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The Noob Helps a Noob

05.22.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Today, the club was planning a 52-mile ride east of the city. I haven’t been doing enough base miles to handle a 52-miler, especially with the recent humid weather that has hit our area, so I volunteered to lead a “B” ride to a nearby town. Distance would be about 36 miles round trip.

I must have publicized my decision too late, because only two people were interested in doing the B ride, and one of them set off with the A group. They were going down a four-lane divided road with no shoulder and fast traffic. I told the other B rider – someone new to the group – that we would take a safer route.

I had met the young lady – Tina – once before, at a meetup organized by another biking acquaintance. We follow each other on Twitter, but had never ridden together. She indicated she was up for 20 miles, and when I told her how far we’d go, she agreed.

It wasn’t long before I realized she was not used to club rides. She fell behind almost immediately. I slowed down to keep a reasonable gap between us, and waited for her at lights. This was going to be all right. I had ridden hard the previous day, and didn’t mind taking it easy on the Sunday ride.

Three miles out, we reached our first major challenge: a pretty good hill. I’ve ridden it many times and am used to it now, but it still makes me work. I stayed seated as I climbed, figuring it would keep me closer to her. Once I crested the hill, I coasted down the backside. I looked back – and no Tina. I pulled over and waited. No Tina. I reversed course to find out what the problem was. She was pulled over at a turnoff, hunched over her bike. I thought she had a mechanical.

“Need any help?” I called. By now I could see she was just taking a breather.

“That hill really took it out of me,” she said.

We waited a few more minutes, then set off again. I soft pedaled, and averaged about 9 mph, but she still fell behind. This was our pattern for the rest of the trip. She did a great job of staying with me through a dicey section, as we had to brave heavy traffic and cross under an Interstate highway bridge. But once we were out on a semi-country road, she had trouble keeping up.

I pulled into the entrance to a mobile home park and waited. “This is where I usually make a rest stop,” I lied, as she pulled even with me. “Grab some water, walk around a little, or sit.”

“I think my rear tire is soft,” she said.

Soft, nothing. It was flat. We moved her bike to a shady spot and took off the rear wheel. She had a fancy tire lever that hooked under the bead then attached to the axle. The bead was supposed to come off easily. It didn’t. I got my stuff from my bike and took off the tire, then put in her fresh tube and pumped it up. While I worked, she was busy texting on her phone. I finished, and she said, “My roommate is coming to pick me up.”

As we waited, we chatted about biking and her new venture: a triathlon. “I still have to swim and run today,” she said. “This is the fastest I’ve ever ridden.”

It took us over an hour to cover 10 miles.

Her roommate showed up, and I rolled the bike to the SUV. On the way, I squeezed the front tire. It was very soft, too. Clearly, she couldn’t have continued the ride.

I went on to Creedmoor by myself, and headed back to the ride’s start. Everyone from the 52-mile ride was already there.

“Sorry it didn’t work out for you,” said the A ride leader, after I told my story.

“On the contrary,” I replied. “It was fine. When I started biking, you and others did the same thing for me. I’m happy to help out others now.”

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Categories // clubs Tags // learning, noob

How To Join a Bike Club – Part 2

04.08.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount continues his quest for the perfect bike club.

Stockton, Calif., where I live, is not far from the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. There is plenty of serious climbing and steep grades available for any rider who goes there. Everyone tells me that you can fake it on the flats but that climbing really shows the type of rider you are.

The Stockton Bicycle Club does a lot of riding in the hills.

During a day off from work, I did a first-time solo 27-mile ride around Lake Camanche with 1,900 feet of climbing and some 14 percent grades. The friend who provided me with the route described it as a nice “introductory” ride in the hills.

It was not easy but it was fun. Some of those roads obviously were not designed by a highway engineer but were once cow paths that someone decided to pave over.

A few days after I did this ride, I received an e-mail notice of a 40-mile ride with the Stockton club. It was described as a longer but similar ride to the Lake Camanche ride.

