Leading weekly beginner ride

On Dec 22, 12:35*am, Woland99 wrote:
Howdy - local bike shop offered me a chance to organize and lead
their
beginner group ride. [big snip]

Without knocking either what the shop is doing, or your commendable
desire to help out those less experienced than you --

Christ! What happened to the educational value of falling off, to
fathers riding with their children, to kids growing up with bikes for
riding on the pavement until under supervision they were allowed to go
on the road?

Riding a bicycle should be as natural as breathing. Yeah, I know,
there are classes for breathing exercises as well (what do you think
aerobics or yoga is?). These and bicycle riding classes for beginners
are all symptoms of a society trying desperately to fill its time.
That sort of lack of confidence comes from not producing anything any
more; you don't find it in peasant societies, who produce what they
eat and use.

God damn the Risk-free Society; it is Dullsville.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/B...20CYCLING.html

On Dec 24, 8:58*am, Andre Jute wrote:
Christ! What happened to the educational value of falling off, to
fathers riding with their children, to kids growing up with bikes for
riding on the pavement until under supervision they were allowed to go
on the road?

I certainly have no intention to teach kids how to ride bikes -
I would not know where to start. The intention of the ride would
be to start adults on riding slightly longer distances - beyond 10
miles and get some confidence to ride on roads.

On Dec 24, 8:58*am, Andre Jute wrote:
On Dec 22, 12:35*am, Woland99 wrote:

Howdy - local bike shop offered me a chance to organize and lead
their
beginner group ride. [big snip]

Without knocking either what the shop is doing, or your commendable
desire to help out those less experienced than you --

Christ! What happened to the educational value of falling off, to
fathers riding with their children, to kids growing up with bikes for
riding on the pavement until under supervision they were allowed to go
on the road?

Riding a bicycle should be as natural as breathing. Yeah, I know,
there are classes for breathing exercises as well (what do you think
aerobics or yoga is?). These and bicycle riding classes for beginners
are all symptoms of a society trying desperately to fill its time.
That sort of lack of confidence comes from not producing anything any
more; you don't find it in peasant societies, who produce what they
eat and use.

God damn the Risk-free Society; it is Dullsville.

The reality you describe may exist.

Here in Austin Texas there is a club, the ACA, which promotes weekly
rides:

http://www.austincycling.org/rides.html

Most of these are "drive outs", as Austin has become pretty heavily
built up and congested in recent years. "Safety and scenery", plus
managing multiple loops of different lengths.

I have no idea IRT how or when these many participants first learned
to ride a bike. Safe to assume most rode as children as soon as they
were able, as riding a 2-wheeler is still a rite of passage even in
our violent society (USA).

What I have observed of the ACA rides is well-attended meetings where
people join sub-groups according to ability and friendship.

I've seen "safety" classes and beginner beginner "classes" offered in
the ACA newsletter; and have talked to a few members who mentioned
"riding classes" where experienced riders took "newbies" out and
showed them the ropes IRT riding in compact groups.

From my own experience, one can have lots of miles under one's belt,
and be at least a fairly capable bike rider without knowing beans
about riding in groups safely (and enjoyably!). It's a different
world. I was lucky to have a few really good racers teach me. I'd
always avoided the white socks/shaved legs crowd but it didn't take
long to realize they knew a whole lot more about riding bicycles than
I did-- specialized knowledge that maybe you can read about in books,
but there's nothing like doing it on the bike.

There's a Danskins triathlon (for women) held in Austin, over a
rigorous bike course. ACA held a big charity ride (at least once off
the top of my head; it might be a regular yearly thing) as part of a
training run up to the Danskins event. I rode the long loop of the
charity event that went in and out of the shorter loops along its
length. Many, many people, and a large proportion of them women-- and
a strong family representation, too-- were riding solo and in various-
sized groups. Many obviously not in tip-top physical condition, but
giving their all and having fun, working on their riding and group
riding skills. (A sample of related "training activity": http://
www.teamdanskin.com/ )

I don't see a dark side to that picture, except possibly dinner that
evening being take-out.
--D-y

On Dec 24, 8:35*am, " wrote:
On Dec 24, 8:58*am, Andre Jute wrote:





On Dec 22, 12:35*am, Woland99 wrote:

Howdy - local bike shop offered me a chance to organize and lead
their
beginner group ride. [big snip]

Without knocking either what the shop is doing, or your commendable
desire to help out those less experienced than you --

Christ! What happened to the educational value of falling off, to
fathers riding with their children, to kids growing up with bikes for
riding on the pavement until under supervision they were allowed to go
on the road?

Riding a bicycle should be as natural as breathing. Yeah, I know,
there are classes for breathing exercises as well (what do you think
aerobics or yoga is?). These and bicycle riding classes for beginners
are all symptoms of a society trying desperately to fill its time.
That sort of lack of confidence comes from not producing anything any
more; you don't find it in peasant societies, who produce what they
eat and use.

