Welcome back cycling enthusiasts!
This ride was started a few years ago as an alternative to golf networking, with the goal being getting like-minded business people together for a “chat” ride once a month. Over the last 2 years, the ride has attracted stronger and stronger riders, and the pace has slowly crept up to the point of excluding many of the potential riders. This was never the goal, so I have decided to be more proactive in controlling the pace of the ride and make sure we keep it reasonable for everyone. I’ve talked to a number of people who are on the email list (now 350-ish strong) who’ve said they’d love to ride but “we’re too fast” for them.
Yesterday’s route averaged 18.9 mph – a very respectable pace for the weekend warrior, and a nice recovery pace for the more experienced cyclist. Our average pace had been creeping up to 20 mph and sometimes more, and I found that we had really begun to alienate the core of “enthusiast” riders that this ride is for. I’ll do my best, and ask those faster riders, to try to keep the pace closer to 18 – 19 (max) from now on.
Flats suck. The only thing this picture is missing is Russell Jobs giving the finger.
(We did learn while trying to find a tube to fit these deep dish wheels that Gary Johnson’s stem is the longest among all men – even if it’s only by millimeters…)
I brought my single speed yesterday, and anytime I found myself spinning out of gear, I went to the front to draw the pace down. All in all, I think we had a great ride – despite the (now mandatory?) missed turn or 2. Not sure how many riders we had, but a decent sized group for sure. Always good to see familiar faces mixed with new ones too. All of the crappy weather blew over, so anyone who missed the ride for fear of getting wet missed out on a dry ride.
We also gave people the option to climb or circumvent Glacier Hill (.65 mile long hill with a 3.8 % average grade) at the end of the ride . Nice to have this option, depending on how you’re feeling.
As advertised, Denny Yunk and the TOTAL Mechanical crew bought beers at Seester’s afterward. The idea of a post-ride beer sponsorship is a big hit with everyone. If you are interested in sponsoring, let me know. I have a stand-alone website in the works for our group as well that will help with the networking piece.
TOTAL Mechanical is southeast Wisconsin’s largest locally-owned, single-source mechanical contractor, offering services in heating, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and building automation systems. TOTAL Mechanical specializes in the design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, maintenance and repair of commercial, industrial and residential environmental systems. We’re online at www.total-mechanical.com. You can also follow us attwitter.com/totalmechanical and facebook.com/totalmechanical. For more information, contact Denny Yunk, TOTAL Mechanical’s Marketing Manager, at dyunk@total-mechanical.com
See you all July 13th – and tell your friends to come back, we’ll keep the pace fun!
