What's a Nice N Easy Ride?

By Allan Edmonds

The Sunday afternoon Nice N Easy ride is in many ways our club's most important ride. It is the place where newcomers to town and newcomers to bicycling usually start. It is often our first public face to prospective club members, after the web site.

Most of us can remember a time when we had never ridden more than 5 or 10 miles on a bike. We can remember when we didn't have toe clips, much less "clipless" pedals. For those who are unsure where they fit in to our club this is the place to start. For those who have been riding on their own and have worked up to 10 miles or more at a time, this is the place to move to the next level of 20 to 25 miles.

It's a good opportunity for more experienced club members to do a gentle recovery ride, too. In that case club members can help out be sure other, less-experienced riders are doing okay.

It's also a good opportunity for club members with kids to do a little family biking, if they're prepared for the distance.

For the last several years Ron Brown has been our unofficial de facto leader of the Sunday afternoon Nice N Easy rides. He has developed a repertoire of five rides that he rotates through, each in the range of 20 to 25 miles. He makes sure people understand the route, that people regroup occasionally and that reasonable stops are taken along the way. No one is in too much of a hurry. A typical Sunday ride takes close to 3 hours total, averaging perhaps 9 mph overall and 11-12 mph while actually riding.

Although riders on hybrids, or even mountain bikes, do sometimes take part, most riders will keep up more easily on a road bike with smooth, narrow tires, and with toe clips or clipless pedals.

Here are links to Ron's standard five maps for rotating Nice N Easy routes:



West Side Ride


Clear Creek Trail, Crop Circle, Tramway


Waterworks


East Side, Old SR-446, Pine Grove


Muscatatuck Ride

If you've been thinking that these rides might be for you, give them a try!