In all fairness when I lived in that London I joined up with a cycling club to have something to do in the evenings when I was there.

Irrespective of ability you started in their inters ride and the ride leader assessed you from there and if you were good enough, could through & off properly etc you could move to the fast group; now they were proper fast.

The inters chugged along at 19-20mph and the fast group knocked on mid 20’s for 2 hours at a time.

I also used to participate in a shop mtb ride back ooop norf and somehow inherited the somewhat dubious pleasure of leading the fast group, mainly due to knowing the trails and being quite nippy on the dirt.

We used to get noobs rock up giving it the big ‘yeah I can ride with you guys easy’ often responded to with ‘have you ever ridden here before?’ and more often than not the answer was no.

9 times out of ten that’d get dropped within 15 mins and then go complaining to the shop owner that the faSt ride was too fast, seriously!!

Ultimately I can’t be bothered with organised group rides really if I’m honest. Big group rides o the roads round here aren’t the best idea as there’s a lot of tight country lanes and having been ridiculed (by a couple of regulars on non-rigid, non 29ers) for arriving on a rigid 29er in the middle of winter for a forest based group ride I gave up with that too.

This thread is a swoonfest…

i ride solo as I found other people regardless of bike preference are mostly a bunch of ****.

Local bike shop does a shop ride and has three groups, they advertise average speed expectations and the race group states you will be dropped if you can’t keep up. The other two groups have different average speed\distance expectations. They don’t expect beginners to keep up with the fastest, they expect them to join the beginners on intermediate group.

My experience of roadies is that they are better than mountain bikers for being inclusive as they set the expectation for the group. Also roadies generally say hello and communicating when overtaking, rather than the Santa Cruz approach of buzzing your back wheel until the rider in front panics and falls off.

Mountain bikers can be way more snooty than roadies, been on “social” rides where it’s been made clear I wasn’t good enough or fast enough and was just holding people back.

Also roadies generally say hello and communicating when overtaking, rather than the Santa Cruz approach of buzzing your back wheel until the rider in front panics and falls off.

Does that actually happen? I’ve (SC owner) never buzzed a tyre apart from a few good mates who know it’s me, and will always back off or self seed or leave a gap at the start of singletrack.
Roadies on the other hand in some of the events I’ve done (and on the road in general while riding uphill on MTB’s) will just cruise on past inches from your shoulder trying there best to avoid making any kind of contact at all.

Did one local group ride and decided that the number of ego’s in the group meant it was pointless and a great way to get hurt with the trains through lights and lack of awareness. Much prefer solo road riding these days or road rides with mountain bikers.

found their ride from this evening, and it was up and down a stretch of flat road repeatedly at about 19mph avg!!! Maybe they did us a favour… Would be upset if the GF and I couldn’t avg 23mph up and down that stretch of road working together

Stalking up on their Strava and saying that riding that slow would be upsetting, that is obsessive, elitist, egotistical roadie behaviour don’t you know 🙂

In MTB one prat joining in a group ride is likely to crash into a tree and provide group amusement. Conversely that one prat joining in a group ride is likely to cause a pileup which is injurious and expensive to the group. So to a certain extent road clubs do have to be more careful about insurance and experience etc.

However, I do have to agree that I tend to get more bad vibes from road riders than MTB. Maybe because people roadie types can get so obsessed and egotistical about speed, they want to rub it in your face when overtaking you, or get defensive when overtaken, or upset when a particular group ride is less than 70% of their FTP or whatever.

Hang on….

5ft10 and 13st

is “fattish”?

It is for a cyclist. I am that height and 11st and would not call myself thin.

Does that actually happen? I’ve (SC owner) never buzzed a tyre apart from a few good mates who know it’s me, and will always back off or self seed or leave a gap at the start of singletrack.

Enough that I’ve noticed in a completely non-scientific way and by buzzing I will clarify, I mean uncomfortably close rather than tyre contact.

It’s possibly the same thing that means if someone is driving like a knob then there’s a good chance it’s in an Audi, but all Audi drivers aren’t necessarily driving like knobs.

I always ride solo on road and dirt. Can’t be bothered with all the club and group ride shite. It detracts from the riding part – the bit that I enjoy.

And yes, people are knobbers. MTB’ers for their being gimps with their super bright lights and roadies for looking grumpy.

Sod all of them. I’m ok on my own having fun.

