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#1
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
I have now been riding again for a couple of years now, been a regular
here almost as long and now find myself wanting to ride with some other, the problem with this is, there is a local riding group but from the looks of some of the club photos, it looks like most of the riders are a bit older, I would prefer to ride more with riders a little closer to my own age group. Now I may investigate the local group a bit more and maybe even do a ride or two when they have open rides, I don't want to spend to join a group that I am not interested in riding with. So I guess what this boils down to is this: Has anyone ever started a riding group? Whats the hardest part? I would think it's probably getting new riders. How would you go about such an endeavor if you were inclined to make such an attempt? Thanks in advance for all the input. Ken -- The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong |
#2
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
What does age matter? You aren't looking to date any of them are you?
Go riding with them until you feel you can't learn anything more from them or feel uncomfortable riding with them. Search out other clubs and organized rides in your area. Check your local craigslist.com for other riders, or people selling/wanting bicycles. Check http://www.bikejournal.com for other riders in your area. Some of the fastest riders around are the retirees cause they have all day to ride. Once you make a few cycling friends, perhaps you can set up your own club if a lot of you have differences from the other riders. Ken C. M. wrote: I have now been riding again for a couple of years now, been a regular here almost as long and now find myself wanting to ride with some other, the problem with this is, there is a local riding group but from the looks of some of the club photos, it looks like most of the riders are a bit older, I would prefer to ride more with riders a little closer to my own age group. Now I may investigate the local group a bit more and maybe even do a ride or two when they have open rides, I don't want to spend to join a group that I am not interested in riding with. So I guess what this boils down to is this: Has anyone ever started a riding group? Whats the hardest part? I would think it's probably getting new riders. How would you go about such an endeavor if you were inclined to make such an attempt? Thanks in advance for all the input. Ken -- The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong |
#3
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
Mike A Schwab wrote:
What does age matter? You aren't looking to date any of them are you? Go riding with them until you feel you can't learn anything more from them or feel uncomfortable riding with them. Search out other clubs and organized rides in your area. Check your local craigslist.com for other riders, or people selling/wanting bicycles. Check http://www.bikejournal.com for other riders in your area. Some of the fastest riders around are the retirees cause they have all day to ride. Once you make a few cycling friends, perhaps you can set up your own club if a lot of you have differences from the other riders. Well I have my reasons for not wanting to ride with riders that much older than myself. Maybe for something different once in a great while but not on a regular basis. There is only one local club and that is the one I mentioned. Thanks for the idea of craigslist and bikejournal. Ken -- The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong |
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
Ken C. M. wrote:
Well I have my reasons for not wanting to ride with riders that much older than myself. Maybe for something different once in a great while but not on a regular basis. There is only one local club and that is the one I mentioned. Thanks for the idea of craigslist and bikejournal. Be thankful you can still find people riding who are older than yourself, Ken. |
#5
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
catzz66 wrote:
Ken C. M. wrote: Well I have my reasons for not wanting to ride with riders that much older than myself. Maybe for something different once in a great while but not on a regular basis. There is only one local club and that is the one I mentioned. Thanks for the idea of craigslist and bikejournal. Be thankful you can still find people riding who are older than yourself, Ken. Yeah I guess thats one way of looking at it. Ken -- The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community. ~Ann Strong |
#6
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
Ken C. M. wrote:
Mike A Schwab wrote: What does age matter? You aren't looking to date any of them are you? Go riding with them until you feel you can't learn anything more from them or feel uncomfortable riding with them. Search out other clubs and organized rides in your area. Check your local craigslist.com for other riders, or people selling/wanting bicycles. Check http://www.bikejournal.com for other riders in your area. Some of the fastest riders around are the retirees cause they have all day to ride. Once you make a few cycling friends, perhaps you can set up your own club if a lot of you have differences from the other riders. Well I have my reasons for not wanting to ride with riders that much older than myself. Maybe for something different once in a great while but not on a regular basis. There is only one local club and that is the one I mentioned. Thanks for the idea of craigslist and bikejournal. I actually ran into my current group on livejournal. seattlebikes and bikepirates was a good place (for me anyway) to find interesting people to bike with. It's a fairly recent club, it started a little over 2 years ago. If you wander over to point83.com/forum and post the same question, you might get some more ideas about how to start your own cycling group. Of course if you use an internet site to organize your membership, you're self selecting for computer people, which can be good and bad... -- Dane Buson - Murray's Rule: Any country with "democratic" in the title isn't. |
#7
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
rec.bicycles.rides has 588 posts since Nov.21.
