dglevy

hi all,

chairsmissing wrote an excellent summary of fast peloton rides in the washington dc/northern virginia area. but i wasn't able to find the exact location of where these rides start using google. i'd especially like to know if there is a start point near downtown dc for the 10 am saturday (and sunday?) ride. but i'd love to hear from people about fast peloton rides in general.

i did one a few times when i was living in nyc. it went from great neck to oyster bay long island--50-100 riders doing 44 miles of beautiful rolling hills and flats. i swear, it was one of the best experiences of my life! i felt like i was in the tour de france. i was practically the only one with hairy legs and i was just barely able to keep up -- but what an experience. the pace was intense, the drafting was like floating on air, surrounded at least three deep on all sides by racers, a lot of the time. the first time, i averaged the 44 miles at 19.9 mph. the second time, i averaged 20.8, which was phenomenal for a 40 y.o. cat. 5 racer... and the countryside was gorgeous... just... like... the... well, you get my point.

so, anyway, if anyone can help me out here, i'd appreciate it.

On 5/6/05 chairsmissing wrote:
there is almost an excess of excellent training rides in the dc area. saturdays (and i think sundays) have 2 large and fast paced peloton rides in dc- the 7 a.m. ride and the 10 a.m. ride- (these rides follow routes out clara barton and up to great falls then descend, climb out, and it wraps around the potomac area a bunch- word of advice though: the majority of the riders are made up of the 4 or 5 large racing teams here, so if you race or are in shape to ride fast, these are good experiences) if you are in va, easiest place to join up with 7 a.m. groups of people is around 6:50-7:00 at the riggs bank at the intersection of M and wisconsin in georgetown. coppi, ncvc, harley teams tend to have people meet there then join up with the larger peloton on macarthur blvd.
the 7 a.m. ride tends to be a bit "friendlier" than the 10a.m. which tends to be one of the most competitive training rides around- there is also the "goon ride" on tuesday nights in rock creek park which can be heavy duty depending on who shows up.
i would strongly recommend riding out in the maryland area- while virginia tends to have decent trails, if you aren't willing to deal with masses of high traffic on them, maryland has easily accessible wide roads and excellent countryside- heading out macarthur blvd to potomac and great falls, then out towards poolesville and sugarloaf mountain is one of the best and easily adaptable areas to ride in--you can vary your route nearly every time you go out there.
also hains point has the much enjoyed noon-time sprints on weekdays... check out some of the local teams' websites: dc velo, ncvc, squadra coppi, rt. 1 velo- as some of them have info on these rides.

dglevy

got an email back:
thanks for the quick reply, chairsmissing. you're awesome!

Guest

Let us know how those rides turn out for you!

Koffee

dglevy

hey kb,

chairsmissing's email was wise to warn me about the intensity of that peloton ride.

i found a better -- as in, more appropriate for my fitness level -- ride for this weekend. it's the reston bike club's sunday ride. it's shorter than the peloton ride and it's starting just 5 mins. from my house in vienna, va.

i definitely will be doing the peloton ride at some point--maybe as soon as next weekend. but it sounds pretty intimidating. and it's really long. if anyone knows a way to shorten it, or drop out then catch them on the return, i'd greatly appreciate the info. the dc velo club site (mentioned in cm's post) gives the approximate route, but i don't know if it's a loop or they retrace the route on the return.

hey, if anyone from the BB is going to the reston bike club ride, look for a guy 5'8" with a silver Sakae Litage (Vitus 979 knock-off) bike and make sure to say hello!

--david

Guest

There's another group that rides out here- I think it's called Artemis? They may have some "balls to the wall" riding that are shorter than that. Give them a try.

Koffee

dglevy

thanks for the tip, kb. i googled artemis, etc. and came up with this web site:
https://www.artemisracing.org/about.php
i couldn't find any mention of weekly rides. if you have any more information on where and when, please feel free to post.

--david

Guest

Start out by checking out their calendar. This is what I came up with: https://www.trumba.com/calendars/artemis

As you can see, they even have an upcoming track clinic in Pennsylvania. It may work out for you. It looks like they also have a 47 mi ride too.

Koffee

Guest

Oops. My bad! Artemis is a women's cycling team... which explain why only women have told me about the team!

But check with Spokes, Etc. They will probably know a lot about rides in the area that you can do.

Koffee

SpongeDad

I think Artemis also has men in the club (https://www.artemisracing.org/men.php).

Of course they may be girly men.

(Flame suit on).

