MassNewbie

Hello bike forums:

As my screen name suggests, I am relatively new to the road riding game here in Mass. and after a month of riding by myself, I'd love to find a club or group to ride with.

My only problem is that I don't want to go and join a group only to be left in the dust by a bunch of uber-cyclistsfeeling like a chump, does anyone know of a group which has "beginner" rides? or should I just suck it up and go for it, throwing pride to wind?

Thanks!

hmai18

With my local club, the group rides are divided by average riding speed. You should be able to find a group whose abilities and speeds match yours.

C.P.

There are a bunch of road cycling clubs in the greater Boston area. If your nearby check out Charles River Wheelmen https://www.crw.org/
or Massbike https://massbike.org
There are many others to choose from, but the biggest thing to look for is whether a club is a "Racing Development" club, or more of a social riding/advocacy club. This will be the true dividing factor for the type of group riding your looking for.

BTW If you are curious to check out what it's like to road race, NEBC https://www.northeastbicycleclub.org/home/ does a nice beginner racing clinic (like 7 Saturdays) every spring (FILLS QUICKLY) and teaches the basics of pacelining, group training, what to expect for each type of race course - IE eticquette etc. The last clinic is usually a Crit race at Wells ave.

Good luck.

MassNewbie

Thanks guys, I'll definately check out that clinic, that sounds pretty interesting.

johnny99

I recommend calling the ride leader before showing up at your first group ride. There should be a phone number in the riding listings. You can ask the ride leader about average speed, length of the ride, regroup/drop policies, lunch stops, directions/maps, etc. Most ride leaders would much prefer to help out newbies well before the start of the ride.

koreansteve

Does anyone know if there's a clinic like that in the Southeast/Midwest (more specifically, in Kentucky). It sounds like a great clinic and for someone who's looking to start racing in the spring, i'd love to enroll in one like it.

thanks.

skinnyone

where you at..??? Cycleloft does a Saturday group ride, no drop, out of Burlington...
NSC does a monday ride out of Topsfield, which is pretty social and no drop.. I ride Mondays and Wednesdays with them and they are good...
I have done a few CRW rides and they are not bad but I dunno if they have a no-drop ride...
ECV rides out of MAnchester...
Just show up one day and

celticfrost

similar good info:

https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/69971-ma-rides-anyone-boston-area.html

MasterSezFaster

A lot of new riders are intimidated by group rides because they believe that most if not all groups ride at a fast clip, won't wait for the new guy/gal and the new rider does not want to slow them down or get dropped. As mentioned before, look around. Most clubs have rides for all skill levels, have regrouping points during the ride where they will wait for the slower riders and most of the time will not drop any one (you will encounter a few that will and those clubs you should stay away from especially as a new rider).

Also, if you are in some what decent shape you may find that you are not the slowest of the group. What I find to be a problem is when you fall in-between. Meaning some of the riders (say the social/beginner group) rides to slow and then more advanced riders ride to fast for your liking. I have found that to be the case with a few clubs around here. When I train I like to ride by my self and only use group rides as easy social rides but I do like to keep a higher tempo then most of the social riders.

Best thing to do is find a few clubs that interests you, see if they have different level rides and join in on a couple. The most important part of a club ride, I think, is that you get along with most of the other riders even if you are the slowest one there.

TexasGuy

I haven't found any groups that ride at my pace

MikeR

That's surprising. Our club have rides with average speeds or 8-10, 10-13, 15-17, 17-20 and over 20. the lower 2 or 3 NEVER drop anyone. Luckily our club sticks with the posted speed. I've heard of some other groups that have speed creep.

MikeR

Oops forgot one. There are 13-15 mph rides too