After almost 7 years of randonneuring, I will be riding my first Flèche in April. I threw my name into the hat at a year end party of the rando club I usually ride with. I am told it will be a somewhat different experience from regular brevets, where we all go at our own speed instead, taking breaks for food or rest whenever we feel like it. I have ridden with two of the other members for shorter segments of brevets, but never for a whole event or as a social ride.
In brevets, I tend to keep my stops short to make up for my rather pedestrian climbing speed. I complete 400 km brevets with plenty of sleep before the event but no nap longer than 10 minutes during the ride. Another team member usually rests or sleeps for an hour after 20+ hours. So he will ride faster at first but then uses up the time gained later.
Earlier this month our team of 5 people (1f/4m) had the first planning meeting. Next month three of us will ride a 300 km and a 200 km brevet on consecutive weekends as a practice run, to see how this riding together thing will work in practice.
Reading the rules on the ACP website, I understand it's more about the team spirit than riding fast and that to be ****logated, at least three team members who have ridden the same distance must arrive together. The rules do not say that all of you have to ride together at all times, as long as you ride the same course and arrive together.
When I ride with friends, faster riders would reach the top of a climb first and wait for the slower cyclists (WATT), rather than climbing as one group, bottom to top. I still consider that a group ride. The instructions by the local randonneuring body, Audax Japan, suggest that you should always stick together, i.e. maintain sight of each other at all times. If one person punctures, the whole team stops. This seems like an overly restrictive interpretation of the team ride idea, though given the Japanese culture that's not too surprising
I am curious how closely Flèche teams in other countries stick together and how they interpret the team aspect of this kind of ride.