How Fast To Join A Club

[Peter Armstrong]

Hello,

Ive been cycling now for lets say.................. almost 1 week ha ha.

Anyway, I am already a member of a Running club, but now I want to join a Cycling club or Tri Club.

Question is, At what level do I need to be at before trying to join?
how fast and long to I need to be able to cycle?

When I joined the running club they just had on the website you need to be able to run for over 40 mins, this cylcing club however, I have no idea.

 

[ianrauk]

Most clubs have various different levels of rides from beginners to full on racers.
Give the club a call and see what they say.

 

[Peter Armstrong]

I Did email them and I got this "the Sunday bikes can range from an easy session to an audax or rt ride." What does that mean?

 

[ianrauk]

I Did email them and I got this "the Sunday bikes can range from an easy session to an audax or rt ride." What does that mean?

That's not a good reply is it:?
Easy session? what is that? Easy for one person is not easy for another.
Audax is long distance riding.
RT? Do you mean TT? which is time trial.
Reply saying you are a beginner to road riding and clubs and need more information.
Any club worth it's salt will explain it all to you.
Failing that, as I said, give them a call.

 

[musa]

Where you based By the way?

 

[Scoosh]

RT is, I think, a Road Trial - usually an early season check-up to see how much fitness you have kept/lost over the 'close season'.

Do a Search for your town/city/area and wade through the wealth of information from your fellow CCers !

If that doesn't give you what you want, post an 'Anyone know a good Beginners' cycling Club near XXX ?' in the Road Rides etc section and you may get some helpful responses.

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Thankx for the explainations, When I emailed I said I had been cycling for a grand total of 1 week.
Im from the rochdale area, greater manchester. They said If I carnt keep up then I can just turn around and go home.


Is this how it works I have no idea, It a Triathlon Club.

 

[zizou]

Thankx for the explainations, When I emailed I said I had been cycling for a grand total of 1 week.
Im from the rochdale area, greater manchester. They said If I carnt keep up then I can just turn around and go home.


Is this how it works I have no idea, It a Triathlon Club.

Larger clubs often have 3 groups - something like social , intermediate, fast. The social ride will be where beginners start off and a good club will not tell you to find your own way home if you are dropped - they will have someone ride with you and make sure you know the route.

 

[on the road]

With social rides they always go at the pace of the slowest rider, sometimes they might spread out or the fittest riders might sprint up the hill but they always regroup and wait for everyone to catch up before moving off.

With cycling clubs it's not a case of being able to ride for a certain length of time but more a case of being able to do a certain milage, they should have told you how far they typically ride.

 

[HLaB]

Peter, I just go along and see. A mate of mine joined my local club about a year and a half ago after a running background and he's one of the best riders in the club now and another who comes from a running background is probably the best climber in the club and we have a few others that have joined recently from a running background and they cope fine too.

 

[MrJamie]

Might be worth having a look at Skyride Local, although the majority of their rides tend to be very slow there are some faster ones though

 

[thojj]

I have a similar problem to Peter but I,*have*,to join a club.
Over the last weekend I took part in my 1st audax and was very happy with my own performance.A guy I was riding with mentioned that he was using this audax,(300km),as a training ride for a 12 hour tt in September.The more I thought about this the more I liked the idea.On checking the finer detail I found ,to my horror,that I have to be a member of a club to participate.I fully understand this requirment but my problem is that I am not likely to use the selected clubs facilities apart from being able to compete the very occasional longer distance tt.
Am I alone in this or is this an acceptable occurance for the odd,not too social,cyclist to be part of a club purely to comply with rules for taking part in events?

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Thank you all for your input. I do run yes, but only have been for 6 month so I’m not fast, If weather permits I will pop down and see what its like, the club is 8 mile or so from home so ill be riding there and back. So whatever they do plus 16 mile. I’ve just realised that probably too much. I need to look for a closer club, Possibly a more helpful one too.

 

[cyberknight]

As most clubs have a small annual fee for being a member i am sure they would be more than happy for you to "join"

 

[screenman]

I think true cycling club may be more accommodating than a tri club. We have the wrinkly rides a few times a week that average 14mph over 30 miles and up, some of the people on it would likely average 12 mph on their own.

thojj, I think you might find being a club member helps out with some insurance cover for an open TT. We have about 150 members in our club I would say 100 of them are like yourself to to social.