dglevy

thanks, RC, for the details!

my experience with the VA clubs is the latest starts on the weekend have been at 10:30 am. but each club has its own variations. also, you may be able to find, say, a regular 40 mile ride and join them after they are 10 miles into it.

if a ride starts close to where you live, that would save you time. here below are the names of some clubs near or in baltimore. i got them through some online research for a (out of shape and getting even more out of shape) friend. i bet there are a few more clubs with rides in the area b/w DC and Annapolis that are not on that list, since i was looking for b'more, not south of b'more. i seem to recall that potomac pedalers has a gazillion rides, some of which are out your way, but i'm not sure. please post, if you find something, though. it's always good for all of us to have options at all times of the day, esp. as the weather cools.

Adventurers Club of Towson
Baltimore Bicycling Club - Baltimore
Chesapeake Wheelmen - Baltimore
Harford Velo Cycling Club Harford County
Lateral Stress Velo Racing team and bicycle club - Baltimore, MD

dglevy

there's another ride i just learned about today. it is sponsored by a new bike shop in dc, "the bike rack". link is here. leaves sundays at 8:45 am, 40 miles or so at a 'moderate' pace. we passed them this morning. they were doing about 19 mph to our 23 on macarthur blvd so it's definitely 'moderate' but it was a good sized pack of 20-30 riders and looked quite sociable -- a fun way to burn off some of those fatty american meals...

[march 2010: i had to fix the broken link. if it breaks again, just go to https://www.bikerackdc.com and look for ride info.]

dglevy

I did the N2 ride a few weeks ago. The N2 is a nice, friendly ride for A and B riders -- if you're willing to get up early enough for a 7:30 am sharp departure. It's a friendly ride, everyone introduces themselves at the start--a nice contrast to most of the rides I've been on. There were about a dozen of us or so. I don't know if that size is representative of the ride. Probably not, though. This was on Columbus Day, so it wasn't the customary day of the ride. I got dropped on a couple of hills. I would say it would be a decent work-out for an A rider, if they were looking for one. But the ride waits at a couple of spots, so B riders can enjoy it too.

BTW, the Bicycle Place ride is the closest to the ideal ride I've ever seen in 13 years of riding. It's still big, even on cold weather days: about 60 riders or so. And the surprise bonus for me is that one has a real sense of camaraderie and community. People gather at the shop afterward for free espresso and conversation, and the bike shop owner, Mike Butchko, is a great host and sets the tone of friendly banter. He fit me on my bike for free and gave me some spare parts for a nominal cost.

The ride has evolved a bit. It splits now into A, B and C groups at the lung-searing Mass. Ave climb. Then the A & B riders rejoin at Great Falls.

The only reservation I have about the ride is that there have been a fair number of crashes this season. I've heard about half a dozen or so. Maybe that's to be expected when you have so many riders in a group. There's more peloton-style riding and less single and double paceline riding. I haven't seen any particular pattern to the crashes, so it's hard to analyze. Several people have told me that they are due to mixing experienced with less-experienced riders, but I'm not convinced. If people have thoughts on how to make the ride safer, feel free to pipe up. I'm on the ride's listserv and can pass them on. [9/2010: I've done this ride a lot since I wrote this and there haven't been any crashes to speak of. That must have just been a bad year, for some reason.]

dglevy

Just heard about another ride. It was a DC Velo rider who told me, I think. Sounded like it is mostly his team on the ride, but that's just a guess.

Mon - Fri 12:30 pm, sharp. Start in Bethesda at intersection of Goldsboro and Bradley Blvd. 'Rolling hills'. I don't know the distance or intensity yet. The exciting thing about this ride (for me, at least) is that it goes every day during the week, like the Hains Point ride.
[UPDATES:
1/7/18: It's still going. Someone posted on a cyclist group, "Thrasher 12:30 rides daily from Bradley and Goldsboro in Bethesda ... different one hour route each day." I've heard it's a hard, fast ride.
8/12/19: I heard from a regular that Monday and Friday tend to be easier than the rest of the week, and Thursday is when they hit every hill they can find, including Mountain Gate Rd, Old Anglers, and the infamous Brickyard Rd...]

