Getting women to group rides

[Penny4]

Velo, that's a great summary!

I think the ride distances will just depend on what time you start. If you do a 6pm start, a beginner/C group probably won't be able to do more than 15-25 miles before dusk. But if you do a morning ride, they could certainly go farther. I think for true beginner group(<12mph) 10-15 miles is good. Most of the beginner groups i've ridden with do allow any kind of bike (mtg, hybrid, road) to encourage more folks to come out, but that would be at your discretion of course.

Oh one more thing, define your requirements. Helmets, WATER! (some beginners don't bring anything to drink), flat kit, ID, emergency info....

[lgibster]

I mostly ride by myself. I have switched to a Specialized Ruby Elite Compact Apex road bike from my Specialized Vita Elite. I am pondering more group rides but here are my concerns/wants for a group ride. I am a larger lady (5'7" and about 225) and don't climb hills well. I challenged myself last year to ride a local cancer charity ride of 32 miles. I made it and then rode the 25 mile leg of the Hotter 'n Hell in TX. I like longer rides and would like to challenge myself to ride a metric century this year. I would love to ride with a group but I am concerned I don't ride fast enough. I can average about 14 mph over 20-30 miles, but only on the flats and sometimes need more breaks than most people. I would prefer:

Longer rides for slower people. We can make the distance but can't hold an open road speed of 16-20 mph for 30 miles.
Group ride for people who want to train for a metric century as a challenge for themselves, but are not in great shape.
Rides that list the TYPE of terrain the group is riding. (Flat, gradual hills, steep hills, etc)
No drop rides that have multiple levels of riders. Some days I want the challenge of "keeping up" and other I just need to ride within my abilities.

The social aspect is key as well. Nice ladies that want to pull you along with them as you learn and improve vs. the see if you can keep up attitude.
I have experienced the "hey look at that fat chick on a bike" while riding our local trail system and I think most larger ladies are just afraid to put themselves out there. There is a big opportunity to bring every women into the world of cycling not just people who are already fit and I think a good group of women is the best way to say "if we can do it so can you".

PS. Last week I finally heard someone on the trail say "wow she was moving". HA

[Penny4]

Lgibster, I am very similar to you! I can keep up just fine on the flats (and I pass everyone on downhills ), but as soon as we hit an uphill I fall behind. I am not scared of hills and will do whatever is on the route, I just fall behind. I have improved dramatically, but still waaaay behind on most group rides. Thankfully, I've found some groups that are more laid back and will wait for me. I can do the longer distances too but a 16mph avg is not in the picture yet. I also seem to need more breaks that most, so I am trying to improve my overall conditioning.

I do enjoy riding with the faster groups b/c i know it is the only way I will improve, but agree there are days that I just want to have a comfortable ride.

Good job on the HTH ride! I would not enjoy that heat at all.

[nuliajuk]

I tried riding with one local club and didn't completely agree with some of the things they do, such as always riding two abreast. I'm not really sure why they do that. It's not that I'm afraid of traffic - I commuted through downtown rush hour in a large city for years - but I just don't see the point in doing it where there isn't a wide shoulder.
The only other choice from a speed point of view would seem to be a touring club, but my husband rode with them just once and got left behind when he had to wait for some farm machinery to cross an intersection. They didn't stop, didn't even look back, and didn't tell him where they'd be when they reached the provincial park that was the destination. So he reached the park gate, turned around, and just went back again. They arrived as he was leaving and said they "just assumed" he'd turned around at the intersection where the harvester was crossing. So, not really a well organized club.
The other clubs are all racing clubs and full of much younger and faster people. Occasionally the two of us will reel in someone out on the highway and invite him or her to join us. We met a woman last summer like this. She'd never ridden in a paceline or group before, so it was a new experience for her, but she picked it up pretty quickly.
I don't know what the answer is. I don't mind riding with men as long as it isn't a huge struggle to keep up. Maybe the answer is to join the touring club and try to get them better organized so that people can come out to the rides and not worry about being left all by themselves out on the highway. Years ago I belonged to a large club in Calgary and we would never have "just assumed" that someone had turned around early. Anyone who wanted to leave early had to inform the ride leader so as not to keep the other waiting at the next stopping point.

[tealtreak]

The 2 abreast is actually illegal in some states if there are cars wanting to pass.......

[shootingstar]

It's been awhile since I've done a group ride....and makes me realize how independent I always have been as a cyclist.

I still don't know how to ride a paceline...after last 22 years of regular riding and having a cycling lifestyle. Weird, eh? Logging in several thousand km. each yr. At this stage so far, it would be nice to ride with others regularily but there is a part of me just wants to continue riding at my own pace, for however long I want to. To keep on being motivated to cycle and not constantly compare myself with others...which I tend to do that if I ride in a group.

I enjoy cycling with 1-2 other people.

I'm sure I sound like a real slacker, bike surfer.

[antimony]

Personally, I'd be more comfortable and likely to go if the slower rides *were* drop rides, because I've been the person holding a group back and I won't do it again, so I basically don't do group rides. (I actually am in Boston, but I'd to leave work early AND sprint 15+ miles to get to the NEBC ones. And I'm not actually interested in racing, so I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be at them.)

People keep trying to convince me to go to other rides, where they're going 14+mph, which I just can't do over anything with hills, since a 14+mph rolling average translates into 16-18 on the flats. Which I can do for ten or twenty miles but after that I'm blitzed. (I can hold 14mph on the flats all day, but that translates into a 11.5-12mph rolling average. I was thrilled to clock 12.1 over ~80 miles this past weekend.) If they'd drop me, that'd be fine -- I have good navigation skills and don't mind riding solo, and I could hang on as long as I could and then just fall away, but it seems those rides only start showing up when you can go 20mph.