So I pondered publicly about joining a local club. Last night I headed out to join their Wed night club ride. The web site says,
I can do that, I tell myself. Especially since my solo rides I'm riding at 19-21 on the flats. But, being a club ride, I was worried that it would be a hammerfest.

I get there (live close enough to ride to the shop, whoo!), and there are few guys pulling bikes of/out of their cars: an Orbea, an Isaac, an OCLV or two. One guy has a Powertap. I'm in the very small minority not in the club kit. I actually take a lap or two around the parking lot making sure I'm not the only one who doesn't have shaved legs. I introduce myself, and we chit-chat while other riders show up. I ask about the ride pace:

"Well, the past couple weeks have been so big that we've had an A group, mid-20s, and a B group, right at 20. Doesn't look like it's that big tonight, so we'll just see how it goes"

"It could be a hammerfest, depends on how everyone feels"

"We'll average 21. So some parts will be faster than that, some will be slower"

That last one stung. My best solo averages are in the low 18s. I realized I might be in trouble. I ask if there are cue sheets, just in case I get lost, there aren't any. Lots of verbal directions. I curse to myself for not printing off the cue sheet. I make a joke about finding Broad or Patterson (two very large obvious roads) and limping home. Get a few chuckles. The group is about 15 strong, and maybe six of us aren't in the club kits. One guy was also a first-timer on this ride, so I was hoping that maybe I'd have a partner if things went South. We get rolling, and I put myself about fifth in line, thinking that's a better place to be if I start slipping because I can suck more wheel that way if I tumble down the line. We settle in at twenty-seven miles an hour.


I lasted exactly seven miles. I got dropped like a hot rock in a hot rock dropping contest. I was spit out the back like a tree branch in a wood chipper. I got flicked out the window like a cigarette butt. It was more than humbling, it was down right laughable.

Thankfully, I'd been on part of the route once before, so I was able to pick and choose my way around to get in some miles, though at this point I was totally blown and limping along at 16, 17mph. I'd cut off probably 5 miles from the 'proper' route, and I get onto Patterson, which I can just stay on for the 9 miles back to the apartment. Then I look behind me to see them about half a mile back. My ego was relieved that they turned off. I get home, ego bruised, left calf threatening to cramp (after only 33 miles!), and laughing to myself. I celebrated by having dinner, a shower, and going to a bar. Fricken yay for me.

Now, the question is, do I go back out there next Wednesday, see if I can last 9 miles?

That was funny!
I've gotta read it again!

Hey, got out there and did it. Yes, show up next week.
One day you'll really laugh about this.
The analogies alone were worth the read!

Next time bring a bungee cord.

And don't feel bad. 27mph is a little faster than the ride was advertised at.

We've got a club like that in my town. During my one and only ride with them, the pack took off like it was shot out of a cannon. I did ride with an older guy for a few miles. We were having a nice conversation, and then he said, "Well, I'm warmed up now." As he disappeared, I felt like I had been spit out the back like a watermelon seed.

When I asked if the club would hold rides other than hammerfests, I was told, "No one is interested." Which may be why the club has so few members.

Interesting. I have thought about joining that group for a ride and I would have suffered the same fate. A lot of the 3sports guys are studs.

Are you no longer living in the Southside? Did you move to a new apartment along Patterson? I'm on the 4700 block on Grace (for the next week). We should get together for a ride before I move to Colorado. What is your schedule for the next few days. I have tomorrow off, but I need to meet some friends at 7. Let me know via pm.

You should also check out the Hanover Courthouse Ride with Raba on Tuesdays. Great ride and a real 18-20mph pace.

Funny story dude. If getting to the point where you can keep up is important to you, going next wednesday is the best way to get there.

Oh man you gave me a good laugh!!

Your story sounds very familar to probably all of us. I would certainly urge you to go back and try again. If you get dropped next time- show up again the following week. You may be the trend setter that reestablishes a B group (which you could lead).

Get out there and do it again. And again, and again. I had a similar experience in May with a group where I lasted only 8 miles (and 5 of those were the warm-up). Now I can take my pulls at the front and finish with the leaders after the group gets blown apart.... Which always happens sometime after the pace goes to 32-33mph and then *stays there*.

Show up next week and bring someone along with you. This way when you and your friend get dropped you can still have some one to talk to. my 2¢

Depends on how much it means to you to run with these guys.

