A:
You don't need to be a member. If you decide you like CRW and ride with us
regularly, we ask that you support the club with your membership (or even
better, by volunteering!). But it's not required.
A:
The Saturday rides tend to be shorter and a slower paced than the Sunday rides. Some Saturday rides include an option to join a "follow-the-leader" group where the whole group stays together at a moderate (~13 mph) pace. The Sunday rides tend to attract more riders and have longer routes. They are all arrowed during the regular season so you don't have to look at a cue sheet -- you just follow the arrows painted on the ground. On a beautiful Sunday in June, we may get as many as 150 riders. We try to stagger the start and people ride at their own pace, following the arrows. Some people ride > 20 mph in a paceline, others go at 13 or 15 mph and can ride with other people going the same pace if they want. The weeknight and Saturday "fitness" rides attract faster riders. Here too we try to stagger the start so the fastest (20+ mph) riders go out first. Many people will ride 15-17 mph. The best thing to do is to try a few rides and see what works best for you. Sometimes the leaders are quite busy before a ride but if not, feel free to go up and tell them you're new. They may be able to hook you up with someone or give you some useful advice.
A:
This varies greatly. Typical in-season, on a nice day, there might be 25 riders for an
evening ride, 40 for a Saturday ride, and 150 or more for a Sunday ride. During winter
months only the leader might show up. On a bad winter day - maybe not even the leader. The
centuries are the biggest rides of the year and may draw 300-600 riders.
A:
Our riders span the full range of experience and fitness. There are those who
ride occasionally and others who ride every day. Some members only ride the shorter
routes, while others do centuries (100 mile ride) or more.
A:
People ride a wide range of paces. On some rides, groups ride together at an average of more than 20 mph while other riders in the same ride are further back going 15 or 13 mph. You can ride any pace you like since there will always be arrows and/or a cue sheet to follow. You may find many other people riding your pace or possibly, no one near by.
A:
Map, water, something to eat (some routes do not go by any stores), things to repair a flat (pump, spare tube, patch kit, tire removal tools), ID, health insurance card, helmet, spare clothing if the weather looks nasty, sunscreen. Also useful: allen wrenches, screwdriver (or multitool), lock, money, gloves, pen and paper. You should make sure your tires are up to pressure and your bike is in good shape before the ride.
A:
For questions like this, you're best off posting a message to the CRW email
list. You have to join the list to post. See
the Internet Mailing List page for details.
A:
We have an online database of ride cue
sheets, containing the routes for most CRW weekend rides, and many others.
Bear in mind that some of these routes are very old and may not be exactly
as described.
A:
This is another kind of question that is best posted to the CRW email list.
You have to join the list to post. See
the Internet Mailing List page for details.
If you have any questions or problems concerning your membership, try
this page. If you don't find the answer there,
click here to send an email to our
A:
If you want to get faster, you have to ride faster. A few suggestions for getting
there:
Ride with fast riders.
Do the fitness rides (Sat, Tue, Thu). Go out with the lead group and try to hold on as
long as you can. As time goes by, you should be able to hold on longer and longer. If you
get dropped, try to hook up with other folks who've been dropped and ride together in a
pace line.
Ride the hills. And ride them hard. Last year a bunch of NEBCers did hills on Wednesday
nights - the route typically included about 6 moderate climbs (1/3 - 2/3 mile, 300 - 400
feet) and the group waited at the tops until everyone made it. Working to get up the hills
as fast as possible really strengthened my hill riding.
Do the NEBC intro-to-racing series. This will give you some riding skills (pace lines,
cornering, sprinting, etc.) and will allow you to do some faster riding with a group of
people who are just learning how to do it. Even if you never race, this is a good way to
learn more about riding.
If you've got to ride alone, set some realistic goals and work toward them. If you've
got a 60 mile ride that you do regularly, keep track of how long it takes. If you're
normally finishing it in 4 hours, set a goal of 3:50 and really go for it. Keep track of
how you're riding to see if there are places you could ride harder. If you get to the 3:50
time, set another goal of 3:40. Etc.
Find a weekly time trial (NEBC does one north of Boston, but there are others around)
and do it every week. These are typically fairly short (10 miles or so) and you just ride
them as fast as you can.
Practice speed work. Find some flat road somewhere and do a few intervals on it. If
you've got a stop watch, pick standard start and stop points and see how quickly you can
cover the ground. Do several reps each time, with recovery times in between.
A:
Pros: Light weight, fewer pinch flats,
more comfortable, better handling Cons: Nearly impossible to repair, messy, some of the
weight differential given back by having to carry one (or more) complete spare(s), may be
more expensive for comparable tire quality (you probably don't want to ride on cheap
tubulars)
A:
As mentioned,
tubulars tend to both handle better and be more comfortable. In general, they handle
better because they've got a circular cross section. I think the comfort factor is related
to the cross section and to the fact that you may be able to avoid pinch flats while
running at a relatively lower air pressure.
A:
Rip 'em off, stick 'em on. You're not
likely to be able to "repair" a tubular on the road (or, for that matter, in the
comfort of your home). So you just pull the old one off, fold it up, and put the new one
on. This all takes some prep work: the spare tire is usually one that you've riden on
before so that it's been properly stretched; and both the rim and the tire have to have
been pre-glued (with a tire contact cement) so the tire will stick once mounted. Also, it
can be difficult to get the old tire off, if it's really glued tight. Finally, once the
replacement tire is mounted, it takes a little fiddling around to get it centered (side to
side) all the way around the rim.
Experienced tubular changers can usually do this operation faster than replacing a tube
on a clincher.
A:
It's possible that I'm being too
pessimistic about tubular repair. I know it can be done, but I haven't had any success in
my two efforts. But I do have a bunch more tires to work on!
(Becoming a faster rider and tubular answers courtesy of Dave Jordan)