Guest

If you're wearing a flaming suit, then you must be a girly man too.

Koffee

dglevy

yeah, i saw that artemis was a team to promote women's cycling. and i'm all for that--the gender balance in this sport is distressing, to say the least. sometimes i wish i was wild about some other sport that actually had a male/female ratio a bit better than 10:1... but there was indeed mention of male participation somewhere on the site too. sooooo.... that may be a good place to hang out... and you can call me a girly man if you want, if that's what it takes to see more women on rides

i did the 48 mile ride with reston bike club today. 10 mins. b/f the start there was no one there and i was very afraid i had the wrong location or something. but everyone converged on the site thereafter and i had a great ride. first ride over 15 miles in six years, thanks to my bad knee. so i'm a pretty happy cycling freak at the moment... and the knee feels pretty good too, at least for now.

Guest

Sounds good in my book! Congrats on your ride, dood!

Koffee

rogue9607

Not sure what exactly you're looking for, but this past Thursday evening there was a good sized group doing laps at Hains Point. The pace kept around 20 with about one sprint thrown in each lap. The group was mostly NCVC with other riders, both attached and unattached, mixed in. It'd certainly be a good build up for the Saturday or Sunday rides if you're able to make it out during the week. You'd be able ride as long as you want, with only a 3 mile commitment at a time. I think they're out there Thurday and maybe Tuesday but I don't have first hand knowlegde of their schedule.

ks1g

If you can make it out to the Reston/Herndon area on weeknights, the Tuesday and Thursday night rides can provide a shorter but intense workout. The rides started the beginning of the month; the Tuesday ride leaves from the west side of the Hunter Woods Shopping Center in Reston and ride loops around south Reston over to the Franklin Farms area. The Thursday ride leaves from the municipal lot in Herndon near the W&OD bike trail (near the red caboose across from the Dairy Queen) and usually go out to Ashburn or Cascades. Sign-in is 5:30, departure is 6:00. Rides are set to get you back before dark with an allowance for the expected pace and time to deal with a flat during the ride. They'll get up to 30 miles or so by summer.

The Tuesday rides tend to be hillier, Thursday is flatter/faster. Pace inflation is a bit of an, er, factor. My limited data points are the fastest folks in the first Tuesday C group exceeded 16 mph for 20-25 miles; I heard some of the B's were over 20. 17 mph on the B ride means you are riding sweep (don't ask how I know !). There will be C, B, BB, A, and AA (!) groups as the season progresses and turnout increases. There's always a good size group for the B's and there is a mix of recreational riders and local racers in the various groups (more racers as it gets faster).

Details at https://www.restonbikeclub.org/folder...17/weeklyrides

cc_rider

A saw about a dozen riders in Coppi kit making good time through Rosslyn on Sunday.
https://www.squadracoppi.com/

truckin

Hains Point, as mentioned above, has fast rides. Often there will be a number of cyclists down there in the evenings, often with some strong riders. There is a noon ride there on weekdays that can be *very* fast. My understanding is that the guys who ride the noon ride are pretty much the strongest riders in the DC area. I've ridden down there a fair amount, and while I can stay with a group doing 20+ for 50 miles, I got dropped there in that ride because the sprints are so fast.

truckin

dglevy

hey, thanks to everyone for the helpful pointers on where to find rides. and thanks to kb for the congrats. you can imagine: i spent 6 long years gazing ruefully at bikers climbing out of the saddle thinking "i wish i could do that again". and now, finally, i am! (i have chondromalacia patella [kneecap off its track], for those who want to know why...i got it from sprinting without a warm-up for the ferry when i lived on staten island)

i'm especially interested in the hains point rides but, since i'm out in vienna, i think it will be a while before i get there. on the other hand, i'm still really intrigued by the 10 am sunday ride because it would be such a thrill to be in a huge peloton again.

hey ks1g, i won't be riding sweep on the b ride out of reston/herndon, as it turns out. i did the ride today out of vienna community center (6 pm tuesdays) and it was AWESOME! i averaged 20.3 mph over 19 miles. hit 190 heart rate at one point, which i haven't seen in years and years. we were a group of about 25 or so, with many racers. it took me a while to reach back into the dark recesses of my racing memory to feel comfortable elbow to elbow with men (and some women, thankfully) cornering on rough pavement at 30 mph. at one point, i even jumped across to a lead group for fun and practice--drafting off someone else, though...

unfortunately, i did get dropped towards the end--tried briefly to chase down someone on a flyer and then we hit a huge hill. lesson learned: don't get out in the wind till you know the route... it was a long, lonely -- and cold! -- ride home... but, hell, it was a fantastic work-out and i'm glad i can keep up...as long as i join the ride after the first big hill, that is...

anyone else want to tell stories about victories over their uncooperative legs? or other ride stories? (man, i love that sore feeling after a good work-out...)

