Charity Bike Ride - What is possible

jonbob78

I'm in the process of organising a charity bike ride in March averaging 60 miles a day for 5 days.

As a semi experienced cyclist I'm confident that as a group of 6 we can average 15mph with 4 x 30 minute meet and greet stop offs along the way. Thus taking us 6 hours a day with 90 minutes contingency before it goes dark.

A number of non cyclists have asked if they can do a leg with us, and whilst I do believe in inclusion, my concern is they will arrive with minimal training on mountain bikes with knobbly tyres and significanlty slow us down to make completing the days mileage within daylight hours unachievable. There will be a couple of 40 mile stages which will obviously be easier to complete within the day.

Staying together as a group would be preferable however everyone going at their pace will also add tons of complexity in terms of ensuring everyone takes the correct route!

Firstly any ideas on what speed an average cyclist on a mountain bike would be abe to average?
Any more so.....what speed would 'Jackie in accounts' (ficticious person) be able to average?

Finally am I being too harsh keeping to a tigher knit group of cyclists?

jgsi

You are going to make yourself Mr Popular aint you?
If it's your gig as organiser and chief bottle washer then you call the shots about equipment to be used and making it clear about the daily mileage required..... hopefully most non cyclists on bso's will have 2nd thoughts about riding for more than 10 miles anyways.... actual length of ride is probably more of a killer than average speed.
Were not some celebs feeling the pinch at 25 miles and trying to get to 13mph on Dolan road bikes last year?

carrock

novice on mtb=10mph

Unless you are a world class roller hockey player, in which case 24mph. allegedly.

Heckler1974

carrock wrote:

novice on mtb=10mph.

I'd concur, on the L2P I did the novice group were doing about 8-10mph so the last day (which was a touch over the ton) took them 10 1/2 hours!

hambones

I think alot would depend on their general fitness as much as cycling experience.

I organised a group from work to do the London to Cambridge in July at around 56 miles and one lad did it in just under 4 hours on his mtb having been no further than 3 miles prior to the ride as his training. Another guy aged 48 who played alot of squash but only bought his mtb for the ride did it in 3hrs 30mins.

vorsprung

jonbob78 wrote:

A number of non cyclists have asked if they can do a leg with us, and whilst I do believe in inclusion, my concern is they will arrive with minimal training on mountain bikes with knobbly tyres and significanlty slow us

Just organise the meeting up points, let people follow and ride as far as they like. If they aren't keeping up, drop them

Make this clear in your communications to the people who just want to join in

If people want to ride a whole leg then they need to be able to ride at your speed. Maybe this means they have to train and ride a road bike but sobeit

gareth273

^ what he says

Buckled_Rims

Jackie in accounts will probably do it in 8 to 10 mph as mentioned above, however, she might start to get bored after the 3rd hour so be warned

As for timings. How about a small competition between riders. Points to the rider who achieves the most consistent times per day. If he's too fast, lose points and the same if he's too slow. Then have an overall champion at the end.

Think of something that will encourage them to think points means pounds for their charity.

keef66

just make it clear that the last to arrive at each checkpoint will be shot. That should get the average speed up a bit.