London Dynamo - first Sat ride - what to expect?

rubberbullet
rubberbullet Posts: 36
edited February 2012 in Road beginners
Morning all

I'm mentally preparing myself to try out London Dynamo's Saturday chaingangs around RP tomorrow. I've never headed out with a club before - can anyone let me know what to expect? Keen to learn to ride in a group ahead of some trips to the mountains later in the year.

Meet at 9am at Pen Ponds car park (that's the one bang in the middle of the car park, right?). Then 4 laps of the park, so I presume they'll be done by 10/11ish?

Is it fun, or is the idea to prepare myself to be hanging on for dear life? Either is fine, but it would be good to know what to expect!

Thanks for any pointers!

Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Club riding is pretty straightforward.

    Head along in a line of pairs, chatting to one another.

    Keep your speed quite even, including accelerating and decelerating, and don't overlap your front wheel with the chap infront of you.

    Occasionally people will do some hand signals, which are pretty intuitive (e.g. pointing to the rode to let you know an oncoming pothole and on which side) and you'll learn to do those pretty quickly.
    _
  • keyser__soze
    keyser__soze Posts: 2,067
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Club riding is pretty straightforward.

    A chaingang with pace lines is a bit different from a straightforward club ride tho.

    Dynamo seem to have several groups so if you're too slow for the group you're in you can drop back to the one behind. From what their site says they try to keep the pace reasonable to keep everyone in the group together, so probably a good one to start with.
    "Mummy Mummy, when will I grow up?"
    "Don't be silly son, you're a bloke, you'll never grow up"
  • AC20030_1
    AC20030_1 Posts: 109
    Morning! First time riders with the club all go round together as the last group with a few of the more experienced guys to show you the ropes. They brief you on whats involved before you set off but there are guidelines on the website which are worth reading before hand. The pace will be as slow as the slowest person in that group as the aim is to get you comfortable riding in a chaingang not to really push it or drop people.

    Start is at Pen Ponds car park which is in the centre of the park yes. You will actually do 3.5 laps as you finish at the cafe and as you will be the last group to set off you be done around 11. Enjoy!
  • dawebbo
    dawebbo Posts: 456
    As AC says, you'll be shepherded round by some of the experienced members - so no need to worry, they will guide you on what to do and the pace will be such that nobody gets dropped.

    Enjoy!
  • ptr_
    ptr_ Posts: 126
    I'll be there tomorrow, my first ride with London Dynamo as well.

    I've taken it pretty easy over the winter, some intervals on the rollers and the occasional long steady ride when the weather permitted but mostly sitting around eating biscuits - so you're unlikely to be the slowest!
  • mercedism
    mercedism Posts: 102
    Found a little taster... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTuWQzrPw1A

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