Originally Posted by
burnthesheep
Must be a route that's a lollipop or has an easy shortcut home. I don't know why this topic interests me so much when I'm never going to change anyone's behavior. I'll also never start my own group ride either. Just fun to theorize about what the most fun riding format would be.
I think the most fun I could have is if you had a hill sprint group ride.
This year though the point end of the A's with me have gotten the avg speed over 20 now. That sounds slow for A's, with racers mixed in, but we're in an urban area with lots of stops and farting around slow for cars counting against us. On the rollers/flats the group averages about 24 if we work well and don't take too long of pulls.
Here in Illinois everything is on a grid. So it's pretty easy to just turn back whenever you feel like it. Our rides are never lollipop or out/back, always a big loop to keep it interesting.
Also, almost all of our rides are flat. (Again, Illinois) So speeds at the pointy end are very fast. The 'way out' is usually 19-20mph since we enforce no-drop. But after the 'turn' it's 25-30mph.
Part of why change is difficult is this ride has been around for 20+ years and is the longest standing hard ride in the area. So people are reluctant to chance the 'iconic' Wednesday Night Ride....