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[Closed] Roadies Vs MTBers (apologies for the rant content)

mboy · 2016-08-17T21:52:58Z

OK, New Year's Resolution firmly out the window (if it wasn't already), I'm gonna have a good rant on here... Seriously, why are roadies (particularly road clubs) so full of themselves and so elitist and non inclusive?!?! So... Confession time, I own a very nice road bike, I dress up in full lycra to ride it (though I am not a FPKW thank you very much!), I did Ride London recently and at 36, 5ft10 and 13st, I definitely fall into the "slightly overweight MAMIL" category when on a road bike rather than looking at all like I know what I'm doing, but whilst I won't be troubling BC any time soon I can more than hold my own for a fat(ish) lad. Ride London... Did no training (no time, and it's just a few hours in the saddle after all and I've done that before!) and surprised myself turning up and doing it in 4hr37, a 21.6mph avg. Met a LOAD of overly serious wannabe racers on the way round though, most of them in their local club kit, most of them grumpy as f*** (if I spark up a conversation, and you can't even grumble back, then you're not doing yourself any favours!), but one guy took the biscuit... Me and my GF were riding at roughly the same pace as about 6 guys all in their "team" kit, after doing my bit on the front I tried to get into the line, to be greeted by this guy trying to knock me off my bike. After 30 seconds or so of me standing my ground, he proceeded to tell me to f off and ask me "who the f do you think you are, can't you see we're riding as a group"... My point was we were all travelling at the same speed, there was about 4 or 5 others in the group that weren't in their "team" and that as I was doing more than my fair share on the front why should I not be able to ride with their group. He proceeded to call me all sorts of names. So I just dropped the lot of them at the next climb and didn't see any of them again, but it left a very sour taste. Fast Forward to today. GF and I have been on holiday for a few days, got both our MTB's and road bikes with us and taken in a few nice rides so far. Looking for inspiration, we contact both the local road and MTB clubs for inspiration and to see if we could tag along... You can see where this is going! Local MTB club website has the ride leader's phone number listed, so we give him a call... Long and the short of it is he's extremely friendly, has invited us out on their ride tomorrow morning, and is more concerned about slowing us down than us gatecrashing their weekly jaunt. We were at pains to explain we were just visiting the area and won't be back next week, and his attitude was "the more the merrier". Really looking forward to the ride now even if it is just a low paced social one. Local Road club lists facebook as best point of contact, so we send a message asking about their mid week "fast" group ride (they call it a chain gang but by all accounts its not) asking if it would be OK to come along. The initial response was that they wouldn't normally allow anyone who isn't a member to come, but "after consultation with the committe" we could allow the 2 of you to come along if you pay to join as a member (£15) up front to cover their insurance requirements. We then responded, apologising as we should probably have stated that we were already BC members (and therefore fully insured, and quoted our membership numbers) and that we're both very experienced cyclists, members of our local club, both did Ride London recently in more than respectable times and that we were happy if for whatever reason that we couldn't keep up to look after ourselves and find our own way home... The response was along the lines of "having consulted with our committe again, can I ask you both please not to come on our ride tonight as we have decided we are keeping it for members only." Seriously? WTF!?!? This is cycling, not Golf! They were more than happy for us to join their ride if we ponied up £15 each for the privilege of their company for 90mins, but having demonstrated we already have the level of insurance to cover us to ride with them anyway as a one off they gave us the royal F.You and told us not to come! I really don't get this at all, it sends out totally the wrong message. Don't get me wrong I've had people asking me to join our Thursday night fast group ride, and I've had to politely suggest that it might be a bit too quick for them just yet (we tend to avg 19-20mph over 30 miles) but if they don't mind finding their own way home if they get dropped then the more the merrier. Sometimes it's not easy, but I'm never rude and I try to be as inclusive as I possibly can be. Is that just cos I'm a mountain biker that rides a road bike from time to time though, cos my local road club (that I'm also a member of) is mostly a bunch of miserable see you next tuesday's that couldn't even musted a grunt once in a while if you turn up for a ride with them! For balance, I can think of only one MTB ride in 20 years of riding offroad where I've ridden with a group that I didn...

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PimpmasterJazz

Posts: 0

Free Member

Why is that? Do their manly swim sculpted shoulders make you body conscious?

I think it's more referring to the idea of watching a group of triathletes riding in a bunch would be visually similar to a cat herder hard at work. 😉

Posted : 22/08/2016 9:37 am

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