Introductions - Hello from a Colorado Springs's newbie

Hello everyone. I've been getting into biking for the last few weeks since I've decided to get a bike to help make commuting easier (have a car but it is broken down). I have had some knee weakness & pains for the last few years from 2 neglected injuries (I've learned to never trust the school infirmary from then on) but since I have had started biking to work, I have noticed a great decreases in my knee discomfort and increased stamina. Now as a result of slowly getting into better shapes, I have been getting more and more interested into biking for real. So here I am, here to learn about general biking skill and to find biking groups to joins in Colorado Springs. I have moved to Colorado Springs August 2005 and have not really gone out much until recently so I'm still relatively new to the town and the possible bike routes around here.

My biking preferences seems to be street biking on flat land (to avoid overworking my knees) and I MUST have a hydration pack cause my biggest impediments to almost all exercise is dry scratchy throat (for some reason this is worse to me than anything else including soreness and whatnot). I'm not yet knowledgeable of how to identify what kind of bikes mine is exactly so I'm not going to bother with that too much. Though I DO plan to purchase a new one sometime in the next year when I have a little more money saved up for it this time.

Well, I hopes to learn much from the more experienced cycler around here and becomes one of them sometime in the future :D

Try Colorado Cyclist at 3970 Bijou Street in your city. They have a national presence. They even have a school for mechanics. C. Springs had an active social bike club back in the 1980s when I lived in Denver and biked down there several times to ride with them. Check out the Velodrome at the Olympic Training Center.

Hello Curiouswill, you have plenty of company (from BF members) in Colorado Springs.

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Thanks :) I knew that there was a good number of cyclers around here but I had no idea how many was involved with this Bike Forum until I have taken a look around in the "Regional Discussion: Mountain - Plains" Forum.

Hopefully I could find a bunch of people around my area of the town to ride with :) Though it may be a quiet ride with me personally since I'm deaf. While I'm quite good with talking with most people (though my hearing aid had suffered some damage so I cannot use it), I can only trust myself to do some bare-bone conversations on bikes at first. At least until I start developing better balances (had some minor balance issues growing up and still do when I gets distracted) on my bikes and better multipurpose skills (like reaching down for a bottle of drink without swerving a little) on bikes. I can still talks some at stops and whatnot if necessary. I hopes that the people around here won't be a little shy of my deafness as some people I've met was.

I have found out about a biking club for Colorado Springs called COLORADO SPRINGS CYCLING CLUB (http://www.bikesprings.org/), thanks to this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=256768), But I'm not planning to join until I have heard and researched more about this group and how they would work with somebody like me. (There have been several "anti-deaf" issues around towns such as the Broadmoor Hotel refusing to hire any deaf applicants for any reasons (heard about this from a employment center agents who works with the deaf)).
So I'm wondering, Have anybody around here been involved with this group? And how was they for beginners? (just checking for a possible source of info here. I'm planning to contact them myself via http://www.ip-relay.com)

I have never been in a group rides and would like to join one sometime but I have several questions about this,
Do I have to be in good shape to be able to join? (I don't want to end up pissing everyone off if most groups ride tends to be fast or somewhat strenous)
Would it be better for me to just find a biking partner first?
If I do plan to join a group ride, what should I be careful of when looking for one?

I'm currently trying to get into better shape and would like to find out if there is any particular things I should keep an eye out for to finds peoples to exercise biking with.

Sorry if it seems to be a lot of questions but like I mentioned, I've only just been getting into biking for the last few weeks and I'm starting to want to bike more seriously now-a-day.

P.S. Also, please includes any info (links might be better in some case though) that you think that I may not know about and should. Some of the biggest signs of the inexperienced is in the not asking the right questions.

Will,
<---- the inexperienced (if only for a little while):D

If you were up here I'd be more than happy to ride with you, and I'm sure that all the groups that I've ridden with would go out of their way to make you comfortable and welcome. :)

Groups vary greatly, if you want to know about a specific group you need to ask someone involved with that group. Most groups have people at various riding levels, and so make accommodation's for newer riders. (How else would they get more members? :) )

Most clubs have 'recreational' rides, which would be a good way to get started... they're designed for people that wanna get out and ride, but aren't aiming for super distances or speed.

Welcome to the forums!

At one place I worked they hired a deaf person for the photocopy centre because the machinery made so much noise nobody wanted to work in that room. He had some sign language postyers on the walls and peoople managed to communicate with him.

Forget Colorado Cyclist, bunch of bike snob a$$holes.

Go to Old Town or Criterium Bike Shops

Have fun, enjoy the forums