As has already been said, the point of the ride isn’t to drop people. It just means that it’s a ride where you can’t keep up, they won’t wait.
Yea but any roadie worth their salt will try to drop everyone on a climb and then take advantage of a gap. That's the whole point of fast club rides surely? If they wanted to just ride, chat and look at the view they'd be on gravel bikes
Different bashes have slightly diiferent dynamics in my experience, though most will largely work and stay together until varying points in the ride where the stronger will push on and try to split the group...again, it's good training (breaks, bridging, closing etc)
Yea but any roadie worth their salt will try to drop everyone on a climb and then take advantage of a gap
Only usually on the last climb of the ride, before then people will mostly sit up and wait at the top of climbs. The fat lads are needed on the flat bits!!!
Yea but any roadie worth their salt will try to drop everyone on a climb and then take advantage of a gap. That’s the whole point of fast club rides surely? If they wanted to just ride, chat and look at the view they’d be on gravel bikes
I assume this comment isn't serious, but just in case- no, and no.
Yea but any roadie worth their salt will try to drop everyone on a climb and then take advantage of a gap. That’s the whole point of fast club rides surely? If they wanted to just ride, chat and look at the view they’d be on gravel bikes
We have a fast gravel group as well.........
Not sure I agree with TJ on the sport Vs passtime/hobby thing either. Just because you can have a chilled social ride, doesn't mean it has to be. On almost any ride there's competitiveness and bragging rights for being the first to the top (or first to the bottom), he might not be competitive his buddies might not be competitive. But stick two cyclists on a climb together and it's a race, even if the other guy doesn't know it!
If anything the roadies are more chilled and sociable. Rides are organized around an average speed, some people will be joining to push themselves a bit, others will be having an easy day of it, and so working as a group means that all except the two at the front and two at the back are probably discussing cake. Whereas off-road things tend to naturally string out a bit due to narrow trails / only one decent line, so you only really catch up and chat at a break.
i typed that but deleted it out of fear😃
Haha! I was going to make the same joke but also didn't want to light the blue touchpaper 😂
If they wanted to just ride, chat and look at the view they’d be on gravel bikes
My ideal gravel ride is more like intervals, chill on tarmac/easy bits, go hard on lumpy or fun stuff, chill, repeat etc. I find some terrain more or less demands 'going hard' on the gravel bike to maintain a bit of tension through the legs/arms/chain, going easy just results in a kicking because you're sat down with no resistance through the legs (a la riding cobbles on the road bike)
We have a fast gravel group as well………
+1
Yep, you can get dropped too on a gravel bike if you pick the wrong group!
Yea but any roadie worth their salt will try to drop everyone on a climb and then take advantage of a gap
Nah, there is a certain pride in being able to ride up and down the hills in nice formation 😉 . It's a skill in itself.
Race simulation means all out, limited discipline, not taking even turns, a bit of carpet bagging, and the hammer down where you can to make a break. Fast drop rides are more disciplined through-and-off (two lines, outside slightly faster with rotations) or bit-and-bit (chainline), until the weaker riders fall off the back. If it's a chainline, the trick is for stronger riders to go LONGER not faster on the front. It's all good stuff and is why I ride in a club with people I trust to handle a bike properly one shoulder's width apart at 40 km/h.
Tonight will see me in Group THREE. No drop, steady, fixed wheel recovering from last night's hard session on the track. No drop, stop for mechanicals, tea and cake at the clubhouse, then beer at the pub for most (although normally a 40 km ride home for me).
My ideal gravel ride is more like intervals, chill on tarmac/easy bits, go hard on lumpy or fun stuff, chill, repeat etc.
This is what our local, mostly roadie, club is liking about the gravel rides. Chill/chat on the easy forest roads without having to think about traffic, then single out for the narrow sections of "foot"path, rinse and repeat. There's still a pain-train group doing road rides but it's inevitably less sociable.
Nah, there is a certain pride in being able to ride up and down the hills in nice formation 😉 . It’s a skill in itself.
Isn't that just line dancing on bikes?
Isn’t that just line dancing on bikes?
That was last night in the velodrome. SQT sessions are basically any complex means of riding in groups you can possibly think of. Demonstrated first with judicious use of shoes for formation. Great fun 😀
And an element of exertion / need special clothes
Given we were talking about cycling and football the “element of exertion” I took for granted. a sport needs those two things – physical exertion and a score/winner at the end
So, my local Premiership football players are only professional sportsmen for the 90 minutes that they actually play a match. All the rest of the time spent training they are just professional pastimers or hobbyists.
