ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at different means through which collective identities are shaped. It explores the role and formation of the physical collectivity of cycling clubs and their contribution to pleasure riding since the latter part of the nineteenth century. The chapter considers how these clubs and associations change in time and the extent to which these changes are connected with broader patterns of social change. It explains the analysis of ritual practice from the previous chapter to consider the ways in which landscapes become imbued with collective identity for cyclists. The chapter examines how sociality is forged; it is initially helpful to examine historical formations that deliberately and explicitly embodied that aspiration. The solo cyclist, alone against the elements, is a familiar trope of cycling literature, but it should not distract us from the equal importance of social riding narratives.
