Group Tours ~~ Road Etiquette

Road etiquette is a touchy subject among cyclists. Believe me I know! In this country we seem to be focused on speed and racing. Even among we who ride bikes and will never enter a race, this attitude is prevalent. Yoiks!

Seems to me that there are only a very few reasons to engage in a group tour.

1) The rider doesn’t know the way and would like a navigator.
2) The rider would like the security and support of other riders.
3) Safety in numbers.
4) Sharing days on the road with others of like mind. In short camaraderie.

Most of those would seem to me to be reason to stay close to each other on the road. Ah if it were only that simple! The “racing imperative,” i.e. “I must show that I am faster!” mixes with an inherent difference in ability and motivation. Not all riders are as fast or as strong. A slight difference in ride speed, say 0.2 mph can be a huge factor in a long day. After five hours these two riders will be separated by a mile. When you consider that, in the south eastern region of the US, it’s rare to have a sight line of more than a quarter mile, that’s out of sight and out of mind.

I see an odd one occur fairly frequently. A rider will show up for a group ride. Let’s call this rider “Abe the Attacker.” Abe does not know a thing about the area of the ride. Abe has never ridden on those roads before, and hasn’t a clue where he is. Suddenly Abe takes off, as if pursued by the Furies. He has just dropped the ride, and ridden away from anyone who would help him navigate back home. Usually I see this when I'm in the midst of a recovery ride, and my urge to pursue the idiot is actually pretty low.

Just what is Abe the Attacker trying to accomplish here? Is he really so invested in being the “fastest rider around” that he will accept getting hopelessly lost on unfamiliar ground? Hah!? What gives?

Then there’s the flip side of the coin. There’s another rider, let’s call this one Slow Joe. Joe is decidedly not fast. He doesn’t care if he’s not. In fact he’s happy and content to be a slow poke. That works. But in a group ride situation, Slow Joe can be more than a bit of a problem. The question is, at what point does some member of the group have a responsibility to hang back and ride slowly with Joe? Is it right for Joe to risk the whole group’s objectives because he can’t, or won’t keep up?

Folks, those are tough questions. I’m intending to set out some guidelines here. What we are about is a group tour. More, it will be a self supported group tour. That means we will all be riding heavy bikes through hilly country. Some of us will be on heavier bikes than others. Some of us will be inherently faster than others.

I hope that the reason for our going out together will be for the joy of experiencing the day in good company. I know, from long experience, that someone will likely start “pushing the pace,” and that someone else will be hanging back. I’d really rather not see Abe the Attacker, Slow Joe, or Attila the Hun on this ride.

So here’s a set of guidelines to live by on this tour.
1) No one has the right to force others to go faster. If you ride ahead of the group, we still love you, but you are on your own. That also means we won’t look for you if you don’t show up at an agreed upon checkpoint. You have to do your own navigating. Leave the group and you take full responsibility for yourself.

2) No one has the right to be a “dragging anchor,” holding the group back. If you can’t keep up, you will be dropped. I’m sure that compassion will modify this somewhat, but it would be foolish to count on it.

3) No one has the right to put others at risk. Absolute adherence to traffic laws, and good safe, courteous, and responsible riding is mandatory. No exceptions.

Okay, that could be a bit of a problem. How do we know that we can stay with the group, not run away, and not be a “dragging anchor”?

The answer is pretty simple. Train and test. For more on that, please see tomorrow’s post.

As for the rest of the possible touring etiquette questions. Well, common sense, good manners, and a simple regard for your riding partners is about all that is needed. Pretty much, we’re a classy, decent bunch of people. Good manners have been bred into us. Essentially, let’s agree to keep our tempers, respect each other’s idiosyncrasies, give room when necessary, and look out for each other. In other words, let’s let the Golden Rule be our guide.

So that’s it. Mostly stay with the group. Don’t be a pain. Follow the law. Ride safely. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I can’t think of another thing to add.

As always, I’m interested in your comments, and welcome suggestions and questions.

Keep the shiny side up, and a smile on your face.

