Hi all,
I normally ride alone and when I do I'm always thinking 'if you come off you're miles from anyone - slow down!'.
Luckily, I've found some new mates to ride with and was starting to think 'get in, I can go full pelt and at least someone's with me I case I crash hard'.
Now for the problem, riding with a group making me more nervous than ever. I'm never leading the pack because they're showing me new routes. This means I'm always on someone's back wheel and can't see line choice properly. It's a real compromise in my riding and I don't want to be rude to anyone. Maybe I should just enjoy the laughs, there's a lot of them but just no fast riding really.
The only thing I can think of to combat this is to make more distance between me and the guy in front but the problem is that there's so many turn offs in these woods that I might just get lost!
Any advice? Apart from stop whinging 🙂
You don't need to drop back to the point of losing sight of the guy in front
Aye, maybe with some practice I don't... Hope you're right! Just seems I'm always dragging brakes and also end up following their line choice.
When I started riding again I rode with a mate then he dropped out and I rode alone, which was fine as I just enjoyed it. Then I joined a group which was fantastic, they were a really good group found loads of new places to ride etc, some times the size of the group would be big so on some trails it was a pain. But on others there were not many of you so it's swings and roundabouts. Just enjoy the ride, but I've moved now and it is very big and open out there so have to look for some new riding buddy's
Just enjoy the ride!
That is always the problem with groups they seem to like to follow to close to the wheel in front then as you say you dont see the lines.what we do is leave good 20 yards then everybody can go full bore.If you have a large group no chance plenty of stops and chatting not always alot of riding Hay Ho.
Can't say I've ever had a problem following someone and coming a proper cropper because I didn't have time to bail out or change my line. Just sit say 3-4 metres off their wheel (closer when going uphill) and you'll be fine.
Yeh, I hate it when I get sucked into following closely but it's hard to stay back sometimes & concentrate on NOT just following the wheel ahead (not so bad with my regular riding mate as he's way fitter than me so I'm usually wheezing along 20 or 30 yards behind anyway)
If I ever follow people i try and make it more interesting by not following their line
Most groups work out a natural pecking order so the fastest rider goes first on descents with the slowest rider at the back. This means you're not always dragging brakes and right up someones arse, it should in theory mean that the slower riders are able to ride a bit quicker cos they can follow a faster rider.
Big groups are a pain though, you end up with more stopping/regrouping/faffing time than actual riding time.
+1 for edoverheels. Even on fire roads and flat fast stuff because I like a good line of sight, it might mean on the techy stuff I get the rough ride, but that just makes things interesting and at least I can see what I'm riding.
we tend to ride with a "sweeper" in big group rides if we're taking folks into stuff they don't know. That way everyone can ride with a comfortable gap/take lines they want and not get lost in the woods to be eaten by bears etc...
anyone with half an ounce of common sense doesn't want a faster rider riding their wheel. the running order will sort itself out once they get to know you and you get to know the trails.
it's to everyone's benefit to get it right. less confident riders don't get phased by someone breathing down their neck, and then get someone 'just' quicker than them in front, so they can develop their speed watching someone else's lines.
Some good points there, thanks everyone!
I'm interested in the sweeper! I also suppose that it will in time sort itself out in pecking order style... What I can say for sure is that I'm really enjoying riding with others for the chatter and laughs!