Dawn Zielinski (center) and members of the Village Idiots Cycling Club. Photo by Wes Roberts.

To some, the road just calls. It called Dawn Zielinski, president of the Village Idiots Cycling Club, some years ago after a car accident interrupted her running regimen. “My physical therapist told me that I should become a triathlete if I wanted to continue running so that I didn’t just work one part of my body,” says Zielinski. “Two of my friends and I were into triathlon training and would cycle around the same time that the Village Idiots Club was riding. One night they just asked, ‘why don’t you join us?’”

That was 12 years ago. Zielinksi, who was the first social director for the club, has been president for the past seven years. What began as just another method for training has become for Zielinkski, more than just “a second full-time job.” It has become a way of life. Over the years, the friends Zielinski has made through the club have changed as the natural cycle of people moving from and to the state has occurred.

“When I initially came into the group, I had a core group of girls that I was riding with, but then one moved away and another stopped riding. You have to kind of keep reinventing your friend group, but the nice thing is that people move in and you make new friends,” says Zielinski. “I’m on my third set of core friends in the Village Idiots group—most of them are on the board now—and they’re my right-hand people, I couldn’t do it without them.”

The Village Idiots, which hosts rides starting in Lakewood Ranch by the Village Bikes shop, offers an assortment of rides for cyclists of every level. There are the high level groups such as A— riding at 25 mph and above— all the way down to the more beginner friendly D group, which paces itself at 14-16 mph. An emphasis is placed on road safety and learning how to ride in a group. In recent years, the group has also incorporated mountain biking. “A lot of people can get fast before they get good. I want to make sure that you’re good before you’re fast,” says Zielinski.

Village Idiots Cycling Club, Weekly Rides Wednesday from Lakewood Ranch Main St and Saturday from Waterside Place

Dawn Zielinski (center) and members of the Village Idiots Cycling Club. Photo by Wes Roberts.

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