Rocky Mountain Cycling Club
The Club For People Who Love to Ride!
Rocky Mountain Cycling Club
The Club For People Who Love to Ride!
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The Rocky Mountain Cycling Club (RMCC), formed in the Fall of 1993 and currently with over 350 members, was created to cater to active, enthusiastic cyclists of intermediate and advanced levels and interests. This is accomplished in two ways: first, by scheduling and conducting an annual slate of rides which challenge riders to plan and develop his or her conditioning level and cycling ability, and, second, by aggressively working to return benefits to members such as promotions and discounts on purchases of cycling equipment and other services from local bike shops. We are focused on rides and promotions that enhance your cycling enjoyment. The RMCC is an official supporter of Bicycle Colorado, and works to safeguard the rights and safety of cyclists in Colorado. What further sets our club apart is a full range of pedaling experiences, whether you ride for fitness or endurance, on road or mountain bikes. No other local club offers the variety nor the scope of rides.
Our program calendar begins in January and contains over 90 training rides and events through November, plus show-and-go rides in December and January. Weekend rides begin with mileage options from 20 miles early in the year working up to 60 miles for recreational cyclists. For more experienced cyclists, routes begin at 35 miles and work up to centuries and above. So that you can more easily find people to ride with, cyclists group themselves at the ride start by estimated cruising speed: 20+ mph, 17+ mph, or 14+ mph over flat to gently rolling terrain.
From April through October, we also offer weekday rides on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Check our ride schedule for full details. Take advantage of our experience. The RMCC counts as members dozens of riders with RAAM ( Ride Across America ), PBP ( Paris - Brest - Paris ), and BMB ( Boston - Montreal - Boston ) backgrounds, and is the official ultra-marathon, super-randonneur club of the region.
All the starting locations are strategically located along the Front Range from Loveland to Monument and from Aurora to Copper Mountain. This allows an optimal mix of climbing (Saturdays) and flat (Sundays) riding as well as a great variety of local scenery. Riding within traffic-congested areas is minimized.
The RMCC uses modern, high-quality, computer-produced maps and route narratives to take advantage of the decades of local cycling experience represented by club ride coordinators, and provide easy-to-read and meaningful ride instructions to all participants. Please consult the full schedule for contact information.
Recreational (R): For the moderate to
advanced cyclists, this series will add to your riding pleasure and help
you get ready for summer tours such as Ride the Rockies or the Courage
Classic.
Performance (P): If you're focusing
on speed events such as time trials or road races, or merely like to
ride fast, RMCC's performance rides will help you train.
Endurance Riding (E) and Brevets:
These training rides continually progress in distance and difficulty to
prepare cyclists for longer rides such as the
Triple Bypass, the Grand
Loop, the Joe Lookingbill Denver-Aspen Classic,
Paris-Brest-Paris,
and Boston-Montreal-Boston.
Brevets and Qualifiers: Under the
auspices of Randonneurs USA (RUSA, brevets are
challenging endurance events which can also be used to qualify for
super-randonnee events. Such rides must be completed within a
specified time limit through checkpoints, and some night riding is
usually involved. Pre-registration is often required and always
encouraged. Populaires are shorter rides, 100 kilometers or so, to
acquaint newcomers with randonneuring. See the
brevets schedule
for further information and contact persons.
As our tagline proclaims, we really are the
club For People Who Love to Ride.
You will find that we pride
ourselves on serving a wide variety of cycling interests. This
document is a guide to provide new members with a quick orientation to
the club. It can also remind existing members of the other types
RMCC has hundreds of members with a wide
range of riding abilities. The key to having a pleasurable
group-ride experience is to select the type of ride that suits your
personal ability and riding goals. If you go out too fast you will
likely be dropped and doing the rest of your group riding in a group
of one. Go out too slow and you may not feel challenged, and may
not be riding with those best suited to you. There are usually two
different length routes for each ride. R/P
is the shorter Recreation/Performance route.E
is the longer Endurance route. Our rides are self-supported.
