Club issues

[betagirl]

Thanks Irulan. I ran into a guy from my club out on the road today and discussed my gripes with him. He said he was tired of the attitude as well with the club, and that he was going to talk to the shop owner. In the past it was an unwritten "rule" to slow the pace to wait for people who got separated on turns on higher traffic roads and at stop signs, etc. It's now less like a club ride and more like every man for himself. I told him about switching clubs and he said I'd probably run into a similar problem there. So you may be right about it being a club thing versus a male-dominated club thing. I'm still going to give them a try anyway. Perhaps that's where I can get my "ya-yas" and volunteer to lead the B group with the other club. I can't see anyone else doing it, other than my fellow Saturday B rider. And he works evenings more often lately.

[Irulan]

so, is this a club or a shop sponsored group?

[Tess851]

hmmm, we have similar stuff that happens here, but basically I find you choose the ride you want / need to do. If that means doing the ride where you hang on as long as possible and maybe get dropped, so be it. If you want a group to stick together, then do the rides that have that.

Irulan's suggestion sounds good - depending on what your own goals are and whether the suggestion fits in.

It's nice to keep a look out for other riders, and as a Level 1 coach and knowing what it was like for me to start out riding, I'm all for encouragement etc. But not if it's going to cost me my own goals. I find I'll hook up with newer / recreational / slower riders on my recovery days, where my pace is suitable for them, and it works all round.

[KSH]

It sounds like you need to ask your LBS about putting together a ride that averages a slower speed... and/or... a "no drop" ride (where you wait for the slower ones and encourage them to keep at it!).

I bet if it were something advertised/posted in the shop... you would get a nice group meeting up to go on those rides.

And for the no drop ride... make it very clear at the start, that NO ONE gets dropped. So, that might mean stopping at certain points, etc... and if someone wants to forge ahead... and get dropped from the front, then that is their choice.

Also, can you ride with BOTH clubs? Why just ride with one? Pick the rides you like best... and go from there???

Best of luck in finding your niche!

[betagirl]

It's a shop sponsored group. But they call it a club

Thanks for the tips everyone. They advertise a no drop rule, but it's never adhered to. Which is why we came up with A&B groups to help those who just can't keep up. The issue is the club isn't that big, so the number of B riders is very small. I'd like to boost that somehow. I think if we could retain those who come out and get dropped and think that the club is just way too fast for them into another category that'd be great. It just never seems to happen. I'm so used to getting dropped by those guys I don't think twice really. Though it was nice when they'd let you catch up if you fell off because of a turn or a stop sign. It's not fun to have to hammer all the time to catch up and then die and fall right back off again I'm definitely going to start riding with the other club when my schedule allows. They seem much more female friendly. I hope my impression holds.

[Irulan]

one thing I've been doing this summer is helping out on a lot of beginner rides. Sometimes they are way too slow for me, the rides are way too easy, but I put on a smile, and make sure everyone has a fun time. Why? It's in my best interest to create more compentent mountain bikers. And if they are having fun, I am having fun.

So I encourage you to help make it happen.

Irulan

[Jaz]

Beta- I know exactly how you feel.

I ride w/ a group that leaves from the LBS every saturday morning. And the rides are great when there's a small group, like 6 to 12 or so. But if the group gets any bigger than that, I know I'm going to be dropped. That happend just yesterday b/c about 20 riders showed up, and 2 were former racers. I am definately the only girl and one of the younger riders.
We get an email every week, and it says "easy pace, 14-16mph". This last ride began at 20mph, and before we had gone 2 miles the main group (read all except 4) were over a mile a head. It's like the men have a "I can't let anyone go faster than me" mentality and there's no way they can even think about the set pace of 14-16mph at that point.
So I was about 1/2 mile in front of the last 2 guys, and the one other rider in front of me slowed to wait for me to catch up, b/c he thought I was the last one, but after he realized that there were 2 more behind me, he said, well, I'm going to go try and catch up with the rest of the group. I am thankful that he waited for more, but was so irritated when he took off at 26+mph to catch up. He's always there on the group rides and I've riden with him a lot.
Now, at this point I had to really concentrate on not being super mad. I had to remind myself numerous times that I was riding a great pace, about 18mph on rolling hills, and that I was actually going faster than the "set" pace for the ride. But that kept making me think that I shouldn't have been dropped in teh first place... so frustrating.
After riding about a half hour by myself and trying to calm down ( I was so bitter at that pt) I figured it might cheer me up a bit to ride with the 2 behind me. So I waited for them to catch up at the stop sign. I'm not sure if that made the ride better or worse. They actually were really annoying conversationalists (maybe it was just my attitude at the time). And I swear they kept slowing down after I had waited for them.
For the topping on the cake, when we were about 2 miles from the end of the ride, as I'm talking to them, the one guy goes off the brim of the road (no shoulder on the country road). Now it's common sense that you can't just jerk bike back on, you wouldn't do that w/ your car, why would you do that w/ your bike? but that's exactly what he did. He totally biffed and almost took the other guy w/ him. Of course he had a flat at this point, so we had to stop. I tried to show some sympathy, but really I was thinking "how stupid was that" can't you stay on the road. He only went off the side b/c he wasn't paying attention, and is a swervy rider.
I can credit 2 of the riders though (and one was the guy that waited for me the first time) b/c they rode out to make sure everybody was making it in. (apparently men even take away tire changes from each other, b/c they fixed his flat)
But at this point I was just really aggrevated b/c my ride wasn't enjoyable. Hopefully next week is better! Sorry this post is so long!

[betagirl]

So I was about 1/2 mile in front of the last 2 guys, and the one other rider in front of me slowed to wait for me to catch up, b/c he thought I was the last one, but after he realized that there were 2 more behind me, he said, well, I'm going to go try and catch up with the rest of the group. I am thankful that he waited for more, but was so irritated when he took off at 26+mph to catch up. He's always there on the group rides and I've riden with him a lot.

Ok I feel your pain here. I had this happen to me on my annoyance ride! This guy who is part of the problem to me I think was riding with me along one stretch of our loop. He showed up late, we were on our third loop by then so he had fresh legs. He was telling me about his issues at work, and I was chatting up with him. Needless to say we fell a bit behind the pack. After we made the turn, and he noticed we were behind I said "yeah they're pushing the pace tonight" and he goes "well I'm gonna catch up". Gone. Into the headwind no less. No, hey let's work together or anything. He kept me back listening to his crap then dropped me like a hot potato. There was another guy who'd fallen off so I sat on his wheel for a while. I was like hey thanks dude. I was pissed.
Needless to say I'm not feeling real bad for him tonight with his email to the club about his 2 crashes today in his first Crit. I'd be a liar if I said it didn't make me smile once I realized he just has a really bad case of road rash. I know, bad karma is now set up for me. May the bike gods be somewhat kind to me in dishing it out.