Our club rides

+victoriawalvis - Hello there. You can come along and try up to 3 club rides before we ask you to join. All the information about our club rides is here on the forum:

Look at the top of this very thread for more info:
http://forum.islington.cc/conversations/117/

And here is some information about group riding which you may find useful:
http://forum.islington.cc/conversations/687/

Morning! My name is Simon and I just wanted to introduce myself before I turned up at the Wednesday ride this evening. Looking forward to meeting some new cyclists and learning a new route around north London. I've also read the information in the previous post.

Is it also ok if I bring a couple of friends with me? We're all starting to panic a little about the L'Etape!

+booter You are very welcome to join us.

Disclaimer: The Weds ride is reasonably challenging. If you are not reasonably fit/used to group riding, please start with one of the Sunday rides (C or B) or the 8am Saturday rides.

Hi Everyone ! I am Fred and would like to join this evening for the first time.
Is anyone riding tonight? Thank you

Fred

We have a ride at 6.30 from whittington park.

Hi. Is there an 8am ride scheduled for tomorrow? I am a reasonably experienced road cyclist looking for a local club to ride with. Thought I may join tomorrow for an introductory run.

Mark

Yes. You are welcome to join us.

Afternoon All,

I am a new member, hoping to attend at 8am on Saturday ride for my first ride. Is there anything I need to know before the day?

Many thanks,
Meetun

Hey Meetun,

Welcome to the club. You can just show up on Saturday morning. Come a few minutes early, then one of the 'senior' members can give you a quick introduction to the warning signs we use, and how to rotate. It's all very intuitive.

I think what I really needed to know was that I'm not fit enough to keep up... yet. I will try my best on the C ride tomorrow. Looking forward to it...

Hello Laura
I am looking to join a cycling club as I have signed up to the Ride 100 in August but I am new to cycling so am just trying to increase my mileage and experience on the bike!

I think I average around 12/13mph so reading the links, I think the Sunday morning 8.30 group C ride would be the right level for me or do I need to get fitter first?

Also is the ride around 3 hours returning to the same place as you start?

Thanks

Hello +Catharine116,

Yes please do come along on Sunday for the C ride and try it out for pace, I am sure you will be fine.

The ride duration completely depends on the pace of the group - they often have a cafe stop at Barracuda in East Finchley which is optional of course! If you don't want to stop at the cafe, Holloway (our start point) is only a couple of miles down the road in a straight line so it would be hard to get lost :)

Introduce yourself to the ride leaders on Sunday morning, and take it from there. Have fun!

Hi @Shannonball my name is Anas. Just joined the club, keen to do my first ride. Unfortunately due to work commitments I am unable to join the weekend rides for now. Can I start with any of the weekday rides? I have been a commuting regularly for the last 2 years, but I haven't done group riding before and fairly new to long distance rides having done a few 50+ mile rides this month. My average speed stay close to 14-15 mph providing that there is not many categorised climbs. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Hi +anas.z

That should be fine - the Thursday ride is a flatter one.

Please make yourself known to the group and explain you haven't done any group riding and ask their advice.

You can also read our Group Riding Guide to get some tips an idea of how it all works.

Hello,

Moving from Hackney (where I'm a member of London Fields Tri Club) to Finsbury Park this weekend. Following getting dropped at my first crit race (Redbridge) last weekend, I'm looking to join a cycling club (and you guys have a nice kit ;-). Happy with 100km 30kph rides and no stranger to group riding. Might be training elsewhere this weekend but if not can I tag along to the Sunday run? Is there a specific group I need to start in? Also, do many members race?

Sam

Hello +SamuelD

You would be more than welcome to join us on a Sunday club run. Three speeds are offered on Sundays - the C ride is the slowest and shortest whilst the A ride is the fastest and longest. Details of rides are posted on the forum in advance, or you can just chat to the ride leader on the day.

We do have many members that race and the numbers are growing all the time. Sounds like you'll fit in perfectly :)

Welcome @SamuelD

Have a look at the loooooong email that I have sent you for more detailed information...

Hi folks - potential new member here, planning to come along to a club ride tomorrow morning (probably the B ride based on the descriptions - I've done a few 100km+ rides including an audax and a sportive last weekend where I averaged 14-15mph on the 80 mile course, but am fairly new to group riding). One thing I wanted to check given the weather forecast - you don't expect mudguards, do you? I'm sure I saw some mention of it somewhere on this forum, but I don't have any...

Thanks!

Sam

Hey @samtravels,

Nice you want to join tomorrow. Mudguards are not obligatory but are appreciated for the people behind you. But I must admit a lot of people don't have them, so no guarantee your face is mud free at the end of the ride.
The B group is normally around 15 mph. However first time riding in a group takes up energy (concentration on new signs etc), so I would normally advice new people to join a group "lower" the first time, to get used to the group riding, without being already on your physical limit. However this is up to you to judge.

Just picking up on the mudguard point. I'm sure i read that they are obligatory during winter however as a potential new member i'm just slightly concerned as my bike won't accept them. I have tried cruds a couple of times before and had to bin them on both occasions. I've near bugger all clearance with 23mm on it and now i'm on 25mm 4000s not hope in hell of using any.

Would this be an issue in the winter months?

http://forum.islington.cc/conversations/636/#comment15511

Winter Supplemental
Please attach mudguards to your bike October - April. Please bring
more than one inner tube - and ideally three. Punctures are more
common in the winter months. Spare inner tubes make for speedier
repairs on the road rather than trying to make repairs to the inner
tube with patches.

It may be August, but the fact that it is going to be raining heavily tomorrow, I would highly recommend that you adhere to the above if at all possible. While we don't have a 'no mudguards - no ride' policy, you will be far more popular with your fellow riders if you could add them on your bike. Or at least ride at the back so that you don't throw up mud/grit on the faces of those behind you.

That said, not all mudguards are created equal. the pair I own have the tendency of aiming for people's chins, which is not all that helpful in the end, even if they protect my bum... There is great variability of products out there, so it might be that we need to get the bike to a shop and try to find the best fit, rather than buying online and hoping for the best.

Thanks very much for this advice @Martine, really appreciated. It's reassuring to know I won't be shunned for my lack of mudguards - let's hope it's not too disgusting tomorrow though.

On which ride to join, thanks for these helpful thoughts too. The reason I had thought of the B group was that it sounded like the C rides are quite short and I normally like to go out for longer. Perhaps I'll have a chat to folk there in the morning and see how I feel.

Thanks again!

To the intrepid few who made it out today - just to say sorry for losing you (I was the newbie who fell off the back early on). I was only 100m behind you but got stopped by the red light at the junction by the big Tescos, and by the time I got moving again you were out of sight. I'm not sure if you went a different way at the next junction or if you were just too quick for me to catch you! I pushed on for a while hoping to find you then gave up and went for a ride on my own, though not for that long - conditions were pretty shocking! Hope you all had a good (and safe) ride.

Cheers,

Sam

Which group was that? C or B?

There was only one group today (not many showed up - I think most preferred to skip the drowning!).