“Drop Rides” ? Is that really a thing?

Just seen a post on Instagram where someone went out with their club on a “drop ride” and got dropped.

Is this actually a thing that roadies enjoy & plan to do, either getting left behind or trying to leave others behind?

Doesn’t sound much fun… 😲

I don’t think the plan is to necessarily drop people, but if the ride is set at a certain pace & you can’t keep up then you will get dropped.

Sounds like a Scratch group ride, just with a more obvious name…

Isn’t it more ‘there’s a planned pace for the ride and if you can’t keep it up come prepared to make your own way home’, usually for serious-face training rides? While it definitely could be horrible I don’t really see it being a problem assuming everyone knows the deal and it’s not straying into “oh, yeah, we last saw Geoff heading into that ditch but he couldn’t get back on so hey ho”.

MTB equivalent would be something like letting people know up front that the ride was going to be really steep/techs/jumpy/boggy and if they weren’t sure they should come prepared to get home?

Fairly standard for a ‘proper’ training sort of ride (e.g. a chainy). Group works together but if you fall off the back it’s up to you. Next time, stay on a bit longer.

If you aren’t happy getting dropped, then it’s a social ride you’re after

While it definitely could be horrible I don’t really see it being a problem assuming everyone knows the deal and it’s not straying into “oh, yeah, we last saw Geoff heading into that ditch but he couldn’t get back on so hey ho”.

The only people I’ve ever seen have an issue with it tend to be in possession of a very expensive bike, and a very fragile ego.

I’ve never heard it phrased like that but yes – if rides are categorised as ‘No Drop’ then I guess there can be drop ones as well. There used to be a young lad with the club and him and his ‘guardian’* used to go out on the fast ride knowing he lacked the stamina to last but would hang on as long as he could and then when the wheels came off, he had someone to shepherd him home. If you’re not a minor, no reason why you couldn’t drop off after you’re spent and find your own way back.

I’ve done it from a social ride when I was having a bad day even though the ride would have waited, I was just as happy to drop to not compromise the rest of the group. TRhe fun’s not in dropping or getting dropped but in riding as fast for as far as you can without then spoiling the ride for faster riders.

* not his Dad, a few of the fast riders were happy to perform the role so he could get a decent paced ride

Our group one rides are drop rides. You hang on for as long as you can. If you’re dropped, you’ll be swept up by group two, which is a non-drop ride since we all ride the same course.

The definition is helpful. You know what you are in for and better know the route! The converse is also helpful, my club run ‘no drop’ rides which means no-one gets left behind, no matter how slow, and any mechanicals means several people will pitch in and help(sometimes all at the same time:)). This builds confidence and enjoyment in newer riders, and everyone gets accompanied safely home.

Sure – classic chain gang / bash etiquette. Sometimes loops are done in such a way dropped riders rejoin though at an agreed point (with slowdown or regroup).

As such a ride is normally on an established route riders will know well, it isn’t as if people are getting dropped in the middle of nowhere with no idea how to get home either.

Fair enough, maybe it doesn’t sound as bad with the explanations, still not for me though 🙂

MTB equivalent would be something like letting people know up front that the ride was going to be really steep/techs/jumpy/boggy and if they weren’t sure they should come prepared to get home?

Maybe but we don’t ride like that, I suppose it’s the difference between just clearing off and literally leaving them behind vs stopping, regrouping, having a chat and then someone heading off a different way.

If you aren’t happy getting dropped, then it’s a social ride you’re after

I went on one of those once and, whilst I wasn’t dropped, we rode past three pubs and a really nice ice cream shop.

My gast was well and truly flabbered.

The informal [MTB] riding group that I’m involved with have the default philosophy that ‘everyone rides at the pace of the slowest’ . This occasionally requires a certain amount of tact, but it’s clear to everyone what they should expect. If anyone isn’t happy, then they’re free to head off on their own. Nobody ever does.

Very occasionally there are ‘pirate rules’ rides where it is up to you to keep up, or find your own way home (because ‘we don’t come back for nobody’). Again, it’s clear what is to be expected.

Roadies do that shit all the time.

Won’t that end up with one rider out cycling by themselves ?

Won’t that end up with one rider out cycling by themselves ?

No

Won’t that end up with one rider out cycling by themselves ?

Yes.

I know of a club that had a child safeguarding issue when a 14 yo got dropped, bonked and didn’t know where he was to get home…

Doesn’t sound much fun…

Type 2 fun exists!

Also on a good day when everything comes together on the road, absolutely wringing your legs out to go as hard as you can can even be Type 1 fun (I think that’s when people talk about ‘flow state’, I’ve even found it in the garage on the rollers, endorphins are lovely 😎).

Sounds normal for a training ride – our social rides are strictly “no drop”, its understood that training/chain gang rides will aim for a pace and if you can’t keep up you get dropped.

Yes.

One club I ride with does a mid week chaingang. It’s the same loop. The pace is fast. The rule is you don’t attack until a certain point. But up until that point you still have to keep up or get dropped. We look out for each other so if it’s a serious issue we have been know to stop (or come back and get them in the car).

It’s good training for racing (and fun). You can’t ride (race) hard if you ride at the pace of the weakest. 

There are loads of mid week evening rides that operate like that. Weekend rides less so because they are longer. Normally there is a cafe sprint that can start a few miles out where people get dropped. Normally only happens in the “fast” group. People know the game and enjoy it. I know some clubs operate a drop scratch group that sets off first. The idea being any dropped rider gets picked up in the second group. 

Sounds grim. I wonder if there’s a safe word? Like if you say “pineapple” you’re aloud to sit up and head home!?

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others? Is it some form of fitness ego boost elitism willy waving rights thing?

