Rides

This is where we talk about rides. I’ll put the latest ride on this page, so keep checking it! (When there’s a new ride coming up it will be announced on the emailing list once, and thereafter you can check this page.

Critical Mass

Critical Mass Bike Ride the last Friday of every month. The plan is to meet on campus near the Anzac Parade bus stop at 5pm for 5:10pm departure. If you have class finishing at 5pm, let us know and then get to the bus stop as quickly as you can. Alternatively, you can meet us at Hyde Park at 5:45. If you want a good way to get there and a cue sheet, go to bikely.com and search “UNSW Critical Mass”.

Training at Centennial Park

If you would like to do some afternoon riding/training during the week the following non-official rides take place in Centennial Park each week. If you’re interested, please contact Chris Moore (christophermoore at gmail.com). They are open to everyone, but you will need a road bike to keep up and a good level of fitness to stay with the pack for the whole time. The rides usually attract 10-30 people daily. Both male and females are there, however there tends to be a lot more males. The average age is around late 20’s. There’s nothing official, you just wait for the pack wherever and jump on or off as you wish. Everyone there is quite friendly and there are some very experienced riders there so listen to what they and be respectful of all the riders out there.

Monday starts from about 4:30pm-6:00pm and is usually a bit of a slow day as a lot of the guys are recovering from the weekends races, however sometimes they do push it up to about 35km/hr when you get the big guys on the front . The speed mostly depends on the riders in the pack. If it’s your first time there just be aware that each lap the front two drop off to the back and the next two take over the lead, which is a lot harder then just riding in the pack, so if you don’t want to lead once you start moving up the pack drop to the back again.

Tuesdays starts at the same time, however the pace will slowly increase until some makes a break and you just do your best to hang on., there will usually be only 3 left by the end with the rest of the pack spread throughout the park so don’t be alarmed if you’re on your own. Sometimes a pack will reform, depending on the day. Just as a side note the guys that are breaking away are very experienced riders with a high level of fitness, so if your not up to that standard don’t try to stay with them or chase them down or you will burn out within a few km’s, it’s best to hang on with the main group as long as possible and then if you get dropped stick to your own pace and wait until another pack forms. If you find yourself being overtaken and lapped by the top guys, I wouldn’t advise you jump onto their leading pack either as they won’t be very impressed but I doubt by the stage you’ll be in any sort of condition to even see them for long, I’m not .

Wednesdays are the same as Monday; generally you get a bit more people though.

Thursdays are the same as Tuesday.