God damn the Risk-free Society; it is Dullsville.

The reality you describe may exist.

Here in Austin Texas there is a club, the ACA, which promotes weekly
rides:

http://www.austincycling.org/rides.html

Most of these are "drive outs", as Austin has become pretty heavily
built up and congested in recent years. "Safety and scenery", plus
managing multiple loops of different lengths.

I have no idea IRT how or when these many participants first learned
to ride a bike. Safe to assume most rode as children as soon as they
were able, as riding a 2-wheeler is still a rite of passage even in
our violent society (USA).

What I have observed of the ACA rides is well-attended meetings where
people join sub-groups according to ability and friendship.

I've seen "safety" classes and beginner beginner "classes" offered in
the ACA newsletter; and have talked to a few members who mentioned
"riding classes" where experienced riders took "newbies" out and
showed them the ropes IRT riding in compact groups.

From my own experience, one can have lots of miles under one's belt,
and be at least a fairly capable bike rider without knowing beans
about riding in groups safely (and enjoyably!). It's a different
world. I was lucky to have a few really good racers teach me. I'd
always avoided the white socks/shaved legs crowd but it didn't take
long to realize they knew a whole lot more about riding bicycles than
I did-- specialized knowledge that maybe you can read about in books,
but there's nothing like doing it on the bike.

This reminds me that people are coming to cycling from a lot of
different angles these days -- from spin classes, triathalons,
commuting, recreational cycling. All have different fitness levels
and different comfort levels in traffic. What many lack is an
understanding of the traffic laws as they apply to cyclists; how to
ride a straight line, and how to ride in a group.

When I was a kid, we rode everywhere, and instruction was mostly ad
hoc. I got ticketed by Barney Fife of the Los Gatos Police Department
for riding my bike the wrong way down University Avenue and had to
attend driving school (no kidding, I was ten years old -- my mother
had to come with me). I got more formal instruction from my fifth
grade teacher, Bob Tetzlaff (Jobst's arch enemy and former proto-
Armstrong national/international big time racer in the '50s/'60s).
Then my father got freaked out about his weight in the late '60s, and
we ended up riding together as a family at night. We had lights, used
hand signals and frequently rode to some fast food joint and ate junk,
which probably increased my Dad's weight.

Racers back then were a secret group, like Ninja -- seen only
infrequently, and usually out of the corner of the eye. Many were
thought to be gay or socially odd, even before Lycra. This was not
true of my class-mate Fred Markham or Bob Tetzlaff, both of whom were
chick magnets and bon vivants. Those two were the only racers I knew
until I went to college and started hanging out at local bike shops
that were owned or frequented by racers. I started going on shop
rides (quasi races) and riding centuries -- then club races, then
USCF. I learned how to ride in a pack by getting yelled at. I was
eventually shamed in to shaving my legs and adopting other racer
affectations, like spitting and throwing my bike around in a sprint.

Back in the mid '70s, centuries were stratified into dorks and racers,
so you either plodded along in your wooly outfit talking to another
dork about half-step-plus-granny or you struggled to hang with the
racers. That changed with the invention of triathaletes, the legions
of semi-fast riders who didn't care if you drafted them all day. They
****ed off the racers, though, because they would never get off the
front even when they bogged down. Ah, the good old days! -- Jay
Beattie.

On Dec 24, 10:35*am, "
wrote:
Here in Austin Texas there is a club, the ACA, which promotes weekly
rides:

http://www.austincycling.org/rides.html

I am in Austin, Dusty. I rode few times with ACA - they
are good group. The only problem is that possibly there
is not enough beginner level "hosted" (no drop + help
w/ flats) rides - they are maybe twice a month at best.
What I had in mind was doing ride like that in NW Austin
and Cedar Park area.
I have been talking with Eileen who coordinates hosted
rides for ACA about getting road safety and ride leading
training. It is about $100 total - $65 for safety class
and $40 for class for ride leaders (which can be reimbursed
if you lead few rides for ACA). I plan to take class in
January and start leading rides either for that bike shop
or ACA - if bike shop for whatever reason (liability etc)
will not go thru I will try establish frequent beginner
ride ACA in NW Austin.
Eileen used lead to nice mid-week ride from Nelo's Bikes
but I have meeting during that time. But the idea would
be the same - easy (almost) weekly spin - chance for people
to get some confidence about riding on the road and maybe
move to bigger better ACA rides, start Tour de Cure training
group or whatever else.

On Dec 24, 12:08*pm, Woland99 wrote:
On Dec 24, 10:35*am, "
wrote:

Here in Austin Texas there is a club, the ACA, which promotes weekly
rides:

http://www.austincycling.org/rides.html

I am in Austin, Dusty.

Small world, isn't it?

I'm not current with ACA activities, but I expect things change as
time goes along.

I don't know if you could have a better group to link up to for your
intended purposes. There are quite a few riders in the 'burbs up
north, from what I've seen while passing through. Good luck! --D-y