7/30/06 update: i did the 10 am Rock Creek Park ride today, in Wash. DC. there's a pretty good description of it here, only it really doesn't leave till 10 or 15 mins after the hour.

i was disappointed with the turn-out. there were only about 16 of us at most, which was whittled down to 5 or so at the end -- not exactly peloton size. but it's a nice ride if you can keep up and, even if you can't, you can pick it up on the way back. i got dropped at mile 15 or so but picked it up again after about a 45 min. wait, so got 30 miles in paceline riding. the size of the ride was probably affected by the heat. it's probably bigger in cooler temperatures.

on the ride out, i spotted a HUGE peloton coming back in toward the city--probably about 50 or so riders. someone told me it was probably the 8:30 am ride originating out of a City Bikes shop somewhere in the city. if anyone knows specifics about that ride and/or can point me to a web page, i'd appreciate it.

0-20 in 5 Sec

What did you do for 45 minutes -- go inside a diner and have lunch?

rapidcarbon

8:30 AM ride from Bicycle Place bike shop, they are fast and big, around 125+ riders. when they get back to Rockcreek, the peloton becomes smaller because riders takes off before that.

Here is the bike shop website: www.bicycleplace.com

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=213999

It seems I am the only one in BF does that ride every Sunday

and the toughest weekly ride in NoVa which I still can't keep up is the ride on Tue and Thu evening at Wakefield park.

Lithuania

rapidcarbon,

what other decent group rides originate out here in NoVa? Can you recommend a good ride for someone new to pack riding?

cc_rider

If you are just starting with group rides, try the PPTC. https://www.bikepptc.org/
Variety of levels and routes to choose from. Some rides are more "group" than others.

dglevy

that would've been nice! i noodled along for a while just to see how much longer i would've lasted if i had pushed a bit harder and to see what the route looked like ahead (really gorgeous, cool, heavily shaded stretch on glen road through watts branch park). then i turned around and found a shaded bus stop, ate a banana and waited for my bus, which arrived right on schedule and we cruised home at about 22 mph through rock creek park with a sprint at the end. delightful!

but this ride is too fast for me. maybe it will get bigger in the fall and i can drop off the back with some other people. but, for now, in the hot weather with a relatively small group, it might not be worth it. and just so the snickerers don't start up, i wasn't the only one to drop off. there were 17 of us at the peak, then 12 or so when i dropped off, and there were only three from the original group when i re-joined them on the return. i asked what happened to everyone and they said something to the effect of "headed home or got dropped". sheesh. wouldn't kill them to wait up 30 seconds after the hard parts.
reston bike club has a phenomenal tues/thurs group ride. often gets 60+ riders and split into 5 or so fitness levels. tuesday ride starts in reston. thursday, herndon. it's very well organized and pretty friendly, relatively speaking. you get a cue sheet and map so, if you get dropped, you can find your way home or re-connect with the pack further along since the route often intersects with itself or repeats a loop.

regarding pack riding safety, check the thread i just started here

StanSeven

Come back and try it again. It's fun. The sprints occassionally do get up to 32-35 mph, but then it drops back down and everybody regroups to go again. You'll be surprised how much your speed improves after just a few times.

rapidcarbon

The Hains Point noon ride is my favorite. They usually start out slow for the first 2 laps (around 19-20mph) then they push the pace up really high for 3, 4 laps and then cool down again.

For newbie to pack ridig, you can ride at Reston/Herndon or Wakefield on Tue/Thu but I think Reston/Herndon ride has more newbies and the pace is slower. But Wakefield has less traffic than Reston/Herndon ride, so it's safer to ride there.

BassoCoral

Hi Stan. This summer on the Point my experience has been that the run down the backside has pretty often been over 30 each lap after the second lap on Tues-Wed-Thursday. I agree with you that it's a great place to get motivated. Everybody's resting on Friday and recovering on Monday in the summers, and the group often observes the 22 mph barrier those days for most of the laps, so you have to get out front if you want to get any exercise.

The A and AA groups with the Reston club used to be a great way to get back in shape, if the logistics work for you to get out that far.

Does Coppi still ride out of Java Shack on Sunday mornings? Anybody been on a few of those lately who could profile it for us?