Quote Originally Posted by michelem View Post
Hi Jolt!

I can sure relate to you. I was riding my big, heavy (30+ pound steel) mountain bike with the big knobby tires and platform pedals for the group rides I was going on. They were termed "EZ Rides" and were swept at about 12mph. I was always dead last, but the coordinator guy (a retired, overweight guy who rode a clunker bike kind of like mine) was really patient with me and never made fun of me. Well, the coordinator of these EZ Rides has since moved out of state and the EZ Rides are no longer. I called about joining in on some of the other rides that were described as "leisurely" and was told that unless I could do a minimum 14mph I was not welcome. I was told that by one leader that she would feel bad for the sweep person if he had to go as slow as me. Harumph! So, I've been taking a hiatus from group rides until I get a lightweight, skinny-tire road bike. I just heard of another local group that is starting some EZ Ride-like rides tomorrow, so I plan to go - 8am tomorrow! It'll be a good warm-up for some road bike test-riding later in the day.

I can tell you that riding this heavy, wide-tired bike has been a workout! I have to work SOOO much harder than the people on their lightweight, skinny-tired road bikes. It's really gotten me in good aerobic shape though. I haven't jogged in over a month and went out Wednesday evening and did 7 miles with some slight hills thrown in for fun (ha!) no problem. I can't wait to get a road bike - I think I'll be flying up hills with one!

Anyway, I encourage you to go out and at least try the group at least once. You never know, it may be so much fun you'll wonder why you put it off this long!
Well, your bike sounds a lot like mine (just replace "mountain bike" with "hybrid", and the tires are fairly wide but have a light tread rather than your knobbies). It is a good workout, that's for sure, especially since pretty much anywhere I go has its share of hills! It does seem like the "easy" label for a lot of group rides is a joke--the local club here certainly doesn't have much that I would consider reasonable. Sounds like a common problem. It's sort of the opposite of the issue I run into in my hiking club--a lot of the trips are TOO easy or (usually) the pace is significantly slower than I would like to go, with more stops than I would prefer to make. So I can relate to the people who get irritated with the slow person on a group ride, and I want to make sure I don't inflict that on anyone . It's just that it would be nice if there were some rides that weren't intimidating for us slower people and where the whole idea is to have an easier ride where people wouldn't be getting PO'd about the speed or lack thereof.