“Drop Rides” ? Is that really a thing?

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.

That’s what I assumed. The safeguarding gets transferred to the people he’s riding with because the parents are too stupid to understand what’s going on. (I know, I’m being harsh! :D)

That’s what we accommodated in our club fast rides by having a (named) guardian for each ride the young lad was on – it was too fast for his actual Dad so other riders took it in turns to be his chaperone so when he dropped of someone (and often more than one) would drop too so he wasn’t abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

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

Eventually, but like a road race there’s a benefit to staying together and adjusting pace slightly, not to the weakest but for the bulk of the ride so that you can share the load and benefit from the drafting and through and off. And then maybe, if it’s part of the ethos, once you get in the last few km maybe then some race style attacking will be allowed so yes, finally maybe one ‘wins’ the sprint to the last sign but no-one’s more than about 2 mins behind.

Then shock – often the ride ends at the pub and an isotonic lager starts the recovery, which is very social.

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

When I debated joining a local road club they had several grades of riding from:
social. stop for cakes if someone looks knackered.
bit more serious but will keep an eye on you.
Then a set of average speed of x mph and will say bye bye.
With a recommendation start in the bit more serious unless you are coming from another club with similar setup.
Seems sensible if you are into that sort of thing.

I used to love a good Tuesday evening chain gang. I’m not in the market for that kind of ride these days, but I’m happy that they’re there if I get back to it.

@dissonance do they give you a form to fill out before joining?

What type of rider are you?

1. Ooooooh look, a butty van. Let’s stop for 5 mins.
2. Take it steady, say hi to passing riders. Pub or cafe at the end of the ride.
3. Heads down, look moody, out of the saddle pushing hard on climbs, do not acknowledge passing riders.
4. STRAAAAAVVVAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

finally maybe one ‘wins’ the sprint to the last sign

Also known as the Tuesday night World Championship

In other news, sometimes runners race each other on a track and rowers see who can get their boat across an imaginary line in a river first.

Also, just because something is hard or competitive doesn’t mean its not social 🫤

That’s what we accommodated in our club fast rides by having a (named) guardian for each ride the young lad was on – it was too fast for his actual Dad so other riders took it in turns to be his chaperone

We had to do similar – he was signed by a continental development team at 17, we ran out of chaperones….

I have been on a few rides with other people’s clubs. The best one was with a group of wide ranging abilities, including a couple of ex-pros. It was flat-ish terrain, they would set out at a gentle pace and gradually wind it up until no-one was left.  Brilliant fun. Of course they knew everyone was local and knew their way around (except me, but I had a GPS).

We just made sure the Monday night chainy isn’t affiliated with any club, and it starts somewhere that it’d be hard to offload your teenager and drive off

Also known as the Tuesday night World Championship

No you have to pay to enter those at Hillingdon. E123 and a 3/4 thrashfest. Someone has already pre-entered the first on BC website! Keen.

Our club Tuesdays are serious affairs, including the serious beers afterwards. Saturdays are more social and accommodate new riders. All new riders ride in the beginners group until signed off as safe in a group. Then the fast ones kill the rest of us in Group one on a Tuesday :D

We had to do similar – he was signed by a continental development team at 17, we ran out of chaperones….

Ewan Mackie? Came out with our club a few times. Obvs I dropped him ;)

I was in a road club at 16 (in the 80’s) that sometimes dropped me and the other 16 year old if we weren’t keeping up. Usually in the middle of nowhere with a cold rainy 30 mile ride into a headwind to get home. We laughed about it at the time – but looking back now a bit of modern-style safeguarding wouldn’t have gone amiss.

We have the same at our running club. 7 or 8 pace groups based on distance at a set minutes per mile.
The slower groups will always wait for people and often stop to wait a agreed points.
The fast group(s) won’t stop as it’s seen as a training run. They’re also much tighter to the agreed pace and route so people do know exactly where they’re going and what they’re getting themselves in to.
Chasing people who are faster than you is a great way to get fit and push yourself harder than you normally would,

he was signed by a continental development team at 17, we ran out of chaperones….

