Getting Started in DC

[ny biker]

Also worth a visit is Spokes etc. on Quaker Lane, which is just up the hill from Shirlington and across Quaker Lane from Fairlington, so it's near several metrobus lines.

[aicabsolut]

Bah, no to Spokes. I was in there recently, and the guys were CLUELESS. I knew more about the bikes than the guy who was trying to sell us one. Well, ok, we did find one guy with 1/2 a clue, but really, ugh.

My sponsor shop is Bicycle Pro Shop in Georgetown (next door to Revolution). The guys in there can be big snobs sometimes, I'm not going to sugar coat that. However, if my buddy Colin is working there, he is a GREAT guy to talk to, especially about joining a local team and getting started with racing and components and bikes. He knows his stuff. He really helped me out when I was a newbie on his team. He's moving away sometime next month, though .

When I was new to cycling, I really liked City Bikes in Chevy Chase. The staff will really help you learn about bikes. Just ask a ton of questions, and tell them that you're new but you're interested in racing, etc. (Do that anywhere you go--that way, they will not push you towards the bottom level bike based on your newness, but at the same time they probably won't try to push a $3k+ bike on you either). City Bikes out there is not metro accessible, but there might be a bus that goes the rest of the way out there, and the Georgetown Branch of the CC trail goes right by the shop. I don't know about the Adams Morgan location. From what I hear, it's more for the messenger crowd.

I don't really have anything negative to say about Revolution other than I didn't like the Treks. I was having fit issues, and they really helped me (I went everywhere to try to get the right fit)--for free! I think the Clarendon location has better selection than Georgetown, generally.

BTW, there are waaaay more many racing teams in the area besides Artemis and Coppi. Artemis has a HUGE women's squad for sure, and that can be a real detriment to racers not on their team when they comprise 1/2 the field. Although I like the women's coach and I have a friend on the Elite squad, I would rather continue to race without teammates than join them. IMO, they are poor sportsmen and tend to have nasty, elitist attitudes. Plus, the kits are UGLY.

When you pick a team, you want to pick one with people you like (you should ask to go on some rides to kind of test them out) and who hold training rides that you can get to. From there, decide if you want a smaller team or huge team atmosphere and whether you'd like to have a big women's squad or if that doesn't matter. NCVC is a HUGE club, though they don't have gobs of women racers this year. They are good for junior development, and there are tons and tons of people who are non-racing members to ride with.

Then there's Route 1 Velo (Capitol Hill Bikes' team), which has a lot of racers on the men's team, but the women's team fluctuates. They do have some women-only training rides from downtown.

Other area teams include (but are not limited to) AVC, HPC-List, ABRT-Latitude, DC Velo (do they have any women that aren't 1s and 2s?), the Bike Lane, the Bike Rack (based out of the Logan Circle shop), Bike Doctor, Evolution Cycling, and Haymarket Cycling.

Don't jump into a club too fast though. Get your bike. Get used to riding it. Then in the fall when racing cools down, start with some of the easy paced group rides to get used to group dynamic and to test out some of the clubs. Then find people you like and a club to join. You may also be able to get in on some skills clinics held that time of year too. Then in the early spring, there are some good training races to try before the season gets into full swing.

[tulip]

Artemis holds a beginner bike racing clinic in the fall every year. You might be interested in it.

[aicabsolut]

Artemis's women's team is also responsible for organizing the local (MABRA) women's 3/4 race series. At least, they keep track of points and help encourage local promoters to hold women's cat 3 and 4 races, which is hard to do because of the relatively low turnout in our region, given the cost of running all the fields (closing roads, hiring marshals and police, etc.). To keep up with points and races in the series, go here: http://www.artemisracing.org/index.p...d=24&Itemid=35

Also, if you join the email list, they usually note races not too far away that are not a part of the series but that have good races for us.