In my geographic area, spring and warm weather have come quickly. It makes me excited but also a bit nervous. For the past few months, it has been easier and warmer to just stay inside, so as the weather changes I find it a bit hard to get back outside into old activity habits, or to start new ones.
In mid-life, thoughts of safety (or, more specifically, avoiding injury) now enter my brain much more than they used to. As I watch soccer players in my rec league get whacked in the face with a ball, or see on social media friends wearing hand braces after a night of adult dodgeball, I am more encouraged to find fitness activities I can do with people instead of against them to minimize the likelihood of getting hurt.
So this year I joined a rec cycling club in my area, the London Cycling Club. With over 100 members last year, it claims community and fun while riding. I have blogged about joining a curling club in the last few years, which helped me with my Self-Confidence, Effort, and Improvement. This year, I am hoping only for motivation to get outside more on my bike.
The LCC started their season with a 2.5-hour in-person welcome meeting that had coffee, snacks, a PPT, and even demonstrations (which was great because it turns out I didn’t know what a “peloton” was). Leadership who presented emphasized things like getting a toolkit, road ID, and high viz clothing for safety. They described how they were responding to membership feedback by offering more variety in the ride calendar. The President spent 10 minutes talking about eating plenty of snacks to avoid this thing they call “The Bonk.”
The LCC has volunteers organize rides, some for beginners and others just for women. It provides access to phone apps with marked trails, ride sign-up, and the ability to meet up with others. It also plans events with other clubs, while maintaining insurance for all of its active members. At this kick-off meeting, long time members said they have found community and friendship in this group.
This is all much more than I had expected from signing up with this group, but I welcome it. I have spent most of my adult life avoiding team sports and fearing athletic enthusiast groups, not knowing how they could help me understand and enjoy the fitness activity more. Now, happily, I have finally joined the club.
Cycling clubs are great! I belonged to a women’s group for quite a few years until the amount of riding I did was too much to fit in with the club activities. Even now, I do regular rides with people I met through the club. It was great for teaching me skills, getting me to start climbing the local hills, teaching me to change a tire, and on and on. I am so glad you have found a group that is making you comfortable with cycling!
Believe them about The Bonk! I have now experienced it three times & it is not fun. Your physical activity system just tries to shut down – energy deserts you – and, oddly, your appetite deserts you. The worst one, for me, left my appetite very low for three or four days. It can be pretty dangerous.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! I am looking forward to what you describe (except The Bonk, of course).