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occasionally asked if I ride in a club.
The answer is a resounding NO!
I've had the answer clarified over the last couple of weeks.
I caught up and rode and chatted with a couple of club riders, including a nat champ. During the conversation I was told that I should wear a helmet with anecdotes to support the argument. Assuming that I think I should have been impressed with the nat champ bit, I didn't want to tell them who I've rubbed shoulders in the past with in the world of cycling, it might have got embarrassing. But equally that mindset of club rider in not one which I could be a part of.
Today really cemented my not wishing to be a club member position, and I am aware that not all clubs are equal.
I ride a fair bit on the local greenway, which is a shared path. On joining the path at Northgate Village, I had to wait for this sea of club riders as the barrelled down the path. Not a problem.
I joined the path and was behind them. The first observation was that they were carrying a lot of speed for such a sized group on a heavily used (by pedestrians) part of the path. Pedestrians were forced, in a wave of bell ringing, to stop as this group charged through without losing any speed, or ceding any space on this shared path. I can see why pedestrians have it in for cyclists now, they're genuinely scared.
Further up, a couple of riders took a wrong turn. Remember, I was following them. Did he wait for me to pass so he could rejoin safely or cut across me? Of course he cut across me.
A little further on I decided that I wanted to pass the group ( I had warmed up and there were fewer pedestrians and this group were going quite slowly, in spite of what I said earlier) and let out a cheery "passing on your right" ( a couple of times) and was greeted with the lady of the group telling me that I wasn't the only one who was using the path. I was now caught up in the middle of the group as it was still barrelling down the path, a couple of the club riders decided to close pass and cut in front of me in order to gain positions, I guess this is the club equivalent of sticking you cock on the table to demonstrate manliness, or how big a wanker you are, I'm not sure.
I was now in prime position to see and feel what it was like riding in a large group of arrogant wankers who thought that they had greater rights than other users on this shared path, and I was embarrassed. At no point was more than 2/3 of the path given up to other users, at no point did speed drop to take other users into consideration. Oncoming cyclists were shaking their heads, pedestrians were stopping and stepping off the path for their own safety.
At Mickle Trafford I sorted myself to do a u-turn at the gate, obviously one of the group decided that he'd stop, inspect the rear wheel and ignore my request to get out of my fucking way so I could proceed. He did.
At no point during this 5km of hell was there any conversation beween the club and myself, except a couple of barbed comments.
I'm well aware that the members from another club in that part of the world, North Wirral Velo, are absolutely sound, courteous and a pleasure to meet. I have have met this particular club on many occasions and know that this is not unique to this particular outing. There are a couple of other clubs that seem to ride in this manner too, but I have never had the pleasure of riding as one of them.
Why the fuck would I want to join a club and ride like a wanker?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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62 comments
I'm occasionally asked if I ever go for a drink in a pub.
The answer is a resounding NO!
I walked past a busy pub in the centre of town on Saturday night. Thought better of going inside. Then a little later on I was passing again and changed my mind. I ended up standing alongside a large group and they didn't seem to be moving towards the bar very quickly so I moved round them then the female of the group said that I wasn't the only one who was waiting to get served.
I was about to do a u-turn and leave when one bloke stood up ignore my request to get out of my fucking way. I'm sure he was blocking my way deliberately.
At no point during this 10 minutes of hell was there any conversation beween the others drinkers and myself, except a couple of barbed comments. (I'm damned good at barbed comments)
I am aware of another pub in that part of town where the regulars are a pleasure to meet. I have been past this particular pub on many occasions and know that this is not unique to this particular evening. There are a couple of other pubs that are like this too, but I have never had the pleasure of socialising in them.
Why the fuck would I want to go into a pub again for a drink and stand around behaving like a wanker?
That's really quite good, except for the inaccuracies. Your negative bias is incredible, get over it, I'd say you were xenophobic, but you've already said you're not so you could clear the way for xenophobic comments without comeback.
Some of my friends are foreign too...
Thanks. I'll take that as a genuine compliment.
Though I will have to mention one thing: you must surely realise that it's not a factually correct account of a real event. Therefore there are no inaccuracies (which makes a change).
Peole confusing their opinion with facts again, I sometimes wonder if they've suffered a head injury
...but how could you prevent that from happening?
