I think that is a good point @JohnnyG about looking for people we recognize. I certainly do that both on the ride and on the forum beforehand. If there are people who I know on the forum posts as “Going” then I know there are at least a few people I can hopefully hang on with.
Maybe we can more strongly encourage the use if the “Going” button so people understand both the makeup and size of the group attending that night? That might also encourage people who want to try out the ride to attend a ride where there are a lot of other similar riders showing up and have a better experience. And conversely, maybe not have a single intermediate rider show up if the only other riders confirmed as coming are G1s. ( or maybe not, my brain is currently powered by Dayquil so all my ideas seem amazing )
Great points by everyone in the thread. There wasn’t really an option for me in the poll. There are four reasons why I don’t ride Tuesdays anymore.
I’m really sick of the aggressive drivers on that loop. There have been many near misses and I don’t want to witness a friend getting hit/run off the road or get hit myself
The pavement quality has degraded over the years. It’s not super sketchy but we regularly average 40-41kmh for two laps of the loop (in a tight group with lots of attacks) and getting rattled/banged around on crappy pavement isn’t always the most fun
I’m “retired” from racing M1 and the format of the ride doesn’t really suit my training goals any longer. I prefer the Thursday ride for the hard ride of the week
I enjoy steadier gravel rides earlier in the week to decompress from work and often do those on Tuesdays
Hope this helps from a former group 1 / racers perspective.
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