Edinburgh club run this weekend

attica

I'm visiting the in-laws this weekend and have my bike with me. Can anyone recommend a friendly club run to join?

Garry H

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

attica

Cheers Garry, met up this morning for a really enjoyable spin.

Garry H

Attica wrote:

Cheers Garry, met up this morning for a result enjoyable spin.

Where did you go?

navrig2

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peleton a few times.

Garry H

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

What do you expect them to do, stop and shake your hand? It's one ride out of about half a dozen, that anyone can join in without being a club member.

First.Aspect

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

I've ridden a few of their Thursday night rides, albeit a few years ago. There are some friendly people, but on the whole I wasn't bowled over by friendly inclusiveness. Or road manners, tbh.

navrig2

Garry H wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

What do you expect them to do, stop and shake your hand? It's one ride out of about half a dozen, that anyone can join in without being a club member.

I wasn't being critical of the "elite" members. In fact I wasn't being critical of ERC. I merely quoted the general consensus amongst the people I know in East Lothian who have come across the ERC. First Aspect seems to have confirmed this consensus to some degree.

mcstumpy

Is there a club in Edinburgh that's recommended for an occasional fair weather road cyclist who might be interested in informal group rides with people who don't mind flagrant flouting of several Velomati rules? If it helps as a guide, I average around 15mph for a ride.

attica

Garry H wrote:

Attica wrote:

Cheers Garry, met up this morning for a result enjoyable spin.

Where did you go?

Hi Garry

We rode main roads to Broughton and back as the ride leader didn't know the roads terribly well. There were only 5 turned up. That said the elite group seemed to meet up somewhere nearby rather than the advertised meet up and ride past en masse as we were waiting to see if anyone else would show.

The 4 guys I rode with were all friendly and we had a good ride despite the weather and the poor turn out.

Cheers

First.Aspect

McStumpy wrote:

Is there a club in Edinburgh that's recommended for an occasional fair weather road cyclist who might be interested in informal group rides with people who don't mind flagrant flouting of several Velomati rules? If it helps as a guide, I average around 15mph for a ride.

No, cyclists in Edinburgh are very fast and their training would be disrupted by having to stop or allow anyone to speak.

There is, however, a group of unstylish slow cyclists in Linlithgow. They still use Yahoo groups though, so difficult to contact.

Matthewfalle

Garry H wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

What do you expect them to do, stop and shake your hand? It's one ride out of about half a dozen, that anyone can join in without being a club member.

So do you have to be a member to go for a one off ride if you are just passing through (there on hols or work)?

prhymeate

McStumpy wrote:

Is there a club in Edinburgh that's recommended for an occasional fair weather road cyclist who might be interested in informal group rides with people who don't mind flagrant flouting of several Velomati rules? If it helps as a guide, I average around 15mph for a ride.

Have you tried browsing meetup.com? In my experience they are usually really relaxed and sociable rides with complete novices to experienced cyclists.

popularname

Prhymeate wrote:

McStumpy wrote:
Is there a club in Edinburgh that's recommended for an occasional fair weather road cyclist who might be interested in informal group rides with people who don't mind flagrant flouting of several Velomati rules? If it helps as a guide, I average around 15mph for a ride.


Have you tried browsing meetup.com? In my experience they are usually really relaxed and sociable rides with complete novices to experienced cyclists.

The Edinburgh and Lothians CTC do group rides. have a look at http://www.ctclothiansandborders.uk - I haven't been on one but I did join a group for a couple of miles a few weeks back before our paths diverged. Nice bunch of people, relaxed ride - 50-70 miles.

If you want to try group road riding, try the ERC development ride at 9.50 on Saturdays. It's for newbies to group riding and is led. There's some chaining but it's talked through by the ride leader. You'd manage that at 15mph. The ERC Sunday morning ride might be worth a try as well.

Garry H

Matthewfalle wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

What do you expect them to do, stop and shake your hand? It's one ride out of about half a dozen, that anyone can join in without being a club member.

So do you have to be a member to go for a one off ride if you are just passing through (there on hols or work)?

No. As far as I understand you don't need to be a member to go on any of the rides, as they are not strictly "ERC Rides" (Apart from a "Development" group ride that they organise). They just happen to all start at the same place and are made up of Edinburgh riders. Some of them ERC members, some of them members of other clubs, some not members of any club and some local pro riders from time to time. Just turn up at the meeting place and speak to someone, they'll generally point you in the right direction. The earlier the ride, the faster it tends to be.

