Hi Leah, I am near Muskegon, about 1.5 hours away, so not sure of your local opportunities. Here there are groups for all rider levels. You will get looks riding your Platy on a group ride, guaranteed. The culture is you have to look fast on your carbon no matter how slow you ride. I rode a few group rides with Albatross bars and a couple of the hard core roadies in A (fast) group gave me a hard time expressing anything other than a drop bar is dangerous to the other riders with those wide bars. I wasn't. The attitude was that I would be slow too. I rode with the b group- 15-18mph average, which is easier than it sounds. The group draft is a wonderful thing for feeling fast. You will probably have to just go and charm them with your beautiful Platypus and wonderful nature. As a side not, I am starting a "country bike" group this year at my new favorite bikeshop owned by an Amish man. The Amish group allowed pedal bikes about 6 years ago and they have really taken to it. I saw young men in their everyday clothing(no lycra here) riding very nice road bikes the other day in the snow. The owner expects a decent turnout from the Amish community for the rides. There are great gravel and rural roads right from the shop and he sells very Rivish/Bobish bikes and accessories, fenders, chunky tires, studded tires, lights, etc. They would love your bikes. Marc Irwin lives in Kalamazoo and may be able to clue you in better. Simply Cycle is his blog- http://simplecycle-marc.blogspot.com/ Hope the cold weather is not too hard on your family, spring will be here before you know it. Tom Palmer Twin Lake, MI
On Monday, January 17, 2022 at 9:31:09 AM UTC-5 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > [image: 0168267B-AB4E-4252-B2D2-09FC827BCB73.jpeg]We recently moved to SW > Michigan. I was a total Lone Wolf (borrowing from Eben Weiss, The Bike > Snob) in Vegas but I dream of having Real Life Bike Friends here. This List > has really been a gift to me, but it has also made me want more: I want > REAL people and REAL experiences with them. I have found a shop that hosts > rides of various kinds 9 months out of the year. There is hope! > > The trouble is: I don’t know what I am, and neither does anyone else. > > I have never done a group ride. I don’t know how fast or slow I am, and I > don’t know how far I can go. I don’t know etiquette or what would tick off > other riders in the group. (My “group rides” were with my 2 sons on the way > to school. And it’s true that you learn a rhythm that works for your group > and on the rare occasion my husband got included, he made us all nervous.) > I would like to have a good first experience and not be a drag for a group. > I think failure would send me right back into Lone Wolfdom. I suppose I > will just have to risk it. > > When I say I ride, everyone thinks Roadie, and then they think of their > friend who is also a Roadie and want to plan a meeting for us. Now, I doubt > I’m going to keep up with a group of road bikes on my Platypus. When I say > I don’t have a road bike, the person will say, “Oh, you like to mountain > bike!” When I try to explain, try to say what it is that I ride, I don’t > have words. If I admit I don’t have a road bike or mountain bike people > assume hybrid bike from big box store = not a serious rider. I don’t know > what I am. I don’t know what “we” are. Where do bikes like ours fit? Who do > we ride with? > > In looking at local events online, it seems there are Roadies and there > are Gravel Kings (my own term). If I roll up on my fendered, raspberry > sparkle Platypus, both groups will be uncomfortable. > > My shop did mention some community rides, and those I will try, though I > suspect they might be short and slow for my taste. There are some very > exciting events state-wide here, but they do seem to be geared to road > bikers. I admit that I know very little about bike culture here, and > talking to real people might open up a lot of possibilities. Where are > these people I can talk to?! > > The locals tell me spring will be here in March. I’ve got 2 months to > figure out where I fit, Rivsters. > > Who can relate? Who has words of wisdom? Who just wants to commiserate? > Are we the outcasts of bike culture or are we unicorns? Where are we in the > Velotaxonomy? How do we make the cool people take us seriously? Should I > buy Lycra? > > What I wouldn’t give for a couple of RivSisters living locally… > Leah > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c6299176-654e-4912-8fd6-e6eaad2db880n%40googlegroups.com.
