KENT—Riding bicycles and enjoying beer brought four friends together nine years ago to form a club, which is still going today.
The Velopigs Beer and Bicycle Social Club began in 2015 when Kasey Clark, John Funk, Sean Sheridan and Don Lawson got together for mountain biking rides in the evening that always ended with a beer when they were done. Lawson called himself “the slug of the group,” compared to the skill level displayed by the original four and the recognition they’ve received in races over the years.
Velopigs began as a social club and continues in that same spirit today. Lawson wants to see new members join. There are no specific bicycling skills needed, just a desire to ride.
“Ask us for a t-shirt then you’re in. That’s all it’s ever taken,” Lawson said.
Kent resident Brett Hall is one of the newer members, having joined three years ago. He wanted to find others to ride with. He discovered the Kent School mountain bike trails and ended up chatting with other riders who were part of the Velopigs.
“They said, ‘we’re going to have a group ride in two weeks and everyone is welcome,’ “ Hall said. He discovered the group’s Facebook group and reached out. Riders post upcoming rides on the group and they also maintain a group chat that has 16 people on it.
The club rides on both Kent and South Kent School’s mountain biking trails. Lawson helps maintain the trails and said they are fortunate that both independent schools allow the public to use the trails.
“Don and Curtis Scofield love building trails,” Hall said. “We’re very lucky to have those guys. Both of the schools have mountain bike teams.”
There are 30 miles of trails at Kent School. Both Scofield and John Hinman, who are coaches, are riders in the club.
Back roads are preferred, not Route 7, where the cars are going fast. The best are “gravel roads,” which many people in New England call dirt roads. The reason is that there are fewer cars.
A group ride is attractive for a number of reasons. “When I’m going by myself, it’s exercise and just being out and it helps with your head and helps with your body and all that kind of stuff,” said Luke Soule, who has been a member for the past seven years. “But, socially, when you get a group together, it’s just so much different, and it’s not serious. It’s just playing around, and usually it’s just fun to get together.”
During a club ride, it is not about going as fast as possible.
“We are talking the whole time. We keep it at what we call a social speed so you’re not out of breath,” Soule said.
“When you ride with people you know, it’s great to catch up,” said Lawson.
Hall said that there are several members that are in the age 60+ group and he finds the ones who match his speed.
“You find the guys who ride your pace or will ride with you,” Hall said.
“In addition to the social aspect, which I think the main reason we ride as a group, is there’s an encouragement level that is really big,” said Lawson. “If I go on a Sunday morning ride with these guys I’ll ride a lot farther and faster than I would by myself. It makes it more enjoyable.”
They tap into the knowledge that individual riders bring to the ride as to what roads to go on and what they might see, such as a waterfall to take photos of, or a place to sit down and relax.
“This area is beautiful and it is a great way to see it. You see a lot of it when you’re riding. It’s nothing like running or walking, for one thing it is lower impact, and you see a lot more things,” said Soule.
They’ve also organized basket bike or clunker rides on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail in New York state. A regular ride is from the Old Oak Tavern in Gaylordsville and then returning there for a beer at the bar. Recently the group rode at White Memorial Foundation in Litchfield.
Both Soule and Sheridan are fast riders. Club members said the rides work because of the variety of riders and they’d like to see more people join them.
While many of the club members do race, including road races, mountain biking, and gravel rides, the club activities aren’t focused on that. Although many of those who race do like to wear their Velopigs “racing kit,” which is a tightfitting shirt and biking shorts sporting the club colors of pink, blue and black.
Founder Kasey Clark came up with the club name and the original logo. There have been eight different kit designs since then. With his wife Tonya Taylor, he was working on a farm owned by South Kent School on its north campus.
“We had the pigs at the farm. I was trying to think of cute names,” Clark said during an interview Monday. “Velopigs had a good sound and it was fun.” Velo means bicycle in French.
He later moved to Virginia to operate a farm and decided he wanted to meet people in his new home of Loudoun County and figured bicycle riders would be a great target group. Clark brought the Velopigs club to the south. He approached a local bike shop and said he’d like to host a shop ride.
“I really started, for lack of a better word, evangelizing the club. No pressure for performance and we’ll share beers when we’re done,” Clark said. “It kind of took off the first year or two and we had about a dozen people on a ride.”
Now the group sees 80 riders show up for its weekly rides in Virginia. They do three different pace groups and “there’s still free beer at the end.” There are 2,700 members of their Facebook group and the Instagram page has 1,224 followers.
“I’m proud of the fact it’s popular because people recognize the culture and it includes everybody,” said Clark. “I’ve been told by people in the industry that we’re the largest club in the mid-Atlantic and we might be on the east coast as far as members.”
The original Velopigs now calls itself Velopigs North. Clark still stays connected, helping manage the Facebook group with Sheridan, and meeting with his friends when he travels through Kent on his way to Vermont races at least two times a year.
Anyone who wants to connect with Velopigs is encouraged to go to the Facebook group and post a message.