A DC Velo web page [dead link, 8/2019] also has some detailed descriptions of the 7 am Saturday ride, the 10 am Sunday ride and the Hains Point rides. BTW, the Hains Point rides are fast only on Tu-Th. They are more just social/recovery/taper-down rides on Mon and Fri. There are also a lot of riders at HP in the evening after 5 pm or so until dark. You can almost always find a paceline to play with then. I've heard that Thursday evening is a special one, but I haven't been there yet.

Please take the time to correct this, if the information is wrong or misleading. I haven't been to a couple of the rides I mentioned here, so they are not verified yet.

dglevy

i just stopped by the Bicycle Pro Shop in Georgetown to pick up a tire tube, and asked what the deal is with the sunday rides. they said that they hadn't started them up yet, only informal rides were taking place after the shop closed on sundays. but they said that there would be something on the website if it officially starts up again.

[5/09: stopped by again. still no formal ride. the guy i talked to said the same thing, i.e., they might be starting it up again. so it looks less likely, since it keeps getting delayed. but check the website, just to be sure.]

rapidcarbon

Have you tried the Wakefield Tues/Thu speed works? It's 10 times harder than Bicycle Place B ride if you tried to keep up with the front group (especially on Tues)

dglevy

oops. sorry for the late reply. yes, i think i mentioned the wakefield training ride in an earlier post. it's a great ride. if i were still living in arlington, i'd be doing it every week. (i live in dc now, adams morgan.) i don't know about the lead group being ten times harder than the bicycle place B ride, but the lead group is definitely a bunch of A riders -- i.e., too fast for me.

btw, i was on part of the bicycle place ride this morning. on the way back, at about 9:45, i saw a large group heading west on macarthur boulevard . many of them had 'bicycle rack' jerseys on, so i assume it is the ride i mentioned in my 8/26/07 post. it was pretty big--about 30 riders or so, maybe a bit more. pace looked moderate--say, 20 mph or so on the flat.

i've been on eight or so bicycle place rides this season. i haven't seen any crashes recently--pretty good for a ride that big (70 or so at the peak) with a wide range of skill levels. also, the ride has gotten harder: 4 major climbs, and climb #3 is really long (macarthur leading up to falls rd, in potomac, md). on climb #1 (west mass ave to sangamore), if you can hang with the A riders, you know you've hit the big time. the grade must be around 6% for about a 1/2 mile and they show no mercy. they go hard and accelerate as they near the top. i was able to stay with them for about the first...15 seconds...and i still reached the crest toward the front of the B group. it's like a totally different league...

i've also been doing the hains point noon ride (fast rides are tues-thurs, i think). great way to develop some sprinting power. i've recently learned that there is a thursday evening hains point ride that is pretty popular. i've only been once; there about 20 of us--great way to wind down from work... i don't know if there's an official start time. i think it's in full swing by 6 pm but i'm not sure.

DrPete 

^^^ There are some seriously strong riders around here, and they frequent those rides. They'll rip out your soul, as you already learned.

songfta

Another fast ride from DC is the Wednesday evening Downtown Breakaway ride from Mitchell Park in Kalorama/Dupont. The ride leaves promptly at 6:00 pm. There is a strong A contingent at this ride, and it attracts some strong riders (when riders from local race teams show up, they're well matched with the faster riders on this ride). It takes in hills, runs pacelines, etc., to fit in as much terrain and mileage as possible given weather and available light.

For folks who live in the District and want a strong, weekday group ride that isn't just more laps at Hains, it's a nice alternative.

(Full disclosure: I'm one of the A-group leaders for this ride.)

dglevy

that sounds very intriguing. is that the same thing as the 'goon ride'? (see chairsmissing's description in the first post.) i've always been leery of the goon ride b/c it sounded very fast. if this one's a different ride, are there B+ riders in it?

kingsteve233

Great post - I think I'm gonna try and hook up with the Reston Bike Club for some of their rides sooner or later. Looking for a regular Saturday / Sunday ride at the B level.

mjdwyer23

What ever happened to Koffee?

Lithuania

man i live a mile from the start of the saturday dc velo rides and I cant do them because of work. Until 2weekends ago I never really knew what I was missing either.

SpongeDad

Any idea of the pace for the DC Velo 7am Saturday ride?