Ours went off to University, he still rides (fast) but his Dad informs that his performance has suffered somewhat compared to earlier potential.

There’s a subtext to this that somehow keeping up with an non-dropping MTB group is better.

All that means is that teenage me was being bought beers by people twice my age in a pub in the middle of nowhere on a school night then riding home alone in the dark!

Perhaps with a bit of safeguarding I might have become a serious racing cyclist, not one of the reprobates drinking whiskey and heckling at SSUK 😂

They work best when it’s a ride out to a circuit (some sort of quiet-ish roads, maybe a 5-mile loop) and then a thrash round and round that before regrouping and riding home.

The problem we found was that very few people in the club could actually do a proper efficient through-and-off. That was compounded by the shit state of the roads along the loop they chose which meant that following wheels and holding a line was tricky. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Sounds like another reason not to buy a curly-barred bike !

I can’t get my head around road biking at all.
If a ride is all about seeimg who can’t keep up, and then forcing them to drop out, where does the fun factor and the having a laugh with your mates bit fit in?

If a ride is all about seeimg who can’t keep up, and then forcing them to drop out, where does the fun factor and the having a laugh with your mates bit fit in?

They’re designed as fast road training rides and that doesn’t work if someone turns up, can’t keep up and the whole group has to wait every 5 minutes.

If you make it clear and specify what it’s for and what is expected then it works and it is good fun and social. It also builds good teamwork in a group/club that might be racing together later in the season.

I can’t get my head around road biking at all.

You mean one particular type of ride….

Some people are competitive and like seeing  how good they are vs their club mates…

You should look up road racing, you’ll notice they don’t stop and wait for the slow guys either….

Rd riding with good pace in mind is superb for fittness, and feels great, it can be done on an mtb too which we do, mix it up is key.

I personally get great enjoyment from physically pushing myself, it is sport after all,  i love climbing be it rd or mtb, this mentality also makes the rides rd or mtb that are more a day out socially even more fun as you can do more and feel better so can do more again, funny thing this fitness lark eh…doesnt come easy though which is the society problem.

I think in mtb mentality has changed alot since i started in the early 90,s and changed loads in the last 10 years, theres fewer and fewer riders who love the physical aspect imo, which is fine, do what you enjoy.

But i guarratee one thing, getting fitter equals more FUN not less.

its only a sport if you are racing

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.

This is clearly better than not labelling it as such and then just mercilessy leaving people off the back of the group at random intervals throughout the ride. Naturally, rides advertised like this Will likely be the faster ones and not the social ones.

I genuinely can’t tell if all the comments about people “not having fun” are serious, like have you never tried to see how fast you can go, ever? Or are all amateur competitive hobbies supposedly miserable? Like no one in an amateur athletics club, rowing club, karate class, weightlifting competitions are having any fun?

Fair enough if it’s not your bag, but if you don’t think it’s fun (or social) you might be surprised if you try it.

TJ, Really, i didnt realise that, doesnt change my feelings or observations.

is it sport as we as mates race each other for a bit freindly competition , great fun and banter either way despite who or what defines it..

Some compete in different ways , some seem to see who can take the best photo of a cup off coffee or a cake….😁

Ewan Mackie? Came out with our club a few times. Obvs I dropped him 😉

Thats the one – he’s ridden with a few local clubs.

I can’t get my head around road biking at all.
If a ride is all about seeimg who can’t keep up, and then forcing them to drop out, where does the fun factor and the having a laugh with your mates bit fit in?

Have you not read the thread?

Fair enough if it’s not your bag, but if you don’t think it’s fun you might be surprised if you try it.

the idea of riding that close to other riders and relying on someone elses skill for my safety terrifies me.  Years ago riding motorbikes a mate I know is a good motorcycle rider and I tried to ride in close formation like the cops do – side by side in a lane.  We just could not do it.  goes against everything I know about road safety.  2 second gap and 1.5 m minimum passing distance

Yeah I agree it’s likely more risky than riding by yourself.

