Am I being overly sensetive.

[equus123]

this is my perspective...

20-25 miles IS considered a beginner's level because in the whole picture 20 miles is not that long of a ride, especially for a group. i don't mean any discouragement or hurt for you. i only mean it in a literal sense. if a cyclist cannot go more than 25 miles then he/she *probably* won't have the amount of time in the saddle, group riding skills, handling skills, etc. - to be able to safely and properly ride within a group setting.

i think 20 or 25 mile rides are an honest distance for a beginner's ride. if that is too much for you then wait a little bit before you get into it. time will only help you.

[mimitabby]

am i missing something? Join the club!
then it's YOUR club. Sensitive? I am too. I take everything like that personally.

if he says "I think it might be more than you can do" (is that what he said? re-read your post, it wasn't clear) if he's ridden with you, maybe he's just concerned that it is an order of magnitude harder than the last ride you completed with the club. But you just did some mighty hills on your own.
Call him back and say i did this hill and that hill recently, I think i can handle a 25 mile ride..

The problem is honestly, if these guys are A LOT better (ie faster) than you,
whoever holds back for you is not getting a workout like he'd like to.

There are some people that don't mind doing that, but most people are too self centered and want to ride their own ride.

I hope this helps.

[jobob]

There are some people that don't mind doing that, but most people are too self centered and want to ride their own ride.

Ouch, Mimi, that seems a little harsh to me. People have lives and responsibilities and might not have lots of time to devote to riding. So yes, I could see them wanting to get the most out of that time.

I used to teach a beginners road skills course which would kill my entire Saturday. We started out with 10 mile rides and by the 4th week we would be up to 25 (I think).

I don't teach that road skills class anymore, because after a while I didn't enjoy blowing a precious weekend day to ride a short distance at a slow pace. If that's being self-centered, so be it.

[mimitabby]

Jobob
i couldn't think of saying it another way. You took the initiative and taught beginners; but most people won't do that!
I've been on a lot of rides, and there are people that will stay in the back for folks like ME, but most won't.

[jobob]

Mimi, you'd probably like riding with my husband, he's super-patient and likes to ride in the back (and he has quite the fan club among the Northern California TE contingent, I'm finding out ). Alas, I'm nowhere near as patient as he.

[mimitabby]

Mimi, you'd probably like riding with my husband, he's super-patient and likes to ride in the back (and he has quite the fan club among the Northern California TE contingent, I'm finding out ). Alas, I'm nowhere near as patient as he.

Jobob, I guess we'll find out, huh! (November)
I am working as hard as I can when I ride to get my speed up. But it's not easy.
at least here where I live there are MANY choices. Poor DDH is stuck in the tooleys with only this one club!

[jobob]

Jobob, I guess we'll find out, huh! (November)

Ooh, are you guys planning on doing the Oregon Randonneurs' Wine Country 100K near Portland on Thanksgiving weekend? I'm really looking forward to that.

[DDH]

Let me just say that I am very sensetive to the fact that some may not want to hold back for the slower riders, and I totally understand, and that is the reason I made it very clear that I am slow. I have the stamina to ride longer rides, but I am slow, I ride about 11 mph average on a rides. It is very hilly around here and I work them all the time but cannot seem to get any faster on them and that is what slows me down so much.
I feel like I have gotten stronger on my rides but them hills get me everytime.

I think if they could get more beginer's I could be the one in the club to stay back with them. Then I would feel useful and not like I was holding others back. LOL

[Dianyla]

Another thing you can do is ask this guy to give you the route that the 25 mile ride is going to take. Then, go ride it yourself to gauge yourself on it before signing up to do it with a group.

I think if they could get more beginer's I could be the one in the club to stay back with them. Then I would feel useful and not like I was holding others back. LOL

Maybe you could offer to help the club out and start leading beginners rides yourself?

[michelem]

Hi Donna,

I can relate! When I started out, the group I went with had some "EZ Rider" rides, which were basically 20 miles of flattish (gentle, gentle rollers that felt hilly to me as a beginner, but really were not!). Well, that group leader moved out of state and when I asked if I would be welcome on the other rides I was told no, that I was too slow and it wouldn't be fair to the sweep person. I was so disappointed, but glad they were honest. I took it as a challenge to improve on my own and rode the trainer a lot. About a month or so later, I heard of a new group forming and contacted them. They said come on out! The "C Group," which is the beginner's group started at 40 miles along that same "flattish" trail, but I made it! The next week we bumped it up to 50 and the next 60! We stayed at 60 for a couple weeks and then topped out at about 75. I'm always at the back, and part of that is a choice for me as I don't feel comfortable riding too close to other cyclists. Even when I tell them all to go ahead and don't wait up, someone always hangs back a bit to make sure I'm okay. Part of me feels "guilty" about that, as if I might be ruining his/her ride, but then I just have to tell myself that I've given the person an out and if he/she still wants to hang back, well okay!

