Still Looking for a New Year’s Resolution? Try a group ride.

[off2ride]

Hi Ann,

I to do the Wakefield Group ride in the summer. Keep doing the ride once it starts after the time change. I have no negative feedback about that ride. All the riders are respectful and will assist you come across a problem. It’s all good.

[acc]

Yes, they are. I spent a lot of time last summer with them.
ann

[jabberwocky]

I came into cycling through the MTB world. I bought a bike somewhat on a whim in 2003 and started sporadically riding Wakefield after work. Back then, MORE (regional mountainbike club) ran casual rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I kept running into them in the parking lot and on the trail while I was riding solo. The weirdo who was leading them at the time would always make a point to say hello and invite me out whenever I saw him. I eventually took him up on his offer, had a great time, and eventually got super into mountainbiking (and through that into commuting, and then into road cycling…).

Now its nine years and tens of thousands of miles later and my basement contains nine bikes (number ten is clamped in the stand being built) and resembles a bike shop more than a rec room.

I’ve made some great friends through cycling, and in fact that weirdo I went on my first group ride with and I are still very good friends. I did an 80 miler yesterday with him.

[Dirt]

@jabberwocky 12783 wrote:

I did an 80 miler yesterday with him.

That weirdo is… uhhhmmmmm weird, but he looks back on those days fondly. There have been some efforts to revive those rides and clinics over the years for the mountain bikers.

I always kind of thought it was weird that there wasn’t really a road equivalent. I admit that I haven’t looked or inquired for a while. Friends who started with Potomac Pedalers rides all had tales of getting dropped at the first stop light when everyone ran it on “yellow” but they were not comfortable doing so. Ride over.

Some shops in the area do some very nice group rides and many are oriented towards new riders.

[jabberwocky]

@Dirt 12791 wrote:

I always kind of thought it was weird that there wasn’t really a road equivalent. I admit that I haven’t looked or inquired for a while. Friends who started with Potomac Pedalers rides all had tales of getting dropped at the first stop light when everyone ran it on “yellow” but they were not comfortable doing so. Ride over.

Yeah, I’ve tried doing some group road rides several times over the years and have never really enjoyed them. My first attempts with Potomac Pedalers went pretty much like that (and went waaaaaay over their advertised pace). I tried a Reston Bike Club ride this past autumn and kept up ok, but the group just wasn’t much fun (culminated with some old roadie taking issue with something I did and trying to steer me into a bridge on the W&OD, after which I told him if he tried that again I was gonna cheerfully put his decrepit old butt into the pavement :rolleyes: ).

My experiences are that the MTB world is much nicer for new riders. I do plenty of road riding these days, but almost all my riding partners are people I met through MTBing. Go figure.

[Greenbelt]

@Dirt 12791 wrote:

Some shops in the area do some very nice group rides and many are oriented towards new riders.

I’m thinking about starting a laid-back ride series out of my LBS in Maryland, with a set schedule. Maybe one Saturday or Sunday a month in the Beltsville farms and Patuxent wildlife refuge (25-30 miles or so), and another Saturday or Sunday each month to DC for lunch (30-35 miles). The farm one would probably be go at your own pace with one sweep rider to stay back and assist to make sure nobody gets lost or has a problem. The DC one would probably be guided in groups that try to stick at least semi-close together (since it’s easier to get lost), and could be a meetup in DC for people coming from different directions. Would give me an excuse to make cookies on a regular basis. Anybody interested in helping me set that up, maybe let me know? Maybe other shops or groups coming from different areas could coordinate? I figure those are weekend rides I’d do anyways, might as well advertise them and go with a group…

[acc]

I almost said to Jabberwocky, I know someone who is even more odd and more fun and more friendly. I should have known there could be only one Dirt.

I didn’t know about this ride when I was sorting all of this out, but wish I had. This is exactly the kind of ride a new rider could try and have a good experience. How bad can a ride be if it involves food (and beer)? I’ve never been, but I’ve heard good things about it and I know someone on the Forum will have had firsthand experience. http://www.commuterpage.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventID=1306

Greenbelt, I hope you get that off the ground, you are a terrific person to ride with.

ann

[jrenaut]

@acc 12798 wrote:

Greenbelt, I hope you get that off the ground, you are a terrific person to ride with.

