Club rides vary in terms of terrain, pace, distance, and regroups. This system is designed to describe what you should expect from a club ride. All riders are responsible for choosing rides that are suitable for themselves.

Ideally, all club rides have an attached route on the calendar event so everyone can navigate themselves. If there is not an attached route, the ride leader is responsible for navigating all members of the group for the entirety of the ride. All club rides are rated on 4 criteria, detailed below.

1️⃣ DISTANCE

The total distance of the ride. All rides must specify the distance of the ride.

2️⃣ TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED

The total elevation gained on the entirety of the route. Coupled with the distance metric, this should give a pretty good idea of the kind of ride. See the table at the bottom of this page for some examples of common routes and distance & elevation gained metrics.

3️⃣ DROP FACTOR

There are 3 ratings for drop factor:

1. No-drop: Every rider is accounted for and there is someone sweeping the ride. Sweeping means someone always knows who the last person of the group is and where they are at all times. Sweepers will typically ride with the last rider on flats, wait for the last rider at the top and/or bottom of hills, or circle back to bring up the rear of the group. This also means that at regrouping points, pre-established pace groups are expected to wait for everyone in that group. The group will stop for mechanical issues, nature breaks, and accidents.
2. Semi-drop: There will be specified regrouping stops that may be short. Typically, rides will break up by pace group, but there will not necessarily be a sweeper. You are responsible for communicating to the rest of the group if you’d like the group to wait for you, if you turn around, or if you are delayed (e.g. rest stop, bathroom break, mechanical issue, etc.). The bottom line here is that you may get dropped. You should know how to fix a flat and have the route.
3. Drop: There may be intermittent regrouping stops, but they may be short and infrequent. The group is not expected to wait for you for any reasons other than crashes or medical emergencies. If you are riding on a drop ride and lose the group, there is a good chance that you’ll be riding home by yourself and therefore all riders must know the route. You better know how (and have supplies) to fix a flat, have a cell phone, and a plan for if you get dropped.

4️⃣ AVERAGE FLAT GROUND SPEED

Speed can vary depending on the type of ride and the elevation gain, so we normalize this factor by specifying that this is for flat ground. This means no more than a +/- 1% grade on average for ~30 minutes. This metric is not meant to represent the fastest anticipated pace on the ride, but rather an average over the entire course of the ride. There are 4 ratings for this metric:

1. Flying: 18+ mph

2. Fast: 15-18 mph

3. Moderate: 12-15 mph

4. Chill: 8-12 mph

SAMPLE RIDES & ROUTES