Yes 8am is Sunday 🤣🤣

I’m guessing I *did* do last weeks culprit ride then 😱 😱

Apart from the boring old hills and the boring old narrow scenic lanes and the fact you have to stop for a lovely hot drink and let your legs get stiff it was ‘reet 🤷🏻‍♂️🤣🤣

For all the dissenters about group riding, you really are missing the thrill you get when riding in a well-drilled bunch. There has to be a certain level of trust and skill in riding fast in a tight formation, but when you’re clipping along a country road on a nice day it really is awesome. It’s also why you get some group rides when some numbtie upsets the harmony by pi$$ing on the chips by half-wheeling, missing turns and general baw-baggery 😁

Yes I must say- last weeks chaingang was more fun and enjoyable than any crit I’ve ever done. It was like being in a break where everyone actually wants to work together 🤣🤣

But way too fast for scenic roads 😬 (24mph for 30 miles)

I’m guessing I *did* do last weeks culprit ride then

Last week’s ride wasn’t as bad as this week’s ride. Last week**** edit that might have been the week before*** I dropped the hammer a bit on the climb up to Bradfield Southend and then sat up at the War Memorial and said let’s wait and they all buggered off and we didn’t see them again till Theale, then they all just rode off again later with us catching up another rider as they couldn’t wait for him to take his jacket off…I don’t get it. I can get just a good a workout sitting on the front of the others as in a faster bunch.
Where did we go last week? Sheep drove? That one stayed pretty much together, got a bit frisky at points but people seemed to be willing to wait

Yeah Sheep Drove 👍🏻

I think your expectations are too high. It’s a trade off between a bit of company and maybe a bit of draft here and there on the plus side and the inevitable clash of desired outcomes and abilities on the other.

I know the ‘19’s’ keep upsetting each other too so at least it’s not just you 🤣

I just think buggering off with about 15km done is just odd if you want a group ride, I enjoy a good smash sometimes but just wait till 10-20km from the end. One of the riders had a heart issue a few weeks back so it doesn’t hurt to hang back and make sure everyone is OK if they are struggling.

I enjoy a good smash sometimes but just wait till 10-20km from the end

Rich and I always had the 10km rule – if you’re not the ride leader and there’s less than 10km to go, you can start racing to get to the coffee and cake. That only really works if the cake is at the end though.

For all the dissenters about group riding, you really are missing the thrill you get when riding in a well-drilled bunch. There has to be a certain level of trust and skill in riding fast in a tight formation, but when you’re clipping along a country road on a nice day it really is awesome. It’s also why you get some group rides when some numbtie upsets the harmony by pi$$ing on the chips by half-wheeling, missing turns and general baw-baggery 😁

I agree. And it does take quite a bit of work and practice to get right, but it’s well worth handling a few numpties and sticking with it for the end resuts. Although it must be said that some groups probably are beyond hope, simply because they have no desire to ride in an orderly fasion – in which case just find another group.

Sadly I think with the relatively recent advent of so many small pseudo teams, a lot of the more experienced (and disciplined) riders have left the mainstream clubs and are not there to pass on etiquette and discipline to new riders.

The route is simple- it’s the same one everyone has been doing for about twenty years so no conflict there.

This made me laugh – there’s quite a big club near me who are at the same cafe at 11am every Saturday – they’ll have 30-40 riders in different paced groups, and the cafe reserves half the indoor seating for them. If I get my ass moving I can get there just in time to get my order in ahead of theirs.

Was an interesting club ride this morning – stepped “up” to the inters group, and we split into a faster and slower version, though Strava suggests only half a mph between us in the end.

Couple of times a rider got detached on hills, though the sweeper stayed with them so they were never alone, and a couple of us were feeling it towards the end, but the feeling of being pulled along effortlessly by the group at 20mph along a 5 mile flat section was glorious.

Rich and I always had the 10km rule – if you’re not the ride leader and there’s less than 10km to go, you can start racing to get to the coffee and cake. That only really works if the cake is at the end though.

Or you race to the town sign at the end!

The route is simple- it’s the same one everyone has been doing for about twenty years so no conflict there.

Our local tri-club does the same route every Saturday – would drive me insane.

I ride with a different club and a few of use route set each week. I always try and find new route variants, just to keep it varied. I did almost get dropped on my own ride yesterday – joint last up the last hill – my legs were totally shot. Luckily they did wait on the other side….

Or you race to the town sign at the end!

We always have that – amazingly I managed to hang on right to the sign, which given I’d almost been dropped a few miles earlier was quite a surprise….

As for the OP, I don’t think there is a right or wrong for group rides, each group sorts out it’s own behavioral norms and those who don’t like it, just find another group to ride with.

The route is simple- it’s the same one everyone has been doing for about twenty years so no conflict there.

