Great Lakes - Milwaukee area cycling groups?

I'm looking to start with something casual and open to beginners (I know how to ride a bike, obviously, but have never been a part of a team or club before). I'm mostly looking at recreational groups to start with, but would definitely be interested in moving up to doing some competitive stuff in the future.

Can anyone recommend a group for me to start with?

I'm in the same boat, but only ride about 30 miles at a time and most of the Milwaukee groups are a bit too hardcore for me. I ride a Fred bike and I dress the part :)

You might want to check out Bay View Bike Club ( http://www.bayviewbikeclub.org/ ). Known by some as a "social club on wheels"; known by others as a "starter club"; known by others as "home". Distances are in the 30-50 range; speeds range from 10-15. Rides are open and not swept. That is, you get a cue sheet, there is a mass start (of 10-30 riders) and you ride. Smaller groups form up. Oh yeah, and we have Fred's and Fredrica's.

I also ride with Cream City. They have much, much faster riders (although some pokey people, too, so I don't fall super far behind) and their routes tend to be longer and more challenging (aka "hills"). At one time, the ride leader swept the route. As a pokey rider that meant the leader wasn't allowed to pass me. That made me really, really uncomfortable--I felt like I was ruining their ride. The last time I rode with them, the leader passed me (whew!) and I just continued on my own. To get longer distances, I will continue to also ride with Cream City.

bicycle doctor in dousman on wed i think is casual.
transition in pewaukee has a 'chat ride' once or twice a week as well.

if you want to go faster or be competitive, the saturday drop the doc ride is something you should start attending. it took me quite a while to be able to hang on this ride. i finally realized i needed to focus my workouts and commit to a couple of months of 'real' training. now i do it and it's a piece of cake (usually), but still tons of fun.

good luck.
Mr. Burns

bicycle doctor in dousman on wed i think is casual.

Not sure this is correct. I know the A group on Wed is a hammerfest . . . not sure about the B group though.

Thanks. Does anyone know about the Emery general membership group?

I don't know if you're male or female but you might check some of the local bike shops, and ask more than one person there if the first one or three don't know about any rides. The Wheel&Sprocket Fox Point store has a weekly ladies ride, and I think there is one or two other rides that start out at or near the store. Then there are a couple of other weekly rides that meet up at the park or the overlook at the east end of Capitol Drive, but one or more of those are racer training rides.