Roger Pierce, 378-7063.
Group Captain
Roger Pierce, 378-7063.
Ride Leaders
Jonathan Jones (Sunrise and Sunset rides)
Meets
Most Saturday and Sunday mornings at the standard club meeting time. Location and ride days announced on the club email list. Also on other days as announced on the club email list.
To Join
Join the Gainesville Cycling Club and then email or snail mail the safety pledge to the Group Captain.
Protocol
The Gliders are a group that strives to maintain high training speeds over moderate distances and maintain the integrity of the group. The average speed of our rides generally will fall between 18 and 19.5 mph, which means our cruising speed will often be around 21 mph. Rides will normally be around 50 miles, but can range between 35 and 75. We will usually stop at a store about half way through the ride; on longer rides we may stop twice.
We will sometimes have a Power Glider group that will average up to 20.5 mph. It is more likely that such a group will form on a Saturday, usually in mid-Summer as group fitness peaks.
The group uses pace lines to maintain higher speeds (single and double pace lines; we do not use rotating pace lines or echelons). The group rides at a consistent pace and will adjust its speed (within limits) to keep everyone together. These are group rides; you should be prepared to stop if someone has a mechanical problem. We will stop briefly to regroup if the group is broken up by traffic conditions, stop lights, or big hills.
To participate, you must sign the safety pledge, wear a helmet, be able to change a flat tire, and have a capable road bike. You should have some experience in group riding, but we will work with you if you do not. To stay with the ride, you must be capable of staying in a pace line moving at 21 mph for three to four hours. If you find that you cannot maintain the pace, you should let another group member know that you are going to drop off. If you do not know where you are and anticipate dropping, ask someone how to get home before its too late!
We generally observe a speed limit on flat terrain. Early in the year it will be 20 mph, and will be 21 or 22 as the group gets stronger. Riders wishing to go faster than this should move up to the A Riders.
The pace will be slower when:
In order to maintain the integrity of the group, we avoid riding with the A Riders. Although most of our members will have no difficulty riding with them during their warm up phase, it is very difficult to reconstitute the Gliders group when they start accelerating the pace.
When we find that we have numbers approaching 20 riders, the Gliders will split into two or more groups at the start, and ride with a gap of several minutes between the groups. The ideal size of a group is 6 to 12 riders; fewer than six will degrade the speed that can be maintained, more than 12 starts to get us into the problems discussed here.
The Annual Gliders Training Century is held the last Saturday in August of each year. First run in 1998, we do the Santa Fe Century course, stopping at High Springs, Watermelon Park (Myrtis), and Worthington Springs. This is a regular ride (though it starts at 7 am) and thus has no special support. To build up for this ride, Gliders rides in August will build up towards 75 miles.
A Note About Time
You should be ready to ride when you arrive at the ride start point. If you need extra time to assemble your bicycle, get dressed, or eat breakfast, plan to arrive before the scheduled meeting time. Gather around the ride leader at about five minutes before the scheduled departure time for the route briefing and introductions. If you are unable to make the gathering, let the ride leader know that you are present before the ride departs.