First club ride

[Paul_L]

After months of telling myself to find a local club to ride with i've finally made the move and am setting off in about half an hour to meet up with them. From what i can understand they are a fairly leisurely bunch but that'll do for me at the moment. We're off for a 35mile fairly hilly route from the meet point but i've got 12 miles to get there so i'll be clocking nearly 60miles today.

So leisurely is good as i haven't cycled 60miles since October last year.

Hopefully i'll make it back in one piece to report progress.

 

[nosherduke996]

Enjoy and have a great ride as it will be fine. I joind my local club a year ago now and i enjoy it so much that if, for any reason that i cannot make it then i get the right hump all weekend.

 

[DTD]

Good luck. Something I should do.

 

[addictfreak]

I was a little nervous before my first ride, but I managed to team up with another new guy. We met up and cycled to the meeting point together, a bit of moral support.
Turned out to be a great bunch of lads, been with them for just over a year now and it was certainly the right choice.

Hope you enjoy the day.

DTD, get yourself along to a club you wont regret it.

 

[Paul_L]

had a good ride. totalled 54 miles. Probably because of the weather there was only 4 of us, and they were a very nice welcoming bunch. They were a bit too leisurely for me though. Averaged under 11mph for the total route, which although it had 1100m of climbing was still a bit too slow for me. But that said, it was all at conversational speed and all very civilised.

I peeled off the ride with about 8 miles to home, and i had plenty in the legs to open up a bit, but it's quite possible that had the club ride been much faster i'd could have blown up when i was on my own.

I'm probably caught between clubs like this, and clubs who are a bit more race orientated at the minute. What i might do is spend a couple of months with this club to build the endurance up, and then try a run out with one of the more speedier clubs which are actually much closer to home.

All in all though a very good introduction to a club and not a daunting experience.

 

[addictfreak]

had a good ride. totalled 54 miles. Probably because of the weather there was only 4 of us, and they were a very nice welcoming bunch. They were a bit too leisurely for me though. Averaged under 11mph for the total route, which although it had 1100m of climbing was still a bit too slow for me. But that said, it was all at conversational speed and all very civilised.

I peeled off the ride with about 8 miles to home, and i had plenty in the legs to open up a bit, but it's quite possible that had the club ride been much faster i'd could have blown up when i was on my own.

I'm probably caught between clubs like this, and clubs who are a bit more race orientated at the minute. What i might do is spend a couple of months with this club to build the endurance up, and then try a run out with one of the more speedier clubs which are actually much closer to home.

All in all though a very good introduction to a club and not a daunting experience.

Sounds like you had a good day.

54 miles is a nice introduction but even with 1100m (3608ft), 11mph average is very slow.

I would give it a couple more rides, and if its still not what your looking for, try another club. You may well come across other clubs while your out or they may be able to point you in the right direction to find what your after.

 

[ianrauk]

Who are the club? Good clubs deserve recognition.

 

[Paul_L]

Sounds like you had a good day.

54 miles is a nice introduction but even with 1100m (3608ft), 11mph average is very slow.

I would give it a couple more rides, and if its still not what your looking for, try another club. You may well come across other clubs while your out or they may be able to point you in the right direction to find what your after.

just checked again and it averaged out at 11.5mph so not as slow as i first thought, but slow nevertheless.

Who are the club? Good clubs deserve recognition.

Yes, of course. Leeds St. Christophers CC.

 

[steve52]

sound great my firts ride had an avg of 16.8 and nearly killed me then i went to leicester road club and though cool as ther wer 9 new guys 7 dropped withing 2 miles , so it depends who u ride with and what sort of mood there in on the day, ihave met more guys now and just turn up and join in, but as for joining?? ill join a club miles away and ride as a guest i think

 

[Paul_L]

Glad you had a good first ride - they sound very friendly. They might have been being a bit kind to a newbie by slowing up a little? Not good manners to leave a new person behind after all and a newbie is an unknown quantity.

For a lot of us, 11.5 mph average is a decent touring pace!

Yep they were very friendly but they weren't riding slow for me. They told me a couple of times to slow down when i was a the front . That's the pace they ride at, nice and leisurely and lots of chat. Fair play to 'em. I shall certainly be riding with them again.

sound great my firts ride had an avg of 16.8 and nearly killed me then i went to leicester road club and though cool as ther wer 9 new guys 7 dropped withing 2 miles , so it depends who u ride with and what sort of mood there in on the day, ihave met more guys now and just turn up and join in, but as for joining?? ill join a club miles away and ride as a guest i think

And that's the other end of the spectrum, and one which i am more nervous about. Getting blown all ends up. Which is why i'll stick where i am for now and get some decent long rides in my legs before assessing other options.

 

[jig-sore]

i found that you soon get used to the speeds and distance once your doing it regularly.

i used to do about 30-40 miles on my own, averaging 16/17mph. then joined the local club and now doing at least 50 miles and a couple of 65 miles, all at around 17mph average. im really getting used to it now

one thing that i have noticed is now people can have a drop in form from time to time. most people in the club have had a bad week with some really dramatic lows from some strong riders. good thing is you can hide at the back and take things easy. people dont seem to mind as long as you take your turn up front when having a better week.

also realised how naff my hill climbing is.

i was the original "lone ranger" for years but now im so glad i joined a club. no looking back and im starting time trialing this year !!!

oh, and the plug... Rugby RCC if anyone's local. Saturdays 9.00am

 

[DTD]

DTD, get yourself along to a club you wont regret it.
[/quote]

Going to try out a few more things and get a bit more experience, but I think it's something that would help me along.
One thing I find is that being nearer 50 than 40 (!) people assume I've been round the block (until I start talking that is).

 

[guitarpete247]

... ill join a club miles away and ride as a guest i think

Steve I noticed (on another site) you were in conversation with the guy from Coalville Wheelers have you been out with them yet? They meet up only a couple of miles from me but I was a little worried as there web site says they are into racing . Maybe their Sunday ride is more a leisurely thing.

 

[chillyuk]

Many years ago I rode with CC Sudbury, in Suffolk. Our club runs catered for everyone, and generally had three runs. One for novices and juniors, a "normal" type club run and a training ride for the racing boys. The only ride where you would be dropped and left if you couldn't keep up was the training ride, but then you understood that when joining them.

That was back in the 1980's. i don't know what they do nowadays though.

 

[bigjim]

Most ctc clubs have different levels as A & B rides. It also depends how many riders turn up. A few riders, may mean they just do one ride so you may find yourself out with a fast bunch even though it is a so called B ride. There are a few heroes in our club and they will join the B ride but try to force the pace from the front and it does wind some of the members up as the A's also like to deviate slightly from the planned route, to attack steeper hills. I have found if you are a novice you need to make sure you take a map and familiarise yourself with the proposed route of the day. That way you can drop off the back if you wish and find your own way home if it gets too much. We do have some fast characters that have a habit of dumping you if you can't or don't want to keep to the pace. I'm not slow and can usually stay with the A riders though they are younger than me, but I choose not to as it gets competitive and I'm beat up by the time I get home and fit for nothing after a 60/80 mile chase. Some of the B riders are a lot slower than me [although they can still put the miles in] but I enjoy the social side of things and they don't mind if you sprint ahead for a couple of miles and wait further up the road if you wish to stretch your legs. I'd recommend the club scene as it was the best thing I did to make cycling even more enjoyable.