We're now starting to cut back on the mileage and add in hill climbing. I find that everything evens out in the end - I am stronger at the climbing than some of the heavier-set guys, but they FLY past me on the downhills as I am clutching the brakes!

Anyway, all that to say, I think this may be a combination of things for you:

1. Confidence in your ability - sometimes you just have to take the plunge and find out - you may surprise yourself!

2. Ability to take feedback and believe it (oh, this is a tough one!) - if you say, I really don't want to hold you back, go on ahead, but the person hangs back anyway, well that is his/her choice! No reason to feel badly about it.

3. Maybe look into some skills and drills clinics to help you feel more confident in your group bike handling skills.

4. Challenge yourself to keep increasing fitness on your own.

5. Shop around for other cycling groups and maybe you'll find one that is more your speed.

Anyway, not sure if any of this helps or not. I am super-sensitive myself, so I do understand. I have to say that just getting out there and doing it has increased my confidence level though (even in the non-cycling-related areas of my life), even though I am still quite the beginner.

Good luck to you, and keep us posted!

[KSH]

I think if they could get more beginer's I could be the one in the club to stay back with them. Then I would feel useful and not like I was holding others back. LOL

Build it and they will come.

Seriously. Tell him you want to start a BEGINNERS ride. Something with few miles and maybe you can find a route with small hills. You be the one to head it up!

You can do it!

[jobob]

But back to the original post.

Ah, now I understand where you're coming from, Donna. It sounds like you're a bit between a rock & a hard place here.

It's really unfortunate that the group is too small at this point to offer a variety of rides. Odds are a group of riding buddies of similar abilities got together and decided to form a club.

Hopefully more beginners will join in over time and someone will be willing to lead some shorter rides. One thing that some of the clubs around here do is have a ride scheduled for a specific day each month (say, the first sunday of the month) where they have a "getting to know you" beginners/social ride, as well as other short rides other times in the month.

One possiblity is to try to get something like that going yourself. Maybe if others see that there is an active beginners group in the club (even if it's a group of one at the moment ) they might be more likely to join in.

[mimitabby]

yeah, don't any of those guys have wives that might ride if it wasn't such a hard pace??

[bcipam]

I belong to a large bike club (BCI). Although it is a social/recreational club, the riders are strong and experienced. We have several levels of rides but do not practice a "no drop" policy. It is very hard for a large group to do "no drop" especially if the group fitness level is mixed. My club provides a route slip and you are on your own to the coffee stop and then back to park. If you can hang with riders good, if not, keep riding until you can.

Not certain why you are upset or angry. He was honest enough to tell you the truth. I'm assuming he assessed your ability and knew you wouldn't be able to hang. I have done the same thing many times. Just this weekend I had to explain to someone that she should stay with our Saturday rides until her fitness comes up to the level of our Sunday rides. I rather say that then she come out and get mad because she gets dropped right off the bat. If your expectation is someone has to ride with you, then he was right to tell you what he did.

If you are OK to ride alone, at least until the stop - go out and do the ride. Asure the other riders you can find your own way so they can enjoy their own rides. You will earn their respect.

BTW my club does a "newbie" ride the first Saturday of each month. The ride is approximately 15 miles long, no hills (maybe an overpass) there is a lead and a sweep (or several). We also tie it to a training/safety class. We usually get around 15 people or so. All rides (short, medium, long and xtra long meet up at the same coffee stops for socialization. You might suggest he do that once a month. Maybe you can volunteer to lead or sweep it????

[Trekhawk]

Mimi, you'd probably like riding with my husband, he's super-patient and likes to ride in the back (and he has quite the fan club among the Northern California TE contingent, I'm finding out ). Alas, I'm nowhere near as patient as he.

Hmm is this the jobob that hung with me for the 200km ride??? I think that Jobob is very patient.

I have been looking at different club rides for when I return to Aust and what it seems like to me is that if you ride pretty slow they assume you dont want to or cant ride very far. I will need to see the terrain when I return home but I think I fall between groups. It looks like to get in sixty miles with a club you need to be able to manage at least 15mph or you are stuck in the 25 mile distance which frankly for me wouldn't be worth the effort to get there.

DDH I hope you find some other riders to do your club ride with. Ask around maybe other riders would come if they knew they would have someone to ride with rather than being dropped off the back.