Hang on…. 5ft10 and 13st is “fattish”?

It is for a cyclist. I am that height and 11st and would not call myself thin.

5ft10 and 13st is a BMI of 26 which is technically ‘overweight’ but surely how ‘fattish’ one is depends on how much of that weight is in ones belly fat vs quad muscles.

It sounds to me that you were trying to be a hero whilst riding with the group – and thus spoiling their ride by not keeping pace comfortable from all club riders. It sounds like they gave you an opportunity to ride with them, but you messed it up by surging.
As for joining their chain gang; things need to be disciplined for safety. If you described yourself to them how you have on here – they probably got same impression … and decided your a bit too awesome.

While I get some of your sentiment – your issue appears to be the £15. If the club has rules of paying to join and ride, that’s only fair. Having been a chairman of an MTB club we did allow people to have taster rides but folk took the piss. You dont really have an argument if you weren’t prepared to pay and suggesting that your BC credentials somehow circumvented this only made matters worse.

However in my opinion clubs are a pain, for lots of reasons. But I see why some people want to be in them.

The moment you add the “club” aspect into it, and membership etc. it becomes a lot more complicated. I fully understand that though, and had done everything to mitigate any issues we may have by riding with this club for a one off ride. But it seems they were only happy if they took our money, despite it not being necessary

But clubs are entitled to their rules. It’s unreasonable as an outsider to take that to task.

If the irony of belittling those riders with your awsums while claiming to be all about inclusivity is lost on you then maybe it wasn’t just a troll after all

Irony may be sometimes lost on mboy, as is apparent thru’ this thread. There’s also some considerable degree of public-forum-willy-waving-oh-but-I’m-not-willy-waving-because-of here

Nevertheless, I get some of this – not sure why it needed a 1,500 word essay on social meeeedia detailing recent exploits to get the point across though. But it was very interesting stuff.

Some of the roadie culture is elitist, perhaps exemplified by some clubs. Some of MTB culture is chilled out and inclusive – completely exploded by those Strava obsessives in our midst.

mboy seems to be somewhat into Strava, of occasion.. Just sayin’ 😉

tl:dr
3/10
Fatty

Our club “rule” for non-members is: three rides then you are expected to join the club. This is for insurance purposes not artificially increasing club membership. Not fair to ask someone to join the club for a single ride if they then don’t get on with folk. Also they might just be visiting the area and fancy a ride with local riders, not knowing the roads etc.

I’ve come across grumpy/miserable roadies, MTB riders, drivers and pedestrians, whatever, if they want to be miserable it’s their loss.

Weight: One guideline I’ve come across for pro cyclists is to take your height in inches and change the units to kilograms, so a 6ft (72″) tall rider should be 72Kg. Maybe add 5-10% for us regular folk.

It’s up to the club to decide their own rules. It can’t be described as unfair. Just find a club that suits your own values and/or aptitude.

My previous and only club experience was to let people ride for three rides. People are tight and can’t seem to justify £15 so don’t pay up and turn up whenever it suits. A bit of money like this certainly tests someone’s commitment, which is a good thing my mind.

It can’t be described as unfair. Just find a club that suits your own values and/or aptitude.

As the OP said he was on holiday

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!

Round here if you post up on the MTB pages that you are around you will have a list of ride ideas & offers of rides, for free just to show you around and share what we have here, road you will probably find a group and somebody will point you in the right direction of the pootlers and the racers.
Down here in Oz you have the BC equivilent for insurance and all that which comes with a club membership. That means you can ride insured with any group/club/organised event.

I get all that and it may not be friendly but it’s not relevant. If the club rules are as they are then it’s just tough. The club may have arrived at that decision from all sorts of previous experiences. As a non-member you have no sway over their decisions.

Knocked out 170km last Saturday. Passed a few roadies who insisted on being friendly and talking to me. Bastards.

some people are idiots, most aren’t.

I can see where the OP is coming from to be honest.

I’m currently: 75kg/190cm/344W FTP (at last test). Also a BMX rider and ex downhiller. So I’m pretty fit and an experienced bike handler.

But I’d never go out cycling with a road “group” – far too many serious faces and short, doughy looking men with chips on their shoulders.

I guess it’s the competitive nature of road cycling, but that’s what the race track/TTs are for. When out on the road, jsut ride your bike FFS.

