velobran

Are there an group rides in the Westerville, Gahanna, or New Albany areas? I'm in town and rented a bike. Did a 40 mile route today and went up near Galena, over towards Johnstown, and back down through New Albany. I'll be here Sat and Sun this week and curious if there are any nice group rides for me to join.

scoatw

The only thing I know about is a Critical Manners ride on Sunday at 10:30am at the Chase BanK Headquarters on Brooksedge Dr. in Westerville.

scoatw

My ride in this morning was better than expected. Ol' Jym Ganahl hit right this morning. He said the rain would'nt start until about 6am. I got to work and awhile later it started raining, big time. Glad I missed it. I had the rainjacket on just in case with shorts and sandals. Felt good.63f. The afternoon was great. I pedaled real slow to enjoy the weather. It'll just get better from here on out. But it does pay to have good rain gear.
_________________

velobran

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it.

scoatw

What a weird week morning weather-wise. Monday I rode in with the jacket & gloves on. Tuesday, I rode in with my Winter ensemble of the jacket,gloves,balaclava, etc. Today I just had the long sleeve jersey with my workpants. 61f. About the mid 60's I can start wearing shorts in. This aftn I had to ride from work in Linworth to downtown Dublin (?) I rode up 161 to Dublin and then rode it all the way back to Karl rd where I took side streets back to Cleveland/270 in my neck of the woods. I'm not too keen on riding that stretch of 161between Sawmill and Linworth Rd. because of the narrow shoulder and the fast moving traffic, but it's doable.I just stay in the shoulder as much as I can and let the cars fly by me. When I get to Worthington I take the New England Bypass. But I got home in less than an hour. Which is good for me.
_________________

Steena

Hello, I'm new to all of this and posted this morning to the 'Introduction' about my frustration with so-called 'group' rides. I just now checked out the regional and found this post. I'm in Columbus and was wondering if there are any novice rides, no drop rides, D rides (which I guess is my category) or women's no drop rides/novice rides out there? I've only been cycling for a year and only have 500+ miles on my bike because my work hours prevented my riding last season. I'd like to find people to ride with who will not be "put off" about my 11-12-13-14 mph speed. I've been disappointed with the culture in cycling where speed is all that matters. Thanks for your time, 'Steena

10 Wheels

It took my legs 1000 miles to get stronger for faster riding.
You just need to ride more to get stronger and faster.

haningp

I think you might enjoy riding with the Westerville bike club on your weekend and weekday rides. The Wednesday evening rides would fit what you are looking for as there are a lot of people riding at all paces. We have two ride leaders, one of whom always rides with the D pace group. The rides usually consist of three routes varying in length from 20+ miles to 40 miles. There are also shorter routes that are well marked (arrows painted on the roads). With so many riders, paces and routes, no one rides alone unless they chose to. The club also has many rides on weekends and a morning ride every Monday. There are other clubs in the area that also have rides you might consider but I'm most familar with the Westerville club. You can check all this out on the website at https://www.westervillebicycleclub.org

Steena

Thank you 'haningp' for the information on the Westerville bike club. I will most definately check it out!!

Wow, 10 Wheels, I'm working towards the goal! I rode over 55 miles over the weekend. 33 on the Athens to Nelsonville, Ohio trail on Saturday and then 25 miles, on the Springfield to Urbana, Ohio trail - would have rode the whole thing were it not for the crazy bike trails in the Springfield area not being well marked which caused me to take a wrong turn. However, just rode to 6 miles from Urbana and turned around because it was later in the afternoon and didn't want to go through a bad area of town around dusk....so headed back earlier rather than later.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions, encouragement and responses!

Tsuru

Sorry for the bump, but this is my first year as a member of the WBC.... I can't tell you enough how nice they are and how worth the membership due is for the ride emails alone. Any of you Columbus folks looking for group rides, I do recommend the WBC, for what it's worth.

