meetup.com

[radtron]

Is meetup.com a worthwhile way of rallying folks to organize rides for your area.  I'm at a lost I have gone a few bickpacking trips solo.  My family gets scared when I do this for safety reasons.  I'm not sure how to find other people to go with me.  I ask my moutain biking friends but they think I'm crazy.  Has anyone used meetup in their local areas to find local bikepackers.

[VermontGal]

Hi, I have a bikepacking / bicycle touring meet-up group in Salt Lake City (SLC, Utah) area.  We have about 65 people signed up as interested. 

We started in August 2012, and have been running about one overnight a month except in winter (Dec to Feb).  We had our last trip last fall in November, and our first trip at the end of March 2013.  So far we have had a total of 9 unique individuals actually go on trips.  We've had 5 overnight trips, and a few local "socials" to talk, share gear notes, look at maps, show photos...

I'm increasingly interested in bikepacking, although I have done road touring for years.  Some people in the group would like more paved road touring, so we need to diversify our trip type.

I started the group because I didn't want to go solo.  So far, no trips have been cancelled for lack of other participants, although we have had some very small trips.  I am learning that on meet-up, many people will cancel at the last minute.  So, if I want an actual trip size around 6-8 people (plenty!) I should probably allow 12-14 people to sign up.