TCWNR - Wellington 2006/2007

[Grub]

I am happy to ride in small group of 4-5 at newbie pace. Happy to receive PM from interested riders and on a Tuesday evening post proposed ride for Wednesday night.

Buck, you bloody Aussies are at it again. Now yer trying to steal our Cruisey Wednesday Night Ride! I've only attended the last two but have been impressed at the care and consideration given to the different experience of riders in the group.

I think it's great that there is a ride already and it would just seem destructive to compete with it and in effect mess up both. Why not just turn up and take part in it and help it be even better? If you must have a seperate event, how about not trying to start it on the same night?

Brett

[mikey]

How fast are you chappies going these days? Someone said it was getting faster and faster, not really a learner/introductory pace any more?
I will join in one day when I get a bit more skilled.

the pace at these newbie rides seems to be getting out of hand.
its like an organised street race.
bunch of irresponsible hooligans frequenting more often than newbies, on big non newbie bikes,
and they dont wait around for the newbies who have poor time keeping skills, and worst of all they change the destination.

come on guys, lets help em out newbies need a few things,

no one without learner plates,
no one capable of riding over 70kmh
no one on big bikes to laugh when they drop em at the car park
no one with a watch who might keep track of time
no one in jeans
no one to change a SET IN CONCRETE destination without posting it on the internet days before hand
no one who might speed,
no one who will do wheelies
no one who will drink a beer or 7 then ride home
no one with the forsight to gas up before meeting
no one without sheep mentality
chicken little mentality essential.

think that abotu covers it.

leave the newbies to there own rides.

woops forgot one
no one who will steal petrol

[Dafe]

Due to a lack of small bikes and a dominant number of drooling big bike riders, the desire to ride the previously proposed route was overturned.

The ride was split into two groups. The slow group briefly reached a top speed at one point of 110kph on the motorway. The majority of the time sitting at 98-100kph on the motorway.
The slow pace was very relaxed and would have been fine for all newbies.

Be aware - The previous post was a "Proposal". The decisions ultimately are made upon departure. So if you are planning on meeting at some point along the ride, make sure somebody knows you are there. That way you will be taken into consideration or you'll get a text announcing the altered route.

Thanks for a great ride last night, just a beautiful evening and a fine assortment of bikes and traffic free roads!

[Trudes]

This ride (I'm sure) was set up for newer riders and targeted at them and at a slower pace than TRTNR. I think TCWNR's are great, have been on a few and have noticed that if newbies turn up and are displaying an L plate or mention that they are learning or not confident at speed then that is accommodated for. TCWNR, unlike TRTNR has appointed leader and sweepers and disingnated meeting points to allow everyone to catch up, this way the pace can be slowed and nobody will be left behind. I have noticed that there are a lot of "faster" people turning up on TCWNR, and understand that this can be intimidating for newbies, as I haven't been along to TRTNR for that reason, but note that TCWNR is a cruisey ride and aimed at newbies, so you guys need to turn up, otherwise it does turn into a bunch of "fast" riders on "big" bikes, who will then go at a faster pace as they probably don't see the need to do learner type speeds when there are no learner type people on the ride. Rant over.

[Nasty]

OK ... so I have my full licence and I have a 500 ... but I still think of myself as a newbie. (full licence for a whoe 4 weeks that is).... Yesterday was my first wednesday night ride ... it was good ... I was at the back of the pack on the way over and people waited at the top .. I got my break and then continued over the hill .... at the other side got a drink and a plate of fries .. well worth waiting for as no food in the house ... and coming back to Wellington was feeling slightly more confident but still above snails pace I made it back and then departed the group on the Whitby side of the Haywards.

Am sorry we missed those who wanted to attach to the group at other points ... but as a newbie rider this was a great experience and my first group ride experience ... we did not go too fast for any of the newbies ... and at the top of the hill got some good advice from the sweeper (helped for the ride back over) ...

oh well ... I am looking forward to next week .. no matter where we go!!!

[hsvboy06]

Due to a lack of small bikes and a dominant number of drooling big bike riders, the desire to ride the previously proposed route was overturned.

Is there any reason why we all have to ride together? It was a great night to ride the takas, but if there are enough people that would rather go somewhere else, why not split into two groups and go separate ways? We don't have to be sheep.

As for the pace of the ride, last night was very sedate in the slow group. I was leading it and was trying to let the group set the pace - if I found I was pulling away, I slowed down. I'm certainly not fast myself, but perhaps not such a newbie anymore, either, but I'll always be happy to ride with others, no matter how slowly they want to go. (Not that I make it to the TCWNRs that often.)

TCWNR is a newbie/cruisy ride and newbies will be looked after and there will be a slow group - right guys?! That doesn't stop faster riders coming along and, if they desire, going at their own pace - some seem to like just cruising for a change.