They might keep you active. Find people to bike with on a regular basis might be just what you are looking for. |
#8
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
On 2007-01-18, Ken C. M. wrote:
spend to join a group that I am not interested in riding with. So I guess what this boils down to is this: Has anyone ever started a riding group? Whats the hardest part? I would think it's probably getting new riders. How would you go about such an endeavor if you were inclined to make such an attempt? Thanks in advance for all the input. You know, I've been thinking about getting a group together here [1] as well, not because I don't like the local club, but rather because there *is no* club to ride with [2]. However, I'm not certain that I'd care for a formal structure rght away, so much as just getting some folks together to ride. Our homeowner's association has a bulletin board on their web site, so that might be one place for me to start. I do have one standing offer of a riding partner from an friend, but he lives an hour away right now, and is in China for the rest of the month, so I don't expect to see him until spring. [1] Gilberts, IL [2] There was a club in the West/East Dundee area, the Dundee-Cardunal [3] bicycle club, but they seem to have gone dormant; their site has even gone 404 now. Dundee is also about a 45 minute ride down from my house, and I'd prefer not to drive to the start point of a ride -- the point is to ride! [3] The misspelling of Cardunal is intended: it's short for CARpentersville/ DUNdee/ALgonquin, the three groups of towns along a stretch of the Fox River. -- __o Kristian Zoerhoff _'\(,_ (_)/ (_) |
#9
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
Ken C. M. wrote:
I have now been riding again for a couple of years now, been a regular here almost as long and now find myself wanting to ride with some other, the problem with this is, there is a local riding group but from the looks of some of the club photos, it looks like most of the riders are a bit older, I would prefer to ride more with riders a little closer to my own age group. Now I may investigate the local group a bit more and maybe even do a ride or two when they have open rides, I don't want to spend to join a group that I am not interested in riding with. So I guess what this boils down to is this: Has anyone ever started a riding group? Whats the hardest part? I would think it's probably getting new riders. How would you go about such an endeavor if you were inclined to make such an attempt? Thanks in advance for all the input. I've been away and so I'm responding late to this post. 1. If you actually show up, you might find that there is more of a variety of ages in the group than it appears. It's possible that the younger group doesn't have any people who care to take pictures. 2. Ask them what other groups are in the area. Most people seem happy to share this information, although naturally they think the group they ride with is best. (and it probably is, for THEM) 3. Around here, you can ride with a group a few times before they get serious about collecting dues, assuming they ever do. There's no real investment involved. The only group I was involved in starting was a spin-off. Some of us were refereeing youth soccer, and thought it would be good conditioning / a bit of fun to go for a ride on Saturday morning. Sometimes there were a few older (5th-8th grade) kids along. We did this for two or three years. You might do a spin-off from a fitness center, a church men's group, or something else. |
#10
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logistics associated with starting a new riding group?
On Jan 23, 9:44 pm, "Mike Kruger" wrote:
I've been away and so I'm responding late to this post. Me too. Idiots on other NGs have got me preoccupied! 1. If you actually show up, you might find that there is more of a variety of ages in the group than it appears. It's possible that the younger group doesn't have any people who care to take pictures. In my case -- and I'm in NYC -- it's definitely mostly middle-aged folks. Stands to reason. Those are the people who do not seem to have as many "social outlets" as younger folks. 2. Ask them what other groups are in the area. Most people seem happy to share this information, although naturally they think the group they ride with is best. (and it probably is, for THEM) Even though this is NYC, there aren't any that want to do any inter- state and inter-city riding. You'd think there was a market for this kind of thing here, but no -- everybody's either a skinny limp-wristed racer or a fatty who likes riding "around the block" (close to home). 3. Around here, you can ride with a group a few times before they get serious about collecting dues, assuming they ever do. There's no real investment involved. There's a reason why most cyclists cycle alone or in pairs at most. God, I really miss those days when you just call up your classmates and off you go into a whole other borough! The only group I was involved in starting was a spin-off. Some of us were refereeing youth soccer, and thought it would be good conditioning / a bit of fun to go for a ride on Saturday morning. Sometimes there were a few older (5th-8th grade) kids along. We did this for two or three years. You might do a spin-off from a fitness center, a church men's group, or something else. Yup. Too bad you can't depend on people. One guy who "recruited" me even wanted to ride to Florida from here! Fellow's now another MIA/ AWOL case -- and that's before winter had set in. |
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