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@clubman
I may be able to come with you on this ride.
I can’t promise I’ll be up for it on the day as my fitness is variable, so I’ll have to wait and see on the morning. I’ve done a couple of longish rides recently and I seem to be going better than I expected and certainly better than I deserve.
However the fact is I’m pretty ancient and my mileage in 2016 was poor; I can’t expect miracles. The last thing I want to do is to hold the rest of you up, so if I don’t think I can maintain your pace I shall say so and go home. Don’t wait around too much and don’t feel guilty about leaving me.
A couple of points in response to what’s been said above:
Fixed or Not:
It was always my intention that this should be a fixed ride, but I wouldn’t want to exclude people who can’t use fixed. It seems to me that the important thing is that the fixed riders should set the pace – essentially this means riders on gears should not start tear ups on the descents. On the route you’re using there aren’t many climbs where gears will be much of an asset.
Numbers:
I note that if I make it to Staines along with everyone else who has said they will come, we would have seventeen riders. It remains to be seen how many actually turn up, but if it’s anything like this number I think the organiser should consider splitting the ride into two groups.
I’d say six to eight riders, even when in an orderly group, make quite a big enough obstruction for today’s impatient drivers, also with over thirty wheels liable to puncture it makes sense to avoid everyone having to wait for every new tube to be fitted.
The faster riders should leave a few minutes before the others.
The Original Thread:
In a few moments I’m going to bump the original thread be cause I think anyone who hasn’t been on the previous Hard Day rides may find it interesting to learn about the background to this event.
Finally – I know this may be a bit radical for forum rides, but could I suggest it would be an excellent idea if everyone had some kind of third party insurance. The obvious way to get this is to have British Cycling or CTC (whatever it calls itself nowadays) membership. This is not very expensive, has other benefits (if you can do this ride you may want a racing licence) and it could save you an awful lot of trouble.