One day , just try it the other way round, please! 🙂

Our local tri-club does the same route every Saturday – would drive me insane.

In some respects that’s quite useful. Rapha London do early-morning Regent’s Park laps a couple of times a week, aimed at the cycle commute crowd and it more or less means there’s always a group there who’ll do however many laps they want – some people will do 2hrs worth, others will drop in for a lap or two and then ride on.

I wouldn’t do it on a weekend; that’s the time for proper riding, exploring the lanes etc but for a midweek thing, having a set route where you know there’ll always be a few clubmates out is a good little social thing without too much planning.

TBH, i changed the route and cafe stops on a no drop ride on a training camp a few years ago when a handful of dickheads decided they knew better. They didn’t do it again.

One day , just try it the other way round, please! 🙂

We discussed that today. Decided it would be too brutal 😱
More support for doing two laps to make it a century segment 🤣

On our regular group rides, every village sign or hilltop was a ‘prime’, so it was rarely boring. Over the years, various tactic were employed including ‘escapes’ from a long way out. One memorable one for me was 2 guys jumped away for a distant village sign, I looked back to notice the local bus bearing down, so I simply jumped in the draft for a tow to bag the bragging rights 😁

Ha that’s quality 🤣 I once used a tractor draft to get back on after getting dropped hard up a hill. They all have 50k boxes these days though 😞 🚜 💨 💨 💨 🚴🏻

I’ve never done a group ride. Doesn’t sound fun at all.

You should. It is, with the right group.

So crosshair, trying to work out who you are, were you riding a Diverge on the Sheep drove ride?

Yep that’s me 🙌

I’ve never done a group ride. Doesn’t sound fun at all.

Speaking as someone who is ambivalent about road riding, I will say that a well drilled road group ride with people you are confident won’t do anything stupid is an awesome experience. 8 to 10 riders is the perfect number IMHO. Unfortunately it’s rather a rare thing, as evidenced above.

I’ve never done a group ride. Doesn’t sound fun at all.

I love it, I ride in with two different groups – one is definitely more banter / social – never drop anyone. The other is a fast group, which is very much ‘anything goes’ – sometimes really sedate, sometime a succession of strong riders go on the front at 100% and string it out into a line and everyone else is just chasing wheels with no time to notice if someone gets dropped. Really good fun but bloody hard work – I see max HR most weeks and that’s just following wheels! Pretty much every week the whole group gets top 10 Strava places and if there’s a tail wind we normally take the KoM on a few sections. The girls in the group normally get all the QoMs along the route. The next day, I’m totally wiped out though….

8 to 10 riders is the perfect number IMHO.

Yep, we had 17 on Saturday, reminded me of being in a road race. Does mean you have to be very confident in a bunch and have a bunch of good riders where no one will do anything stupid at 35 mph.

The other problem with larger groups is even though everyone calls out holes, unless you’re right at the front you have no idea where it is and just hit them full on, but at least you have time to brace! My 404s have survived some pretty big clunks where I was convinced it had blown out based on the noise of impact – but so far, puncture free from hole impacts.

I’ve never done a group ride. Doesn’t sound fun at all.

A good (ie competent!) group of similar ability, shared aims etc on decent roads is brilliant. It’s even better in a road race situation where a breakaway of about 6 or so working through and off is just poetry on wheels.

A bad group with basically a bunch of individuals all riding for themselves or trying to do it in heavy traffic can be an exercise in frustration. The problem is it really only takes one muppet to cause issues – someone who’s idea of “going through” is to put it into the biggest gear and smash it for example will shred a group instantly. Similar if a rider tries to join a group that is above their abilities – you can argue that the group should support and help this rider or that the newcomer is ruining the established ride but either way someone is going to end up unhappy.

Club vs shop rides….I think this is a subtle but important difference. Club feel more ‘family’ – people join to be part of something. There are long term friendships. You often used to or still do race together. The old timers are part of the fabric of the club and people want to support them if they get left behind on a climb. The newbies are invested in with a bit of support and generally other members want them to enjoy it and become regulars. Shop rides…..I think they are often collectives of people who want to group ride for what they gain personally from it. It’s less about investment into a club and more about self. It also works for the introverts who don’t really ‘get’ clubs or get people.

I like a group ride. But given the choice I’d far rather ride in a group of 8 max. Any more than that is a ball ache imo. 8 riders feels like a team. Anyone can look around and do a head count and clock someone is missing. There is less ‘group think’ where blowing it apart or splitting at a junction feels a non issue. People think more collectively rather than as individuals. There are less punctures and mechanicals. You can rock up at a cafe and not dominate the place. There seem to be less incidents on the road – cars manage to navigate around an 8 without getting stressed and again the heard mentality of riders being needlessly aggressive towards drivers seems to be quelled. I genuinely can’t see any up sides to riding in bigger groups than that.