Tours ~~ Carry Capacity

I think I've mentioned this before. It bears repeating. On a tour your carry stuff. You should plan to put the stuff on the bike and absolutely not on your body. You want your bike ot be your beast of burden. After all, you have to supply the power to move all that stuff down the road, and over every hill along the way. Do you also want to expend the energy necessary to support it as well? Unless you are a complete glutton for punishment, the answer must be a resounding "Nyet, No, Non, Huh-uh, Nien, Nix, and not no way!"

I just had this lesson reinforced. Yesterday I did the Audax 200K. I like ot do this ride on a light bike. The trusty Y-Foil has no carry capacity. As ride leader, I tend to carry a bit more "stuff," first aid supplies, tools, clothing, food, etc. I put it all in a pack. I can do this for one day. Believe me, brothers and sisters, when I say, I am stiff and sore today, and I dearly regret that pack.

All of that was a bit of a longt winded introduction to the topic. How does a cyclist carry "stuff"? The answers vary with the individual, and their approach to things. The dedicated minimalist could do something like the upcoming Cheaha Two Day Tour out of a large under seat pack. Two tubes, mini-tool, tire levers, a couple of band aids, a toothbrush, some soap, some cash, and a credit card would just about do it. Of course this rider will forego a lot of amenities and creature comforts, fresh clothing among them.

For those who are contemplating touring, of medium to longer distances and self supported style, what follows is a bit of an illustrated primer.

There are several considerations in making these choices. Bike size and type. Infrastructure to load ratio. Intended distance. Cost.

Bike Size and type: Not all bikes are suitable to all possible configurations. Some are just too small to handle some of the options below. Think before you buy. Bring your bike in to an expert and discuss options first.

Infrastructure to load ratio: "Infrastructure" is the unavoidable wieght of the system. It includes the stuff the system is made from, racks, supports, bags, etc. "Load" is the stuff the system carries. On longer tours, the rider carries more stuff, so the fraction of infrastructure goes down. Put another way, the heavier the load, the heavier the system to carry it. For light loads a light system is best.

Racks and bags (pannier style):

Cost: Moderate to high.
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Fair to lousy.

Upside: They work with minimal fuss.

Downside: Expense and they become a semi-permanent modification to the bike.

This is a fairly "standard" (whatever that means in the bicycle world) touring rack. It can support panniers of a trunk bag, or both. These attach to the rear of the bike. The do not work on full suspension mountainbikes, and there are a lot of road bikes that simply will not take them. I absolutely do not recommend them if your bike is a carbon fiber frame. Price on racks ranges from about $3o up to around $200. I would not recommend anything less than a $20 dollar rack, and I wonder just what you get with one that costs more than $200. (Does it pedal the bike for you? Maybe there's an anti-gravity machine in there?)


Below is one of a pair of panniers. Panniers attach to the sides of a rack like the one shown above. For shorter rides a single pannier is okay, but for touring a rider would want to use them in pairs and distribute the load evenly on both sides of the bike. Panniers can cost from $30 to $200 each. They are often sold in sets of two, but may be purchased individually. (The water bottle is in the picture to provide scale.)

A couple of cautions about panniers. Not all of them are particularly waterproof. There are "dry bag" type panniers out there. Expect to pay more. There is a huge range of this type of bag on the market. Check features and capacity (usually given in cubic inches) closely. If you are not sure, please contact me before you buy!

At left is an interesting item. This is a super deluxe trunk bag. Made by Topeak, the cost is around $80. It mounts to the top of a rack. Notice there are included, folding mini-panniers. A bag like this would be almost ideal for the kind of tour we are doing to Cheaha.

Below is a nifty little setup.

Cost: Fair (about $60)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent
Upside: Quick and easy. Included rain cover. Removes from bike quickly.
Downside: Not a lot of capacity. Do not use with carbon seatposts.

