Racer Sportif has been a mainstay in the GTA cycling community. Over the years our club has grown and expanded from our original rides leaving from the Bloor West Village store to include rides leaving from our west end Oakville location. As a club member you have 6 different ride groups to choose from with 10 rides happening every week making us one of the busiest clubs in the GTA! We also have a number of club members that compete in Road, Track, Cyclocross and Mountain bike events all over North America throughout the year. Our group rides are structured in such a way that we are able to provide options for an array of different riding abilities and fitness levels. Our different rides allow for cyclists to progress through the ranks as their fitness grows and skills grow. And you are never required to stay within a single group all season. Depending on how you feel or your time available to ride on a particular day, you can choose whichever ride suits your needs. Our welcoming group of ride captains provide weekly emails detailing routes and plans for the upcoming weekday and weekend rides. Annually, our club members can enjoy exclusive special events. These events include destination rides to places like wineries as well as some different charity rides such as our
. Which is our showcase ride where we invite riders from all over and from different clubs to join us on the beautiful roads of Hockley Valley, while raising funds and awareness for
This season we will be using Strava to plan and share our routes for the weekend, weekday and special event rides. Our weekly emails will direct you to our Racer Sportif Mattamy Homes Club Ride Page on Strava where maps will be available to view download to your GPS enabled cycling computer or smart phone.
Why Strava?Free to join, but you can upgrade your account to get more detailed analysisYou are not required to upload any of your ride information to join. Just sign up and follow along. Sign in using your existing Facebook account if you have one. See how your rides compare to the rest of the group.
Enter contests that help motivate you to keep riding all season long. Free smart phone app.
Departing from Second Cup Port Credit (south side Lakeshore, just west of Hurontario). Ride routes and distances will vary through the summer. Be prepared for at least a 100km ride. for the 2016 season rides will start
Wednesday Night - 6 pm
Starting from Shopper's Drug Mart Plaza, north side Lakeshore, just west of Cawthra. Ride takes us through Oakville, out to Bronte and back along Lakeshore. Approx distance is 50kms, and is a ride focused on building high aerobic output and riding capability at threshold.
Oakville Rides
Club Sportif - Sunday Rides
Difficulty
Club Sportif is the ideal group for individuals that have some experience riding in a group, but are seeking more. Over the last few seasons we had a handful of first time riders that integrated extremely well. This was largely due to ongoing positive support and feedback from other members in our riding group. As maintaining a positive and nurturing riding environment is important the social aspect of the club.
Goals
The main purpose of the Club Sportif ride is to provide the membership with a safe, controlled ride emphasizing group riding skills and pace line work. Think of it as "going to school" and absorbing the lessons we will lay forth each week, which will ultimately pay dividends by seasons end, and the ones that will follow.
The largest challenge for this group is working with other riders to maintain structure and cohesion during the rides. We try to reinforce structure, so that there is little to no tension within the peloton. this will allow for a safer and more predictable riding environment. Each ride will start off with a speed capped warm up pace, and a cool down zone in order to exit/enter Oakville in a safe manner. There will be a speed limit cap that will vary with terrain and riders ‘ abilities with a no-drop rule on the hills.
Social
In order to keep the rides interesting, routes will be changed every week with some sprint & climbing challenges sprinkled throughout the course. These challenges will be announced well ahead of time serving as a fun way to develop camaraderie and let riders show off their skills. We will use STRAVA designated segments to add to the "fun fator".
Communication
Ride information will be sent out each week in a club email for which you can sign up
The Junior Sportif Club is geared towards embracing younger cyclists that have aspirations to be competitive in the sport of road cycling, or would just like to train like one!We offer three rides per week. Wednesday evenings, Saturday & Sunday mornings.When there are O-Cup races, our rides times will be:
Start Times: Wednesday - 5pm at Racer Sportif Oakville. (Track Workout from 7-9pm during offseason)Saturday - 9am at Racer Sportif Oakville. (Seasonal)Sunday - 9am or 8am at Racer Sportif Oakville (Seasonal)
Distance: Approx. 50kms - 100kms+ (time of year and focus will dictate the duration).Average Speed: 30kph+Ride Leaders: Dennis Mizerski, Zbigniew Anuszkiewicz
Rapide Sportif - Wednesday & Sunday Rides
The Rapide Sportif club is a peloton for the more spirited rider. Not necessarily the cyclist that races, but definitely trains like they do! This group rides Sunday mornings at 8am, departing from the Oakville store.The Sunday morning ride is designed to implement a long ride for the Rapide and Classic groups. The focus is primarily on building endurance fitness, but the focus will vary depending on the time of year. It's still fun to throw in a few sprints for city limit signs right?! The pace of this group is very steady. So there are few sections that let up. The group rides in a very regimented fashion riding 2 by 2, or double echelon. So having an understanding of riding in a peloton is imperative.
As we approach the end of the season, the structure of this ride tends to slack, and the ride is used to just go out have fun and mix it up.Start Time: 9am or 8am at Racer Sportif Oakville (Start time is seasonal)
Distance: Approx. 100kms+ (time of year and focus will dictate the duration).Average Speed: 32-35 kph+Ride Leaders: Mark Breakspear
The Gruppetto - Saturday Ride
Over the course of the season, we’ll start out with shorter distances (40-50km) and progress to longer rides. The first Gruppetto will roll Saturday April 2
nd
from Racer Sportif, Oakville. Rides are open to all Racer Sportif Club members.
Once a month, this season, the Gruppetto is going to really roll with The Lunch Rides! Longer, full day rides of 160+ km to different destinations. Lunch in Guelph, in Kitchener, in Niagara on the Lake etc. If your thinking of riding a Grand Fondo, then the Lunch Ride is the perfect practice ride for you.
The first Lunch Ride will roll out on Saturday, May 21
st
, the Victoria Day weekend. We’ll head out to Dundas and on to Guelph, have lunch, and come back by way of Milton. Plan to spend a glorious day on your bikes! Rain Day will be Sunday or Monday.
From there, the Lunch Rides will get longer! Once a month – the July 1 Weekend, the August 1
st
Weekend, the Labour Day Weekend, and perhaps the Thanksgiving weekend. Watch the Club Newsletter and Weekly Rides updates for further information. Routes will be posted before each ride.
So I hope that you’ll come out and join the Gruppetto. It’s all about enjoying your bikes and getting out there!
