Ride Description Thursday Sport Training Sessions and Rides NDP The Ride: This group leaves from Herrschners, 2800 Hoover Road, at 5:30 PM each Thursday. Depending on those who show up, we ride local routes of 30-45 miles. After a short 3-8 mile warm up, we usually settle into cruise speeds of 19-23 mph (no wind, flat terrain), and usually average overall 18-21 mph for the ride. Our ride is continuous, except for traffic stops. We ride to stay together, staying away from paces or accelerations that drop fellow riders. If rider(s) fall back, we lower the tempo and someone goes back to pace the rider(s) back to the main group. The goal of the Thursday ride is NOT to go fast, but to learn to ride together. These are training rides with training goals and objectives, to work on skills people wish to improve in their own riding and to spice things up a bit. For instance, one week we concentrate on climbs and finding the best effort the group can maintain on a long (1/2 mile around here) climb. Another week we buddy up and practice drafting in pairs. Another thing we sometimes do is a "fox and hounds" exercise, where a solo or pair of riders ride off the front (fox) and the pack (hounds) works together to chase them down, then rotate and do it again. On a particularly windy day, we might ride crosswind and practice riding in an echelon formation: wind =>                 |                  |                   |                    | Whatever we do, we are not only out for a bike ride, but are continually striving to better our bike riding skills. The Riders: None of us are experts or professional bike riders. We all have differing levels of training, experience, and physical fitness. We share a passion for bike riding on the road, enjoy riding in a group, and seek to become better riders. Most of us ride 3-7 times a week or more and average 150-300 miles per week during the riding season; Thursday is just one of other solo and group rides each week we participate in during the riding season. Some of us are triathletes, and swim and run too. Mostly, we see ourselves as sport riders, as opposed to social riders or racers. Our cooperative spirit always restrains our competitive spirit. We share our knowledge and skills with each other so we all can be better group riders. Will You Fit In? If you can average 18+ mph on an out-and-back or circuit solo ride of about 25 miles in which your cruise speeds vary from 17-22 mph as a result of wind, hills, etc., then you should be able to handle riding with this group. Because much of the time is spent on this ride drafting off other riders, you should be able to maintain at least 2 mph above what you can maintain solo. You will find the hills are going to be the greatest challenge to stick with the group. If This Isn't For You: If you think the speeds of this ride may not give you the kind of workout you are looking for, you might try the Tuesday evening sport club ride. Or if you think the pace of this ride may be too difficult, but are still looking to improve your precision and group riding skills, you might try the Monday evening sport ride. Or if you are looking for slower, more social rides, you might try the Wednesday evening ride or Heartland's weekend social/recreational rides (see calendar). If you are from the Iola area, you might want to try the group rides that leave from the Fitness & Aquatic Center on Monday and Wednesday evenings. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. Ride Leader: Jack Friess 715-340-3132 Jack@heartlandclub.org