Topeak makes these. They call them the "Dynapack." The frame is part of the bag. There is an included rain cover. This would be good for that person who is almost as much of a minimalist as I mentioned earlier. There are two removable compartment dividers, and a small internal pocket/compartment for keys and such. There is also a zippered mesh compartment in the lid.

Carradice Bags:

Carradice of Nelson England have been making bags for a long time. These bags are made from waxed cotton duck fubric. The waterproofing is amazing. The bags themselves are a bit heavy, but the low infrastructure weight required to use them more than makes up for this.

SQR Tour:
Cost: Moderate (about $120)

Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent

Upside: Quick and easy. Good carry capacity. Sufficient (with efficient packing) to do the Cheaha Two day. Removes from bike quickly.

Downside: Do not use with carbon seatposts. May not work on a small frame bike.

The Nelson Longflap:

Cost: Moderate (about $140)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent
Upside: Quick and easy. Very good carry capacity. about 1.5 times the SQR Tour. More than sufficient to do the Cheaha Two day.

Downside: Best if used with a Brooks saddle. pretty much requires a Bagman support rack, which is jsut about impossible to get. (See more on this below.)

This is an outstanding bag! It's my personal favorite for short to intermediate length tours. It's actually big enough to invite over-packing. Possibly the biggest downside is that this bag just about has to be used with a Bagman (tm) support rack. The Bagman is light and simple. The problem is that they are almost impossible to get right now. No one knows why. It's a British thing. I can put together a very suitable alternative out of fairly inexpensive materials. My alternative adds a bit more weight than the bagman, but not as much as a dual pannier and conventional rack set up.

Note 1: If you are planning to go this route, get on it now! It's less than two months to Cheaha and time flies!

Note 2: I would not recommend going the Carradice route unless you are very committed to the idea of cycle tourning and utility cycling.

One more possible alternative...

The bike trailer:

Cost: High (but read on!)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Poor unless you are carry a big load.

Upside: Carries anything you could want on this tour, and just might be inexpensive
Downside: Heavy and can be a handful when descending, especially on rough surfaces.

Okay, pictured at left and below is a B.O.B. trailer. It hooks up to the bike with a special skewer. (These are about $30). The trailer is in the range of $400. Included, and visible in the pictures, is a dry bag. I'm telling you, that means really waterproof. You could go into a stream with this and the contents of the bag would be dry.

Ordinarily, for a tour such as the Cheaha Two Day, I would discourage this as being too much stuff to haul. But here's an idea.

I own the trailer you see pictured here.

If two (or three) of you wanted to go in together, I would be willing to rent the trailer out for a very modest rate for the weekend. Each of the parties involved would need to purchase and fit one of the special skewers to their bike.
Then, the idea would be that the two (or three) of you would take turns pulling the trailer.It couples and uncouples in a few minutes. That would mean that each rider in the partnership would be hauling the load for only half (or a third) of the time. The rest of the time you would be riding a pretty light bike. How you arrange to split up the hauling time is your business. (I steadfastly refuse to get involved in domestic disturbances!)

Okay. Lots of words. (Think about how long this would have been without the pictures.) Hope that gives you lots of food for thought.

Stay in touch. It will be time for Cheaha before you know it.

AUDAX 200K RIDE REPORT

This was one for the books. Given that we’ve been having a lot of weather, and we certainly had a “forecast” for yesterday’s ride, I sort of thought we’d have an empty ride, a lot of “no shows,” and the hassle that goes along with that. I’m pleased to say things didn’t work out that way. In fact, I’d say they worked out very well indeed.

There were some last minute personnel changes, but nothing significant. Present at the Start were (in no particular order) Bob coup, Cindy Whitley, HL Jackson, Homberto Arango, Chris Muntzel, Kelvin Arcelay, Scott Rutkowski, and your corespondant.

The day dawned cloudy, with the constant trheat of showers, temps in the mid 60s. We pushed off pretty much on time, and proceeded south through Peachtree City on damp to wet roads. We hit a few very light showers as we moved south toward Pine Mountain. The rain was light. We got damp. The rain stopped. We dried out. Rain gear wasn’t really needed.

