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Outside the Olympic Club, Centralia, WA. Photo by David Heiniger
One of the great pleasures of this hobby of ours is the camaraderie we enjoy with fellow riders. It would be great if all of our friends from the big world rode so that we can enjoy their company on a ride, but that just isn’t the reality for most riders. More often than not we have to find a new group of friends; riding friends.
It can sometimes be a challenge to find people you enjoy riding with. You find a group, or maybe just a few guys to ride with and you think it will be great, grand and groovy until you realize that they ride way too slow for your tastes. Or maybe you just have a hard time getting them to commit to a ride, or your schedules are not compatible. Maybe you have some enforcer in the group that is always in someone’s face about not maintaining what they think is perfect and proper formation. Worse yet, you ride with them and all seems fine until lunch and you find that they want to eat at McDonalds.
Folks, let’s get this clear right now. It ain’t the road without road food. McDonalds is NOT road food. Road food comes from funky little diners and greasy spoons and is cooked by a 400 lb. guy named Bubba. Or his mama.
If you live in the Northwest, there are several Yahoo! riding groups you could join and I’m sure Google and ning.com have some too. One of the best groups based around Seattle is Pacific Northwest Road Riders. This group has a membership of nearly 500 riders from all over Washington and Oregon, though most are based around Seattle and points north.
A handful of active member organize regular rides or anyone can post their ride plans and ask for those interested to meet up. When riding with the group, you are free to ride at your own pace, be that fast or slow. You just wait at intersections and route changes for the group to catch up, or vice-versa. That way you can enjoy the camaraderie of the group at stops and still ride your own pace.
Chances are good that you’ll find one or two riders who like to ride at your pace and no one will ever try to make you eat at McDonalds. What else could you want?
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