Don't think a club is for me

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I have often looked up local clubs on the net but none seem to fit my needs ,i feel like i'm between a rock and a hard place.

I've just turned sixty but i don't want to be stereotyped and join what people call "the wrinkly club" and saunter along at a slow speed and stop at the pub for an hour but neither do i want to join a club on fast and furious rides and being the person getting dropped.

I have nothing against cycling clubs but for the time being it's solo rides for me.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Not sure what's worse , 60 and you are called a wrinkly or at most of my local clubs 45 and your in a veterans class.

Makes me chuckle as there are some really seriously fit cyclists near me and most of them are retired.

 

[screenman]

TSC, you are missing what many of us are trying to write, in other words there are clubs within clubs for want of a better description.

Now some of our wrinklies average 18mph when out for a ride, whilst others only 14mph, either way I bet a crisp £5 you would or could with a little effort on your part find a club near you with rides to suit you. If you really wanted to, that is.

 

[Rob3rt]

Not sure what's worse , 60 and you are called a wrinkly or at most of my local clubs 45 and your in a veterans class.

Makes me chuckle as there are some really seriously fit cyclists near me and most of them are retired.

At 40 you are classed as a veteran in competition.

 

[screenman]

Just a thought I have belonged to my current 150+ member club for over 25 years and still do not know of all the weekly rides other members do, so looking at a web site is unlikely to give you very much information.

 

[yello]

I don't like the colour of my local club's jerseys. Some things are beyond compromise

 

[screenman]

Wrinklies in our club was a name made up by the more mature folk themselves, us younger members just think they are cyclist and a lot of them fast ones who enjoy a potter as well as a race.

 

[Rob3rt]

Just a thought I have belonged to my current 150+ member club for over 25 years and still do not know of all the weekly rides other members do, so looking at a web site is unlikely to give you very much information.

I agree, my club has 350+ members, I have met about 50 of them, see about 20 on at least a semi-regular basis (i.e. at races) and am friends with maybe 4-5. There are 2-3 official club rides per week of varying abilities etc and if those don't suit, there are many unofficial rides, organised between small groups of people to their own ends. Add to that the friend making opportunity being in a club affords you, you can simply find some people of your own persuasion and organise your own jolly.

Think about what you can put into a club, not just about what you can get from it. No official rides for people like you, well you can be assured there are a few people who want what you want amongst the ranks, so put up a ride, people will come.

You are unlikely to find a group where everyone is focussed on what you are, unless you join some sort of trade team or "invite only" racing club where you will only get in if you aspire to what they aspire too and can ride to the ability they deem suitable, or you have won enough to give them confidence you will keep on winning, wearing their jersey.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Our main Sunday club runs usually consist of five groups, the easiest being circa 35 miles at 11/12mph and the hardest 70+ miles at 18/19mph with the others somewhere in between, plus there are faster chain gangs and other social rides at other times. I'm sure we're not unique.

 

[Irishrich]

I am finding it impossible to join a club so wouldn't know about the issues faced once I actually join a club. I've emailed the contacts on various local cc sites, facebooked members and even tried to find members at a recent sportive without success. Not a response in over a month. It really beggars belief that someone who is eager to join a cc can't get through the door so to speak. I'm a relatively fit 32 yr old guy with a decent road bike, ready to take part in a few rides per week but can't even get a response!!

 

[vickster]

Have you picked up the phone if there's a number?

 

[Irishrich]

Absolutely no numbers on any site, it's like you either know someone to ask for an invite or bugger off. I emailed the secretaries of 3 clubs I wanted to join and no one has responded yet. One group on facebook told me to fill in their application form but it asked for 2 people to recommend you from within the club. I don't even know anyone in the club so it's a catch 22 situation. !! Think I'm going to continue on my solo rides for a while

 

[Dave Davenport]

One group on facebook told me to fill in their application form but it asked for 2 people to recommend you from within the club. I don't even know anyone in the club so it's a catch 22 situation.

That sounds more like a race team than a standard club, where are you?

 

[Hill Wimp]

That sounds more like a race team than a standard club, where are you?

Sounds a bit apron wearing and all that stuff

 

[Irishrich]

I'm in the centre of Northern Ireland, and it's what I've come across in the past few weeks when trying to join a cycling club. My friend is a journalist for a local paper and he told me he had a difficult time trying to get local clubs to put articles in the paper about recent races or to attract new members. They just want to get on with their own thing without being too much in the limelight.