Yaniel

RacerOne's post inspired this thread, hopefully it's not a repost

How did you first group ride with "strangers" end? Not you and a couple of friends, but meeting up with an established group you didn't really know well.

My first ride, I was seriously humbled. Within 3.5 miles I was off the back. The first 3 miles were the warmup. 6 months later, I consider the ride pretty easy.

How was your first group ride? Were you humbled, or did you do better than expected?

Blackdays

Dropped by a bunch of old guys.

EventServices

A left turn into the parking lot where we started. That's how it ended. No trumpets. No flashing lights.

Then I remember going to the Dairy Twist and everyone ordered something disgustingly fattening. I thought this was what they did after every big ride, so the next time, I asked if they were going to the D.T. As it turns out, it was somebody's birthday.

Yaniel

did anybody yell at you?

Seattle Forrest

My first group ride with strangers was Critical Mass. They average about 6 mph. It was hard to go that slowly.

aham23

i got yelled at by some really old looking skinny dude on some fancy carbon bike with fancy carbon rims and some type of power thingy and i was like totally spent when i looked down to see a 30 mph avg speed for the ride. later.

BrainInAJar

I rode with the C group because I wasn't sure of how fast the A/B would be. I ended up having to go on another ride afterwards in order to get an actual workout.

jr59

Well that depends; My very first group ride was in Fl. It went great.

I moved to ATL. Ga. There on my first group ride I puked in somebodys very nice Buckhead lawn. They were leaving and stoped to ask if I was ok.

When I moved to Denver, I rode MTB's on the road until I felt like I could handle myself. I got dropped in the first mile. oh well, there is always next week.

EventServices

Probably. I survived it.

collegeskier

First group ride in Western Mass was great. I died on the uphill, but the group was no drop so they regrouped and always someone stayed to make sure I made it back which was nice.

First group ride after I moved to NC was with a like C or below group ride supposedly. Went with a friend and rode with what turned out to be the front group that really did not want to be on a group ride about 6 friends if I remember correctly. They were pushing 20 mph most of the time and blew through stop signs even if cars were closing in a little so you could not make it. Why they showed up to this easy group ride I don't know.

rffffffff

I was thinking "C", but when I showed up and saw the C folks I went "B" despite the 50 mile ride on the schedule. (previous max 35) Recipe for disaster is what I was thinking. Stop signs, pit stops, flat tires... I may try a B+ ride the next time, but I belong in A, apparently. I am surprised how easy everyone takes it. =o)

I_Like_Bike

I did a 21 mile fast group ride. I lasted about 8 miles and got dropped. I stayed in the back so no one yelled at me. It surprised me how fast all these guys were and how effortless they made it look. I did stay with a slower group, but the concept of paceline didn't make sense to me, so I pretty much rode solo for the rest of the way. I asked one of the older guys in my slow group "is this the best I should expect to be?" He asked me how long I had been riding. I said "one year about 3,000 miles." He told me "I was on the upswing." We will see about that.

lovestoride

my first ride was actualy really good. it was a 28 mile ride in florida, which i ended up puling for the majority of the ride because no one felt like working at all. we moved at a whopping 20 mph in florida in a paceline. i then did the a+ ride and only lasted like 20 of the miles. it was a hell of alot faster.

ericm979

That was 25 years ago. It was with the racers in a combined touring/racing club. I don't remember getting dropped or anything else about the first ride. It ended at the start point with me asking when the next one was, and excited to do more.

Later that year I did my first long (50+ mile) ride with that group and was drafting too close to the guy in front of me. I bumped my tire off his a couple times and then I was sliding along the shoulder on my face. I'd crossed wheels and twisted my front wheel right out of the fork. I must have done a summersault because I had road rash on my ass and I'd broken my tailbone. I found my wheel in the bushes, declined a ride home (one guys' mom happened to be driving by) and rode 20 miles home, standing for all the climbs because seated climbing hurt too much.

I was off work for a week, it was a month before I could sit down in less than 5 minutes of very agonizing slow motion, and it hurt for the next 10 or 15 years.

StephenH

It was a non-drop ride that really was non-drop, and a friendly group that I still ride with when I'm not doing something else. I was slow then, and I'm less slow now, so it wasn't my performance that made it a good experience, but their patience.

midgetmaestro 

Sounds about right. I wasn't yelled at and I didn't pull any stupid moves, but some of those guys could fly.

caloso

I went on a Tuesday morning ride with a guy who'd recently retired from my office. It was a bunch of very fit sexa- and septugenarians. They stopped at the turnaround for breakfast. I was the only one who didn't order oatmeal. I didn't get dropped.

A few years later I went on one of the local racers' rides. Big difference. I got dropped.

hairnet

My first one was in late 2008. They started off lightning fast to drop people early on and then the guys calmed down to a fair pace for the rest of the ride. I fought to keep up but it was fun, too fun.

Yaniel

yea, I think my mistake is that my first group ride was one of the local racers rides. I show up and notice almost everyone in some local team kit and I ask about the ride. They tell me it's the easy day. I get shelled in 10 minutes. Now that I can do the ride, i learned that the easy ride is never under 23 mph average for the hour. I still haven't finished the hard ride. I'm glad I had this "baptism by fire" since it never allows me to get comfortable with my fitness because everyone is so strong.

pilechko

My first group ride I was worried about being left behind, so I did a "C" level ride. It was only 25 miles, so I rode 10 miles to get to the starting point. It turned out to be a bunch of people even older than me. I barely broke a sweat, and moved up to a higher level the next time out.

Wylde06

My first group ride was in May. Because pretty much all of my rides were solo before, the entire day leading up to the ride I kept telling myself that as long as I can stay with them for at least half of the ride I would be happy. I showed up, everyone was friendly...I somehow managed to stay on the back, although I almost got dropped at one point. I got a few pointers during the ride that made it a little easier to keep up. When we finished I had to stop and rest for a few minutes because I was so tired. When I left both of my legs cramped so bad, I almost had to call for a ride to come pick me up (I live only 3 miles from the start so I rode there and back). Ive been to every Monday night ride since. I love riding with these people.

wrr1020

My first group ride was a mix of emotions, overall good time. I was a month into riding and i was riding clipless for less than a week so i was a complete noob still to cycling. The ride was supposed to be a 30 miler and ended up turning into 53 miles. My friend and i met up with a local group and it was about 20 riders total, ranging in skill. Not even 2 miles into the ride i wasn't paying attention and clipped a lady jogging in the bike path and causing me to fall over and scratch my seat stay against the curb and me landing in the dirt. The lady was fine and i was as well so no harm done, my friend was shaking his head in embarrassment to even be riding with me. lol.

First hill i was already dropped by my friend and a couple other guys. Pretty much the whole ride i was solo and ended up being pretty torturous with all the climbing. I didn't finish last though, there was really slow group of mixed riders, half of them being Fred's just cruising along taking there time. I bonked riding back home and was overall exhausted. If i did that ride now i would easily hang with the lead pack.

BluesDawg

My first group ride ended after everyone else in the group packed up their bikes and drove home.

The Weak Link

I showed up at a hammerfest with a GF Wahoo, big old knobby tires, me wearing tennies and baggy shorts and wondering why everyone else was making those clicking sounds when they got their bikes in gear. I finished the ride in stony silence.

hurley.girl

I unknowingly showed up to the local hammerfest that had recently dropped the slower (B) ride option. I hung for 1 hour. Then things got ugly. The group waited for me at turns, but I was really messing up their workout and felt badly about it. Had I known where I was, I'd have told them to leave me. I suspect that the only reason they actually waited for me was because I was a single chick.

This was over 12 years ago.