Chaingang. Tues 9 May 2017. 7.30pm

Martin L

Hi all
A reminder for the weekly chaingang... 7.30 Tuns in Ashwell departure for a 7.35 start at Waggon in Steeple.

Let's see how it goes but am in principle up for 3 laps if anyone else fancies it. Let's see.

Forecast ok.

Nathaniel Rosa

Can't make the next few weeks, regrettably. Will miss you guys!

Edit now have also been infected by that nasty virus, so can't even train on my own time. Ouch.

Taff

See you at the tuns for 7.30

Martin L

Holy mackerel!

Maybe 18 out from the off. All very smooth and controlled until near the end of lap 1 when Chris lit the blue touch-paper. It split everything apart. I hope those who wanted to join the front group didn't get caught out. And I hope those that didn't want to, managed to form up into another chain.

In the front group, it settled into a groove for Lap 2, though the pace up the war memorial hill was brutal and I nearly brought up my peanut Tracker bar dinner. It split again on the Col du North Brook End and others called it a day at the end of lap 2 too.

5 of us cracked on for a Lap 3. The weather was good. A gentle NE breeze. Travis pulled up soon I think with a mechanical, I hope not a hypo. Chris waved bye at Bassingbourn and so me, Steve J - and star of the evening, young birthday boy Adam Lightfoot - who absolutely smashed it tonight went into TTT mode to finish. How good will he get?! Very impressive. All 3 laps @ 24.1mph av. It felt like a massive effort.

The break by Chris is as good as any other way to help split the group into smaller groups of different pace, as it gives people the chance to get a feel for things before deciding whether to find another gear or not. But share thoughts on any other way.

Ed N

Thanks for the ride. Keen to come to chain gangs to get a work out, work on my group riding at pace skills and learn from others. So tried to keep it smooth, communicate well and work as a unit.

I was aware that that there would invariably be a selection as the pace ramped up over the laps, but I didn't know someone would attack like that. My experience of it was that it felt a bit indiscriminate as riders scrambled to get in the resulting single pace line to cling on. I was in the right hand pace line at the time so perhaps naively tried to hold it to maintain the second line and help the group, but was in the wind for too long and unable to safely find a wheel.

Spat out the back, on my own after under a lap. Cycled home solo. Got the "you're home early" line from the other half.

tduckett

Firstly, the group was too big, remember 12/14 is in our club and BC guidelines as a maximum size so maybe if there are that many out we should start with 2 groups.
I thought it was all very steady to start with but the "Potter surge" did split the whole thing up. This was on the one hand quite useful with the numbers out but on the other hand there were quite a few miffed riders suddenly cast adrift. A bit of reorganisation into a second group would have then be prefferable.
Hey-ho, thats chaingang.

MatPorter

I love the chain gang. What a great way to get a ride & a workout!

I thought the riding was very good in the full group - although I can see the point about it being too large.

Personally, I really enjoyed the "Surge-to-split" selection. Actually, enjoyed is totally the wrong word - it was painful to hang on to. But great training and really good for road / race skills.

Though, if this didn't really work for the whole group, then we should probably come up with a better way to split the group. Maybe a steadily increasing pace with the full group for a lap and a half - before the split? (giving everyone a chance to ride in a big group for a decent amount of time, but still letting it rip at some point).

Looking forward to next week already!

Mat

James D

Some data for info...

lap 1 - 24.2mph 192W
lap 2 - 24.2mph 212W

so roughly 10% more output required in a group of 6/7 rather than 15/16.

Great riding by all and I thought the selection came at a good time. It was a tailwind section and on the wider open road.

Great riding by all. One of the smoothest early season CG's I been on in a while

ChrisP

Thanks for a great ride all. I did think it might have been a little controversial, but assumed that groups would organise themselves no matter what and why I did it on the flat/tailwind section: usually the hardest point to put a dig in and get away. I will take more of a back seat next time, or try and organise the second group if breaks do occur, it's all good fun!

wilburtrump

Good race training by the sounds of it. When you're riding around in a race you need to keep an eye on the strong riders and make sure you're not in the wrong place when they're up near the front and likely to attack... best place to be is on their wheel! Know who you're riding with and you'll do well in the races!

geoffg

sounds like painful fun guys...all sensible post ride discussion...Tim's point on group size central though....why not have 2 groups with faster bunch starting 30 seconds behind group 1. That would give some finding the pace too much in fast bunch an opportunity to shift to a slower pace at the pass point and those in slower one a chance to move into faster if they are feeling good on the night....just an idea.

wilburtrump

Two groups of 12 riders or so passing through/past each other at pace on the open road? I wouldn't fancy that at all...

Vincent

If this happens we need to quickly form two single lines to pass. Three abreast is not acceptable ever.
Race tactic points all very valid. I sat in the back in second lap and was able to sense where people were going to drop off. If you feel it is too hard to come through then wheel suck at the back for a bit. Definitely don't do a turn up a hill as you will blow.
So pleased to see the group numbers right up this year
But we now need two grkups

wilburtrump

I would set off the fast group first, like it has been done before. If your legs go you know that the slower group will not be far behind to jump into. This way you don't have to pass anybody at all and can work as a smooth chain gang for the whole lap...

tduckett

Yes, if there are 2 groups the faster has to go off first otherwise, apart from the chaos of the faster group going past, the slower group will try and latch on and you are back to one group.
Also, as Vince says, if you go too far into the red doing your turn then sit on. Nothing wrong with that as long as you communicate and dont get in the way. I think too many of the weaker riders are working too hard too early. Maybe sit in for the first lap and see how long you can hang on.

Vincent

Good comments. Faster group goes first. Aim to keep two groups. I we have only a few in second group riders can we please even out the groups and ride two good groups. Let the really fast guys ride in group one. I am sure some of us can fall in either camp and make it a good ride for everyone.
But let's make these quick decisions on the way to steeple and those that tag on make up the balance.
I think second group is already at 22mph+ ave with sufficient numbers so that is already a good pace for most. Group one is moving towards 25mph.