group rides seem intimidating (Washington DC/Silver Spring, MD)

[rain]

[QUOTE=Catriona;495836]Rain, the worst thing that has ever happened to me riding alone was that a chain broke and I walked my bike 7 miles home. But then I tend to ride out in farm land. Now I keep a chain tool & a spare chain connector thing (the sram powerlinks) on my bikes. But if I'd been farther, I'd have just headed for a coffee shop or mcdonald's or whatever, called a friend and sat there twiddling my thumbs or posting facebook status updates on my cell phone till I got a rescue.
I have to remind myself that there's internet everywhere!


A few of us on here are riding in the terry wild goose chase in October if you need another group ride to do. I think Kalidurga posted something about a Baltimore park group ride that's in June. I might be doing that with her and she & I probably ride about your speed.

Thanks for letting me know about these rides. I would be interested in both. though first I'm gonna ride this weekend and see where I'm at.

Also, would you be willing to tell me some of the routes you go? It might help me with ideas for ride routes to either build off of Beach Drive or just go elsewhere.

[aicabsolut]

I tend to do group rides with a bunch of racers, so not quite what you're looking for... However, riding with people who can really kick my butt has made me a lot stronger and better at riding in groups.

I know a lot of good roads between Rock Creek and Poolesville if you want to hit me up for some route suggestions.

[coolcreek]

Hi there,
I'm new here---a bethesda native who just started riding again after 20 years! Hope to be up to speed for group rides somewhat soon---glad to see that there is so much happening in the area!

[pfunk12]

Welcome, coolcreek!

[mariacycle]

Rain - so glad you posted this. I'm a NOVA/DC rider and I'm petrified of riding with a group... I'm thinking about joining a local cycling group but I'm afraid that I'm not in good enough shape to keep up with a C group but that anything lower might be boring?

Side question: when people are in a group that goes (say) 16mph for a 30 mile ride, are you expected to stay at 16mph the whole time or is that for flat surfaces? TIA!

[ny biker]

Well, my experience with PPTC is:

According to the description of their ride classifications, I am a CC rider. However, in practice, people who show up for the CC rides that I do are not necessarily in that category. Apparently many people choose rides based on start location, route and distance, regardless of their usual average speed. Add to that the fact that I'm slow going uphill, and I usually get dropped by most of the group early in the ride.

However this does not really bother me. So what if I'm slower than they are? It doesn't mean I'm any better or worse as a person. And I'm not so much slower that I never see anyone else on the ride. There tends to be someone just up ahead or not far behind me, and when I get to the rest stop there's still a crowd of people there.

I don't know about the C rides because I haven't tried any; they're generally shorter than I want or include a long lunch stop or otherwise do not meet my needs. I have heard from a friend that the C rides tend to be more friendly than the faster rides. And based on the ride descriptions for D rides, they seem to be much more social and laid back.

There are some combined C/D rides, so you might want to start with one of those to see if you like it. You can try one or two rides before you join to make sure you really want to spend the money on membership. So worst case scenario is that you conclude that it's just not the right group for you, but at least you tried.

[indysteel]

Generally speaking--and I stress the generally--the posted speed for a group ride is the average speed. Meaning that you will likely be going both slower and faster than the posted speed at times. Keep in mind, though, that you are generally able to go faster in a group than you can by yourself thanks to the magic of drafting.

[tulip]

Rain - so glad you posted this. I'm a NOVA/DC rider and I'm petrified of riding with a group... I'm thinking about joining a local cycling group but I'm afraid that I'm not in good enough shape to keep up with a C group but that anything lower might be boring?!

What are you petrified of? Just start riding. Potomac Pedalers and Oxon Hill folks are really nice. They provide cue sheets--you should get a cue sheet holder for your handlebars--and so you can follow the cue sheet at your own pace. But I've never seen anyone be abandoned on D and C and even B paced rides.

You'll never know unless you try. Start with a D paced ride or two or three, see how it goes, and if it's boring move up to CC or C. Keep riding and you will get faster and more comfortable. You might just surprise yourself.

NYBiker - great ride list!

[mariacycle]

I guess I'm petrified of embarrassing myself by not being able to keep up or getting tired and wanting to stop or even something stupid like getting a flat...