clubs? is this a place for me?

[w00hoo_kent]

it's just the age difference that im afraid that i just will stand out too much.

Give it a go, it's better to try it and decide it's not for you than to refuse to give it a go just in case.

They are just people, you'll either fit in or you won't regardless of age, it won't just be people talking about the consistency of their poo and cruise holidays.

 

[Rob3rt]

You will find that with cycling in general the average age is well over 24.

 

[derrick]

Give it a go, it's better to try it and decide it's not for you than to refuse to give it a go just in case.

They are just people, you'll either fit in or you won't regardless of age, it won't just be people talking about the consistency of their poo and cruise holidays.

Conversations can get really interesting, we have one guy who goes into great detail about how he prepares his breakfast before a ride, he can talk for hours. he certainly gave me the push i needed to ride faster.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Clubs vary massively in membership and what they are interested in. Make enquiries online or at your traditional LBS to find if there's one locally that could be a good match.

 

[Torvi]

decided that i will try to join a club after one month starting from today i want to increase my stamina before i join.

 

[Globalti]

I was in a mountain bike club for 10 years and I'm sure road clubs have exactly the same problem: their problem is that they are desperate to attract new members but unfortunately new members often slow and hinder their nice little rides. I've lost count of the numbers of people who have turned up for those club rides, nervous but determined to give it a go, then found themselves hopelessly unfit or lacking the handling skills to keep up on a ride where no prisoners are taken. Even if somebody in the club has the authority to slow the pack down the newbie feels guilty for hindering other riders and never returns. Equally typically they over-stretch their skills and crash painfully and humiliatingly. In our mountain bike club we even had a couple of Asian newbies who turned up over the years and I'm ashamed to say that certain members made them feel less than welcome. This was one of several reasons why I dropped out of the club.

 

[byegad]

I'm lucky in that two clubs I belong two, neither cycling clubs, are very welcoming and both are thriving. I suspect the one leads to the other. On of these clubs is a camera club and I'd 'shopped around' before deciding to join this one. One of their local competitors reply started their reply email with:-
'We are a serious club using Canon equipment' enough said. The club I joined has the usual Canon and Pentax rivalry, but one of our best photographers uses Sony, several members use Bridge cameras and I use Olympus, in fact almost all of the manufacturers are represented within the club. They run winter courses for beginners most years, last winter was for intermediate users and nearly all of the usual faces turned up for those, even though some are certainly well beyond intermediate photographers!

It's all down to the inner ethos of the club and sadly too man, in all hobbies, are run as ego trips for the few.

 

[Torvi]

I was in a mountain bike club for 10 years and I'm sure road clubs have exactly the same problem: their problem is that they are desperate to attract new members but unfortunately new members often slow and hinder their nice little rides. I've lost count of the numbers of people who have turned up for those club rides, nervous but determined to give it a go, then found themselves hopelessly unfit or lacking the handling skills to keep up on a ride where no prisoners are taken. Even if somebody in the club has the authority to slow the pack down the newbie feels guilty for hindering other riders and never returns. Equally typically they over-stretch their skills and crash painfully and humiliatingly. In our mountain bike club we even had a couple of Asian newbies who turned up over the years and I'm ashamed to say that certain members made them feel less than welcome. This was one of several reasons why I dropped out of the club.

that's why im giving myself a month of preparation before i join any club.