I was in.

It took me about 45 minutes to make the 29-mile ride to the meeting place – Charles Howard Park in Ione, Calif. The park is named after the owner of Seabiscuit. The group of about a dozen people included both men and women. Introductions were made and we took off.

This was a talkative group, which makes sense if you’re going to spend a few hours with someone whether on or off a bike. Of course quiet settled in as we hit the rollers and more steeply graded hills.

Again, all of these riders were older than me, a few retired including a 62-year-old podiatrist who rode 18,000 miles last year. He planned on riding 100 miles that day.

We ended up with just under 43 miles and 2,300 feet of climbing.

I think I held my own as several other riders asked me if I had ridden much in the hills and were surprised when learning I had not.

I submitted my membership a few days later.

It was not much money and riding in the hills with anyone will help make me a better rider, which is ultimately what I want.

I eventually heard from the Stanislaus County Bicycle Club.

I was told I hadn’t heard back sooner because the “general email address” I found on its website went to spam. Apparently had I kept looking I would have found more specific contact information.

However, I was fine with how things worked out.

When deciding on a bike club I would ask: What are you looking for? Do you want to be challenged? Do you like to ride fast? Do you want to climb? Do you want to just go out leisurely and putz around? Do you want to volunteer at events or mind if you are required to do so? And how deeply involved do you want to become with the club and its events?

Some of these things I still need to figure out, but I probably made the biggest decision in joining a club, which also enabled me to meet one of my cycling goals for the year.

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Categories // clubs Tags // Blount, clubs, guest post

How To Join a Bike Club – Part 1

04.06.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount suggests you not join the first bike club you hear about — first, check out several, then decide.

One of my riding goals for this year was to begin doing group rides. Mostly because of my schedule, it’s difficult for me to find time to ride with others. During the week I have work. Sunday mornings, when many groups go out, I have church and I also have young children at home, and a wife.

But I do have a window on Saturday mornings. So I have targeted a few of those a month as an opportunity to get out.

I found that just picking a group and riding with them isn’t as easy as it appears.

I had to figure out what I wanted in a club and as part of that process, I e-mailed three groups within a 45-minute drive of my home.

One of three, the Stanislaus County Bicycle Club I didn’t hear back from for weeks (more on this group later).

The Stockton (Calif.) Bicycle Club got back to me within a few days but said most of the rides they were doing in March were too difficult for people just coming out. One of the membership people sent a followup e-mail: “The SBC rides are often heavy with Type-A’s.  Many of us are retired with time and disposable income. Sometimes the rides are not friendly to the new person but you’re doing the right thing by making inquires … hah!”

He went on: “That’s the other thing — we are mostly in the AARP-Social Security Range. Young riders come out but it’s almost always ‘one and done’.  Can’t blame ’em.”

So it didn’t sound too attractive.

I also received an e-mail from the third group, the Sacramento (Calif.) Wheelmen. This is a large group, its website says it has 600 members. The group usually has three to four rides each Saturday. One of those often begins about a 40-minute drive from my home.

“We hope you can join us. You don’t have to be a member to join us on rides, but if you do, you might decide to join up.”

I did join them for a 40-miler on a recent windy Saturday.

I had a good time in spite of the wind. I was most surprised to see that most of these riders were older than me. One guy was 75 and logged 15,000 miles last year. That’s farther than I drove my car.

When I asked how he managed to do that, one of the others chimed in, “He’s retired!”

The ride leader was 70 years old.

They weren’t hammer heads. I could even hang with the A group, but that may have been because of the wind as they just tried to keep the group together.

I had an enjoyable time riding with them and may look for other opportunities to ride with them again.

I’m not looking to race and I doubt I would socialize much with this group, in part because of the distance from my home. But I found the joy in riding with others.

This experience would become my baseline for comparison when I joined the Stockton Bicycle Club for a ride two weeks later.


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