Pigeons in flight

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

Just to counter these comments, I used to be an ERC member for a few years and have now lapsed as I live in E Lothian, so club runs starting from Edinburgh are not as convenient for me. However, I used to be a regular on the Saturday morning mid-paced ERC run and found the ERC members (and non-members; as others have commented, you do not have to be a member to join their rides) very friendly and inclusive. What you will not get on any of the runs other than the 'beginner's ride' is constant chat for the duration of the ride. This is because the rides are intended to be a training run at reasonably high intensity. But, from my experience, you will find other riders happy to chat before, during (when you're not nose to the grindstone chain-ganging) and after in the coffee shop.

bikes`n`guns

I chased the fast group once, and can concur . They didn`t appear to be talking much as they blew me into the weeds !

Plenty wee clubs and groups out here in East Lothian. Mostly facebooky type things.

First.Aspect

Pigeons in flight wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

Just to counter these comments, I used to be an ERC member for a few years and have now lapsed as I live in E Lothian, so club runs starting from Edinburgh are not as convenient for me. However, I used to be a regular on the Saturday morning mid-paced ERC run and found the ERC members (and non-members; as others have commented, you do not have to be a member to join their rides) very friendly and inclusive. What you will not get on any of the runs other than the 'beginner's ride' is constant chat for the duration of the ride. This is because the rides are intended to be a training run at reasonably high intensity. But, from my experience, you will find other riders happy to chat before, during (when you're not nose to the grindstone chain-ganging) and after in the coffee shop.

Yeah, look its not that bad, they just seem to take themselves a bit too seriously for my liking. The main reason I stopped going along was that I didn't want to have to chose between staying on the ride or flying blindly through junctions. I once had a set to on here with an ERC member about that, and what it seemed to boil down to was essentially along the lines of, "they are not strictly "ERC Rides" (Apart from a "Development" group ride that they organise). They just happen to all start at the same place and are made up of Edinburgh riders. Some of them ERC members, some of them members of other clubs, some not members of any club and some local pro riders from time to time."
Given that they are organised and advertised, lead and largely populated with ERC riders, I considered this something of a cop-out and stopped going for my own self preservation.

Pigeons in flight

First Aspect wrote:

Pigeons in flight wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

Just to counter these comments, I used to be an ERC member for a few years and have now lapsed as I live in E Lothian, so club runs starting from Edinburgh are not as convenient for me. However, I used to be a regular on the Saturday morning mid-paced ERC run and found the ERC members (and non-members; as others have commented, you do not have to be a member to join their rides) very friendly and inclusive. What you will not get on any of the runs other than the 'beginner's ride' is constant chat for the duration of the ride. This is because the rides are intended to be a training run at reasonably high intensity. But, from my experience, you will find other riders happy to chat before, during (when you're not nose to the grindstone chain-ganging) and after in the coffee shop.

Yeah, look its not that bad, they just seem to take themselves a bit too seriously for my liking. The main reason I stopped going along was that I didn't want to have to chose between staying on the ride or flying blindly through junctions. I once had a set to on here with an ERC member about that, and what it seemed to boil down to was essentially along the lines of, "they are not strictly "ERC Rides" (Apart from a "Development" group ride that they organise). They just happen to all start at the same place and are made up of Edinburgh riders. Some of them ERC members, some of them members of other clubs, some not members of any club and some local pro riders from time to time."
Given that they are organised and advertised, lead and largely populated with ERC riders, I considered this something of a cop-out and stopped going for my own self preservation.

Yes, that is one of the downsides of trying to be an inclusive club. On occasion you do get the odd d*ckhead turning up for a club ride who thinks he (it was typically a 'he..') is the new Cippo or something. There were a few occasions where individuals like that tore through small villages like Gullane, etc - but these were very much the exception, not the rule. If you have an all-comers welcome policy, then it is hard, if not impossible, to legislate against this kind of thing happening. When incidents like this did occur, a strong message would typically appear on the ERC forum asking riders to respect other road users and refrain from riding irresponsibly.
IMO its a great club which taught me a lot and I'm proud to have been a member and race for them.