So are clubs good or bad?
Probably depends on the club.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-33541502
_84315419_5973ea7a-6c8b-479d-b3a9-1e3e19c364d2.jpg
When is a club a club?
We are a bunch of middle aged wannabes, a couple of female members, a couple of children of older members, a couple of strava warriors and mountain goats. We arrange routes, go on an xmas piss up, a few sportives etc.
But I get where you're coming from - around that way you have a Knutsford based club whom i don't think let you in unless you're on a Dogma and Seamans who are rather aptly named!
There was an old goad from a local club in The Priest House in Audlem the other weekend bemoaning the presence of women, in the presence of women. Deaf as a post, from the conversation it appears the rest of the club seem to deliberately drop him and sod off elsewhere
So BTBS is a member of a club. Well I never.
Wow, this is a good 'interweb squabble'!
Turn up to any average Sportive and you realise cyclists are a pretty 'broad' spectrum; some of which aren't going to get on with each other. I reckon just observe and let your legs do the talking.
I'm very leery of dipping a toe into this one, but am genuinely curious (never having ridden in a group). If the group had slowed enough that Don wanted to and believed that they could pass the group, how were they supposed to do so? What is the etiquette/Is there an etiquette for when an 'outsider' wants to pass a club/group?
Well if you ride in a group ever you'll realise after a while that the amount of assistance you get from drafting is sufficient that you cna think you cna pass the 'slower' riders ahead. So be confident that you are strong enough to make the pass smoothly, quickly and with no prospect of the group attaching to your rear wheel or even demonstrating what an idiot you are by passing you when you can only get to the middle of the group...
Of course if you are used to riding in a group you'll know passing riders stay close to keep the group tidy and give the rider being passed as much protection as possible and that they will also come in as early as possible again for the same reasons. The passed rider often has to adjust their speed to not get a touched wheel.
So sorry Don, if you aren't dast enough to drop a 1/4 mile back and then go sailing directly past you end up as you have described. Sounds like the club were trying to be nice to you.
Ooops I wasn't going to get involved in such rubbish clickbait - my final points are you are in a club. You are part of society and we are all affected by each other; without clubs we would not have racing and campaigns to make cycling safer - thus much of the little benefits we enjoy, we would not get without clubs.
Only if safe to do so, same as a car, but with more 'communication' e.g. shouts of 'rider coming through', or 'on your right'.
Aaaaaargh!
I just had to add that.
It sums up what I think about this entire thread.
@nigerian prince: touche, mate!
Don Simon,
This thread keeps dropping off the current list and you keep dragging it back. I have no idea what your motive for doing so is, you are not doing yourself any favours in terms of representing any sort of coherent point of view. Without a rebutal from the group you chose to involve yourself with (uninvited) the original post is a one sided diatribe without supporting evidence and comes across very much as an echo chamber of your own prejudices, to borrow a phrase.
I cannot comment on what you report, I was not there, we have only your opinion on what you observed. Personally I'd be dissapointed and would not ride with any group of cyclists who behaved in an arrogant and dangerous manner to other road users, especially on a shared use path, where, as far as I am concerned, pedestrians have priority and should not be made to feel threatened by passing at great speed.
You do however need to question your behaviour and understand the additional hazards you created by choosing to get yourself entangled. Group riding is very different to solo riding. There is no collective hive mind, so communication between members of the group is paramount, along with a certain level of trust in the competences of those you ride with built up over time. You might have the basic skills for close riding, you might not, you certainly had no experience of riding with that particular group, nor they with you. You do not know their calls, procedures, etiquette and missed out on any pre ride briefing. You claim they were going too fast, then too slow, then you couldn't make a clean pass and get on with your own ride. You added an element of uncertainty and distraction that could quite easily have been a crucial link in a chain of events resulting in an accident. In short, if you had done that to my ride I would consider that you made a nuisance of yourself. At the very least it would have been polite to ask if it was OK to tag on at the back for a short while.
HTH
M
There’s only one word needed to explain this: Troll
Seems to me the OP is so laden with assumptions and prejorative language that he is not a fair judge of this clubs behaviour. Unless he wants to prove some quotes from their backchat. For a start we don't know who you used to ride with either, so no point hinting unless you are going to actually drop a name; either way it lends no credibility to your story.
