Roaring Reds to Frithsden

One of our favourite destinations, a challenging ride with climbs and swooping downhills to blueberry scone cream teas. Hi and welcome to this ride. Just a quick reminder about what to bring with you on a ride. ESSENTIAL: Water/energy drink! At least 1 but preferably 2 spare inner tubes, pump or CO2 canisters, tyre levers. Please make sure tyres are inflated to the correct pressure for your tyre type, it's surprising how much air is lost between rides. HANDY: Plastic gloves for mechanical issues, some wipes, energy gels or bars... oh and money for cake and tea, not everywhere accepts card payments. Maybe a waterproof just in case. To give you an idea about Roaring Reds rides I have borrowed and amended the following description from one of our other leaders, Tracey (with her kind permission). A note about Roaring Red Rides - what's it like? In the St Albans and Harpenden area, we are blessed with many active ride leaders (‘champions’) who classify their rides according to the ski slope colour categories. This note provides some further guidance on what the Roaring Red rides offer, so that if anyone is considering coming along, they know what to expect and where the RED rides fit, alongside the numerous other Breeze rides being offered in our area. Roaring Red rides are 'Challenging' Breeze rides. Our Roaring Red ride lengths vary from 15 miles to over 50 miles depending upon whether the ride is a mid-week, evening or weekend ride. Riders are usually fit, have gained some experience (so not beginners) and are or are possibly moving towards standards set by local cycling clubs. We will ride together in a group except on hills and marked sprint segments on rides, as explained in ride briefings and on the ride, these can be ridden individually but always re-grouping at the top of the hill and end of a sprint segment. For the rest of the ride, riders are expected to ride together. No rider will be dropped and it is not okay to ride ahead when riding in a group as this is a difficult dynamic for the leader to manage and can make other riders feel that they are not ‘keeping up’. An assistant ride leader (where present) will drop back to support a consistently struggling rider. Red rides either start with, end with or include a café / pub stop (or all of the above!) and are always sociable. Red rides are advertised to appeal to riders who can ride at an average speed of 12 miles per hour over the ENTIRE ride which invariably includes hilly elevation profiles in this area. We seek out the hills! *** Average speed of 12 mph: To achieve an AVERAGE speed of 12 mph, often speeds will exceed 15 mph or so on the flat with speeds dropping below 12 mph as the elevation picks up as speed inevitably reduces on climbs or speeding up on downhill sections. When asked how fast riders need to be to join a Roaring Reds ride, I respond that riders need to be able to ride 15 mph comfortably on the flat. If you are in any doubt, perhaps start out by joining one of the many Blazing Blues or Pacey Purple rides as the leaders here can offer more guidance and encourage you along to a Roaring Red ride as appropriate. Hope to see you on a ride soon! If you need to cancel for any reason let me know by calling or text 07985 111360 thanks, Veronique