Originally Posted by
kbarch
Nice. But group rides....?
I did one group ride with friends and one mega event with the fixed gear: never again. The ride with friends wasn't bad - actually, in many ways it was fun - but what I had a hard time with was people in front not maintaining speed up rollers or the way they'd coast prematurely - I'd start creeping up on them and just did NOT want to lose any of that precious momentum by braking in any way. It wasn't so difficult, effort-wise, it just drove me bananas. If it's not too spirited or serious-pace-liney of a ride, I don't mind if a friend brings his fixed gear. I just don't like to ride directly behind him - he likes to skid, and sharply swerve, and it freaks me out.
The mega event was a NYC Century - the distance and elevation were not the challenge - the killer was all the stopping and starting at intersections and such.
I've only been in one group ride with fixies. They were pretty hard core in my opinion. It was a very large group, maybe 60 or 70 people. We had a 65 mile out and back with a single rest stop in the middle. Pace for my group was around 25 mph. When I realized there were fixies in our group I was dubious, but they held their own.
I think it helps that the ride was flat as a pancake.