Redbeard Bikes Group Ride
Every week on Sunday, NYCs’ Redbeard Bikes holds a group ride in Prospect Park. This was the first time I’ve joined it, but I will be going back as often as I can.
A couple weeks ago, here in New York, I joined one of the weekly Redbeard Bikes group rides. They have rides every Sunday at 7:45am, and do a couple laps in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, then get coffee together at a cafe near by. The group was awesome! I set out a little earlier than necessary, so I had a nice intro with the other folks who showed up early. The ride was led by two of the Redbeard team riders, who were super nice.
The first two laps were a little slow, very conversational pace. I honestly love that pace when riding in a group, because it really makes you get to know the people who you’re riding with. I was having a nice conversation with one of the people who showed up for almost the whole few first laps. Its great when something like this can bring people together to make new friends on the bike.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been really trying to get out more and do more group rides. One thing that I kind of hate about NY riding is there are only a few routes that are super suitable for road cycling. One of the main ones here in Brooklyn is Prospect Park, so 90% of the group rides that you hear about are laps in the park. I don’t mind those rides, especially when you can meet up before it starts and have time to meet the other riders first outside the park. Just joining in on a paceline doens’t do much for me, I’ve done that plenty, but having a group you started with and end with can be quite meaningful, even on an hour long weekday morning ride.
About halfway through the ride, the pace started to increase quite a bit. We could tell that the back half of the group was slowing, so we decided to break our peloton into two groups. I stayed with the front group, and we did rotating paceline leaders for two more laps. The pace was quite high, a good workout, and so we spun for those two laps as a fast, small group. Getting to know the other folks who showed up.
After the ride, the first group waited at the exit for the 2nd group to finish their laps, and we cruised down to Hive Cafe, about a block away. Had a great chat with some of the other riders, and enjoyed my cold brew.
Can’t wait to do this ride with this gang all summer!
