peterws

Being a solo rider, this is merely pixelated observation on my part, but club rides invariably end up at. . . bike shops! With a posh coffee shop next door.
So, they sweat it out on the pedals or what passes for pedals these days, arrive at said shoppe (in an old English market town), drool over the state of the art carbon fibre (and Lord knows what else), seductively flaunting its assets, before having a cup of . . . whatever passes for coffee these days, and. . . go home. Hills are to be avoided if possible by choosing a more amenable route. But the odd decent climb alleviates a bad conscience.
The cynical view, you understand. Now if these cyclists were also pianists, would they end up at the Piano Shoppe? Getting hot over wood and metal, or MDF and electronics? Or, if train buffs a railway station would be in order maybe. Complete with steam special. . .and obligatory caffeine fix in order to sustain the ride homewards. . . .
Seems to me any of the above would be a great way to spend a few hours. .. And a few shekels maybe, unless the missus is there to stop you. . .
Yes. I know its drivel. But I have time on my hands at the moment. . .(shrug) but I don't need a new bike or a new piano. ..

70sSanO

I never joined a biking fraternity because of the hazing. Riding blindfolded and naked as a pledge just never interested me.

John

brianmcg123

Thats like ranting that golfers hang out in golf shops. Generally its the shop that is hosting the ride. Why wouldn't they.

BluesDawg

You may want to get out more and see how things actually are. Your mental constructs are way off.

JanMM

Have gone on lots of club rides, first in Atlanta, GA, and now in Central Indiana, and none of them have been as described in the opening post. Not saying that's not an accurate description of rides you've experienced on the other side of the pond.

nobodyhere

It's that English accent!

lphilpot

Our last group (club) ride past Saturday broke into three groups: 42, 50 and almost 80 miles. The owner of our LBS might have been along for one of those rides (?) but none of them ended up there. Plus some of them found about as much hill as can be found around here. Maybe I'm just in the wrong group...

Wileyrat

I did a solo ride this morning out to one of those posh coffee shops where all the "cool cyclists" in town hang out, it's one of my favorite out and back rides.

I rode my new carbon fiber Ridley out there, and it barely got a look other than all the mud on it (it was raining, and a few wanted to know how far I rode). When everyone is on a carbon fiber monster, they all kind of look the same.

The funny thing is, when I ride my old vintage Team Fuji there, it gets lots of attention.

Barrettscv 

I've been lucky to avoid the carbon clique group rides. I enjoy my carbon bikes on solo rides. I used my 1971 Peugeot with the last group ride I participated with. I kept an acceptable pace and no-one commented on the bike, to my relief.

I plan on riding more with this group.

peterws

The post was just a bit o fun based on a cpnversation i had with a club rider."Wpuldnt mind beong in a bike race" sez me. " Youd. come last" he responded. "No i wouldnt. . . . i wouldnt get a puncture". .." Youll need to zpdnd at least £1000 on abike"

peterws

Guess he was tryin to say something. . .

This tablet im usings mental. . .