type of cyclists in regular social circle

[shootingstar]

The cyclists that I've socialized regularily ...or at least a few times per year both on road and outside of cycling....are long-distance tourers, work commuters and ex-randonneurs. One of these cyclists was a bike courier for a year.

At this time, I haven't clicked yet with a racer or triathlete or duathlete.

I do know several who have done full marathons...2 sisters and a brother-in-law.

I've been cycling nearly past 17 yrs. Since living in Vancouver, I haven't joined any regular cycling group / club since living in Vnacovuer ....and all honesty, right now, I don't want to yet feel hemmed in my personal schedule when my present work commute during week is so time-consuming and I get home late...which leaves only weekend for breathing, creative time to do as I please.

[Zen]

At this time, I haven't clicked yet with a racer or triathlete or duathlete.

Are you looking for someone to click with or is this just a general observation?

[shootingstar]

Just an observation, zen. I'm just curious what other people's cycling social circles are like. Aside from my partner, I don't ride with anyone on a regular basis.

I choose good friends for what they are like as individuals. Cycling is secondary. I enjoy doing at least 1/2 of it on my own. My partner is sometimes too busy with other things/our schedule for the day doesn't jive.

[sundial]

Well, we have a former bi-athlete in our crowd, a wannabe Paris-Brest-Paris rider, another rider with 20+ years experience, and one who was a former runner turned cyclist. It's funny that you mentioned the triathlete type. They tend to shun us too.

[Starfish]

Well, I can't say I have much of a cycling social circle.

One of my best friends races with a team, and I love her to pieces, and we don't ride together (we live in different towns now, and I know I am not at her level, anyhow).

The folks I occasionally ride with locally are IM triathletes (hence the "occasionally"). I can't really keep up. Nice bunch of folks, though.

There is a group that rides in a town about 45 minutes away that I keep telling myself I need to go ride with. Sometime soon I will do that, and we will see who they are and what they're like!

Mostly I ride alone, but I need to change that.

[Melalvai]

Commuters and recreational riders, and I definitely count the bike shop mechanics in my group of friends. Very good friends they are! Some of us are also cycling advocates (go to relevant city council meetings, participate in local advocacy group).

[mimitabby]

none, really. we ride with some nice people but rarely do anything with them that isn't bike related.

[solobiker]

I ride alone most of the time. Occ DH will ride with me. He is much faster then I am going up the hills, but I am quite a bit faster going down them then he is. I have thought about joining group rides but I don't want to be tied down to meeting the group and I also don't want to get in a group that would drop me. I do have 2 women friends that I occasionally will ride with, but they are fair weather riders and they tend to like to ride in the heat of the day which does not work to well for me. Hence my name "solobiker"

[sundial]

We should ride together.

[Susan126]

I ride with hubby and/or our daughter. I also have 2 friends that ride and I will sometimes ride with them. Especially during the summer months. Joe and I do belong to 2 bike clubs but we rarely ride in any of the clubs' scheduled monthly rides. I would like to try a few this summer during the weekday. I have summers off (Yea yea I work in a middle school) and I usually ride alone but I may try some of the clubs' posted weekday rides. I know I say this now but come summer I will probably just bike alone as usual during the weekday and of course with hubby on the weekends!

[Geonz]

I ride with just about anybody Okay, I can't keep up with the serious racers on the fastest rides, tho' sometimes they will hang back for a while. I also ride with the "pretty fast people" and the beginners and the "I want to cruise and talk, not work out" riders.
It's that addiction thing ...

[IFjane]

We have a group of about 15 people who ride semi-regularly. There is a core group of about 5 of us who ride almost all the time. No racers, though a cycling friend - the strongest of our group - at the age of 40 wants to try a time trial at the end of March. Some of us are very close friends who also see one another outside of cycling. As a whole, our group is very social and supportive of one another. A great group of people!

[Crankin]

I mostly ride with my husband, but we also ride very frequently with another couple. We are very close friends with them because of cycling. We go on vacations with them, both cycling and nordic skiing. I also ride with the female half of this couple, but our schedules don't always mesh. She is a slower rider than me, but we have developed a good "system" for riding together.
We lead rides for AMC and I do some group rides with them, but not as many as in the past. I also belong to another club that does Wednesday rides that mostly people in their 40s and up, who stop to smell the roses. There's always lunch involved. They 're really very nice, but I only rode with them twice last summer. My goal is to do more this summer! The other rides in this club are hammerfests.
I ride alone maybe once, twice a week. Again, not as much as I used to. Usually, my husband will adjust his schedule and we end up riding together.

[OakLeaf]

I ride with just about anybody Okay, I can't keep up with the serious racers on the fastest rides, tho' sometimes they will hang back for a while. I also ride with the "pretty fast people" and the beginners and the "I want to cruise and talk, not work out" riders.
It's that addiction thing ...

Same here! Except it isn't addiction, I don't even ride very much (2-3 days a week road riding). And I enjoy the chatty slow rides, but below 12-13 mph on the flats on a road bike just drives me nuts. It's just I don't like to ride alone right now, so I ride with several different groups, and every one is different. One of these days I'll get up the nerve to go for the post-ride run with the triathlete group - since the ride is really too far away for me to justify driving all that way just for a 25-mile ride.

[indysteel]

I have several groups of people with whom I ride regularly. There's the core "B" group from my weekday training ride. We sometimes get together on Saturdays to ride at a slightly more relaxed pace or do a club ride together. One couple from that group have become some of my closest friends. Most of them are not competitive cyclists, but they're all pretty strong.

My core group of cycling buddies is a group of about 20 people. Actually, there are several subgroups within that group, some of which are faster than others. The core of the group met years ago through our cycling club and developed their friendships from there. The group's picked up additional people (like me) over the years. There are a couple of guys who race, another guy who does the occasional sprint tri and then everybody else. They're all strong steady riders, and some of them have been riding longer than I've been alive.

My introduction to the group came primarily through my ex BF. We've remained friends and, as time wore on after our break up and I became a better cyclist, I started to join him and/or one or another of the subgroups more regularly. Now, I'm just part of the gang. This is the same group that I run with, too. A handful of the the runners don't bike, but most of the cyclists, run during the winter at least That motivated me to dust off my running shoes and join them. The running is actually more social than riding because we meet for breakfast afterwards.

I really feel lucky to know these people. They are salt of the earth types and are, putting cycling aside, people I'd want to know regardless. I know that they're very much there for one another, so the friendships run far deeper than just cycling or running together.

I still enjoy riding alone, too, but I've gotten so spoiled by having someone to draft off of, that it's harder to motivate!