Winter is still strong here, with these "Bise" wind that keeps it cold even though sunny.

so this it a call to all road bike riders to summon the HTFU spirits and ride to chase the winter out of our lifes !

all this in preparation to the "Spring Equinox" ride that will take place around the 21st March.

We have to define yet a day, independent to the Tuesday MTB and the Thursday night ride that is already well established here.

The spirit of this ride however is different, it is open to all riders for sportive fun. Eire you are most welcome as one of the inspirers of this ride.

What day would you prefer ? Monday, Wednesday or Friday ?

Monday is a little too short to organise something but it could be set for next Monday 14th march if there is enough interest.

Otherwise this week we'll have more mild temperatures it is expected maximum temperatures of 11° on Wednesday and 12° on Friday.

Otherwise we could also do it next weekend....

I am open to suggestions, who is in ?

In my opinion the evenings are still a bit short to organise a safe ride (particularly on-road) after work. I'd wait till a few weeks after the time change so that we could at least get light till 8pm or so.

As for evenings, I'd just go with Thursday. I'm of the opinion that it is possible to ride a route suitable for all. The lunatics can ride a climb and rather than waiting for everyone at the top drop back down to the slower riders and do the climb again. I suggest that the rides start just outside the city, far enough to avoid the worst of the traffic but not so far that it's a pain in the ar$e to get there after work. (NOT 10km outside the city in Thalwil!)

We could also use the train system to put a small bit of adventure into the rides. Meet just outside the city and ride a 30-50km route to places like Rapperswil, Baden, Zug, Lachen, Einsiedeln or anywhere that takes our fancy, have a beverage together at said location and then all get the train back together.

It should be noted that these rides are not a gentle cruise around Greifensee, a road bike would still be advisable but the aim of the ride would be more social than a pure training ride. Along the lines of what Dakman and I wanted when we started the road rides about 3 years ago.

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Fully Agreed on those points.

Note these are not intended to be soft sight-seeing rides but sportive rides involving climbing and fast riding, but not too demanding that would discourage beginners/mid level riders.

Maybe the first group ride could be then next weekend on the warmer spot around 2-3 pm ?

I will start anyway riding regularly from monday after work maybe 2-3 times per week 1 hour long.

About meeting points, yes they should be outside the city, points like for example Wollishofen bahnhof or Tiefenbrunnen bahnhof are away enough and still centric

I can fire up the LeMans any time!

The Ducatis will have to wait until after spring service, as I've removed the plates until spring.

Tom

There are other Ducatis you could ride.... like this one

But it has neither pedals nor motor!

How does it function?

Is it a down-hill bike?

Tom

P.S. nice CF fork. Is the rest CF? My sister showed up last summer with a CF tandem!

Pedals are not in the picture but surely has, and the motor is you
basically you sit on it , turn the pedals and doing so you haul your @ss up the hills.
Sure, after you went up the hill you'll come down... that's the easy part
Yes it is full carbon, but it is painted with Ducati Colors... it is really nice

Heh - paint adds weight, tho'
Now Iif I could just find the pic of my brother's Pinarello...

P.

To answer on the thread to some questions I got on PM

You are all welcome from the very beginning, don't worry about your "level".

These will be social rides, the goal is to meet, get together and ride, your fitness surely will improve if you are motivated and not stressed about it.

Also according to your "level" and also affinity people who meet here can then organise their own rides to go at their pace ( be that soft or hard )

See you soon.

I'm just a beginner but would love to start riding new routes, get more confidence for the hilly stuff and of course meet more people....thursday nights or weekends. please keep us posted and thanks for organizing

the ride on monday was short and chilly...

I will most probably ride on Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 6:30pm, short rides less than one hour.

is anyone interested in joining ?

otherwise we can organise a ride for Sunday ? who's in ?

I'm in for Sunday.

it's still ski season for me. i'll be in when the time switches or we get a 15+ degree day

15+ is coming this weekend!

Ok so we say Sunday 2pm at the Rentenanstalt Tram Stop ?

http://maps.google.ch/maps?f=q&sourc...enanstalt&z=16

See you there!

I am interested in cycling with a group this week/weekend ... are there any scheduled rides?

There is a scheduled Mountain bike ride on Saturday. It is Stage 2 of a three stage around lake Zurich tour. We did Zurich to Schindeleggi last Sunday. It will start at either Schindeleggi or Biberbrugg and go around the top of Obersee to either Schmerikon or Rapperswil depending on how we do on time.

http://www.swissalpineadventure.com/calendar

Sign up is on the facebook group linked to from the above website.

Hi there,

Anybody in the Oerilikon area for a weekend road ride. I am new to this area and not familiar with the routes yet. Was looking on Bikemap.com and found some interesting routes that I will like to try out. Even better in a company.

Looking to start with 50-60 km not-very-hilly route.
Do let me know if you are interested. I will be also interested in group rides on weekends if starting point is within 5-10 kms from Oerilikon.

Cheers
Pankaj

those are MTB rides

How about road ?