I’ll often catch up with some roadies easily, pass them and then have them jump on my wheel and follow me for, well I don’t know how long, I usually just slow down and let them carry on.

Other times there’ll be a couple that’ll pass me and then slow right down a few hundred yards up the road. Obviously busting a gut to try and “out do” me. Then I have to slow down again to let them carry on as I wouldn’t want to spend any length of time cycling “socially” with some nobbers who obviously feel so inadequate they have to race everyone they see.

Sometimes I’ll drop the hammer though, just to see the look on their faces as I go past. Occasionally, if I’m feeling really mean, I’ll pass them up a climb, then pretend to stop for a piss. They’ll go grunting past and then I’ll drop them again!

Irony may be sometimes lost on mboy, as is apparent thru’ this thread. There’s also some considerable degree of public-forum-willy-waving-oh-but-I’m-not-willy-waving-because-of here

He works in a bike shop apparently, that means STWers have to like him or something.

can see where the OP is coming from to be honest.
I’m currently: 75kg/190cm/344W FTP (at last test). Also a BMX rider and ex downhiller. So I’m pretty fit and an experienced bike handler.
But I’d never go out cycling with a road “group” – far too many serious faces and short, doughy looking men with chips on their shoulders.
I guess it’s the competitive nature of road cycling, but that’s what the race track/TTs are for. When out on the road, jsut ride your bike FFS.
I’ll often catch up with some roadies easily, pass them and then have them jump on my wheel and follow me for, well I don’t know how long, I usually just slow down and let them carry on.
Other times there’ll be a couple that’ll pass me and then slow right down a few hundred yards up the road. Obviously busting a gut to try and “out do” me. Then I have to slow down again to let them carry on as I wouldn’t want to spend any length of time cycling “socially” with some nobbers who obviously feel so inadequate they have to race everyone they see.
Sometimes I’ll drop the hammer though, just to see the look on their faces as I go past. Occasionally, if I’m feeling really mean, I’ll pass them up a climb, then pretend to stop for a piss. They’ll go grunting past and then I’ll drop them again!

I love these posts. To sumarise, I am awesome but am really non competitive despite trying my hardest to be passively competitive.

FWIW I always try and catch other roadiez, I will always try to jump on the wheel of passing faster riders. I like the competitive nature of it and if I pass soneone and they jump on my wheel I will say I hi and pace them along for a while whilst in my head I am a team sky domestique. Sometimes I pass riders and then blow up and laugh as they come past again.
People on this thread are so keen to have a pop at miserable roadies they come across as real grumpy old men types.

I love these posts. To sumarise, I am trolling

FIFY

Not all road clubs are equal. Ours makes no requests for a fee for riding. All riders enter as individuals for legal purposes. BC membership is encouraged because we are a BC affiliated club. New riders will be assigned to a beginners group for group riding training. If you turn up for a ride as a guest from an established club with experience of through and off riding, you can join one of the other groups.

Sportive riding does not count as group riding.

There are idiots everywhere, doesn’t matter what type of bike they ride.

As has been said though, bunch riding on the road has it’s own risks, one of which is people not riding correctly/safely. Should a club group be fine with you tacking onto the back in an event like RideLondon? Sure but I wouldn’t be happy with someone I didn’t know slotting themselves into the middle of the group – not because I’m elitist but because I don’t know you therefore I don’t trust my safety to you.

Even in the group I regularly ride with there’s some people’s wheel I won’t sit on as they’re too erratic or don’t point out hazards, you can offer advice but at the end of the day it’s usually easier just avoiding them.

As for club membership for rides – this is usually for legal reasons. If you lead an organised ride you open yourself up to claims if something goes wrong on the ride. Yes it’s highly unlikely but why take the chance with a complete stranger? The club I ride with is very social and friendly (cake>miles) and we used to have an open “turn up and ride” policy but have had to move to a insisting everyone takes out their own insurance (BC, CTC etc.), although we do still allow people to turn up a couple of times before they have to prove they’ve taken out insurance. No one likes this bullshit but no one likes getting sued either.

Most of the people I know with MTBs also ride the road a lot so I don’t really see a them and us thing either…

Also they might just be visiting the area and fancy a ride with local riders, not knowing the roads etc.

