with our ride etiquette guide. looking after each other is key to ensuring that everyone has a safe ride.