Got my riding group!

Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings, brought to you by the good people of East Alabama Cycling Club!

Wednesday nights start @ 5:30 and are usually around 25-30 miles of beautiful rolling hills around Auburn. We "roll" at about 18-20 mph, so its a nice 2 hr ride that isn't too stressful or hard. Given that I ride to the meeting place, it adds a few more miles, making the total (last night's, at least) to be 35 miles. This is about as much as I can do in one go before I have to eat something, so dinner is always welcome when I get home.

Saturday's ride begins at 7:30 am, breaks up into about 4 different groups (based on riding ability and length), and always ends in breakfast. (Yay!). This ride is much more social and significantly larger than the Wednesday night group, as well as accommodates riders of all abilities.

To be honest, this is my first real riding group. I didn't ride in a group in NYC because if you didn't have a high-end ride and weren't snooty, they didn't want anything to do with you. I didn't group ride in CT because I just didn't get my shit together. But I really like riding in a group. It gives you people to talk to, safety, and most importantly, people to draft. Everyone goes faster when riding in a group.

Also, I get to essentially "tour" my new area by riding around the neighborhoods. I've read before that riding one's bike around a new town is a great way to go sightseeing. And experiencing it for the first time here in Auburn, I can say their right.

I am digging the riding group and the people in it. Hope I can make some friends out of it.