isermaniac87

Greetings to all!

I recently moved to Denton from Austin and decided to get more serious about my cycling. Any advice on group rides I should get involved with? Does anybody know anything about the UNT Cycling Club?

-Matt

Doohickie

Fort Worth is probably a bit far to go for a ride, so I can't be of much help. This guy, however, lives just down the road from you in Sanger and he's hosted a few group rides out of his home. Nice guy.

Creakyknees

There are some great riding roads from Denton.

Here's the UNT club:
https://recsports.unt.edu/sportclubs/clubs.html

you might also try the Corinth cycling club, they have active group rides
https://www.corinthcycling.com/

StephenH

I think one of the bike shops there has regular rides, too, I don't live up there, so I don't have any personal experience with them.
Edit: The one I was thinking of: https://www.thebicyclepath.com/

This group (person?) has rides on occasion, I did a Denim Ride up there a while back: https://bikedenton.wordpress.com/

The Turkey Roll charity ride is in a few more weeks, and is fairly decent.

J Pedals

Hey Matt, I'm a member of the UNT Cycling Club, but we don't have any scheduled rides currently. Elliot is in charge of the club and is an awesome dude, but unfortunately its been difficult for us to get anything together with school and other distractions. We mostly just focus on our own collegiate racing, as the people who say they'll attend meetings or race typically do not show up. The Triathlon Club at UNT does have rides, but I haven't been going to them lately so I'm not sure how well structured they are. There is a social ride on Tuesday evenings called Tuesday Night Bike. This is led by dudes on fixies and many riders rep the fixed gears, but its open to all and you see a wide array of riders and rides there. I go to Tuesday Night Bike every week, and its a really good time. All three of these groups have Facebook pages, which is the best way to contact/learn about them.

The Bicycle Path, as mentioned before, is a good shop with frequent rides. I think they have a Friday MTB ride where they meet at the shop and head to a different trail each week. Last week was the final week of their Wednesday evening time trial for the Fall, unfortunately. These will begin again in the Spring, though. I'm not sure when their other rides are, but you can contact them through Facebook as well, or their website which is mentioned by StephenH above.

I went to a few of Corinth Cycling's Saturday morning rides last Fall, and they were great. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to join them at all this semester.

Are you mostly a roadie or mountain biker? If you don't have a facebook, I can email you about any rides I hear about. I'll try my best to answer any questions you have.

isermaniac87

Hey J, thanks for the helpful information. I was in the bicycle path a few weeks ago asking similar questions and some guy there referred me to the UNT Cycling Club's page on FB which after searching for I couldn't find (I may be an idiot, but searching on FB never gets me the results I'm looking for). You can find me on facebook (Matt Iserman). I was working Wed nights and Sat/Sun mornings and never had the opportunity to join The Bicycle Path on any of their rides (starting this week I'll have Saturdays off).
I sold my mountain bike just before I left Austin (needed cash for the move) and to be quite honest, I don't really miss it. I'm more of a roadie guy anyway.
Collegiate racing is something I'd love to get involved with now that I'm at UNT, yet with zero racing experience, I'm sure it's a tough nut to crack. I assume road season would start in the Spring, so that gives me some time to train and get in better shape. What I'm really looking for is a few guys to ride with over the winter who can help me get to where I would need to be in the Spring. Since I'm new to town I don't really know the good places to ride so I generally stick to loops around the city whenever I want to put in serious milage. Also, riding in harsh conditions doesn't phase me too much (I pedicabbed in Austin through the winter last year and made the big bucks while all the Nancy boys stayed home, actually kind of enjoyed working up a sweat in the cold).
I went on the Tuesday Night Social Ride for a few weeks when I first got to Denton back in June. It was alright, but I like a bit of a faster pace when I ride. My girlfriend really enojyed the ride though, and we've been meaning to ride it more often.
Anyway, thanks for the advice and I look forward to hearing from you. You can hit me up on fb, email me (mattDOTisermanATgmail), or just reply to this thread.

J Pedals

I started with commuting and went to road and loved it all prior to taking on a few mtb races this season, so I can relate. I have yet to race road either, as I took last Spring off to live in Austin, funny as that may be. I can't wait to dive into this Spring, though. Collegiate racing is great because the bottom category (D of ABCD) of racers is a good group of dudes who are new to racing, so you can still be challenged and have dudes behind you, too. That's how mtb season was at least, and it was great racing in the bottom category. I spent the whole season about mid-pack in my category, which I was happy with being my first experience.

I haven't been riding much myself this semester, which has been unfortunate. The Tri Club's rides seem to always be scheduled an hour before my morning class starts, so I can never go. We have some dedicated riders on the cycling team who will ride, we just need a little help in the scheduling area. Elliot the prez was riding road almost every day this summer and early into mtb season, so I'm sure he'll be a good contact for rides. I'm down for most evenings, just don't have motivation without a group to ride with. The guys have some good routes that they take, many going out by Jim Christal Rd., which is a good one to go out exploring on. Denton is nice in that it has a lot of backcountry roads to cruise on.

I sent the only Matt Iserman I could find on fb a short message. My name is Jon Huey, in case that wasn't you.

J Pedals

I don't know why I didn't think of it before: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/5815030631/

It should prompt you to log in, and hopefully work from there.

isermaniac87

Thanks Jon. I just sent a request to join the group. I also just went on an online shopping spree for more cold gear after the ride to campus this morning.

J Pedals

Yeah, it was a cold one.