pennpaul

So you've got a group ride planned where you know you're going to get dropped on every hill for the first 10 miles, but the remaining 30 miles is manageable. Do you leave early and wait for the group at the top of the last climb or do you just suck wind at the way back and have them wait?

brawlo

For sure leave early.

I had a bunch ride almost exactly the same. The first time I drove to the LBS and went with the bunch. I was spat out before we even hit the first climb partly because I hadn’t even had the chance to warm up. Forward to next week, I rode from home and aimed to meet the riders as they headed out of town. I was a bit early so I started on my own waiting for them to catch me. It turned out they caught me right at the top of the big climb. PERFECT! It is an out and back ride and the last bit before the turnaround was a solid climb. I got spat out, but you could see the riders coming back down and turn around to rejoin for the return home. That ride was a blast and had some fast riders on it, but I could hang if it left a little early and punched that first climb. Then others started leaving early and it became a reasonable ride and fast and those that couldn’t climb quick enough joined in more often

jsigone

will take some trial and error to see how much head start you need. Some days the group will be slower, some faster.

Also where you do you want to be "social" when the group is slower and warming up or later when pace has increased a lil. If you want to ride from the start with them, ask them to wait for you on the last hill, should be a common regroup point anyways. They only have to wait one time vs few different times. Some people's legs don't react well to stopping and starting on hills again.