I was just going to say that.

Greenbelt, I’d be interested in helping with organization, though my participation is limited unless we do a kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly ride.

Speaking of which, any other parents of small children interested in kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly rides?

[consularrider]

I’ve participated in a couple of Meetup groups for about four years. I’ve found some of these relatively welcoming of new riders while others are more hard core. There is one geared for “kid-in-bike-trailer,” but since their info is members only, I’m not sure how many rides they get in.

[americancyclo]

@jrenaut 12799 wrote:

Speaking of which, any other parents of small children interested in kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly rides?

yes, once we get a trailer, and the temps are over 50 degrees.

[Tim Kelley]

@jrenaut 12799 wrote:

Speaking of which, any other parents of small children interested in kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly rides?

I would be interested. I went out to do the Conte’s/Freshbikes group hill ride a few weeks ago and it was tough! Going downhill the added weight didn’t make up for the added wind resistance, and going uphill with the motivation of staying with the group was quite a challenge.

[dasgeh]

@jrenaut 12799 wrote:

Speaking of which, any other parents of small children interested in kid-in-bike-trailer-friendly rides?

Yes, yes, yes, though we do the front bike seat, not the trailer. There is already a kidical mass dc (easily found on google), though their rides were all in the District last year — I found that with the kid, if the ride doesn’t start/end reasonably close to my house, the kid would be sick of it before we even got there. I have started a nice email conversation with the Kidical Mass DC lady (thanks for the reminder to write back!) and she’s open to doing more in Arlington next Spring/Summer.

[jrenaut]

Yeah, location is a big thing – I’d be coming from DC, and I know many/most of you all are based in VA and MD. Maybe a meetup point somewhere in the middle-ish where kids can get out and run around before the ride?

[Marcella]

@jabberwocky 12792 wrote:

Yeah, I’ve tried doing some group road rides several times over the years and have never really enjoyed them. My first attempts with Potomac Pedalers went pretty much like that (and went waaaaaay over their advertised pace). I tried a Reston Bike Club ride this past autumn and kept up ok, but the group just wasn’t much fun (culminated with some old roadie taking issue with something I did and trying to steer me into a bridge on the W&OD, after which I told him if he tried that again I was gonna cheerfully put his decrepit old butt into the pavement :rolleyes: ).

My experiences are that the MTB world is much nicer for new riders. I do plenty of road riding these days, but almost all my riding partners are people I met through MTBing. Go figure.

My experience with PPTC (CC level) rides has varied — some have been good and others have been the type where I was dropped immediately and on my own for the entire ride. I think it has been better in the past year or two.

I looked into the Reston club but it does not offer rides at my level on weekends.

I like the folks at the Oxon Hill club a lot. Many of their ride starts are actually not that far from home for me (in Arlington).

[jabberwocky]

@Marcella 12821 wrote:

My experience with PPTC (CC level) rides has varied — some have been good and others have been the type where I was dropped immediately and on my own for the entire ride. I think it has been better in the past year or two.

My main beef was that they exceeded their advertised pace. When I tried the first ride, I looked it up and contacted the ride leader. I think it was either a C or D ride, and advertised pace was 15-16mph. I was commuting regularly at that point and rode 16-17mph all the time on my commutes, so I figured I’d be ok. The ride leader confirmed the pace for me. I showed up, the ride set out and immediately ramped up to 18-19mph. I was dropped within 2 miles, and the pace was still increasing at that point. I ended up turning around and riding home.

Now, I totally understand people ride at different speeds. But there were faster rides leaving from the same lot; if you wanted to ride faster, why wouldn’t you do one of those? I tried a few other rides and all were pretty much the same; even the advertised slower rides would quickly ramp up and take off. If you wanted to ride the advertised speed, you rode by yourself.

It wasn’t a fun experience for me. I’m coming from the MTB world, where people are far more friendly and social, and leaders go out of their way to keep the group together.

Granted, that was a few years ago, so perhaps things have changed.

[Author]

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