We have a fast gravel group as well………
So do we. My favourite ride. Can't wait for the spring.
I get dropped now I'm older and carrying a bit more timber, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.
i got dropped on a 'beginners group ride'...
roadies are weird.
Fast, experienced chaingangs are way safer than a group of randoms on a social ride!
Poor disciplined group social road riding terrifies me, long straggling groups winding up motorists till the dodgy overtakes become inevitable 😕
without a scoring system its a pastime
Or playing a sport casually. There's probably no reason to be quite so prescriptive about definitions.
some people will be joining to push themselves a bit, others will be having an easy day of it,
Yep. For me riding round with the A group feels like a challenge. For the guy next to me with world records to his name that's probably less the case. It's not actually a race however much fun it is to burn off one's mates (tell me that's not fun?)
(Actually been a couple of years since I've roadbiked, but it's the best way to get fit for enjoying rather than killing yourself on challenging mtb rides so I'm going to have to give it another go when it gets a bit lighter. May not go in with the As, though they're steadier than the B1s.)
And actually on the 'we all stay together' thing: a friend was put off cycling full stop and forever after being nursed and cajoled along with a group on a social ride. We have a phrase "well, it's what he would have wanted" from one grim endless headwind etap du dales, when one of the group we'd dragged along had basically disappeared. Sometimes being dropped is an act of kindness versus the misery of trying to keep up.
Sometimes being dropped is an act of kindness versus the misery of trying to keep up.
+1, by the time you've bonked it's too late. Even sitting in a group won't keep your speed up. It's easier and less miserable if you just bail out and find a train, or make your own way back. I don't think I've ever been in a group that's decided not to wait for someone that's dropped off the back, but it's one of those unwritten rules that you catch up and either then keep up or do the polite social dance of "I'll drop off and head to the train station at ......", "no it's OK, we'll wait", "no really, I'll head off, you all probably have afternoon plans", etc.
Fast drop rides are more disciplined through-and-off (two lines, outside slightly faster with rotations) or bit-and-bit (chainline), until the weaker riders fall off the back. If it’s a chainline, the trick is for stronger riders to go LONGER not faster on the front. It’s all good stuff and is why I ride in a club with people I trust to handle a bike properly one shoulder’s width apart at 40 km/h.
This.
A good cooperative group - especially on quiet, smooth roads - is an absolute joy, it's like poetry in motion. You can go way faster than on a solo ride for less effort and there's a real sense of achievement in doing it well, hanging on til the end and so on.
On the other hand, a bad attempt at a chaingang with riders sitting on the front too long or trying to pull out from the middle of the group and charge to the front or surging through when the leader swings off can be a nightmare!
I don’t think I’ve ever been in a group that’s decided not to wait for someone that’s dropped off the back
We tend to just get to a junction and go 'weren't there more of us' and no one knows quite who dropped off and when etc...
The GPX is on the club website in advance of every ride, so everyone should at least know which cafe to head for...
My yearly local club run last time I tried to get dropped but kept catching them up due to mechanicals and a wrong turning by them...bloody nightmare just wanted to ride home at my own pace!!
Back from our freezing Tuesday night non-drop ride. Only four brave souls, all experienced. So 45km of medium paced four up pace line with some doing long turns and others short. Then Straight-to-pub for drinks and a snack. And a modest 25 km ride home for me.
We never drop beginners. Never. That can make for some very steady (slow) rides and a few shortcuts off the route to meet the faster groups at the coffee stop. Our ride leaders are all experienced club riders who take turns to lead.
I no longer feel bad about my dubious post ride recovery nutrition strategy.....
do the polite social dance of “I’ll drop off and head to the train station at ……”, “no it’s OK, we’ll wait”, “no really, I’ll head off, you all probably have afternoon plans”, etc.
As a ride leader of predominantly social to fast social (same ethos but faster) groups, we're doing the dance slightly differently; we know we have to say 'No, it's OK, honestly, we'll wait and regroup' but inwardly we're hoping you're going to put your foot down with a firm hand and demand to be allowed to skulk off to the station 😉
Nothing against road riding per se but not for me. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, as in giggle fun, like in MTB where you have obstacles, challenges, opportunities to cock up, jumps, berms, etc etc etc.