Even for just the New Albany to Granville Saturday rides (farmer's market is still going on there, so nice nice half-way break).... The leader goes at a nice C pace, but faster riders break away to do their thing. Good times.

jcsulser

live in delaware. im a C&Ver primarily. current ride= 90's torelli corsa strada with all shimano 600.

Tsuru

I've ridden out to and past Delaware. Nice little town!

clancy98

canal winchester -- woot!

politicalgeek

I'm working on trying to get a monthly ride going in the city itself that is no drop and a pace between 10-15 MPH depending on the group present. Myself and a few others have helped organize a few of these so far under "Critical Manners" (I'm working on changing the name) and have been pretty successful. You can check out the thread on the local message board "Yay Bikes!".

We had one ride where a rider broke a spoke. The other ride leader rode with him to the local bike shop down the street and then rode to meet us at the end point. Another ride, we had a rider that was having a very difficult time keeping up. Myself and another cyclist both took turns sticking with him to make sure he got through. Overall we want this to be a safe, fun ride that emphasizes basic traffic rules and courtesies and lets folks get a chance to ride on urban streets. If this sounds like something you would be interested in check out the above website and search "Critical Manners". I'll be planning another ride for August.

jasony0423

REcent transplant from Cincinnati to Columbus.

Tsuru

Welcome! How was Cinci riding? Been there a few times now.... Thinking of doing a ride there and back over 2 days. Would be cool, eh?

jasony0423

Cincy was great. I had my Trek all through the trails at Eastfork State park, and a few other places, too. Now that I"m in Columbus, and my freakin bike was promptly stolen, I'm looking into a road bike for a replacement...
Hmm, a ride from here to Cincy... I"d have to build up to that... Maybe one day I'll ride the 50 miles to my parents house, and go from there.. At least if it sucked, I'd have a ride back home.

clancy98

here's a source for a few rides in the 'bus

https://www.meetup.com/Columbus-Bicycling-Meetup-Group/

MissKristen 

Anyone do the Columbus Outdoor Pursuits rides? I think I'm venturing out next week for their Thursday night rides starting in New Albany. They have a ton of other rides though... just curious if anyone participates in them?

Tsuru

I did their Spot ride (I think that was them) pretty well organized and road markings. I think it was 70+ mile ride that day? Can't remember, but it was a beautiful day and I never rode the southeast side of Columbus.

scoatw

ALONG THE ALUM CREEK STATE PARK MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAIL - P1

cyclewolf

I did their Ride the Darby last year - a low-budget ride. Seemed like a good group. I see their Tuesday night Hilliard ride I think that heads out to Plain City while I'm out on a team ride. Seems well attended.

jasony0423

Anyone here going to be riding the Pelotonia next month that would want to ride with a slower rider like myself?

scoatw

I rode home today in what felt like the hottest day of the year. I know this morning was. It was 75f with something like 90% humidity at 4:30am.
....This aftn I tried and failed to outrun a small storm front that just brought a light steady rain. It felt real good riding in a tank top and shorts. Every once in a while a nice cool breeze would blow across the area and cool me off. But it felt nice sitting at a traffic light with the rain and the cagers all buttoned up in their cars. I know I was more comfortable than they were. That's the nice thing about bike commuting is being in tune with the weather. Whether its enjoying a nice quiet aftn with a light snow falling, or riding in a nice, steamy summer rain. We're comfortable no matter what. And the stress factor is real low.

scoatw

I got home today and decided to give the bike a good cleaning. Along with cleaning the drivetrain. I gave the brakes and the rims a good scrubbing. I usually just clean the bottom of the bike cause I like the rest to look grungy and junky looking. Out of sight, out of mind. I try to clean the chain at least twice a month. Some Simple Green and a good chain-cleaning tool is a good investment. In winter, I'll clean the chain 3 or 4 times a month. Sometimes everyday if its real sloppy out. And when I do that I'll usually just dump a bucket of hot water on it to quickly melt the snow off of it.