[bull]

As a noob, riding since november i was a bit daunted by the mass of large bikes thAt turned up last night. But Dafe was all good and split us into two groups, those who wanted to go fast and those who were still learning and wanted a gentle cruise. Thanks to the leader and sweeper of our slow group, sure you would have been happier racing off so huge thanks for setting a cruisy speed for us over and back. Was a bit nippy last night but was an enjoyable ride all the same. Fell into the foolish mistake of trying to keep up with the leader on the way over the takas, which had me into a few of the corners a bit hotter than i liked at my confidence level. Managed to scrape my toes on a right sweeper - that was nerve wracking for a noob.
So thanks to all the riders and Dafe for organising a great ride. Hopefully see you all on the next ride.

And to any other noobs, please turn up to these rides and let the organiser know you want to cruise so that a slow group can be formed where needed.

Danny.

[Grub]

Is there any reason why we all have to ride together? It was a great night to ride the takas, but if there are enough people that would rather go somewhere else, why not split into two groups and go separate ways? We don't have to be sheep.

Excellent point. I was attracted to the rides because they were "cruisey" and therefore I could encourage Nasty to come along too (damn it was hard to stop her grinning last night!).

The atmosphere is terrific with both KB groups there, even if it is just to all have a gathering at the duck pond but split. It seems that the meeting up is as important as the ride because there's something for everyone. It's good to have the option of cruising or hooning and if nobody is pressured into someting outside of their comfort zone, then we have a perfect harmony.

I would be dissappointed to see one group or the other discouraged from turining up at the duck pond on a Wednesday night.

Brett

[Grub]

Fell into the foolish mistake of trying to keep up with the leader on the way over the takas, which had me into a few of the corners a bit hotter than i liked at my confidence level.

Danny, how was it for you on the way back then? Too slow? Too fast? Or just about right. Sometimes we get chatting about other stuff and don't get a de-brief on sstuff like that so it was good to read your comments about the trip over.

[Shadows]

Split into two groups, a proper TCWNR group with a designated leader and tail ender each time, and a faster group who are big enough and ugly enough to look after themselves, problem solved.

That way nobody needs to feel intimidated on the road, or pressured into riding beyond their skill level.

That way there will always be a good pool of more experienced riders present to call on for support duties.

There is no reason why the ride can't still provide a good training environment for any newer riders, should they actually bother to turn up!

[bull]

Danny, how was it for you on the way back then? Too slow? Too fast? Or just about right. Sometimes we get chatting about other stuff and don't get a de-brief on sstuff like that so it was good to read your comments about the trip over.

My debrief.
Firstly this was my second ever group ride and first ride over the Rimutakas(except for in the cage a few times).

Motorway speed was good, if anything it was a little slow and could have been more around the 105km/h (my hyosung speedo reads low so i was doing about 105 which was prolly the 97-99km/h range)

Heading up the upper hutt side of rimutakas, speed was faster than i was comfortable but this was my error as i tried to keep close to the leader (Broke the RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE RULE) didnt cross any centre lines at any stage so was still safe and found that looking further through the corners helped to corner at the higher than usual speed.
Heading down featherston side was good for me as i couldnt see the bike in front so was able to concentrate on reading the road and setting my own pace - at times i went a little slow but will know for next time where i can go faster.
Heading back up and over from featherston side i found a little bit slow, maybe another 5km/h faster would have been ideal for me.

Overall i think a bit more spacing between bikes would suit me better then i have ability to speed up and slow down at my choice rather than when another bike is right in front(this only applies to the hill as the motorway was fine)

[hsvboy06]

It actually makes me feel quite good that, even though I was riding so slowly in terms of my own abilities, it was considered too fast by others. I was a newbie and very slow myself not so long ago, and last night highlighted to me just how much my riding has improved (or how much faster I can ride comfortably, anyway).

Sorry if I enticed you to go a bit faster than you liked, bull, but it was my first time as leader and it was difficult to know how fast to go.

[Hitcher]

The two group arrangement worked well. It's no problem to sort out a leader and sweeper prior to starting off. Not everybody wants to go like stink and I'm always happy to sweep. Although in future I recommend that leaders and sweepers take each other's batphone numbers in case of breakdowns, etc. Just so's everybody knows where everybody is.

[Hawkeye]

Last night there were 4 groups not 2. Don't forget my group of one sitting waiting at the Hutt side of Haywards and BuckBuck's group of one sitting on the Inlet side.

Second mental note to myself this year: Make sure you make the meeting point ON TIME. (suprisingly, this note matches mental note number 1 from last week) .

[RantyDave]

didnt cross any centre lines at any stage

Quick note: you've got to make sure your head doesn't cross any centre lines and not just the tyres. Think about what it means as your cornering speeds start to increase and you have more and more lean....

Not that I was on the ride, and not that I saw you riding, but it's an important distinction.

Dave