It all sounds quite serious and trying to emulate pro riders, and mostly failing.
It sounds like pure fitness, which I can sympathise with of course, but for me fitness AND fun go hand in hand. I play tennis a lot and it's also a laugh.
I can't remember seeing a road rider laugh while riding 😂.
Also you eventually end up with a weird body shape 😂
Training through hard road riding means more miles/climbing/descents MTBing. Pretty simple payoff for me.
There are many, many opportunities to cock up when you’re so far into the red you can barely see. Every one of those opportunities would likely to end up in a lot of pain, helps focus the mind.
Also you eventually end up with a weird body shape
Yep, not obese
Yes folks, to be having fun you must be seen to having fun…including laughing your tits off in the middle of a chain.
And no amount of training and getting fitter/faster makes it any more enjoyable.
I play tennis a lot
Tennis 😂
Tennis 😂
It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, as in giggle fun, like in MTB where you have obstacles, challenges, opportunities to cock up, jumps, berms, etc etc etc.
I'm sensing a theme here...
Everybody just loves riding with the fun police.
Riding fast in a group is thrillingly fun, like playing in an orchestra but with your heart rate bouncing off the ceiling. Each rotation through the group is unique. It’s quite rare to do shared tasks with the kind of synchronicity you get in good through and off. Yes, the end of the ride degenerates into a battle between those who want a sprint for the last sign and those who want to gap the sprinters, but that’s fun too.
Also you eventually end up with a weird body shape 😂
Ahh, I see you're getting confused with e-bikes.
An easy mistake to make, the slow roadie groups and e-bikes are both limited to a 15.5mph average, and both eat a similar number of bacon sandwiches and cake.
Everybody just loves riding with the fun police.
These threads always descend to the same logically falacious point.
1) I'm self declaring myself to be fun
2) I can't join a fast roadie group
3) This must be because it's incompatible with 1, no other reason.
Thankfully this generally means that the fun police don't actually turn up.
Isn’t that just line dancing on bikes?
No, that's gravel riding - checked shirts, beards and beers.
😉
No, that’s gravel riding – checked shirts, beards and beers.
👍
I'm quoting this because I'm too tight to renew my membership 😂
Sorry I didn't mean to upset.
By body shape I meant the tiny torso super skinny thing.
I accept there are loads of ways of having fun and that suffering can be fun so apologies.
I meant fun as in laughing / smiling, which I quasi never see roadies do. I am in Lanzarote this month and quite a massive sample. All seeming miserable, sorry.
Yes folks, to be having fun you must be seen to having fun
It's possible to laugh just because you're happy and without caring what anyone else thinks.
By body shape I meant the tiny torso super skinny thing.
XC racers are no different to road cyclists , nor cyclocross. Runners are likely even leaner.
On the subject of build types, it might be the "You don't choose your sport - the sport chooses you" thing though..
You can't really compare the roadie world to MTB
Watts, KOM, Strava, aero socks, gel drinks, integrated cockpits, carrying things in a funny pocket that's impossible to reach, not having a sun visor, 80psi, proprietary seat posts, getting dropped, carbon rim brakes
vs
Sending it, endos, stairs, gnarl, loam, berms, mud, rocks, slack
It's apples and oranges
XC racers are no different to road cyclists , nor cyclocross. Runners are likely even leaner.
On the subject of build types, it might be the “You don’t choose your sport – the sport chooses you” thing though..
All very true. I find a day at the bike park inherently far more fun than a day sharing tarmac with cars but I probably need to stop viewing things from my probably narrow personal prism. And perhaps I should try S&M too 😂
I probably need to stop viewing things from my probably narrow personal prism.
That will never catch on here on this forum!
And perhaps I should try S&M too
Don't knock it till you've tried it
I meant fun as in laughing / smiling, which I quasi never see roadies do.
I mean; I don't quite get how your supposed to judge the mood of a bunch of people riding at 25-30kph unless you are riding alongside them; and I guess you weren't ?
I ride with a road club; I also mountain bike. I've met great people on both sides; and the notion that roadies are all miserable barstewards is just totally wrong.
I think what is most baffling is the people who don't like the idea of road riding seem adamant that it *can't* be fun; rather than accepting that maybe it's not for them.
It'd be like me whinging about people doing massive drops and jumps and how it can't possibly be fun because it's terrifying and makes me feel faint. I just ain't built for that !
