Northern California - Weekday Group/Club Rides out of San Francisco

Hey everyone,

I've been looking at all the websites and schedules for the clubs in and around San Francisco, trying to figure out which I should try and join. My problem is that I (luckily) have most of my free time in the daytime during the week and the group rides I come across are usually weekend rides. I don't have or want a car in the city, so getting to group rides that start really early in the North, South, or East Bay generally doesn't work out for me. I guess I could take BART East or South for early rides, but really I like riding to the start point. I guess I should embrace doing a 20 or 30 mile warm up just to get to the start point of the ride.

I'm a bit of a newbie, but I'm looking for something that starts anywhere in the city in the morning and rides out to Marin or South for longer rides. I haven't ridden Mt. Diablo yet, so I'd like to follow someone up it. I've been riding seriously for about six months. I try to ride everyday (including weekends, but that's usually when I'm at my busiest and laziest). My typical weekday ride is 30 to 50 miles, moderate pace (~15mph), and I try to hit the hills for the challege, though I'm still kind of weak on climbs.

I usually have the best ride when I force myself to get out early in the morning, but unless I've got it scheduled I tend to procrastinate and screw around until the afternoon. Starting a three or four hour ride and coming back at 6:00pm isn't as nice as coming back around noon and having a nice lunch. I always tell myself I'm going to get out by 8:00, but then 8:00 becomes 10:00 and that becomes 12:00, before you know it the clock says 3:00 and still haven't gone out for a ride (maybe I'm spending too much time on places like this, damn Internet).

So if you've got a group/club ride that sounds about right send it my way. I'm also up for just hooking up with one or two other like people, especially if you've got a similar schedule - it's a little lonely riding alone all the time and I need someone else to challenge me a little.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff,

I live over in the East Bay by Mt. Diablo. I'm relatively slow with an average speed in the mid 15's and not much of a climber, but always looking for a ride partner. I've been up Diablo a bunch of times. If you're ever over this way, PM me.

I'm also looking for rides during the day and not on the weekends. Maybe we can start a "I work all the damn time but I have afternoons and some weekdays off" club. ;)

Let me know if you find anything, I'm over on the Mission side of Potrero.

Good luck to you guys. I hope you find a good ride or group out of SF. All the rides I've found are always NOT in SF but always across the bay.

I'm still looking for rides in SF for weekends.

Gary

Jeff,

I live over in the East Bay by Mt. Diablo. I'm relatively slow with an average speed in the mid 15's and not much of a climber, but always looking for a ride partner. I've been up Diablo a bunch of times. If you're ever over this way, PM me.
Right on, I've always wanted to head over there - could you describe the route? I've never ridden in the East Bay so I'm not even sure how to get there.


I'm also looking for rides during the day and not on the weekends. Maybe we can start a "I work all the damn time but I have afternoons and some weekdays off" club.

Let me know if you find anything, I'm over on the Mission side of Potrero.
Cool. I think I'm going to start checking out the Sunday rides from City Cycle (Les Volantes (http://citycycle.com/events_volantes.htm)) - but that doesn't really solve the weekday problem. So instead I'm just going to start publishing all my rides in advance to a public Google calendar. I'll usually try to include a Routeslip map and a guess at the rating of the ride, though the pace will almost always be moderate (no faster than 14-16mph average).

Jeff's Ride Calendar! (http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=iin1ak5epvds00565kvko33pqs%40group.calendar.google.com)

Hopefully this turns into some kind of ad-hoc regular group ride thing. I'll be at Velo Rouge Cafe most mornings at 8:00am and wait around for a few minutes to see if anyone shows up to join me - look for a lycra-clad blonde 22 year old in a funky blue, orange, and white helmet with a black and blue Lemond (unless otherwise indicated, or if someone has a better meeting spot). PM me or e-mail me to give me a heads up if you feel like it. Typically I'll ride either in the City, the Headlands, or Marin most weekdays (sometimes I take Monday off if I rode hard on the weekend). Sometimes I like to hit the hills hard, other times I like to take it easy. Mornings are best but afternoons on select days work just as well.

If you want to suggest rides in advance or anything via the calendar I can add you - just PM your e-mail address. I'll generally try to plan rides out a week or a few days in advance.


Good luck to you guys. I hope you find a good ride or group out of SF. All the rides I've found are always NOT in SF but always across the bay.

I'm still looking for rides in SF for weekends.

Gary
Cool - PM if you ever want to do a ride. I'm always looking for people to ride with and I like to do weekend rides. Same deal, look at the calendar above to see what I'm doing, if you wanna join me cool, otherwise no big deal.

Digging up an old thread. Has anybody found any good weekday group rides in the meantime?

This link has a pretty comprehensive list of Bay Area rides.
http://www.fremontfreewheelers.org/RaceTeam/Useful/TrainingRides/index.html

Looks like the OP hooked up with Roaring Mouse.
http://www.pilarcitos.com/results/CrossResults/2008/GC08.html

This link has a pretty comprehensive list of Bay Area rides.
http://www.fremontfreewheelers.org/RaceTeam/Useful/TrainingRides/index.html


awesome resource, thank you!

This is a pretty good resource for club rides as well: http://www.bikecal.com/index.asp#