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Frequently Asked Questions
People naturally have quite a few questions
they ask us before coming out on one of our rides. Here we try to answer
some of the more popular ones for you. If you have any other questions
about cycling in general or the agreeable activites we do then please email
us.
I want to ride with you.How
fit do I have to be?
Not particularly. If you can
ride 20 miles or so you are fit enough to come out on a mountain bike
ride. If you can ride about 30 miles or so then you are fit enough to try
the Saturday road ride. If you have ever ridden the London to Brighton you
won't have any problems at all.
Is everyone else fast? What
if I can't keep up?
Our club rides are not fast.
We want to encourage people to ride a bike, not leave them behind and put
them off cycling for life. Try riding as far as you can on a flat road at
15 mph. That is what we do and it is always easier when you are in a
group. If you really don't think you can keep up email us and we will give
you the details of your local CTC group. They go even slower than us,
often at 12 mph. You will definately keep up with them!
Do I have to race?
Not at all. You do as much or
as little as you like. You may find that racing is infectious, especially
time trials which are done entirely at your own speed. In a time trial you
cannot come last as you are racing against your previous personal best
times always trying to better them.
I have just seen Lance
Armstrong on TV. I want to race. What do I have to do?
You're keen aren't you! We can
help you. To keep it simple you need to ride club runs every week in
winter to get fitness that will see you through the rest of the year, join
Addiscombe, subscribe to a racing organisation (for road racing) and race.
Next year you can try the Tour de France ;-)
Can I really ride the Tour
de France?
If you are good enough.
However, will your little brother who kicks a football around in the park
ever play for Manchester United? Hmmm - kind of puts it into perspective
doesn't it!
How far do you go on a
Saturday?
Generally we go out for about
40 miles via a cafe for tea and cake. You can do more or less if you like.
You can always travel back some of the way by train if you think it might
be a bit much to start with.
Hey I am fitter than that.
Will I leave you slowcoaches behind?
Maybe, but we like to save our
fast stuff for local races. What's the point of wasting it on a club run
where there are no trophies? A lot of our people also meet up midweek for
training rides. If you are fast then try one of these!
What is the difference
between time trials and road racing?
Road racing is you against 60
or more other people riding in a big bunch (just like the Tour). The
groups are made up of riders the same level as you so you won't be riding
against the experts! Time trials involve a field of riders who go off
individually at 1 minute intervals over a set distance. The one who covers
it in the quickest time is the winner. There are all sort of abilities in
time trials but the person you are racing against is yourself. For this
reason we encourage beginners to try time trials first if they want to see
how fast they can go. They are often pleasantly surprised!
I only have a mountain bike
and I want to go out on the road rides. Is this ok?
Yes, but for your own sake
stick some slicks on and a set of pedals that you 'click' in to. You will
be able to keep up. People even race MTBs in 10 mile time trials. In
fact we have even had someone do a 10 mile time trial on a BMX. It took
just under 35 minutes incase you ever want to have a crack at it!
What is that track cycling
all about? I saw it in the Olympics and I wouldn't mind trying that.
Great to hear it. We are just
down the road from Herne Hill track. They have regular beginners' sessions
there with great coaches. If you race for us at Herne Hill we will
all be up there cheering you on. (They have cheap beer there!)
Cars scare me. Do you go
anywhere quiet?
Yes cars scare us as well. We
try to get out of Croydon as soon as possible and hit the quiet country
lanes that criss-cross Surrey. If you really hate cars the mountain bike
rides are almost exclusively off road.
Do I have to have all the
gear?
Well, a bike is quite helpful
really. It doesn't have to be fancy, just reliable. It is always a good
idea to ask around other club members for advice on what to spend your
money on. They often have a lot of good quality used stuff for sale as
well and are always happy to see someone get a lot of fun from something.
We have our own team strip which you can buy if you plan to race. It is
way cheaper than Premier League football kits.
So what else do you do?
We meet every week at
Addiscombe HQ, we have Saturday easy rides, we have Sunday MTB rides, we
have Sunday advanced road training rides, we have afterdark MTB rides, we
go out for a pint, we have a darts team, we have ping pong tables (!), we
have rollers and we go away for weekends when there is something special
on. Oh and we go to races together.
OK, you guys rock. What do
I do next?
Just email
us and we will get you out with people you will enjoy riding with. We will
let you know exactly where we meet a couple of days before each ride. This
way any information is always up to date and you will always know where we
are going. Infact we have so much going on you will get swamped with
Addiscombe email.
Why are you doing all this
stuff for me?
We all had to start somewhere.
We remember how daunting it seemed all those years ago. Cycling is great
fun. We want to help you realise that. Oh and also we want more people to
go down the pub with, more people to crack poor jokes with, more people to
race with, more people to share lifts to events with etc etc. It works
both ways!
If you have any other
queries please email us
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