Group-ride phobia

[rapid cycler]

Wow, ladies, there are so many great responses I don't know where to begin!

First, thanks for the sympathy and support on a thread about feeling kind of lonely as a cyclist. And while I'm sorry a few others have had similar experiences, I selfishly take comfort in not being the only one. As for the dude on Bikejournal, where does one find such nurturing male roadies?

Thanks for the offers to ride together. DDH, I'm not sure I'll make it to Texas, but Fredwina, my parents do live in the bustling Inland Empire metropolis of Yucaipa, so I make the journey more often than you might imagine.

As far as clubs in my area go, well, there are at least a dozen of them, so I definitely can't judge all of them by the one I tried. The especially dispiriting thing here is that, given the wealth of choices at my disposal, I zeroed in on a gay and lesbian riders' club, figuring I would already have something in common with the group instead of just being some random person with a bicycle. Needless to say, my tribe let me down in this instance. Bad gays!

I've seen a couple of the other clubs out there while on rides of my own and they seemed rather large for my taste, but I've located a couple of others on Meetup.com that seem smaller should I gather the gumption to show up for another open-invitation ride.

I guess my fear about event rides is that my lack of experience riding with a pack might make me a menace to other riders, depending on how tightly packed we are. For the last two years I've really wanted to participate in the bike tour that precedes the Los Angeles marathon, following the same route. The chance to ride past some of the coolest landmarks in the city on streets free of traffic is an opportunity seldom seen by Angelenos. But the bike tour annually attracts around, gulp, 15,000 riders, and when I envision myself rubbing tires and pedals with all those folks I freeze up. (And I can't be the only person thinking, I'll be fine as long as I start toward the back of the pack. So I might find myself back there with thousands of other people who haven't been trained in passing etiquette and holding a line. Eeek!) So, perhaps I can find a less chaotic event to cut my teeth on…

As far as getting together a half dozen folks to ride with, nope, I don't know that many road bikers. I can't even say that I know more than one. I was thinking about trying to cobble together a handful of like-minded gals on Meetup.com.

Re: speed, funny story: When I bought my new bike a couple of months ago and took my first post–test ride, I was stunned when I glanced down at the computer and noted my greatly enhanced speed. I've long been in the 13-15 mph comfort zone and all of a sudden I was topping 20 with hardly any effort! It can't be about the bike's weight or drive train, I thought. I'd gone from a carbon bike with Ultegra-9 to a carbon bike with Ultegra-10. Could a better fit really account for this new prowess? Or is it the ultrasmooth-rolling Ksyrium wheels? None of the above, it turned out. I had, uh, not switched the new computer from its default kilometers to plain old American miles. So, my speed remains the same, though I prefer the way it looks in kilometers, so I still haven't changed it over.

[Ninabike]

Rapid Cycler, I've done the L.A. Marathon ride, and I don't think I would do it again. Most of the riders are not experenced and, unless you start at the front of the pack, there are so many riders that you end up walking for the first couple of miles. Everyone is so packed together that there is just not enough room to get on the bike. There are also a lot of kids who just zoom in and out between bikes and it is not safe. If one person goes down, aboout 50 other bikes follow.

A better ride is the Volvo Tour of L.A. Fun Ride which is held in April. It is well organized and much safer. There are no real hot shot "professionals", but all are generally careful riders (like us) and everyone is respectful of one another. They have changed the route the past couple of years and the ride begins and ends on the hill that goes up towards Dodger Stadium (Stadium Way) from the Southbound I-5 freeway. I haven't done it since they changed the route, but that is a pretty steep hill. Another good ride is the Tour de Palm Springs in February. You can choose options of a century, or lesser distances. The bikes are not all packed together. Another good ride is the bike-only portion of the L.A. Triathlon which is held in September. It starts at Venice Beach and ends up at the Convention Center. The bikes are not packed together and it is a really good ride. The Cool Breeze in August from Ventura to Santa Barbara and back is also a good ride. You might check out these rides on the internet.

[rapid cycler]

Aha, my fears of the Acura Bike Tour are well-founded! Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely look into them.

…the Volvo Tour of L.A. Fun Ride … the ride begins and ends on the hill that goes up towards Dodger Stadium (Stadium Way) from the Southbound I-5 freeway.

Fun? They call this fun?!

[Fredwina]

As far as clubs in my area go, well, there are at least a dozen of them, so I definitely can't judge all of them by the one I tried. The especially dispiriting thing here is that, given the wealth of choices at my disposal, I zeroed in on a gay and lesbian riders' club, figuring I would already have something in common with the group instead of just being some random person with a bicycle. Needless to say, my tribe let me down in this instance. Bad gays!

My Experiece has been the Gay guys are still... well.. Guys even on a bike

[rapid cycler]

'struth! Politics aside, lesbians have waaaaay more in common with straight women than with gay men.