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Group Rides with the Big Boys

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Group Rides with the Big Boys

Old 09-13-18, 08:21 AM
  #126  
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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.
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Old 09-13-18, 05:14 PM
  #127  
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Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
I gotta say, I've been doing what you recommend for 20+ years and it works like a frigging charm. Took me a couple years to figure that out. That said, the last 2 or 3 weekend rides I'll lead, 3 to 4 weeks before a target endurance ride, will be increasing length group rides in similar terrain to the target ride, then we'll taper. That'll show up any weak spots and maybe repair them. We'll take breaks about every 30 miles on those rides.

"I always say" that if one is in decent riding condition, one can ride a century on any given day, no problem. OTOH, a 10,000' century will demand a little more respect.
I certainly didn't come up with it on my own, and only over the last couple years have I begun to implement it, so you're probably a lot more experienced in it than I! Its a pretty big change in mentality motivating yourself to do the really hard work solo, but its also rewarding being able to show up to the group ride and lay down the hammer. Going from using the weekend group rides as the major component of my training to specific individual efforts has made the biggest difference. While group rides have their place, they are hardly ever hard enough for long enough in the right doses to get the major gains you see working on your own. That is a good point about addressing weak spots with group rides, which are sometimes hard to identify in isolation.
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Old 09-13-18, 06:01 PM
  #128  
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We occasionally see track bikes on the River Ride. Every one I've seen has been fitted with a brake and ridden by an experienced roadie/trackie. No big whoop.
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Old 09-13-18, 08:01 PM
  #129  
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One minor specific downside that I've noticed from our group rides: the crit riders we've spawned have come back and said, "I'm starting all over. Nothing that we did prepared me for crits, except gaining some endurance and decent legs." I guess it's almost all anaerobic efforts and recovery from same. Never ridden a crit myself. The crit riders basically quit the group and spent all their time on specific training.
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Old 09-13-18, 09:57 PM
  #130  
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when I started racing, everyone road fixed gear in the winter in a 72 inch gear. We would go flying down hills. It is amazing how fast your legs can go when you relax
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Old 09-14-18, 09:10 PM
  #131  
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Originally Posted by Dan333SP
Group rides aren't a chance to seek validation from strangers, not sure where you're getting the idea that this is a primary motivator for group ride participants. For me, it's primarily about socializing and getting a better workout than I would on a normal solo ride. It's also a chance to test my fitness against much faster riders...
+1. No validation or humiliation sought, when I join a fast group ride.

I particularly like joining new groups, either a short drive away or when traveling,. This summer, while in SoCal, I joined two Saturday morning "A" rides. Tough workouts, both, got dropped on one of 'em, but met new folks, discovered new routes. Love it.
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Old 09-17-18, 02:03 PM
  #132  
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
I total 10 min and the other two guys total 10 min. So, if you exclude hills where the line doesn't matter, three of us end up pulling for half of a 75min group ride.

We try to take smaller turns and cycle through, but ends up more and more people start skipping turns and taking shorter ones so that we end up on front a lot. I think a lot of people can "hang" in an A group ride, but can't lead.

If we hold 22ish mph up a false flat, the fitter guys are right on the wheels but usually we'll start to gap about 5 to 6 people who can't do the power even in the draft up a little rise.

The road race I did, people want to conserve energy so actually found that better.
Sounds like you and the your usual faster team mates would do better just breaking off the front and staying away. Is this above a race? What about doing it at the end, no use killing yourself right away.
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Old 09-17-18, 04:07 PM
  #133  
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Originally Posted by burnthesheep
I total 10 min and the other two guys total 10 min. So, if you exclude hills where the line doesn't matter, three of us end up pulling for half of a 75min group ride.

We try to take smaller turns and cycle through, but ends up more and more people start skipping turns and taking shorter ones so that we end up on front a lot. I think a lot of people can "hang" in an A group ride, but can't lead.

If we hold 22ish mph up a false flat, the fitter guys are right on the wheels but usually we'll start to gap about 5 to 6 people who can't do the power even in the draft up a little rise.

The road race I did, people want to conserve energy so actually found that better.
Oh absolutely. I'm one of those people. I enjoy sitting in on A rides because they are fast, allow me to practice pack riding skills, and (usually) the other cyclists are pretty competent, so I feel safer than I do on some other group rides.... but I try not to get into the rotation, because then I'm almost guaranteed to get spit out the back. It helps that I'm a woman - there isn't too much peer pressure to pull at the front.
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Old 09-17-18, 05:05 PM
  #134  
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The fast group rides are great for getting speed in the legs and also getting your eye in. You can use them to your advantage when preparing for racing. I.e. practising how to hold a wheel in different wind conditions, rolling turns without overcooking it, and pushing yourself further by having stronger riders to compete against. Having said that, they're a once a week or fortnight thing. For ultimate gains, you're best of blending group rides with properly structured training.
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Old 09-17-18, 06:09 PM
  #135  
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chicagogal and cnicholls: Absolutely. Getting comfortable in the pack, learning to judge a good wheel, reading the wind. All super-valuable skills. Underappreciated, really.
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Old 09-17-18, 07:44 PM
  #136  
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Originally Posted by cnicholls
The fast group rides are great for getting speed in the legs....
This is what I'm always reminded of when I join them.
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