And Simon is right, emoji are not an excuse to shit post, but it's alright because
We get it, you don't like helmets or riding with friends and resent people who have a different relationship to cycling than you do.
Take the Marxist approach to clubs
I presume you mean Groucho, not Karl (or Richard!).
Groucho, naturally. See previous two pages of comments for reason why.
Don Simon says "play the ball, not the man". Laugh of the day
Madcarew, I challenge you to find one instance where I have robustly responded to another member when they have not deserved it, i.e. set the level by getting personal first. It's quite funny how people are, they can dish it out, but shrivel like a cold penis when it comes back at them. I bet you can't see it in yourself either.
And, of course, thank you for your valuable contribution to the thread.
The key, Don, is in "when they have not deserved it". You frequently call people wankers (as above) and fuck-knuckles, ass-hats or whatever your epithet of the day is. It's in your estimation they deserve it, as , probably the poster thought you did when they 'played the man'. My amusement came from you complaining about it as, when in combination with BTBS you are probably the worst on this forum for ad hominem attacks (cue your shrivelled penis line).
As for valuable contributions, others are doing a fine job in pulling apart your argument on the basis of its bigotry, pejorative and fallacies that my own meagre efforts would be rather second rate, so I contributed where I might create some extra value. You're welcome
As I've said before, I generally quite like your contributions as I think they're often fairly firmly tongue in cheek and playing to the crowd. Just cause I'm not with you don't mean I'm against you.
Where's the ad hom? I fear that you have decided that using colourful language is a personal attack, describing a situation is not the same as attacking the person. But if the hat fits and nerves are hit. What am I to do? It's probably good that people take a second to reflect, but that doesn't happen, does it?
What argument? And what is being picked apart? Too many people, much like yourself, seem to treat this place as a place to win and lose arguments, apparenlty when there is no argument to be had except to have a pop at the person. Some of the abuse diected at people during so called debates can be embarrassing. And as previously mentioned these people don't like it when it comes back at them
Using your example, I'm pretty sure that a person who challenges a post with incorrect facts may, by some, be considered a wanker. Some might say that carrying a grudge about a post (on tourism I think it was) is a bit wankish and then coming out with the old "if you don't like it here/ your country is so much better, go home!", well, we all know my view here. Say that you disagree, and move on, but don't follow someone around fabricating a load of bollocks to try and discredit them. There's too many people who are happy to jump on the bandwagon without reading or understanding why.
So there you go. if you don't want it back, don't dish it out, and play nicely. Or if you do, grow a pair.
As for being a bigot, then yes I am intolerant of racists, wanton idiots and bullies, the language used will be pejorative towards these, as for fallacies you'll have to explain that. All of which can be replaced with positive vocabulary depending on the effect you wish to convey.
End.
There are definitely groupies who follow the usual suspects from thread to thread, sticking the boot in at any unrelated opportunity. They're generally way more fucking boring than the antics they seem to be on a mission about.
First note of internet discussions: Writing "End" does not give you the last word.
Calling someone a wanker in the course of a discussion or argument is, by definition, an ad hominem pursuit
Argument: One side of a discussion, but you're smart enough to know that already.
I have no idea what your reference to a quote about tourism is; you're drivelling Buddy. You might want someone to wipe that up for you
Your bigotry is self evident in the material and language of your post.
Really Don, your arguments are normally funnier or better than this. Step it up, son.
Some of the usual suspects on this site; constantly grouping a load of people together, using hatred to generalise and penalise people who are innocent.
Have read similar comments about hating anyone who drives a certain make of car.
Also the same and totally unconnected ramble about people who wear helmets.
Or maybe they just told a story of something that happened to them?
From experience once you start getting too many people together in any activity the potential for bad behaviour increases. Look at football. A few fans may be ok, a big group becomes a tribe looking for trouble.
When I used to ride motorbikes regulary with a couple of people it was generally fast but very controlled and slow where it needed to be. One day one of them brought a load of his other mates along and before long silent rivalries had started and pace was stupid and people in cars probably though we were a bunch of utter twats. Strength in numbers does sometimes lead to different mentality.
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