I want to take a moment here and compliment this group on their spirit of co-operation. Folks pitched in, waited where necessary, pulled when needed, and generally made the progress calm and orderly.

Pine Mountain was shrouded in mists as we climbed to the spine and rode along it. Every time is different, and each is amazing. I think the weather helped us here too. There was very little traffic on the mountain, and none of the blasting motorcycle groups. (Yay!) And of course, the descent into Warm Springs! I think the “Top Speed descender” hit 47.3 mph. This person will, of course remain nameless.

Lunch was… Well, it was the Bulloch House! It was great, plentiful, and just what was needed. I liked what Chris said. “I always finish feeling like I could never eat again. But two hours later…”

As we emerged from the lunch room we were greeted by a different day. Gone were the mists and low clouds. Bright sunshine and blue skies with big puff ball clouds had magicked themselves into existence while we ate. The temps were warm and pleasant. The road generally down hill for the next five miles. That’a a great “dessert” for a cyclist.

Of course, Spring in Georgia means ~~ changeable weather!

I watched with a little apprehension as those puff ball clouds gathered, and grew. I had a pretty good idea we were going to get hit with at least one pop up shower late in the day. Turned out I was right, and it worked out great and it was fun! More on that in a bit.

Our first stop on the return leg is in Gay, GA. Turned out the store there was closed. I don’t know how they plan to stay in business. Their hours aren’t very reliable. This leads to an unavoidable digression. Cyclists, we need to use stores on long rides. Please do not do business with stores which have restrooms “for staff only” or permanently “out of order.” Politely, let them know why you are taking your business elsewhere, and then do so. On the other hand, be gracious to those who are accommodating. Try to buy something if you use the rest room. Or tip the clerk a couple of dollars and thank them. End of digression.

The closed store in Gay posed a bit of a strategic problem. We departed quickly and moved along Flat Shoals road, then things got a bit confusing, as a couple of our group needed to make use of “field expedient sanitary facilities.” (Hint: always carry a small pack of toilet paper with you on a long ride. This can be invaluable!)

The fumbling around near Gay sort of spread the group out a bit. Chris and I dropped back to check on and ride with a couple of the trailing members while the majority of the group rode ahead. As we increased out pace toward Digby, we found the roads becoming wet. (The sky was really clouding up by this point.) Soon we were getting soaked by water from wet roads, and dripping from the trees. It was obvious that we were following and catching up to a storm. I figured it was likely that the lead group was in the storm. That turned out to be the case.

We all re-group at the store in Digby, where the lead group was standing in bare feet, soggy, and attempting to dry out. As we moved through the business of this stop, I was watching the skies around us. Big, black, thunderheads were closing in. It was time to move.

This was the point at which two of our party made extremely good decisions. Both of these members had been struggling through the afternoon. Both elected to withdraw and call for a ride. That let the rest of us get on the road and “hit the gas.”

For ten minutes I was a bit concerned, but then we seemed to be getting ahead of the weather. For the next 15 minutes things looked very good and we relaxed a bit. But the road was angling back toward the storms, and they were moving in our direction. Weather gaining on us! Oops!

We realized that, if we kept to our intended route, we would really be pounded. There was a big storm right on that track. Time for a change of plans. I called for the group to hang onto my wheel, at the best possible speed. Wow! What a rush!

Everyone then present had already ridden 110+ miles, climbed a mountain, and been in the saddle all day. Know what? Everyone responded! We motored straight north on 85 conn, out of Brooks, to GA-85. At Starr’s Mill the weather was in front of us, so we made a very brief stop to pull on rain gear, and then advanced again, right into a down pour. We went straight down GA-74, onto Redwine Rd, and then onto Robinson. In essence, the group did a 10 mile speed run, after a long hard day of riding. Gang, you are magnificent!

By the time we were pulling into town we’d outdistanced that worst of the storm, and were ready to cruise north on the Peachtree Pkwy. Dry clothing, post ride sandwich munchies, and camaraderie rounded out the day.

