AUBURN – John Cox started riding a bike to get in shape.

He tried running, but the pounding hurt his shins. Road cycling gave him speed without the pain, exercise without the injury. It allowed him to relax.

“I think about what hill’s coming up next rather than all the day-to-day stuff,” said Cox, a 29-year-old sales professional with a baby at home.

But Cox found one thing lacking: company.

“I’d like to meet new people,” he said.

On Monday, he became one of the newest members of the Maine Cycling Club. In that 90-person group, he’s anything but alone.

“I just want to maintain a pace with them,” said Cox as more than a dozen cyclists stretched or rode in lazy laps before an evening ride.

The Maine Cycling Club was created in 1997 as a racing team. Over the years, membership dropped and the club started falling apart.

“We would see other people out riding and we’d say, ‘Why aren’t they riding with us?'” said Beryle Martin, a ride leader.

The Maine Cycling Club reorganized this year. More recreational than racing, the club was set up for cyclists who wanted company when they rode the road.

It started the season with about 60 members. It now has about 90 members, including two top editors at the Sun Journal.

“The bigger it gets the more popular it gets,” said Richard Marchessault, club president.

The club hosts seven group rides five nights a week. The most intense one goes 30 to 35 miles, up and down hills, between 18 and 21 mph.

Monday, Cox’s first group ride, was for beginners. Ten to 15 miles of sometimes-hilly terrain going 13 or 14 mph.

Cox, who bikes 70 to 80 miles a week, probably could have handled a longer ride. But he wasn’t sure he could keep up a faster speed.

Some of the other 15 Monday night riders were more experienced, but they liked the easy ride. Others were just breaking in their bikes.

“I’m like so new to this it’s crazy,” said Shawna Vaillancourt, giggling. “It’s like my fifth ride. Maybe.”

Vaillancourt’s husband, a cyclist for five years, encouraged her to get a bike and join the club when she said she wanted to get in shape. She had her first group ride earlier this season.

“Nobody’s leaving me in the dust,” she said.

From Harriman Drive in Auburn, the group took off toward Poland. The roads were smooth there, the cars patient.

Two by two, in blaze orange jerseys and colorful helmets, they chattered about work and the weather. At hills, the tight group spread out, with more experienced riders teaching novices how to shift. At intersections, some cyclists rode in circles waiting for other riders to catch up. Others puffed and took the chance to rest.

Vaillancourt, who has asthma and a ragweed allergy, coughed, her face slightly red.

“After I ride, though, it gets so much better,” she said of her cough.

For more than an hour, the group sped down 13 miles of road, heads down, eyes forward. The slower riders were flanked by more experienced riders. All were quiet.

By the end of the last hill, the chatter had started again.

“We’re all upright. That’s a good thing,” joked Marchessault as the group pulled into the parking lot on Harriman Drive.

Vaillancourt celebrated her sixth ride and a milestone: she went down a hill that had always scared her.

“It banks really sharply and you’re like ‘Oh god!'” she said. “But I did it.”

Cox celebrated a milestone, too: his first group ride. And it won’t be his last.

“I’ll be here Thursday night,” he said.