First.Aspect

Pigeons in flight wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

Pigeons in flight wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Edinburgh Road Club are friendly, with a good variety of rides to suit all. Check out their website for run times.

http://www.edinburghrc.co.uk

I'm out in East Lothian and "friendly" is not the term generally used to describe the ERC. I've never met anyone from the club on a ride but I've been passed by their "elite" peloton a few times.

Just to counter these comments, I used to be an ERC member for a few years and have now lapsed as I live in E Lothian, so club runs starting from Edinburgh are not as convenient for me. However, I used to be a regular on the Saturday morning mid-paced ERC run and found the ERC members (and non-members; as others have commented, you do not have to be a member to join their rides) very friendly and inclusive. What you will not get on any of the runs other than the 'beginner's ride' is constant chat for the duration of the ride. This is because the rides are intended to be a training run at reasonably high intensity. But, from my experience, you will find other riders happy to chat before, during (when you're not nose to the grindstone chain-ganging) and after in the coffee shop.

Yeah, look its not that bad, they just seem to take themselves a bit too seriously for my liking. The main reason I stopped going along was that I didn't want to have to chose between staying on the ride or flying blindly through junctions. I once had a set to on here with an ERC member about that, and what it seemed to boil down to was essentially along the lines of, "they are not strictly "ERC Rides" (Apart from a "Development" group ride that they organise). They just happen to all start at the same place and are made up of Edinburgh riders. Some of them ERC members, some of them members of other clubs, some not members of any club and some local pro riders from time to time."
Given that they are organised and advertised, lead and largely populated with ERC riders, I considered this something of a cop-out and stopped going for my own self preservation.

Yes, that is one of the downsides of trying to be an inclusive club. On occasion you do get the odd d*ckhead turning up for a club ride who thinks he (it was typically a 'he..') is the new Cippo or something. There were a few occasions where individuals like that tore through small villages like Gullane, etc - but these were very much the exception, not the rule. If you have an all-comers welcome policy, then it is hard, if not impossible, to legislate against this kind of thing happening. When incidents like this did occur, a strong message would typically appear on the ERC forum asking riders to respect other road users and refrain from riding irresponsibly.
IMO its a great club which taught me a lot and I'm proud to have been a member and race for them.

Yeah, you've missed the point. As far as I could tell, these rides are in all but name full ERC rides. ERC sets the tone and tempo and provides the majority of participants. At least that is my impression. I do not think that occasional drop-ins significantly influence the general group behaviour, which was neither occasional nor limited to blasting through Gullane. My experience was that it started from the Commie pool, from which lights and priorities were summarily ignored, there was no stop off to notionally re-group and ride hard on quiet roads, no allowing cars to pass etc etc. Sorry, but ERC could do better.
I was horrified and whilst "official" ERC rides might be better, the rigid defense of "this is just how it is" when I expressed concern (I was thinking of joining) makes me think otherwise. Happy to be wrong, though.

Garry H

Pigeons in flight wrote:

Yes, that is one of the downsides of trying to be an inclusive club. On occasion you do get the odd d*ckhead turning up for a club ride who thinks he (it was typically a 'he..') is the new Cippo or something. There were a few occasions where individuals like that tore through small villages like Gullane, etc - but these were very much the exception, not the rule. If you have an all-comers welcome policy, then it is hard, if not impossible, to legislate against this kind of thing happening. When incidents like this did occur, a strong message would typically appear on the ERC forum asking riders to respect other road users and refrain from riding irresponsibly.
IMO its a great club which taught me a lot and I'm proud to have been a member and race for them.

Your experiences mirror my own. Was a member until I moved out to the Borders.

popularname

^^ +1 Except I didn't stop being a member because I moved to the Borders but because I put on 30lbs and can't keep up. Working on it though...

First Aspect - I rode with the club for four years (admittedly mostly in the 9.45 ride which is a little more social) and rarely saw the behaviours you describe. When I did it was usually called out. There were a few challenges a couple of years ago where the popularity of cycling meant that a lot of people started turning up who weren't club members and didn't always appreciate that these are group rides, not opportunities to 'race' off the front. And there can be problems with group size and traffic being held on some of the roads, but you can't do more than single out.