Precisely this…

Their first response was all about “well we’d love you to come along, but if you don’t pay the £15 to join our club, you won’t be insured”… So demonstrated that we have the correct level of insurance through BC membership to join their ride and, the next response then became “sorry, we don’t really allow outsiders to join in”… Moving goalposts! I’m well aware they don’t know me from Adam, it’s their club and if they want to be exclusive that’s up to them. Don’t make it all about the money though, that takes the piss!

say what you like about t mboy’s threads, you can’t accuse him of providing insufficient information

I would hate to be accused of missing out any pertinent facts, like, I dunno, where £350m was gonna come from or something! You know… The important stuff… 😉

Round here if you post up on the MTB pages that you are around you will have a list of ride ideas & offers of rides, for free just to show you around and share what we have here, road you will probably find a group and somebody will point you in the right direction of the pootlers and the racers.
Down here in Oz you have the BC equivilent for insurance and all that which comes with a club membership. That means you can ride insured with any group/club/organised event.

Which is all I was after… The MTB club couldn’t have been more helpful, just off out to join them on a ride shortly!

Weight: One guideline I’ve come across for pro cyclists is to take your height in inches and change the units to kilograms, so a 6ft (72″) tall rider should be 72Kg. Maybe add 5-10% for us regular folk.

‘s a good job I’m 7 foot 9 otherwise I’d be fat.

Weight: One guideline I’ve come across for pro cyclists

What kind of pro?
Road, Grand Tour, TT, Track, Sprinter, XC Racer, 4x, DH, Enduro or sportive?

TiRed if they’d have said exactly what you just said, I’d completely understand. Makes absolute sense.

My issue is the “we don’t know you but you can join our ride if you pay £15, but you can F off otherwise” attitude…

Ride London

/thread

Is there something similar to not being able to win an argument with a stupid person because they’re too stupid to realise they’re wrong in that a cock can’t tell they’re a cock because they think everyone else is a cock?

I’m being so judgemental reading this thread. 😳

I can see where the OP is coming from to be honest.

a troll agrees with you…you must be so proud. 😆

I can see where the OP is coming from to be honest.

I’m currently: 75kg/190cm/344W FTP (at last test). Also a BMX rider and ex downhiller. So I’m pretty fit and an experienced bike handler.

But I’d never go out cycling with a road “group” – far too many serious faces and short, doughy looking men with chips on their shoulders.

I guess it’s the competitive nature of road cycling, but that’s what the race track/TTs are for. When out on the road, jsut ride your bike FFS.

I’ll often catch up with some roadies easily, pass them and then have them jump on my wheel and follow me for, well I don’t know how long, I usually just slow down and let them carry on.

Other times there’ll be a couple that’ll pass me and then slow right down a few hundred yards up the road. Obviously busting a gut to try and “out do” me. Then I have to slow down again to let them carry on as I wouldn’t want to spend any length of time cycling “socially” with some nobbers who obviously feel so inadequate they have to race everyone they see.

Sometimes I’ll drop the hammer though, just to see the look on their faces as I go past. Occasionally, if I’m feeling really mean, I’ll pass them up a climb, then pretend to stop for a piss. They’ll go grunting past and then I’ll drop them again!

Agree with AA, David sometimes you should keep the inner working of you mind to yourself, its not pretty.

If you described yourself to them how you have on here – they probably got same impression … and decided your a bit too awesome.

+1

I don’t know where to start….

You told us your average speed in your sportive, and boasted about “dropping” a group of mates out riding together on a non competitive bike ride. My Landrover isn’t faster than a Ferrari just because it could overtake one.

Just to recap… YOU TOLD US YOUR AVERAGE SPEED IN YOUR SPORTIVE. Cringe.

And will people please stop saying ‘Roadies’

Just to recap… YOU TOLD US YOUR AVERAGE SPEED IN YOUR SPORTIVE. Cringe.

Did I miss that page of the Rules???

Some days roadies do themselves no favours… nearly as bad as triathletes.

The club I am in has a pretty friendly road section, but then again it is not really focused on highly disciplined rides but more social rides – consequently they are often the mamil groups out on a Sunday clogging up the roads and annoying drivers.

But I think the OP has a point – you only have to visit the top of Box Hill on a Sunday and look at the riders – the roadies all seem to be standing around trying to look serious and pro-like, and the mtbers are just looking normal.

..come on mboy – do you think they’re going to say “Well, we’re cocks because… “?