I guess I am going to be in the minority here, but if it were me I wouldn't go back. Why?

I don't care.
I don't need to push myself that bad to be able to ride that fast.

I'd prefer a REAL 18-20 ave. ride, and I would try to find people to ride with who feel the same way.

Again, this obsession with speed...this group ride testoserone-fest....not for me.
Now, if you have aspirations of racing and high-level training and you WANT to go 27 miles an hour, then go back and take a beating. That's a great way to push yourself to get faster and keep track of your progress by seeing how long you can hang with them.

I guess I think it all depends on what a rider personally is looking for out of his/her cycling.

I got my bike in May (~700 miles ago) when I first started the Tuesday night ride with the LBS race team, I was was out of my league. I was also getting dropped like a hot rock at a hot rock dropping contest ( I loved that analogy!). I kept going and have steadily improved to the point that I now takes my share of pulls and at worse cause the group to slow pedal for a minute after a really fast interval.

If you WANT to get there and are willing to push yourself hard, you WILL get there.

One thing I learned is that trying to catch a paceline is a great workout as you try SOOO hard to not get dropped and for as long as you stay close you are doing more work than they are as you are not sharing pulls. For me, chasing the group has upped my fitness level immensely. I have also learned that sprinting to close gaps is worth the pain for the reduced effort once you close...

AMEN! +1

Great story superdex. I know that's one group I won't be joining soon! Lemme know if you want to start a RACUTMPH club (Richmond Area Cyclists Under Twenty Miles Per Hour).

Yeah, that's the quandry. It was pretty slick, going that fast, but I was too busy working hard to keep the wheel in front of me to really enjoy it. I may go back out there, hope there are some B riders, and be that B leader. Have to ride the full route, though, first

Racing? Training? No, not for me. It's recreation for me, a Zen time outside that has the bonus of a workout. Sure it's fun to go fast, and I may ride with these guys again to see where my envelope is, but at the end of the day, I just like being on the bike. --I'll liken it to hockey: I've played with the A guys, and when I have it's been a tremendous time, but always way over my head. Yeah, doing so I got better, but I know I'm not an A player, and never will be. So I concentrate on having fun and exploring the parts of game that I can improve on without serious training (which is to say I prefer to "think" the game). I think I'm finding this same balance with the bike, I just don't quite know where my settling point is yet. Make sense? Am I babbling too much? I must really not want to work right now

I'm in! With mandatory bar stops, of course!

it never seems to be a good idea for a beginner to join up with a group on a weeknight ride in the middle/end of the racing season. everyone is all hopped up, excited and in peak physical condition, adrenaline is going, people want to go fast. winter and fall are always the better times to join up with a team or club as a beginner, so don't feel too bad about getting dropped at this point..
example: there is an open ride on the weekends here that is a "fast" training ride that is moderate in the winter time, but in the summer and spring, pacelines average above 30 miles an hour on the flats. thats fast.. but then again, everyone has been cruising all winter, and when racing season starts, EVERYTHING changes.. likely in a few months, those rides you went on will quiet down.

I must say I'd feel the same way.

I was spit out the back like a tree branch in a wood chipper.

That's the funniest and most bitingly accurate metaphor for getting dropped I've ever read.

By pulling a 27mph pace out the gate, I would guess those guys were trying to weed out the weak riders as early as possible. Not too polite.

Those guys are mostly teammates on a racing team with studly abilities. They are good people. It just seems like none of the B riders showed for that ride.

I'm curious if they held that speed the whole ride. Go again and get dropped, but stay the course at your pace and see if you can reel them back in. I have a feeling you were not the only one dropped. Slow and steady can sometimes win the race. I say go back and do it again and again and again.......

I was hoping it was flicked like a booger out the window, not a cigarette butt LOL!!!!

I would hazard a guess that you may not be spinning enough. 27mph group is probably equivalent to 20-24 solo. I can honestly tell you, not being a racer and all but I can easily do 24-30 on flat surfaces solo. But I was really only able to do 24-30 quite often after learning how to spin, aka increasing my cadence.

Haha, thanks for the euphemisms. Made my morning.

Dex... Those were some great lines... I would be there the next week and the week after next and then every week till I can hang all the way... It looks like you will be there to..

I believe that there is no other way to get fast than getting dropped once in a while..

If you are a man you go back....