Club Rides
How club rides are run.
The times indicated are when the group meets. The rides "roll" (depart) 15 minutes after the listed time. This gives people time to set-up (check their bikes, add air to their tires, etc), and sign-in.
The rides are "loop rides" (almost always) where people meet at a location and return to the same location at the end of the ride. Often, there's a stop at around the middle of the ride for lunch or a snack (unless the ride is short, like, <= 20 miles in length). People usually drive their car to the start location.
A BTCNJ club ride has a leader, who the other riders follow. Some BTCNJ rides have a sweep (a coleader) who follows the group to keep track of any riders who might be having issues staying with the group (maybe, due to a mechanical problem). Riders are expected to be inbetween the leader and the sweep.
Typically, a Ridewithgps link is posted, which provides a cuesheet (a PDF of the streets to turn on that can be printed) and a file to download to a Garmin (or other) GPS device. Some rides have a link to a cuesheet PDF on our website.
Note that leaders are not all the same person: different leaders will have different styles in how they lead a ride. If a particular leader's style doesn't work for you, try a ride led by someone else!