Come and join us for our weekly Saturday ride. If your looking for fitness improvement then this is the ride for you.
Choose your group wisely... which one are you?
B Group
You’ve become a competent rider. You’ve learned to relax a bit. You coast between corners. You roll, clatter, and fly straight over obstacles. In corners you lay off the brakes, lean and carve like a butcher.
On a smooth, curvy trail you enjoy the sensations of speed and flow. However when things get gnarly you tend to tense up. You bog down in rough terrain and get buckled out of control when you hit obstacles at speed. You have trouble making corners when traction gets iffy.
The majority of satisfied mountain bikers ride happily somewhere at this level, blissfully unaware of the next level. When they see pros whiz by with utmost speed and control they just shake their heads and assume there’s voodoo at work.
B group riders have less fitness than A group riders, which is usually climbing speed. If you race it is usually B and C Grade Club races.
A Group
You ride with relaxed aggression. You rarely let your front wheel hit a rock and you never let a backside go unpumped. You unweight or fly over obstacles, and you press hard into corners, descend like a falcon and climb like a mountain goat. You glide through rough sections, gaining speed and control the whole time. You have high technical skill.
You are usually lean and chances are you are serious about your riding. You own a very light weight bike with high end components and light wheels. When you race, you either race club A grade or elite/expert and/or podium in your age catergory.
So beware the A group is fast, painful, and a hard workout. The A group riders cover greater distances in the same amount of time as the other groups. They don’t stop for more than a couple of minutes at the top of each climb, so if you can’t keep up you will be left behind!
If you are not a member of TORC (or other MTB club) and would like to participate in this ride then you will need to visit Turramurra Cyclery and fill in a Participation Form per ride for basic insurance on the ride. If you haven't filled in a form and turn up you will be turned away, due to prevoius bad experiences, sorry.
Trail Etiquette
There is nothing worse than a rider being inconsiderate of other riders on the trail, especially to inexperienced riders who lack confidence. Pushing past a less experienced rider on the trail can cause them to fall and injure themselves. After all, we want to grow our sport!
When you see another rider coming towards you, just remember your car road rules. In Australia, we drive on the left side of the road, so why should it be any different on the trail. Move to the left side of track.
If there's not enough room for both riders to pass, the person riding downhill should always stop and move over. It's much harder to get going again if you stop on a climb. If you're the descending rider, be considerate!
Overtaking can be daunting for the rider being overtaken. If you come up behind another rider who is moving slower than you, let them know you're there and that you want to pass.
If there's enough room to pass, then use words like "track", "on your right", "overtaking" or "passing". If there's not enough room, call out "behind" or “rider” and wait for an opportunity to pass.
If you've used some manners, most riders will stop and move over for you. If you're a pig about it, they'll typically make it a point not to let you pass, and who can blame them? Oh, and if they move over for you, make sure you thank them. Manners are great!
Road Etiquette
Most of our rides start and end with some road riding. We need to use the roads to get to the bush tracks. In order to ride safely as a group (peloton) here are some guidelines you will need to know:
Unless otherwise instructed ride two abreast taking up a whole lane. Riding more than two abreast is illegal so keep it to two.
Obey the road rules; stop for red lights, stop signs, and for pedestrians. You are classified as a vehicle when riding on the road so you must obey the road rules.
Do not overlap your wheel with the riders in front of you. If you have overlapped your wheel and the rider in front moves left or right and collides with your front wheel you will come down. This in turn can bring other riders down behind you in the peloton.
Please do not half wheel. This is for the two leading riders of the peloton. It basically means that if you are stronger than the rider next to you and they are struggling to keep up with you, slow down so that both your wheels are aligned, not half wheeling.
There will be times where we need to go from riding two abreast to single file. In order to do this safely please use the following format. Riders in the left line of the peloton need to accelerate gradually to open up a bike length between wheels, so the rider who was on their right can slot in behind them.
When riding along single file or two abreast riders need to indicate parked cars on the left to the rider behind. When riding close you need to know what is ahead and parked cars can easily be hit by the rider behind you if they don’t know they are there. Simply place your left had behind you and point right to indicate to the rider behind that there is a parked car ahead.
Parking
If you are driving to the shop to start your ride please do not park directly behind the shop or near the fruit market. Due to the ride finishing after the shop opens, they get very short on car spots for their other customers. The best place to park is in the undercover section directly below Franklins.
Bad Weather
If it has been raining for a couple of days this ride will have low numbers as we don't like grinding our bikes through the mud. Many of us will jump on our road bikes and go out with the roadies.
If in doubt keep checking this website or check with the team at Turramurra Cyclery (9144 2128) to see if the ride will go ahead.