Otherwise, I never witnessed the behaviours you describe (not stopping for lights etc). There is always a regroup stop at Dalkeith and on all the rides I did (hills or coast) there was always at least one short stop at the side of the road mid ride to regroup. ERC always tries to go at the slowest riders' pace but sometimes people misjudge what they can do and simply have to drop off. I or others often dropped off the back to accompany such riders home.

I learned masses about cycling and cyclists from the club and value it highly. Club members are generally serious about riding and committed to it and the social chat was mainly left for the very convivial cafe stops at the end. Personally, and especially when riding in a chain gang, I loved the fact that we were all concentrating on working together.

First.Aspect

popularname wrote:

^^ +1 Except I didn't stop being a member because I moved to the Borders but because I put on 30lbs and can't keep up. Working on it though...

First Aspect - I rode with the club for four years (admittedly mostly in the 9.45 ride which is a little more social) and rarely saw the behaviours you describe. When I did it was usually called out. There were a few challenges a couple of years ago where the popularity of cycling meant that a lot of people started turning up who weren't club members and didn't always appreciate that these are group rides, not opportunities to 'race' off the front. And there can be problems with group size and traffic being held on some of the roads, but you can't do more than single out.

Otherwise, I never witnessed the behaviours you describe (not stopping for lights etc). There is always a regroup stop at Dalkeith and on all the rides I did (hills or coast) there was always at least one short stop at the side of the road mid ride to regroup. ERC always tries to go at the slowest riders' pace but sometimes people misjudge what they can do and simply have to drop off. I or others often dropped off the back to accompany such riders home.

I learned masses about cycling and cyclists from the club and value it highly. Club members are generally serious about riding and committed to it and the social chat was mainly left for the very convivial cafe stops at the end. Personally, and especially when riding in a chain gang, I loved the fact that we were all concentrating on working together.

Well, its good to know. The ERC does have a bit of a reputation, though I'll concede that my experiences go back to well before cycling became the new golf. I'm happy to take your word for it that other rides are less cavalier and/or that things have improved.

I take issue with the idea that you can't do more than single out. If you are in a group of 20 or 30, singling out merely results in cars shoving their way in part way through the line - which is precisely what used to happen through Musselburgh and Portobello, for example. You can't do "serious" group rides
in traffic, at least not safely. By way of a solution, I specifically suggested points to regroup to several ERC members and they couldn't even understand the suggestion, because they waited for about 2 mins at the top of a hill 30km further on.

I'm not a club type of person, in all honesty, but I do have some experiences to compare this to, which is why I'm so critical.

popularname

If you are in a group of 20 or 30, singling out merely results in cars shoving their way in part way through the line

I agree with you on this aspect completely, FA - I have a problem with any ride that doesn't split into groups of 8-10 on those roads. I don't like being in large groups and don't think it's good for cycling or for the club.

I held off joining the club for years and years because my thing was always touring rather than racing and because ERC - like any road club - did have a fearsome rep. But I was wrong. I still tour but am a better cyclist all round for the ERC experience.

g00se

No comment on ERC, but I have family in Edinburgh and they say Porto Velo (Portobello) are a friendly lot. https://porto-velo.com/

Gazzetta67

I can confirm that there are a fair amount of odd bike riders through in the East, the types that wouldn't give you the time off a broken watch. If you're not riding an S Works forget ANY type of conversation. If you do manage to strike up a conversation it's along the lines of five words or so - You're not from here ehhhhhhh" - a commonly used phrase used by people from the East regarding anyone with a West sounding accent. Aren't these Bruntsfield type gentry lovely chaps and chapesses just the sort to go on a cafe run down to Peebles ? You'd hardly get a word in edge ways. Do yourself a favour and go it alone.

bikes`n`guns

Gazzetta67 wrote:

I can confirm that there are a fair amount of odd bike riders through in the East, the types that wouldn't give you the time off a broken watch. If you're not riding an S Works forget ANY type of conversation. If you do manage to strike up a conversation it's along the lines of five words or so - You're not from here ehhhhhhh" - a commonly used phrase used by people from the East regarding anyone with a West sounding accent. Aren't these Bruntsfield type gentry lovely chaps and chapesses just the sort to go on a cafe run down to Peebles ? You'd hardly get a word in edge ways. Do yourself a favour and go it alone.

Rubbish