While other riders will help you out by loaning you a tube or tool, they
will expect you to come prepared - RMCC is not a club for complete
novices. Unless you have some group riding experience, please take
some time to observe group riding skills from the back of the group.
After you are comfortable and gain some skill, you can move forward in
the group. You should also be comfortable on a ride of 25-30 miles
at 14-16 mph on flat ground. Starting from that base, here are the
riding styles that are available to you:
Short & Steady (R
):
This is a great place to do your first ride with the club.
It can be intimidating joining a group where you don't know anyone.
You may arrive with thoughts like, I hope I can keep up
, Can I make it
all the way?
, Is there water along the route?
, Will they take
bathroom breaks
, What if I have a flat tire or break down?
, and I
don't want to hold up the group
. This is an
R/P distance ride led by a domestique
, the club's front line
ambassador, who is there specifically to answer your questions and
assure that you have a pleasant first experience.
Short & Fast (P
): These are the club
rabbits
who may be racers or experienced cyclists who are interested
in speed and just don't have the time or desire to ride the longer
route. They ride the R/P route hard and fast and don't take any
prisoners. Be prepared and be in shape if you choose this type of
ride.
Long & Steady (E
): This is for more
endurance-oriented cyclists, more miles generally at a steady pace.
These rides also host our Intermediate Training Group: our resident USA
Cycling coach has created a formal training program for those who want
to methodically improve their riding abilities and increase their range
from 30 miles up to 100 miles or more.
Long & Fast (E
): You can ride the
Endurance distance option as fast as you wish, of course, and we have a
number of strong riders who do. This is excellent speed and
endurance conditioning, great training for longer races and the more
strenuous brevets.
Longer & Expeditious (Brevets): These
events - 125 to 375 miles and longer - let riders push their personal
envelope of endurance, whether at a steady clip or race pace. The
Randonneuring / Endurance seminars, and seasoned, accomplished RMCC
veterans, are there to help. See Randonnées
below.
RMCC also has some special interest groups:
Randonnées (Brevets & Populaires): Brevets
are non-competitive, challenging endurance events ranging from 200
kilometers (125 miles) to 1200 kilometers (745 miles). Populaires
are shorter, 100k-200k. The RMCC sponsors these events and
Randonneurs USA sanctions them. Almost a third of RMCC members
participate, at varying distances that suit them. In randonneuring,
finishing is more important than being fast; camaraderie is a key value,
as is helping out your fellow randonneurs. Read more about our
Colorado Brevet Series
here. For more on randonneuring,
check out Randonneurs USA.
Evening Rides: These are seasonal
after-work rides. They may be short, casual rides, climbing
practice, or other style depending upon the organizer.
Touring: The club offers multiple
supported, multi-day point-to-point tours in various parts of Colorado,
New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming during the year. These are over a
week or a long weekend. Early-season tours are 75-90 miles per
day; peak season tours are 100-110 miles per day. The regular
schedule of club E
rides prepares you for these tours, which are
scenic and feature challenging terrain.
Fixed Gear: During the winter months, the club
has weekend Fixed Gear rides. These rides are great for developing
a smooth spin, increasing leg strength, improving bike handling skills,
gaining a historical perspective on cycling, and just plain fun.
Read more about these rides
here.
Training for Ultras: Our E-ride schedule, brevets, and tours are good
training for the ultra-cyclists among our members, including veterans of
the Race Across America and the Furnace Creek 508. Our membership
includes the managing director of the Ultra-Marathon Cycling
Association, who is a certified coach. For more on ultra-cycling,
check out the UMCA.
At this time the club does not formally participate in racing, mountain biking, or touring. However, RMCC is a great incubator for new cycling ideas. If you have a special interest, or ability, feel free to approach the Board of Directors with your ideas.
Click here for a printer friendly version of A Guide to Riding with the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club.