We tend to focus our reviews on competitive events and charity rallies, but I thought I'd spare a little virtual ink for one of my favorite weekly club rides.
 
The Plano East Side Ride* is a joint effort of the Plano Bicycle Association and the Greater Dallas Bicyclists clubs.  It's the first club ride I did when I took up road riding on New Year's Day of 2005, and I've kept going back ever since.
 
The ride meets in Plano, on 18th Street, east of US-75 and fewer than 100 yards from Plano Cycling & Fitness.  From there it heads east toward Sachse and Wylie and covers some of the same roads as some may know from Richardson Bike Mart rides.  It's not unusual for the exact route to deviate somewhat from  this map, but not by a lot.  The basic tenor of the ride is very social, and there's a core group of riders from both the PBA and GDB clubs whom I've seen on the ride for the past three years.  
 
Post-ride computer averages range from the mid-14s to as much as 17 mph (usually as the season wears on and the riders get their legs back).  However, one of the nice things about this ride is that the group splits into multiple pace/distance groups at the first rest break, depending on the abilities and preferences of the riders on any given day.  There are two convenience mart stops along the way (which usually drag on a little longer than I'd like), but once out into the rolling hills, there are two or three additional known spots—usually at the end of the longer climbs—at which the friskier riders stop to wait for the rest.
 
As club rides go, this is one of the safer ones I've been on.  The core riders tend to be a more experienced, mature group, and they're much better about things like riding single file where they ought to and double elsewhere.    Another plus is that there's none of the anti-bent attitude I so often see when participating in some other club rides.    Lynne on her P-38, Paul on his Stratus, and Dave on his Aero are familiar faces on this ride. Oh, James Loomis will pound up and announce that there's "no way I'm gettin' passed by one o'them lay down bikes", but you don't have to know James long to realize he's kidding around.
 
Foo says...  
 
 
* The link is for the 23 June ride, but the times and other details are good for each week's ride throughout the year.

Quote from FooRider on Jun 24^th, 2007, 12:20pm:

 
 
Yes, my pal Loomis has been passed PLENTY of times...       ANd yes, it's nice to have several distance options available after the first rest stop -- however, the longest distance is typically ~37 miles.

Not a whole lotta climbing on the shorter routes -- the climb up Renner is a bit lengthy, but the group(s) do take the occasional trip up Dump Hill...
 
PB