I would add that a gentle ride out chatting to mates can be a great group ride also.

A few years ago, working on a multi-day event as a Ride Leader, we had a corporate group who’d mostly taken to riding together, they were of fairly similar ability. Anyway, their method was for Rider A to sit on the front and tow everyone along at 23, 23…22…20…17 as he got tired. Eventually, from somewhere in the middle of the line, Rider D would get bored of this, pull out, smash it to the front and sit on the front at 22…20…17…

It was all very disjointed and then there was a near miss when two riders both pulled out together to try and get to the front. So I taught them through and off, riding alongside them, telling them to change, drop back, and so on. They needed a lot of persuading that “coming through” did not mean “smash the shit out of it” and also some persuading that dropping to the back of the line was not a challenge to their manhood but actually within a couple of miles it clicked. Fortunately, we were on fairly open roads at this point so it was easy to get some flow. The group arrived at the feed station absolutely buzzing, they’d averaged over 20mph for about 6 miles of smooth teamwork. They were genuinely made up, high-fiving – like it had all just become clear to them. Nice feeling. 🙂

I would add that a gentle ride out chatting to mates can be a great group ride also.

My main social event each week is a chatty Wednesday ride.

I know there does not seem to be a spate of accidents but slip streaming scares me. I just do not trust anyone else with my safety

I know there does not seem to be a spate of accidents but slip streaming scares me. I just do not trust anyone else with my safety

I have a friend who is ok in a group up to 4 and after that he just rides about 5m off the back. Does mean he’s doing 25% more work than everyone else!

Either you’re happy or you’re not I guess. I do sometimes think WTF when I’m 2″ off a wheel going over 30mph with no idea what’s ahead of the wheel I’m following. Blind faith. Someone shouts “hole” and I just tighten my grip waiting for impact….

If you ride with the same bunch all the time I find it helps as you know exactly how each person rides, which wheels are good to follow etc and who is a bit erratic etc.

Road races were more interesting, 60+ riders and you only know a few team mates.

In our Saturday group we have one rider who does this really weird thing where he randomly stands up and moves the bike side to side like a Mark Cavendish 2000W sprint finish, but without any acceleration at all. We all take the piss out of him for it….

In our Saturday group we have one rider who does this really weird thing where he randomly stands up and moves the bike side to side like a Mark Cavendish 2000W sprint finish, but without any acceleration at all. We all take the piss out of him for it….

Doing that and not decelerating (and the person behind you riding into your back wheel) is a skill in itself! On fast climbs or short steep mini sections on an otherwise fast bit of road the ability to get out of the saddle and back in without changing tempo is a real asset to a group rider. I’ve got a funky hip and the urge to get out of the saddle to ease it off comes quite regularly and unpredictably!

Doing that and not decelerating (and the person behind you not riding into your back wheel) is a skill itself!

He does kick back a bit, but anyone following him is sort of expecting it….

I’ve never asked him why he does it, I guess to refresh the legs or sore arse….

Interesting that so many other clubs have ride leaders. For better / worse our club has never had ride leaders, and just sorts itself into fast / inters / steady groups. All routes are posted beforehand, and its up to individuals to download the route and navigate round. Fast / inters generally do the same route, so if you get dropped from the fast group you can just pick up inters (which is a no-drop group).

@MoreCashThanDash a kind lady involved with your club scraped me up off the road last week and took me to hospital 🙁 Rider in front of me crashed in a fast chaingang situation, leaving me nowhere to go but down…

I know there does not seem to be a spate of accidents but slip streaming scares me. I just do not trust anyone else with my safety

Rider in front of me crashed in a fast chaingang situation, leaving me nowhere to go but down…

I would add that a gentle ride out chatting to mates can be a great group ride also.

Yeah, if I’m out riding with folk it’s because I’m feeling sociable.

First crash I’ve had in 5 years of road riding 🙂

Also first time I’ve needed a CT scan 🙁

Eugh. Roadies. sounds rubbish.

@MoreCashThanDash a kind lady involved with your club scraped me up off the road last week and took me to hospital 🙁 Rider in front of me crashed in a fast chaingang situation, leaving me nowhere to go but down…

Hope you are recovering ok

Intrigued now as to who you were riding with and who it was who helped you – not seen a mention on the club page but deserves recognition

I was riding with SNCC, but a lady called Leanne stopped in her car and gave me a lift to Ripley hospital. Her fella rides with ICC. I’ve contacted her and the club to say thanks

We see quite a lot of SNCC down here, often in good size smooth riding groups.

Hope you weren’t too badly hurt, nice of you to get in touch to say thanks as well 👍