Benefits of faster riding
 

For the last 20 years or so I have mostly ridden alone, as it is difficult to coordinate schedules with others. I manage to do plenty of riding and tackle some very challenging rides, think 125 miles, 16,000+’. During these years in the wilderness I also know the 18 mph pace that I rode with a local group before my solo days was becoming a memory. While very fit I am not fast anymore and it does not bother me except I think it would be a step up to start group rides again and aim for 18 mph to see what it does for me. Any similar experiences?

I find I usually go faster and further with a group as we take turns pulling, as long as the faster guys/girls show up! Peer pressure is a wonderful motivator and resting in the draft is nice after a hard pull.

Ask your local bike shop guys where/when the group rides are, see if they fit your schedule.

Since getting a power meter last year, I no longer even look at speed. Certainly not average speed, which really doesn't tell you much about how you performed on a ride.

I have three values showing on my Garmin: heart rate zone, grade, 10-second average watts per kilogram. The rest is of no concern to me.

Thread needs some beng, larry and tim.

The faster you go, the more of a breeze you create. Useful in hot weather.

Also, the faster you go, the more scenery you pass in a given time.

Speed in groups, pacelines and solo are all different values. I wouldn't put anything to anyone boasting of their speed unless they also told me which of those three types of riding they do that speed at. And actually a whole lot more, like the terrain and surface conditions along with the distance ridden.

So I guess if it make you feel more fit by getting a faster speed in a group or paceline, then go for it. But you might be just fooling yourself and still get slower over time.

Speed does keep me cool in the summer heat.

Though I'm really not certain what the question is or the statement you are making. The title and the text don't quite match for me.

If you're reasonably fit you should be able to adapt to group rides again. Whatever you can do alone might not have any bearing on what happens with a group, though.
The key to happy group riding is finding the right group. Riding alone is ok but riding with friends is better, imho.

Yes, key to riding is to find a few 'right' groups, if they're out there...
Riding solo has it's Bene's. You get to dawdle when you want, and you can drill it when you want. And everything in between. Group has it advantages also.
One thing I find, if riding solo mostly, one tends to get 'slower'... over extended time. It's the way of the universe... even though expansion is supposedly 'accelerating'...
Riding in groups which challenge you, also keep you at your speediest best.
So maybe slower is ok also? 2 sides to that coin. When you;re slower, the going gets harder (not the inverse of the Lemond axiom...). WHen things get harder, there's the chance of them not being as much fun... Hills get steeper, longer, the headwind becomes stronger and the road somehow gets rougher.
So whether alone or in a group, one regularly must challenge themselves... push thru the backward slide.
I find 'alone' can get weary. In a group, faster is more awakening, more challenging and more engaging mentally. And my slide into oblivion seems to be held up/slowed, for just that period in time.
...
... also... if you have a serious competitive edge to your character, getting out with some 'intent' definitely helps temper character, and makes me much more fun to live with...
... it's hard to be grumpy when you are ridden hard and put away wet... LOL!
Ride On
Yuri

[I just threw that in because inevitably someone will chime in with "what's the point of riding faster? I just want to enjoy the scenery!"]

You are less likely to get wet in the rain if you ride faster.

Source, cube?

Interesting. Studies have conclusively shown that the faster you move the wetter you get. Simple example: drive a car at 2 MPH in light rain and you don’t get that much rain on your windscreen. Drive at 60 in the same rain and your windshield will definitely get more rain. A study was done weighing people wearing dry clothes that walked through sprinklers and were weighed after versus the same people in the same clothes that ran. The runners weighed more.

I do a lot of solo cycling and vary it quite a bit so I don;’t get bored. I do tours of 50-60+ miles with 2000-3000’ climbing at about 16.5 MPH ave. I do 20 mile TTS where I maintain a 20 MPH ave. I also chase on Strava fastest times for my age group which gives me incentive to do a good warmup to the segment and then go all out for one or more segments. Then there are climbing days where I go out and do a minimum of 3000’ in about 30 miles. I find that mixing up routines makes me faster, a better climber and gives me better endurance for long rides at a moderate pace.

The longer the ride the more I moderate my pace to preserve energy. I have also learned to drink more and eat more as I have aged.

I used to do group rides every weekend for years and loved it. Now that I live in the sticks an occasional one would be nice for company on longer rides, but I also enjoy the freedom to do what I want workout wise when I want. Best of luck finding the group you need.

Faster riding can increase your descending skills given the right circumstances.

I'm working off memory from the days of running very short distance ~50m between buildings in strong rain to avoid getting wet.

I seem a lot wet if I walked between the buildings at 1 mph than if I ran 12 mph.

I makes sense if you are where isolated showers will occur on your route at some point during the day and you are hoping to get your ride over with before they hit.

Though I'm not certain that is what was meant!

There has been plenty of occasions of having a huge rain cloud overhead and tried to ride faster to beat the rain and got home with only minutes to spare before it rained.

Or when you got caught in rain and then it stopped. Riding faster will help you get dry sooner.

I'm quite the opposite. I'm less wet walking in rain from the car to a store. Though it does depend on how hard it's raining and the distance between.

Running means your front side is more likely to run into a drop of water. And most of us have a larger frontal area than the smaller target our top side is.

Then again, you can actually ride yourself into a shower if you ride faster. In 2016, while touring in Montana, I could see a band of showers preparing to move across the road ahead of me. I slowed and eventually stopped to let them pass. Up ahead there was a guy on a tractor in a field. He backed up so he would not get rained on.

The very next day I was climbing in the Pioneer Mountains. Had I been a couple of miles/hour slower I would not have gotten caught in the brunt of the snow/sleet/rain event that popped up at the start of the descent from nearly 8,000'.