Quote Originally Posted by joyrider
These kind of discussions make me NEVER want to join a club!
Doesn't anybody ride for fun anymore?
(pops head up) Mee ! I do!

Hi, I'm jobob, and I'm a slacker. I don't "treat every ride as a training ride" (I cringe whenever I hear that, LOL !) and I consider hammering something you do to nails.

My husband and I used to belong to a club located in our hometown, but the prevailing attitude was along the lines of what betagirl and others wrote about. Bleah, I don't need that ! The club we now belong to is located a ways from our home, so we often (but not always) need to drive over a half hour to get to the start of a ride. But the club offers a wide variety of rides, and we soon learned which types of rides, and which ride leaders, best suit our abilities and temperments. I think the fact that there is such a large number & variety of rides allows the hardbodies to have their definition of fun, while the more social riders have theirs. It's a good mix. (If you're in the San Jose CA area, it's the Almaden Cycle Touring Club - www.actc.org - jobob sez check it out)

Sure, I'd probably be a better, stronger, faster rider if I pushed myself more. But knowing me I'd more likely burn out and quit if it stopped being fun - I have a really low tollerance for pain ! That's not to say I don't push myself when the spirit is willing, I like to get stronger and faster to be able to go on more interesting rides, but not at the expense of losing the fun.