I was a bit shocked to read about group rides with 50 people on here, maybe I’m a bit antisocial but that seems bloody massive. For me it goes like this…

One person = Great, especially if I know the way already.
Two = Probably my preferred number.
Three = Nice, but not the magic number.
Four = OK, but chances of a mechanical now increasing dramatically.
Five = Tolerable, but faffing will reach critical mass.
Six = About the limit.

I’d say 2 if you are going for it and 3 for having a laugh.

I’d say it depends who the other people are.

33 with 2 leaving at the halfway point……………. 😉

Regularly do night rides of 4-6. It’s fine as long as every-one understands the pace, and the route, do social weekend rides with that number sometimes too, close mates so it’s fine.

Sometimes it’s great to be in a gang, and have a laugh and a natter, sometimes it’s also grand to be on yer own, and set the pace and route to suit yerself.

Depends on infrequent get togethers big groups are fine, weekly rides of 4-6 are great fun but nice to ride with just 2 or 3 for chilled time.

3 is good. If there’s a major drama, one can stay with the casualty, one can go for help. Good for chatting, bit more friendly competition, plus 2 people in a ride photo looks better than just one (well, sometimes…)

Any more than about 5 and the faff factor increases exponentially.

I think it was all a bit tongue in cheek 😉

It really depends on where you are riding. In some areas it is not practical to have a large group of people where the route is not obvious. Common sense and confidence in the organisor prevails … maybe 🙄

3 for a blast, up to nine for a social pootle, more for showing the area and making day of it making new friends, etc.

4-5

with large groups doesn’t everyone just end up riding with a smaller subset of people anyway?

I mostly ride around brighton and I can see groups of that size causing quite a lot of trail conflict unless it was a nightride.

the faff time must make up about 90% of the ride as well…

less than 10 I feel a bit lonely :o) No, really, whoever wants to go is fine with me, but less than 5 is sparse.

1, tops.

HTH

Upto 20 on Mondays some times, generally 2-5 on most other rides.

94 if your a bogtrotter

One.

Half a dozen for a fast paced road ride.
Three or four for a fast paced XC MTB workout.
Two or three for a trail ride.
One or two for a recovery ride.
One for exploratory route finding.

3-4 is a good size IMO.

Any size is fine, but fannying about potential rises with numbers.

1 if it’s a recce & your’e doing the recce’ing. Probably up to about 6 after that. I’ve devised many a route where there was 4 or 5 of us only to find half of it unrideable, got loads of stick for those!

One if you are going for it.
Two is great.
Three(of the right choice)is also great.
It allows the other two to talk amongst themselves whilst I tell crap jokes.
Four and above is always too many.
You are only as quick as the slowest one.

94 if your a bogtrotter

quite a few Bog Trotters don’t like big groups either! Me, I’m just happy to see people having fun :o)

Depends on the group and the conditions, sometimes 10 can be OK, sometimes it can be a nightmare of unfitness, wrong turns and mechanicals. if the weathers good an no one is in a rush to get home a big group ride is OK.