We are the Peninsula and South Bay Bicycling Group (PSBBG)! Without exception, we aim to be a clean fun group - no drugs, alcohol, or flouting of California vehicle code on these rides, other than rolling through a stop sign at your own discretion.  We do not welcome cross-posts or suggested rides with other groups which do not follow these guidelines.

This group is for experienced group-riding road-bike riders. Owning a road-bike is a requirement to join the group, (as opposed to mtn bikes, hybrids, cross, or folding bikes). This is for group pace and ride flow considerations. They are really fast, light and fun to ride! If you do not own one yet - please buy one, then join!

If you are joining a group-riding Meetup group for the first time, this actually might not be the best fit for you. If you are female, Velo Girls is a way better place to start. For either gender, the Western Wheelers is a great starting point.he reason is that they identify their ride plans well, and it's easy to see whan a beginner type ride is happening

PSBBG is predominantly a very active, strong group of fairly frequent riders who like going fairly fast, include hills on most rides, and it is just not an easy place for someone to start out without prior group riding experience, anad a fairly strong current ability in terms of speed and hills. Lots of people joined in the past, and either never rode once, and dropped out or were removed, or they rode once and never came back. Not fun for anyone really.

If you still think this might be the right group for you ... read on.

Ride pace is occasionally 14mph+ on the very slowest rides, but way more typically we see 15mph+ avg pace

Know what toe-clips are? A cleat attaches your special shoe to the pedals of your road-bike, to give an advantage on up-stroke as well as a secure connection for downstroke, They're not "required", but almost every rider has them, and it adds a group-pace homogeneity to the rides. They are recommended for any non-beginner ride, and almost every rider on every ride in this group uses them.

On the faster rides, we have been riding 18-30 mi, fairly fast, and with hills (Tues, ThursPM), Weekend rides are typically twice as long, and have more elevation gain ... they are harder. A requirement now is to shift the "advanced" rides (faster, longer, harder rides) over to www.meetup.com/bikingplusplus. This companion Meetup group is available only for riders who have been in this group 3 mo+, are riding regularly (1+ rides per week) and found the rides in PSBBG overall not fast / long / hard enough to maintain their fitness goals, have joined the PB++ group.

If you are applying to this group as an advanced rider - we hope to see you riding with us in this group for 3 months first, then consider co-joining www.meetup.com/bikingplusplus as that may be a better match for your fitness level. We still hope to ride with you to get to know you here for 3+ mo first.

If you are just starting out, and all this seems way to hard or fast - please try another Meetup group, like Velo Girls or Western Wheelers, where the rides are rated better, and they have way more choice in slower, less elev. gain rides (less hilly, more often).

It is not fun if a total beginner joins and holds up a group ride for lack of strength or speed ... way better to join a ride at your pace / strength level to start, then work your way up if you are motivated to do so.

Target time for people in this group is Old La Honda Rd climb, from lower bridge (150 yds in from Portola Rd) to Skyline Blvd stop sign, is 35 minutes without killing yourself. If you could do that as a 4 mi section within part of a 25 mi ride, you'd probably have a lot of fun in this group.

Guests of an existing member are welcome to attend the PSBBG rides, with the exception of banned ex-members of either PB++ or PSBBG group, who are not welcome to attend. The expectation is that if you as a guest are off-pace, your escort will accompany you, and get you back to the start safely, so everyone has fun.

Event hosts will post a liability waiver at the bottom of each ride description, and ask a mandatory RSVP YES question - verifying that you, and as a representative for your guest(s), have read and agree to the liability waiver.

This group is your alternative to spin class or solo riding. It's all outdoor riding, and never solo.  We simply share the common interest: we love riding a bicycle, outside, and enjoy group exercise.

To join this group, please post a real photo of yourself, and use your real name for the Meetup account, in the profile area:

This means 1 or more recognizable face photos of yourself in the profile area, not a cartoon or landscape ... something close enough, with no mask on so people can see it's you, and use your real first name, as a minimum,  as your Meetup account name, not a "handle" like "Viper" or "Wingman" An avatar photo or handle may work great in a movie or a virtual environment or FaceBook, but we are RL people and deserve a RL connection - i.e. your name and face - to relate to you and welcome you to the group.

