The Group Ride

fuck, i just don't know.  perhaps i'm becoming the grouchy old guy, perhaps it's not just me, i'm having problems with group rides.

i don't always like to ride alone, i prefer to ride with others, to me, mountain biking is a social event.  tonight, however, i pulled a Cartman, said "screw you guys i'm going home" and left.

The energy of the group was just too much for me.  It was an after work ride, i was a bit tired, but i was looking forward to the ride.  There would have been four of us, but then one guy's wife showed up, and another dude showed up, and usually it would be awesome, however, the guy's wife was wired like a poodle and people were feeding off each other's weird energy and it just became irritating and annoying.

so we started off on the ride, going up a hill on singletrack, the guy's wife said something to the other dude who showed up and he stopped short and took off, causing everyone to stop, then start again, i was at the tail and there was the accordion effect.  so i'm riding, have to stop, then have to sprint to catch up, then i have to stop, spring to catch up, and this repeated about three times until i said fuck it, turned around, and left.   Granted i wasn't in a great mood when we started the ride either, anticipating shit like this.

Whenever there is a large group, people seem to need to compete and a fun after work ride becomes some "i will rip your legs off" race to show who is the dominant monkey in the jungle with the biggest dick.  I personally don't give a fuck, i just want to ride and have a good time.   perhaps they are having a good time doing that, i am not, i don't want to be part of it.

so i left.  i really don't like the after work group rides much anymore.  we have to wait for people who knew we were riding, but now have to "get ready," then we have to rush, and it's a gigantic clusterfuck.

and now i feel like i sort of got robbed a ride.  i also feel a bit upset at myself, i should have just let it go and pedaled and had fun on the bike, which i wasn't, and i think it's because i didn't want to ride there with those folks at that time.    The problem is...i don't much like ANY group rides anymore.

meh, i'm just being a whiny bitch, and i think i'm just tired.  it's my friday, i should relax, which i'm about to do.

i need to learn to enjoy group rides again.  or i need to find a group i enjoy riding with.  one of these things must happen.