Category: Club information

All about the club

P2P

https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1371346

PURCHASE YOUR TICKET AT CAPTAIN JOHN’S WEBSITE.

The club’s annual ride to Provincetown. We ride through the Cape and the take ferry back to Plymouth. Parking is at the Jenny Grist Mill parking lot. This ride is for all abilities. You must be able to reach Provincetown by 4PM. We will ride in groups, together.

There will be a SAG.

Ride starts promptly at 7 AM. Please be in the parking lot by 6:45am. You need to have your bag in the SAG car. You will get your bag at the beach at the end of the ride. We ride past Ptown to the end of the land. We will reach the beach. The swim is worth it. Watch for sharks !!

There will be several different speed groups. You should be able to maintain a 16mph average in order to make this an enjoyable ride for you to experience. Slower riders will be in smaller groups. The ferry leaves later and allows you more time to complete the ride. We expect to have 2 major groups with rotating pacelines at 16 and 18 mph.

For our route we will use the service road. We will take the new extension to the rail trail. The GPS file will go to the end of the cape at Herring Cove beach. The annual tradition as started by the V is to make a swim in the water. There are free showers at the beach.

The SAG wagon will transport 1 SMALL bag for each rider. You can have a change of clothes and a towel.

The return ferry is at McMillian Pier.

You must register for the event prior to the ride on the Strava Event. Purchase your boat ticket at https://www.captjohn.com/

P2P 2022

We are going to have a great P2P for 2022. Everything is on the way back to normal. Please register! We must have a headcount for this ride.

https://www.strava.com/clubs/186760/group_events/1113233

The club’s annual ride to Provincetown. We ride through the Cape and the take ferry back to Plymouth. Parking is at the Jenny Grist Mill parking lot. This ride is for all abilities. You must be able to reach Provincetown by 4PM. We will ride in groups, together.

There will be a SAG.

Ride starts promptly at 7 AM. Please be in the parking lot by 6:45am. You need to have your bag in the SAG car. You will get your bag at the beach at the end of the ride. We ride past Ptown to the end of the land. We will reach the beach. The swim is worth it. Watch for sharks !!

There will be several different speed groups. You should be able to maintain a 16mph average in order to make this an enjoyable ride for you to experience. Slower riders will be in smaller groups. The ferry leaves later and allows you more time to complete the ride. We expect to have 2 major groups with rotating pacelines at 16 and 18 mph.

For our route we will use the service road toward Hyannis. We will turn off this road and head to Route 6A. We will take several roads from 6A, which will bring us to the rail trail. We will travel on lightly traveled roads from this point to the extension of the Rail Trail. We will take the new extension to the rail trail. The GPS file will go to the end of the cape at Herring Cove beach. The annual tradition as started by the V is to make a swim in the water. There are free showers at the beach.

The SAG wagon will transport 1 SMALL bag for each rider. You can have a change of clothes and a towel. When we reach the beach, then you grab your bag, swim in the ocean, shower, and organize for the luncheon in Ptown. We will roll to the Lobster Pot Express in town prior to boarding the return ferry.

The return ferry is at McMillian Pier.

You must purchase your own ticket from Cap. John’s Boats for the return ferry trip. You must register for the event prior to the ride on the Strava page. Please use the link.

Paceline Tips

SSB runs different rides with the touring group and more structured rides from casual riding along the road to 8,000-mile-per-year riders that crave paceline riding.

  • Stay on the right side of the road way. If you see an upcoming obstacle slowly move to the left of the obstacle.
  • Keep your speed smooth and steady. Don’t jam on the brakes – feather them. Don’t coast – soft pedal. Be predictable in everything you do.
  • Stay about half a wheel back from the rider in front. If you don’t trust the rider in front – or yourself – increase the gap a bit.
  • Don’t overlap wheels. In other words, don’t let your front wheel be alongside another rider’s rear wheel. Stay behind their wheel. Don’t be off to the side.
  • Listen and watch for signals, especially in larger groups:
    • “Car up” means there’s a car ahead in the opposite lane; “car back” means one is about to overtake.
    • “Runner up” means there is someone running towards the paceline.
    • Left and right turns are indicated by the standard hand signals: left hand out for left turn, left hand up or right hand out for right turn. Stop or slowing are indicated by right hand down, palm back.
    • Pointing down means “road hazard”: a hole, storm drain, or whatever. Sand and glass usually elicit verbal comment. A rider to the left of the paceline pointing to a space between bikes is saying “Lemme in!”
  • If the situation does call for increasing speed, do it gradually. Speeding up quickly stretches out the line like a spring, stressing everybody as it comes back together.
  • Turn the pedals 30 times at the front. More is not necessary and perhaps counterproductive.
  • Stay out there too long and you’ll find that it’s the most common way to get dropped from your pack; you’ll be too tired to stay connected to the end of the train, and you’re history.
  • When you’re making your way back, stay close to the line – you’ll still get some benefit from the draft. Soft pedal. Keep pedaling but easy.
  • When you’re pulling off the front, do not slow or stop pedaling as you begin to pull off, lest the person behind you run into your wheel. Save enough energy to make sure you’re continuing to “pull” off the front of the line.
  • Finally, you made it to the back again. Time to sit in, eat and drink, shake out your hands.

How to set FTP

First, we need to know what FTP is. FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power. This is something that an academic researcher developed in Texas. This was not developed by a pro team’s coach. FTP is the power that you can produce for one hour within an aerobic capacity. You don’t necessarily have the ability to sustain this power for 2 hours. You can produce this power for 1 hour without any interruption.

How do we typically set FTP? We listen to folks with training programs. They have us take a test for 20 minutes and multiple the power by 95%. This does not work. Zwift does the same thing.

Were you riding through a big climb in Zwift and it lasted for 20 minutes? You set a new power record. Your heart rate was 180bpm. Perhaps you only spun the cranks at 55rpm. Was this not anaerobic? Zwift applied the 95 percentage against your new power record and displayed a window. Within the window it stated that your FTP increased. Can we rely upon this display?

Well not quite. Your heart rate was 180. Was this aerobic? No.

The best way to determine your FTP and your actual zones is to complete the 1 hour test. You might want to rest for two days to ensure full recovery prior to completing the FTP test.

warm-up for 20 minutes; ride for 1 hour.

While you are pedaling for the 1 hour, try to reach a heart rate in the 150 to 165 range. Hold your efforts while you maintain this heart beat. Pick flat terrain for this effort. Try to avoid stop lights and other traffic control devices. Pick a route with long sections that do not require stopping.

It takes practice to maintain that smooth pace and produce the power for an hour. If you don’t feel that you succeeded on the first try, then repeat the process on another day.

When you finished pedaling the second section, use the average power of the second section as your FTP.