The Beacon Message Board

A: Cannock Chase - James Tate (8.15 start)
B: Warwick - Neil Orchard
C: Hillers (Dunnington) - Simon Walker
Intro: Chaddesley Corbett - George Barker

Route for the A run....


https://www.strava.com/routes/2577001

Are you planning at stopping in the cafe on Birches Valley? If so it's usually mega rammed at lunch if weather is good

Yes was planning on it, but with an 8.15 start we should be there early to avoid lunchtime.

I don't currently have anyone lined up to 'ride shotgun' on the intro ride.

Any volunteers?

I will give you a hand George

petemarshall wrote:I will give you a hand George

Thanks, Pete. Much appreciated.

I think I'll also be there with a newbie (to club riding) friend

dweben wrote:I think I'll also be there with a newbie (to club riding) friend

When you say "there", Paul, do you mean on the intro ride or on one of the main club runs?

I volunteer to lead the C ride on Sunday to Hilliers farm Cafe at Dunnington which will be 50 miles, the route link is below. Would another rider please save it to their Garmin so that if the group is large we can split into two smaller groups.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9527005

Planning on intro ride George. Not quite sure what my buddy should ride. He's quick enough for C run but not done that type of distance before so thinking intro is a safer first bet. Is it about 12mph average?

dweben wrote:Planning on intro ride George. Not quite sure what my buddy should ride. He's quick enough for C run but not done that type of distance before so thinking intro is a safer first bet. Is it about 12mph average?

It'll be good to have you both along, Paul. The pace will be that of the slowest rider ... which can sometimes be as low as 10mph average for the whole distance. I'd say anything between 10 and 13mph is possible.

jdtate101 wrote:Route for the A run....


https://www.strava.com/routes/2577001

hi all
i'm thinking of coming for the A run on sunday. just looked at the route and seems it's a bit longer than what's on the website. is the speed still likely to be >16mph?

that sort of speed should be ok but i usually do 80-90km rides. if there is a nice cafe stop to refuel that may well be ok though!
any info greatly appreciated

hope to see you this weekend!

Hey Matthew. I don't mean to be presumptuous about your riding just from your breif description. A runs are generally over 16 mph even when we do the occasional longer route, like James's on Sunday.
I tried to graduate from solo riding straight into an A run when I joined the Beacon and I regretted it. So I joined a number of B runs over a series of months until I felt like I could progress to the A. Again, I hope I don't come across as condiscending but I am just speaking from personal experience in the hope that you enjoy riding with the club from your first outing. So whatever you decide to do, have a great day out!

It's possibly also worth pointing out that ">16mph" A run speed guide on the web site means just what it says ie that the speed is likely to be more than 16mph and there's no strict upper limit.

It's likely to be around an 18mph avg as the vast majority of the route is flatish once we get past halfpenny green area. I won't be spanking it as I'm still recovering from a race on Thursday night....

I'll take the B Run to Warwick tomorrow.

Neil's B Run route http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5918412

George, myself and daughter Ciara are coming on the. Intro, she's only 8 so if she struggles we'll make our own way, saying that in her last race she averaged 14mph and had a mex speed of 20mph

Si_Walker wrote:I volunteer to lead the C ride on Sunday to Hilliers farm Cafe at Dunnington which will be 50 miles, the route link is below. Would another rider please save it to their Garmin so that if the group is large we can split into two smaller groups.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9527005

I know this route very well and if necessary will look after a grupetto. I'll probably intercept the ride some time after the Man on the Moon though.

ballintrane wrote:Neil's B Run route http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5918412

It's nice that Neil has got a Club run Secretary.