Is the webpage description accurate (40 miles/2.5 hrs) or is it more intense in reality? Are they okay with interlopers?

I'd love to knock off a hard ride first thing in the morning.

Lithuania

it might be the fastest ride in the area especially when all the cat 1s show up. it really depends on whatelse is going on that weekend though. if there are big races that weekend some of the big dogs wont be there. Its open to everyone so show up and give it a go.

songfta

The Hains Point noon ride is affectionately known as the Noon Goon Ride - good deduction skills there!

hrt4me

I should try that too.

dglevy

referring back to my first post in this thread with the quote from chairsmissing:
more details on the Goon Ride: i recently came across an email from a fellow club member from April. he said the ride is Tuesday and Thursday, 5:45pm (as of April). so it's not just tuesday night.

he also mentioned a Sunday morning 7 am ride. i assume this ride follows the same route as the Saturday morning ride.

thanks for the post about the Downtown Breakaway ride. i did it one time. apparently it's sponsored by the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club. there are a lot of hills. the first half hour is manageable but the pace was too much for me and i had to drop off, once we got near glen echo park, in maryland. but there were some slower riders behind me. i could have waited for them if i had wanted to do the whole route. i think it was 30 miles or so, but don't remember exactly, at this point. (4/2010: THE RIDE IS NOW ON WEDNESDAYS--SAME HOUR OF DAY, SAME LOCATION.)

up until daylight saving time ended in november, i was doing the thursday evening Hains Point ride. that is a GREAT ride. it starts at 5 or 5:30 pm and is a nice, fast ride, sort of like the noontime sprints but a bit more relaxed, more non-racers take part, the pace is a bit slower -- but not a whole lot slower -- just perfect for a cat 5 or older racer. i assume it will start up again in march, when daylight saving time begins.

gMoneyYo :)

They do that a lot.. for whatever reason, NCVC and other clubs around here, it seems to me they have only two speeds. Off and On.

dglevy

more info on the Thursday Evening Hains Point ride: apparently, it's an official ride of the NCVC. the page describing it is here. it says it is an 'intense race simulation ride', but it wasn't that hard, the few times i did it last fall. maybe i was just lucky, i don't know, but the Noon-time Hains Point sprints are much harder, it seems to me.

fix

It's pretty easy to make the Hains Point thursday night ride very very hard. Go OTF on one of the earlier laps and set a pace that you like. Whatever the pace is on the first few laps usually holds for the rest of the day, I've found. When Dave comes out, it can be pretty rough.

dglevy

yes, i made the mistake of getting on superdave's wheel a few weeks ago. there was a gap after the chicane on the east side. i tried to match his acceleration and blew up...

i heard from an NCVC racer that there are tuesday evening sprints in alexandria. i don't know the time or exact location, but it sounds like a good option for those, like me, who would be spit out the back pretty quickly on the goon ride. i think they do some sort of loop.

dglevy

i did my first race in the Greenbelt Park Training Race Series a few days ago. it wasn't that bad--i managed to hang on for the first 8 laps, and it was a tremendous work-out. my average heart rate was 4 bpm higher than the highest average i've reached in any work-out in the past few years...

the course is pretty nice regarding safety. the cat 5 field never hits its maximum of 40 riders (i asked). there were about 20 of us at the start, this time. there's only one turn. it's a 90 degree right-hand turn that everyone has to brake for (in the back of the pack in the C race, at least). apart from that, the only dangers that i noticed were the typical ones in a race of tired or overly-aggressive or dumb racers touching wheels, cutting off the riders behind them, etc. i just tried to stay out of trouble, learn some new things, and pound the bejesus out of my legs...

the nice thing about training races is that you can drop out, bring your heart rate back down from the stratosphere, then jump back in again.

i only wish they had a race just for people like me: cat 5s over fifty y.o. who were never very fast even when they were young...

MrCrassic 

Good thing you've tried it! It's definitely quite an experience, though it seems that having some group riding experience helped you out. Are you going to continue racing?

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NomadVW 

I don't know about Alexandria, but we're in Annandale on Tuesday nights at 6:10pm roll out.

Groups from AA to DD

Parking lot here - show @ ~5:50 and you'll see all the riders mulling around:

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/m...maps_moore.htm