Medium group ride with Trev leading. 42 miles, average 15.8 mph, cafe stop Hickling. Good food but lengthy waits for cooked food and mis timing of drinks coming early food late! but Hay - Ho cafe was warm, good food, coffee and good chat. Windy. Unfortunately we lost 2 or 3 people from the back markers, and we had one puncture. Although group slowed on a couple of occasions for slower riders, messages got lost and riders were too far back - knowing there were a couple of experienced riders the decision was made to carry on. Perhaps we all need to make sure messages are relayed more clearly to front riders - not usually a problem!
The secret is not to have hot food. If you have cake, you get it at the same time as your tea.
Didnt realise we had lost Michael and Barry until it was too late, but not surprised given the pace at times. Giles is talking about having a faster group on Sunday which might take the pressure off a bit.
Michael was struggling, so after asking the riders at the front to ease off, and been ignored, I dropped back to make sure that he knew where we were going. I tried to tow him back, but he couldn't hold my wheel you had disappeared. Unfortunately, Michael decided to call it a day, by which time you were all a distant memory
It would have been nice to have the chance to discuss the situation before I was 'volunteered to look after a back marker, particularly as his friend who convinced him that he would be fine with our group also decided to abandon him.
Hi Guys, Please don't beat yourselves up over this. I knew I was joining a faster group and had already decided that if I couldn't keep up I would drop off and find my own way home, which is exactly what I did. I had managed just under 13 miles before going solo, so looked at the map, headed 7 miles south, 7 miles west and 7 miles north and got back to Lowdham just as Ed and Two-Punctures-Andy rolled in! Had a great ride today (8 December) and thanks to James, really enjoyed the friendly and generous Fuddle - my first! Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
There were some keen and strong riders out that day, who decided to put the pressure on as soon as we turned into the wind. We rely on those at the back to let us know when people are struggling or dropped but I was unaware until after we had crossed the A52. We did wait for a bit at Sutton crossroads, but Joe said that you were miles off the back and you may not have even come the same way, so after waiting a couple of minutes we set off again.
There's a 3-4 mph difference in average speed between Ed's group and ours, which is quite a step up. We do our best to keep everyone together but it can be like herding cats at times. Ideally we would have a speed group to suit every rider but in order to do that we need more volunteer leaders, who know the roads. Unless we go down the route (pardon the pun) of having planned route before the ride, that people can download to their Garmin. This is what VBCC do.