So here are the stats:
Distance: 122.3 miles.
Moving Time: 8:35:44
Rolling Average: 14.22 mph
Overall time: 10:23:16

Thanks to all of you who came along. It was truly a tremendous ride. BRAVO!

(Tomorrow: On to Cheaha!)

The Audax 200K as a Training Ride

Yesterday I said I’d elaborate on this. Here’s the scenario; You want to do the Cheaha Two Day Tour. You are ready to do the Audax 200K. That means you’ve been tapering and resting during last week and this one, but you are trained up and ready to do a 200K in one day.

So here’s the plan. Do the Audax 200K on Sunday. Next week, rest on Monday, and use the rest of the week as a “long hard” week as follows.
1) Tuesday through Sunday. Do 10 to 15 hours of training.
2) 8 to 10 hours should be on the bike.
3) 2 to five hours should be other training, i.e. swimming, running, stretching, core and abs work, etc.
4) eat well and rest well.

How to capitalize on the above work. After the coming week, you will have seven weeks prior to the Cheaha Two Day Tour. Your training should look something like the following.

1) Week of June 1 thru 7: This is a light week. Focus is on recovery. Eight hours of training. No less than one hour at any time. No more than three hours on any day. Longest days should be Saturday and Sunday. Efforts should be very light. Stay in very low aerobic zones.

2) Week of June 8 thru 14: This is a build week. Focus on form. Ride a heavy bike. (Loaded to 75% of your touring weight) 10 to 12 hours. Monday is a rest day. No ride less than 1.5 hours. Saturday should be a two to two and a half hour ride. Sunday should be a three to four hour ride.

3) Week of June 15 thru 21: Build week. Monday is a rest day. Focus is on endurance. Go longer. 12 to 14 hours. At least two rides at full tour weight. No ride shorter than 1.5 hours. Early in the week is for shorter rides. Saturday should be a two to four hour ride. Sunday should be a five to six hour ride. (These can be reversed if that is helpful.)

4) Week of June 22 thru 28: Build week. Monday is a rest day. Focus on Power Development. No more than 10 hours. Reduce bike weight to about 60% of full touring load. Do lots of hill work. Focus on staying inside yourself. Do not go anaerobic on the climbs until you are within 10% of the top of the hill! Shorter rides in the early week. No ride less than 1.5 hours. No ride more than four hours.

5) Week of June 29 thru July 5: Build week. Monday is a rest day. Focus on long and heavy. Ride at full 100% of tour bike load. 15 to 17 hours. No ride less than two hours. Shorter rides early in the week. Saturday should be a three to four hour ride. Sunday should be a five to six hour ride. (Swap Saturday, Sunday, and Friday rides around if this is helpful.)

6) Week of July 6 thru 12: Taper week. Focus on recovery. Monday is a rest day. Tuesday is a very light day. Reduce bike weight to less than 50% of tour load. Only a total of eight hours. No ride shorter than 1.5 hours, only one long ride on the weekend, and limit that to two to three hours.

7) Week of July 13 thru 19: Rest and prep week. Focus on preparing for the ride. Use discipline. (You are going to be feeling strong and frisky. Resist the urge to "open the throttle"!) Only six hours total. Do not ride hard! Light bike. Finish riding early in the week. Thursday is a very light day. Friday is a rest day.

Do something a lot like the above. Resist the urge to do sprints and long power sets. Have fun on the bike, and you will be ready to do the tour in style.

Incidentally, I will be leading a few longer “tune up” rides on the weekends for those who are interested. You need to contact me and let me know you are “in.” for these.

Audax Ride Updates

To begin with, let’s clear some things up. When I suggested that one could use the Audax Ride as part of training for the Cheaha Two Day Tour, some folks got the idea that I meant we should ride the Audax 200K as if it were the Cheaha ride. Not at all.

This coming weekend’s Audax 200K will be challenging enough. Plan to ride your light bike, carry only what you will need for the day. The idea was, you could use this ride as the “backbone” of a longer, harder week of training to prepare for Cheaha. I’ll discuss that a bit more in tomorrow’s post.

