Hello All,
Since moving here I have been loving riding my road bike through the roads into the hills around the city or some of the beautiful rural roads further a field. With road cycling, two is already a group, so I wanted to create this group for all those road cyclist out there who want to meet up with other road bikers for short or longer trips and a nice workout.

This is primarily a road biking group, which basically means that the routes we follow are intended for people owning a …. road bike. If you have a light hybrid, you may be able to come along on some of the rides, although you may find that on longer rides the disadvantage in the speed you can achieve on a hybrid vs. a road bike may make it quite an effort to follow along. For other types of cycling, there is another lovely cycling meetup group for leisurely rides on any terrain, as well as plenty of semi-pro/amateur road biking or mountain biking clubs around the city, which you may find through some of the local bicycle shops.

The rides are open for road cyclist at all levels of fitness, so do not hesitate to sign up for events. This is not a competitive group, so we do adapt our pace to assure everyone can follow or wait for each other at the top of climbs, descents etc. Think less about the pace, but do consider the length of a ride. No one should have too much trouble completing a 40km ride, but a 90km ride can be a quite a challenge if you have not cycled much recently, especially since most routes will include bits of climbing. From my experience, the average speed on a whole trip will be between 20-30Km/h (usually closer to 20), which means uphill speeds between 10-17km/h. Speeds on flat roads between 25 up to 40Km/h. If you are concerned, do talk to your organizer to talk over the planned route instead of assuming it will be too hard. Most of the time it should be feasible for everyone, unless specifically mentioned its not.

If the groups get bigger, it may be possible to break up into smaller groups with different levels during a ride and for instance meet up halfway along for lunch. When this happens, it is important that when a group is formed, this group then does have to remain together for the whole ride.

I will invite any of you to become co-organizers, in which way this group will hopefully become a message board and meeting point, with frequent options to meet people for a ride either during the week or on the weekends. If you want to post a ride (no matter how short), let me know and I can appoint you as co-organizer. Naturally, you will then have to take the lead, pick a route, (show up...on time) and stick to some basic group rules.

Naturally there are a couple of group rules as well. First of all, road cycling is a dangerous sport. Especially when you are riding in groups, make sure you are aware you have a responsibility to the safety of the other riders around you, especially those behind you who may be following you blindly as they sit out of the wind in your slipstream. This means, make sure you signal those behind you of any obstacles in the road, keep to the traffic rules (Many cyclist jump red lights on their own, but in a group this may be dangerous), and avoid sudden braking, cutting others off etc. Joining on rides is naturally at your own risk and neither myself, any other organizers or meetup can accept any responsibility for any mishaps on the trip.

Secondly, if you signed up, but can’t make it, please let your organizer know (especially if you know the group is small). We will wait no more than 15min at the starting point. If it was agreed to pick you up along the way somewhere we will not wait at each point for more than 5min.

Also make sure you bring a few basic tools and a spare tire in case of technical problems. Most cyclist do not bring anything to plug punctures anymore but just carry one or two spare tires, so if you forgot yours and the others in your group may not carry the right size, the group may be stranded trying to get you back home…

Lastly, for those who may not be familiar with Meetup, the groups are all run on voluntary basis by enthusiast. None of the groups are professional tour organizers of any kind, so do keep that in the back of your mind if one day you find that a trip is going less smooth than you hoped for. Also, it does cost money run this page. I have been happy to pay for it, as I do it for my own enjoyment. For most events I will not charge any fees, but I welcome any small contributions to share the cost.

Saludos and hasta pronto,

Michel