Quote Originally Posted by roguedog
I know there's ACTC and Velo Girls.. but I don't know how they are for beginners and what their culture is like.
ACTC is great for beginners. Check out the ride schedule, there are a lot of beginner level rides. www.actc.org Take a look at the newsletter which is online, it's linked somewhere on the website.

ACTC has an excellent road skills academy. The summer/fall session has already started but you could get into the spring session which starts in February. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Hubby and I took the road skills academy (and snapdragen was one of our instructors !) and then Lee and I were assistant instructors for the following two sessions.