Originally Posted by
Steve B.
I only do event rides as I want to ride a different area, on different roads than my everyday. I don't typically join a paceline group as 1) I don't know the skillset of the riders and 2) I usually don't care if I gain 2 MPH on the avg. What might change this if a course has a big wind element and joining the back of a group helps with the wind.
When I did the Bike Tour of Colorado, I would almost never ride in a group, (only once on the last 10 miles into Gunnisom on a flat road). It's very easy to get sucked into a tempo that see's you riding harder than you should, on a ride that has a week of 75 miles per day. You really need to pay attention to effort level on multi-day rides so that you don't burn out. One day events, not as much worry, though I did make the mistake on one of my earliest centuries of hanging on a racing group doing the ride for fun. I was hammered at mile 85.
Good points. This particular ride for me was half in half. It was near me, and went on some roads that I frequent, but probably 1/2 were miles I'd never or rarely ridden. The more 'exotic' the course, the more you want to see it at your own pace without distraction of the peloton you've found yourself in.
As for gaining 2 mph, I made that decision Sunday, that I didn't need to go faster. The one time I joined a faster group wasn't to go faster, per se, but to go the speed I wanted, which happened to be faster than the one the previous group was going. But next month, I'm doing a 100-miler, so I might have to consider drafting more than I did Sunday to help me ride it in comfort. Don't need to go fast, but I do need to enjoy it. Nothing worse than the final 10 miles of an 'event' when you're totally zonked.