on the path

A group ride in my future?

Virtually all of my riding in the last 2 seasons has been as a solo. And quite frankly, I'm very happy to do it that way. However, I've been thinking about doing a group ride, and have been investigating a local club that has at least a half dozen rides per week.

In reality I haven't had much reason to deviate from the solo concept. But on my ride yesterday (Sunday) something came up. A bit of background here – I am extremely fortunate to have miles and miles of great biking roads beginning right outside my door. To describe even further, the roads I get to ride every day have, for the most part, very low volumes of motor vehicle traffic, are rolling and winding, and are generally very well paved. So if you get the picture, you are probably just as confused as I that I rarely see other cyclists while I'm out riding these roads. I live in a mid size town in upstate NY with hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding area.

Getting back to my Sunday ride... I was out for about 75 minutes in some beautiful riding weather. I saw exactly 2 cyclists on the road while riding. One of them I first saw as I rounded a bend. He was riding in the same direction as I. I saw him up about ¼ mile ahead of me. A quick visual estimation told me that I would be overtaking him soon. It was in a straighter, flatter section of roadway. As I kicked up to my typical cruising speed, I realized he was moving along more quickly than I had thought, and I'd have to step it up to catch him, which I wanted to do.

I don't think he knew I was behind him. For me to catch him before the next intersection I had to kick it up to about 28 mph and keep it there for about a mile. I did finally catch him. I didn't want to be obnoxious so I just coasted up behind him and said “nice pace.” He said “thanks” and turned right where I was turning left.

So, the point of my rambling is that when I was presented with some incentive I pushed myself more. I do like to push and challenge myself, but the external stimulus caused me to kick it up a couple of notches, which I wouldn't have otherwise done. For the rest of the ride I continued to push myself a bit, and I felt great when I got home.

If you're still reading, I'm wondering if I get into group riding will I find situations where there are friendly folks encouraging, by riding style, each other to push their limits. I don't think I'm talking hard-core, but since I've not been riding with others I really don't know fast or slow I ride, compared to other cyclists. I know I should pay my dues in some slower groups just to get used to the concept. I would like to eventually end up with riding with groups that get at least part of their enjoyment from pushing their performance.

Any comments and suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks...

AzTallRider

Short answer is yes, you will. It can take awhile to find just the right group, but when you do, it will provide all that you mentioned, plus some good socializing. If you can hold 28mph for a mile, you'll have no trouble hanging with most groups.