Mountain Bike Clubs?

WisePranker

I've noticed that there's a mountain bike club pretty close to me and I was wondering what peoples opinions were on joining clubs?

The club seems to ride in the same area as me but looking at the photo's on their site, they're all lycra-clad and rather serious looking :shock: Is it worth joining a club if you don't take it all too seriously like me?

thel33ter

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... start=2980

Check out this thread, we do rides every weekend, as well as odd trips further afield.

No Lycra (apart from Cooldad ) And we ride a bit of everything, at the pace of the slowest rider.

cycle monster

Where is the harm in asking the club? Why not tag along once and see if it is your kind of thing? All people are different and presumably clubs differ too. You could start your own one of course! I did 18 months ago and am still amazed by how many people I have known for ages that own and ride mountain bikes.

roger_merriman

turn up and try? I've had some fun MTB rides with folks from lycra clad roadie clubs after all your talking about like minded people to ride with yes?

Anonymous

Most do introduction rides. Just pop along and see how you like it.

Though I find some of the attitudes of clubs puts me off, i.e. expecting all the riders to wear club gear, pay a lot of money whether you turn up or not, train for fitness all the time, regularly enter events. Okay those kinds of clubs are obviously serious about competition. Doesn't suit me as a weekend warrior

If you just want to get out and discover trails, have fun, get a bit of exercise, then look for something less formal.

But yeah, the London Calling thread mentioned above is recommended. Not a club, just a bunch of guys out for a ride somewhere. No real plans, no expectations, just someone says they're off somewhere and it evolves from there. We ride Surrey Hills most weekends (or someone is anyway, the group changes from week to week), and a number come from West London. Also some of us do Swinley sometimes, and there are other areas around that are worth looking into.

I've done similar on other forums. I find the group rides on forums more suited to me than a club, and they're cheaper

WisePranker

Hmmm, I might give the London Calling rides a try. I usually work most weekends so end up riding through the week at the moment.
I'll have to try and rearrange some weekend shifts in future

cooldad

WisePranker wrote:

Hmmm, I might give the London Calling rides a try. I usually work most weekends so end up riding through the week at the moment.
I'll have to try and rearrange some weekend shifts in future

Some of the guys work shifts, weekends etc so there is often someone up for a weekday ride - worth posting something to see what can be arranged.

WisePranker

cooldad wrote:

WisePranker wrote:

Hmmm, I might give the London Calling rides a try. I usually work most weekends so end up riding through the week at the moment.
I'll have to try and rearrange some weekend shifts in future

Some of the guys work shifts, weekends etc so there is often someone up for a weekday ride - worth posting something to see what can be arranged.

Cool, I'll figure out my shifts for the next couple of weeks and post something up there

mea00csf

def tag along with a club and see if you like it.

All clubs differ, i have no experience of the type of club deadkennedy describes. The club i've cycled with are actually an offshoot of a roadie club, but i've never even been pressured to join, never paid anything for rides/subscriptions/team kit etc. I do intend to join tho, it's just annual membership at about £20 which then gets you public liability insurance. Only a couple ride in team kit while mtn biking, and even then, only occasionally.

So they obviously do all differ, and you can't tell what they'll be like even if they're a branch of a roadie club!