Then again, I’m not aware of tonnes of RTAs/crashes of club pelotons on the roads- I’m sure we’d here about it if it was common, so statistically doesn’t seem so bad, but that’s clearly just a hunch. 

the idea of riding that close to other riders and relying on someone elses skill for my safety terrifies me.

That’s just group road riding in general, nothing specific to chain gangs

Kinda reminds me of the ‘crit racing’ I used to go to. We’d ride out to the West Midland Showground in Shrewsbury and have informal crit races where you’d ride laps of sketchy access roads and every lap the last person had to pull out until only one person survived.

I guess these days these sort of events would be inclusive, so everyone would just  slowly ride around in circles for an hour and then fist pump each other at the end ;)

Well. If this thread has shown one thing (again) is there appear to be a lot of people who just cannot understand why someone might enjoy something that they themselves don’t. 

If a ride is all about seeimg who can’t keep up, and then forcing them to drop out, where does the fun factor and the having a laugh with your mates bit fit in?

If you and your mates are both competitive, then that IS the fun. Like say, playing pool with your mates, or racing them down the hill, or seeing who can lift the most or whatever. It’s good natured competition.

Riding in a tight group rolling through and off at 50kph+ is a thing of beauty, whether in a race or on a training ride. You learn to trust the other riders as this brings greater reward in terms of speed. There’s often little truck given for those not riding safely or sitting-on. In the same way that hucking off big jumps isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, road racing might not be another’s. Being dropped on a road ride is almost a formative experience – it helps build your resilience as a rider – I once got dropped in the pissing rain, 50 miles from home one wet Sunday in November somewhere around Evesham on the way home from Wales – ridden 100 miles the day before with a raging cold and couldn’t quite manage the return trip.

the idea of riding that close to other riders and relying on someone elses skill for my safety terrifies me

Fast, experienced chaingangs are way safer than a group of randoms on a social ride!

I’ve had some great rides advertised as such. Pushed very deep to hang on and the feeling of arriving back together having “survived” was very pleasant.

Generally safer riders on a chaingang 👍

A summer evening chain gang / drop ride is amongst the funnest things you can do on a bike.

My first time going to one i got dropped after 10 minutes. Was back the next week and lasted a bit longer, I then used it to gain fitness and when i eventually made it round the whole route without getting dropped it felt like an achievement.

The well established fast groups will be a real mix of riders from different disciplines too – out and out roadies but also those that do xc, time trials, track, cx and gravel (and often a combination of those). Virtually everyone that participates will be looking forward to the clocks changing so things can kick off again. It’s social in it’s own way too with banter before and after the ride plus the ride home. On the surface it seems to be an unwelcoming environment  but it’s the opposite for me – if you are fit enough and know the ropes of how to ride one safely you could turn up to any of the open ones around the country and be included – no pressure to be social either, just ride hard and be safe and you’ll be accepted.

Fast, experienced chaingangs are way safer than a group of randoms on a social ride!

Im sure – and I wouldn’t do a social ride that close to folk either.  Its a psychological thing about being responsible for myself and trusting no one else with my safety

the idea of riding that close to other riders and relying on someone elses skill for my safety terrifies me.

I’m not a roadie, but I do find the whole close riding / drafting thing exhilarating – you end up going far faster than any one of you could manage alone. It’s a thing of beauty when you all get into the same rhythm, but it’s not the sort of thing to do with strangers / randoms.

Years ago riding motorbikes a mate I know is a good motorcycle rider and I tried to ride in close formation like the cops do – side by side in a lane.

Me and my mate Terry used to do that – CHiPs stylee

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.

Exactly. No point ruining it for everyone else just because an unfit mtber has turned up.