Not to sure about which forum to put this in so I am sticking it here. First off, I went on my first ride with a group of riders this morning. I met up with them at their starting spot at 08:30. Some of them gave looks like,"Who the hell are you?". Some were indiferent and some were very friendly. There was about 20 or so riders with verying abilities.
Here is where the post changes.
We started the ride at a very casual pace with everybody together. 2.5km in to the ride woooossssh! My rear tire goes flat. We were on a newly paved road that had some debri along the side. Since I was taking up the rear I stayed directly behind at least 10 of the riders right in their line. Not one of them got a flat so I figured it was my valve stem again. Not so. The tire had 5, large gashes and punctures ranging from 3mm to 5mm. Why was I the only one to have that happen? Needles to say it I told them to go on and I would catch up. Mind you, the group has not split yet. 5min later I had the tire fixed and was on my way. Busted my a** trying to catch them. Never did so I went my own way. Come to find out that the route I took to catch them was the one the expert/racers took. Since I arrived back around the same time as the slower group. we sat at a local coffe shop chating. They were very nice folks.
Here is another change in the post.
We got to talking and at least 4 of them had no idea what dh mtbiking was. No clue. If it was not related to road bikes they were clueless. Put it this way, a few of them did not even know that some mtb had full suspension. From the way that they talked us off-roaders were not worthy to be called cyclist. They were nice to me because I was on a road bike, other wise I do not think they would have given me the time of day. .
Besides this fact they were talkative and friendly. So now I am wondering if I should ride with them again or find a diff club. Any suggestion?

Slainte