Doesn’t sound much fun

Good motivation for training though.

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others? Is it some form of fitness ego boost elitism willy waving rights thing?

It’s for training, there’ll be a fast target pace and it’s about staying on. It’s like racing but more available.

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others

Training for racing?

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others

If you want to get really strong  you need to push yourself to your absolute limit (every so often) and when you find your limit occurs before everyone else, you get dropped.

Many years ago I used to get dropped at the same point as Emma Pooley on our local chain gang, it was a figure of 8 course, so we’d cut across to the cut over point, wait 10 mins for the main group to arrive, jump back on and see how long we could last on the return loop. She went on to be an Olympic champion, I went on to achieve mediocrity (in cycling at least).

Its a real life strava but without all the excuses

I can understand why drop rides make less sense to this forum as I personally don’t think they’re appropriate for most mountain biking.

I feel the risks are too high and wouldn’t be happy to leave someone behind

Training, group dynamics etc.

And it’s kinda social at times, it’s all good and everyone knows what to expect.

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others? Is it some form of fitness ego boost elitism willy waving rights thing?

Also in this context, riding as hard as you can in a group will be faster than riding as hard as you can by yourself (and fast = fun right?), with the added satisfaction of (in theory at least) working well together, just like other team sports.

It shouldn’t be difficult to understand why people might want to go fast on bikes whilst also exerting themselves, I mean, ‘going fast’ and ‘physical exertion’ are the cornerstone to how many sports exactly?

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others?

Mostly training, but some people jsut love it. On these group rides you push yourself to go much deeper than you would solo. If your week is structured well, inlcuding some endurance stuff, this is great for fitness.

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others? Is it some form of fitness ego boost elitism willy waving rights thing?

People in training to get better shocker, its like turning up for a race and then complaining that the leader is way ahead and you got spat out the back, not everything in cycling is aimed at being a nice little social, there are people out there who like to compete.

If trying to rip eachothers legs off while also keeping the group together isn’t a profoundly social experience then I don’t know what is.

In other shocking news fast XC mtb racers only get fast by doing a chunk of training on the road. And pedaling continuously in a fast group interspersed with max efforts for 2 hours is very similar to the lungs out your mouth-recover-repeat conditions of an mtb race.

For some (most) people, riding bicycles is a hobby
For others it is a sport. You need to train hard for sport, if you don’t it’s just a hobby.

If it’s not social then what’s the point of riding with others? Is it some form of fitness ego boost elitism willy waving rights thing?

road riding in a group is a vastly differnet thing to riding solo. A drop ride could be a fun and free “race simulation” where your success depends not just on your fitness but your drafting skill and ability to respond to changes in pace.

My brief daliance with road riding about a decade/decade and a half ago coincided with the technological era where most people didn’t have power meters, HRMs etc for training, but every non-luddite would have a smartphone to navigate themselves home if needed.

Swapping turns at 30 mph is definitely social. You need to work together to keep it up for long.

It’s not about just trying to rip each others legs off. If you’re doing through and off smoothly the group naturally gets up to a good pace. Eventually weaker riders stop being able to accelerate onto the back of the fast line and go out the back.

Pulling through really hard generally frowned upon as is disrupts the whole system.

every non-luddite would have a smartphone to navigate themselves home if needed.

I remember one if my first chaingang rides. It was pre smartphones and i would have been totally lost if I’d got dropped. It was good motivation to hang on.

It’s a competitive thing.  If you don’t get it, you don’t get it, but let other people enjoy. It’s like like listening to people talk about the nuances of various beers when you’re teetotal.  I don’t care, but it pleases me that you care because the world is a rich and diverse place, and people enjoying things is good (as long as no-one comes to harm).

Eventually weaker riders stop being able to accelerate onto the back of the fast line and go out the back.

Until you come to a climb, when the heavy but strong riders who’d been doing good turns suddenly disappear…

I know of a club that had a child safeguarding issue when
a 14 yo got dropped, bonked and didn’t know where he was to get home… they completely ignored all BC guidelines

I’m not a road cyclist and I’ve only ever participated in informal group social rides, but I see no issue whatsoever with these type of rides, providing people know what they’re signing up for and aren’t put in danger. If you’re a competitive cyclist, and/or training for a specific purpose, the easiest way to get faster and build stamina will be to ride with faster riders. So long as you have an escape plan when the pace gets the better of you, crack on!

I know of a club that had a child safeguarding issue when a 14 yo got dropped, bonked and didn’t know where he was to get home…

Going back a long time, it really used to nark me that parents would drop off their kids to our club evening meeting while they went Xmas shopping. They had no idea who we were – this was before safeguarding and so on – and it meant that we had to wait around until they returned. It’s nice to know that my daughter recently had the same thoughts, independently of me, about unwilling kids left at her martial arts club that she then had to teach.

I know that it’s only one sentence about the 14 yo being dropped, and I’m probably wrong, but as a father my first thoughts are WTF were the parents thinking?

I know that it’s only one sentence about the 14 yo being dropped, and I’m probably wrong, but as a father my first thoughts are WTF were the parents thinking?

as we just ascertained, a lot of MTBers don’t know what a no drop ride is. I dont hold out much hope for a non-cycling parent (assuming that if they did cycle they would also be in the same club and be firends with some other members?)

the 14y/o may have been ignorant to the implications, or simply too full of teenage enthusiasm, sugar and fast twitch muscles to contemplate the possiblity that they would be dropped.

I know that it’s only one sentence about the 14 yo being dropped, and I’m probably wrong, but as a father my first thoughts are WTF were the parents thinking?

I believe they werent aware that he was going out on chain gang as they werent cyclists and no one bothered to check he knew what he was in for.