Weekend updates for the Audax 200K: First off, we are going!! Yes there is a weather forecast. Of course there is a rain chance. It’s like this, we’re back to a more “normal” weather pattern for North Georgia. You can pretty much expect to always have some chance of rain. How much should you worry about this? Not much at all.

I do advise carrrying the following along for the ride

• Sunscreen
• Shorts lube
• A rain light jacket
• A cap that can be worn under the helmet (a cyclist’s cap is about ideal for this)
• A helmet rain cover (optional)
• A dray pair of spare socks (optional)
• A bit of cash (for munchies at store stops)
• Sunglasses
• Smiles and a few jokes

The temps are forecast to rise to the mid 70s after a start of mid 60s. Here’s some basic advice on dressing for the ride. Dress warm enough for the beginning of the ride, but don’t overdo it. Wear the minimum necessary to deal with the temps for the first two hours. It will get warmer, but slowly. (Remember, anything you wear, you will carry all the day long.) Bring the rain gear I suggested. There’s a good chance that, sometime in the day, we will deal with a “pop up shower” or two. At the temps we’re sxpecting, that isn’t bad at all.

I hope you are all looking forward to this about half as much as I am. It should be a really prime day on the bike!

Audax Ride as Training?

Here’s an idea for you to consider.
Are you interested in doing the Cheaha Two Day Tour? If so, then think about using the Audax Ride as a training activity.

Before I go farther, let me make a couple things completely clear. Participation in the Audax Ride is not a requirement for doing the Cheaha Two Day Tour. Further, signing up for, and doing the Audax Ride does not commit you to doing the Cheaha Two Day Tour. The two events are completely separate. The only way that they are related is that I am organizing them, and they are both long rides.

Now that we’re straight on that, let’s continue. If you are planning to do the Cheaha Two Day Tour it would be possible for you to use the Audax Ride as a good training event. The idea would be to gear up for the ride as if it were the Two Day… Same bike, same equipment, etc. Then test yourself on the Audax Ride. If you do it strongly, all you have to do is maintain to be ready for Cheaha. On the other hand, you could use the Audax ride as a long hard day, and then add a good long training week to it in the week after. That would certainly go a long way toward prepping you for 18 and 19 July.

On the other hand… I know some of you are thinking of using the Audax Ride as a sort of preview ride for BRAG. That’s fine too. But for you, the Audax Ride should mark the end of your hard work. You should definitely begin your taper and rest phase on the Monday after Pine Mountain.

Is that clear? If not, please comment or contact me.

Terminal Audax Preparations

Here’s the good news. Your training is basically over. Pretty much the only thing “Training” can do in the next week and a half is ruin the ride for you.

By that I mean to say, if you engage in strenuous of high volume physical effort, you will become fatigued. You will not recover from that fatigue before the ride. Your goals now are to stay loose, move enough to prevent becoming stiff, and to rest. Understand, whether you like it or not, it takes at least two weeks for your body to incorporate and adapt to training loads. And then, the adaptation will occur, only if you are getting a proper amount of rest and recovery.

By way of illustration, let me tell a little story. I work in a bike shop. As you might imagine, I do “see it all.” Let’s call this individual Billy-B. Billy-B has worked with great discipline, performing a year long plan. He has been preparing for a big event. He has cheerfully accepted terrific training loads, hard workouts, long workouts, sometimes painful or incredibly boring activities. No problem. Then comes the last month. The idea of tapering, and recovering, and resting just seems to elude him.

He says to me, “I couldn’t stop working. I just had to go out and do something. I need to train for the event in two weeks.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that, I’d easily be able to take a vacation in southern France. The real tragedy is that, shortly after hearing that last from Billy-B, who simply would not rest up for an event, I then hear the following. “I don’t know what happened. I thought I was ready, but I just ran out of gas about half way through. I guess I’ll have to train harder next time.”

Not harder, my friend. Smarter! And “smarter” includes getting plenty of rest on the final run up to your event.