First club ride!

Wow :) Finally worked up the nerve to go join my closest bike club for an organized ride (for someone who's been riding on her own for more than ten years and hates being told what to do this took a little gumption ;) ). This was a "level 2" ride. The club used to have 3 "racing" levels, 1,2 and 3, and a touring group, and this was the old level 3 bunch. But it was supposed to be an easy Sunday ride, and it actually was! I was told that both road bikes and mtbs would be fine, and since it was very wet and there's still a lot of road junk out I took my Kona mtb. It looks like Frankenbike since it's put together with various spare parts, and the gearing is crooked and noisy, which nicely camouflages the fact that it in fact is pretty lightweight and pretty fast. Figured it could be nice to have something to blame if I had trouble keeping up :p

I turned up and there were 15 large, serious guys in tight clothing, all with road bikes but 2. But I kept up ok. We rode in a double row, I spent lots of energy making sure I was in the right place and not weaving... and when I and my partner got to the front we got to work pretty hard too. 20 minutes in sidewinds and rain was more than enough, but they were kind enough to tell me that we did a good job when we fell back afterwards.

I'm pleased :) Guess I found myself a place to train.

Funny thing, though, as I started a thread about a while ago I have trouble eating enough (eating at all) on longer rides. We were out for more than three hours and I only drank blackcurrant juice the whole ride, and I had to force myself to eat once I got home. This is really strange, because normally I have an IMMENSE appetite, and climbing I get hungry after max an hour and eat all the time. Very strange.

Wow, I'm impressed that you did this after all these years of riding solo. What are you training for?

thanks rhodie - not training for anything specific, but I'll try my hand at a few club races just to see what it's like.