That London bike Clubs

asprilla

KW don't do CX or MTB club runs do they?

okgo

Yep. There is usually a CX crowd in winter, has been a CX ride most weekends this winter for sure.

Must say I don't think there have been many MTB runs, though I do know a few guys used to organize their own thing on MTB's.

tgotb

Audax, Cross, Track, MTB, BMX (though I don't know whether or not any traditional clubs do BMX). We have a few members doing most/all of these, but not (as far as I know) in the same depth as some other clubs. I don't think there's anything at all wrong with this BTW, it's healthy that we have lots of clubs and that they're all a bit different.

To pick an easy example, if someone living in Kingston/Surbiton wanted to do a bit of everything but with a heavy emphasis on track riding, they'd probably be better off joining VCL, even though it's not quite as local.

mattsaw

okgo wrote:

Mattsaw wrote:

Thanks for the Saturday ride suggestions, I'll take a look.

I'm in Surbiton, a stones throw from where the Kingston Wheelers set-off, but annoyingly Sunday morning is when I take the kids to rugby which rules out anything until after midday.

For the last 400 Saturdays (ok I have not counted, but its every Saturday) there have been at least one, but often up to 3 or 4 rides going from Surbiton out to all sorts of places with the kingston wheelers.

I know people have said it, but I don't quite think it has sunk in, there are rides organized ad hoc on the forum for nearly every single day of the year, http://www.kingstonwheelers.co.uk/kwccf ... um.php?f=4 - as you can see there are a huge number of rides that get put up for all paces/distances etc.

And of course for Sundays as many have said we often get 50-150 on really nice days turn up in Laithwaites car park and up to 8-10 rides go out from there.

If you live near there I really cannot see a better option to be honest, hence I have never thought about going elsewhere. And in terms of finding people to ride with, there is really someone for nearly every level, through from people who don't have proper road bikes yet, to people who race to a decent level against the clock and on the road

That certainly changes things. What would be the correct way of approaching someone about the Saturday rides. I'm guessing I couldn't just arrive uninvited without joining-up first?

Is that a private forum? I'm prompted to signup when I visit the link

okgo

While the best thing is obviously to 'try' a Sunday club run first, you certainly could bypass that and join up and say on the forum that you will be tagging along. The main reason for the Sunday initiation is, I think, to make sure people don't get a bad first impression if its too hard for them etc, so we do a newbie run which is 35 miles at a sedate pace. If you know yourself and know you are a rider capable of doing what the ride has been labelled as (often they'll be 'club run pace' which is around 16 mph avg, or 'just above club run pace' so you know where you are) then certainly just post that you're coming along and intro yourself in the car park.

It does seem you have to join the forum now to see the topics (I must say I don't know if you need to be a paid up member to join the forum, I'll check), but when you are you can just post and say you're coming. I've been on numerous rides where people have been introducing themselves etc, so it happens on a regular basis that new people turn up outside of the Sunday club ride.

cjcp

I'm a KWer, but TCC are certainly a friendly bunch.

I've also seen these guys in RP: http://www.swrouleurs.co.uk/ - don't know anything about them, but their kit looks good if that's a factor.

Daddy0 - Addiscombe CC are down that way.

Gallywomack

That SW Rouleurs club looks similar to this bunch that I once saw in the Jolly Woodman - ie essentially a group of mates who like riding around in matching kit. When I asked one of them about the club he was very tight-lipped

KnightOfTheLongTights

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

It's OK in a group... And we don't normally ride it back in to London (so we miss the M3 effect thankfully). Not quite sure why the website is showing us as starting in Houslow though - it's definitely Twickenham Be lovely to see either of you!

I was out with TCC on Saturday in the second group. (Not for the first time as I did go out with TCC a couple of years ago a few times on both Sat and Tue.) Must say I still don't like the route all that much, or the caff stop, or the fact that it's the same every week, but it's certainly a friendly club that rides properly and I'll probably join up for that reason and the Tue night chaingangs.
And the cake.