Justification for the photo requirement: we need any existing member to easily, and surely, rule you out as an ex-husband/ex-wife/ex-BF/ex-GF for example, if they do not want to RSVP into the same ride with you.

We often photgraph rides, so if you are very shy about your photo being taken, this is definitely NOT a good bike group to join. Photos are intended to be consensual, only. If you find that any photo of you gets posted and you wish it had not been posted, please contact the person who posted it, or the group organizer, and just let us know, and we will delete it from the web-site for you.

Here are some group riding etiquette guidelines we suggest, to help ride flow, group harmony, and a good experience for the riders and the event hosts:

1. Please show up on time. Before most rides, the host will pull the group together and explain the route and planned first re-group point, and briefly review safety protocol, hand-signals, "car back" - stuff like that.

2. RSVP YES or NO, but please show up healthy if you have RSVPed YES. No-shows are discouraged, as is showing up with a health / injury issue that might prevent you from completing the ride. Let the ride leader know BEFORE the ride if you simply must attend injured / unhealthy - so you two can work out some kind of deal, and not surprise the group with a partial ride. An explanatory e-mail or txt is great if you need to no-show, but could not change your RSVP. A certain number of no-shows (no specific number) will self-limit your membership.

3. Visit the proposed route URL and respect the ride-leader and group's right to follow it.

4. Please respect the privilege and responsibility of the event host to maintain the group on the posted ride.

5. Maintain personal pace - so group flow is not disrupted. If you want to go slower, please move to the back of the group. Please don't pass another rider and then slow in a way that makes them slow too, when you are in a pace-line.

6. When people call "car back" for safety please, get in line at the right side of the road and maintain single-file until the car has passed.

7. Please be patient when passing a slower rider. Look behind you to make sure the road is clear, and politely call out "on your left" and then pass the rider on their left side. If there is a car back at the time, wait until the car has passed before you start the pass.

8. If you are new to pace-line riding, please check out this cool link by a local bike group:

http://www.diablocyclists.org/Downloads/Pac...

9. Please do not suggest or post a cross-post where people of this ride group are basically being invited to join another group's ride, without working out a deal with the organizer about that first. It's hard to maintain group etiquette and liability exposure otherwise.

10. Guests are welcome to a first ride, no question! If they want to attend regularly, please encourage them to become members. If they are off-pace, please consider yourself responsible for them, separate from the group if necessary, and maintain escort to get them back to the start loc, if they need that. Your leadership in this regard will maintain group fun, and make your guest feel welcome to return.

Doing all these things may seem like common sense, but it helps to call out expectations so we are all on the same page.

Starting in August, 2012, many of our rides will begin to have the option of these terrain and pace descriptions in the descriptions:

Terrain description categories

1 Essentially Flat

2 A few low hills

3 Moderately hilly

4 Hilly - with a few steep ones

5 Very hilly, considerable climbing

! An exclamation point (!) after the terrain rating indicates surprisingly hard hills in view

of the overall terrain

Pace description categories

L    Leisurely: easy pace, frequent stops, good for new riders. 10 - 12 mph on flat road

T    Touring: steady pace, fewer stops, for experienced riders. 13 - 15 mph on flat road

M    Moderately fast pace: few stops, for strong experienced riders. 16 - 18 mph on flat road

B    Brisk: very strong riders; tight, fast packs and pacelines. 18+ mph on flat road

Attending a fast-paced road-bike ride with a hybrid or mountain bike, for example, is NOT RECOMMENDED due to group pace considerations.

Sounds like a lot, huh? Why even try joining? Heck it all seems common sense and natural for any experienced group rider and we have a blast. If you are an experienced group rider just looking for more fun people to join riding, come on down!

Click here to see the list of our group organizers