A lovely day for a ride with good company.
Riders on the C run today were;

Si Walker (L)
Steve Smith
Paul Watkins
Hayley Burden
Fenella Brown
James Standon
Andy Wrighton
Rob Parker
Phil Elwell
Pete Norman
Simon Turner

Met at the Cafe
Bob Green
Sheila Shayes
Mavis Williams

Today's B Run was quicker than normal (Garmin said average of 17.8mph) but everyone was happy with the pace, I led some of the way but Paul Johnson led more so he should get leaders points!
8 B runners were
Neil Orchard (leading....ish)
Paul Johnson (mostly leading)
Steve philpott
Chris Thompson
Jess dent
Andy Gilman
Phil gameson
Ben stocks

Today's A run was very sparse...

James Tate (L)
Matt Clegg

...and that was it, just the two of us. It ended up being a full 100 miles with 2500m of climbing, so not an overly easy day and poor Matt was feeling it towards t he end. I think the LEJOG was finally catching up with him, but we made it home ok..

Today's intro ride was well attended. All our newcomers deserve a lot of credit for staying together for most of a reasonably challenging route. The camaraderie and spirit were excellent. I hope we will see more of all those who gave it a go. Thanks to Pete for ably bringing up the rear.

Roll call:
George Barker (L)
Pete Marshall (L)
Alan Hipkiss
Ryan Bushell
Chris Starkey
Ryan Evanson
Neil Evanson
Luke Garrett
Mike Balenski
Adam Simcox
Liz Simcox
Lisa Spurgeon

The following made their own way to the café:
Phil Whiteman (+ Thomas)
Pat McCabe
Ciara McCabe
(Ciara deserves a special mention. Although she didn't ride with the group, she independently paced her dad all the way to Rowberry's and back. When I last saw them, she appeared to be preparing to give him a kicking on Dayhouse Bank. Not bad for a slip of a girl of (?) eight!)

One or two riders expressed an interest in knowing where the f*** they had been. I'll post a link later.

The route followed by today's intro ride:
- Route map

We covered almost 49km (just over 30 miles), climbing nearly 600 metres (nearly 2,000 feet) at an average speed of slightly more than 17kph (10.5 mph).

An excellent into route George. More challenging than many and more like a slightly slower and shorter C route so I think gave those taking part a good idea of what a club run is like. Good exercise for me as well going up, down and up again on St Klenelms trying to pace others up i

No **flat**s and no mechanicals on an intro ride is not bad either.
And seeing Phill with his trailer was pretty cool.. I can keep up with him trailer attached and look forward to seeing the entire family on my C run in a couple of weeks

Thanks, Pete. Your contribution was very much appreciated. I'm always a bit in two minds about routing an intro ride and sometimes think maybe I should opt for something flatter. But my experience is that people do seem to like to be challenged a bit. There was a clear 'achievement buzz' at the end of yesterday's ride. People who experience that high come back to the dealer for another 'hit'. Of course, you don't want the ride to be so hard that people are destroyed by the end and therefore have a sense of having failed the challenge; that would have the opposite effect. The buzz comes from success. The difficulty is that most groups of newcomers include people with quite different fitness levels. A ride may therefore constitute a winnable challenge for some, but not for others. The average level in yesterday's group was higher than in some groups I've led in the past, so the ride seemed just the right level of challenge for this group. However, the next time I lead a winter intro ride, I think I may try to do something a little easier.

neilo wrote:Today's B Run was quicker than normal (Garmin said average of 17.8mph) but everyone was happy with the pace, I led some of the way but Paul Johnson led more so he should get leaders points!
8 B runners were
Neil Orchard (leading....ish)
Paul Johnson (mostly leading)
Steve philpott
Chris Thompson
Jess dent
Andy Gilman
Phil gameson
Ben stocks

Ben Stockwin?

My wife, Liz, really enjoyed her introductory ride and with St Kenelm's Pass, it was quite some introduction. She was very grateful for Pete's encouragement.

Adam S wrote:My wife, Liz, really enjoyed her introductory ride and with St Kenelm's Pass, it was quite some introduction. She was very grateful for Pete's encouragement.

It was a pleasure to have you both along, Adam, and I look forward to seeing more of you in the weeks and months ahead.