How to ruin a group ride:. V Only Mondays

[Too Tall]

Welcome. If you are reading you are logged in, engaged and possibly a righteous MoFo.

How to ruin a group ride in three easy pieces.

Show up.

Mind you business.

Do no harm.

I say this in jest yet it is true. Most of us desire camaraderie, foster bonhomie earned not freely given. So there lies the problem, that open door you seek to earn did not even exist. You are looking for love in all the wrong places bro.

[Tamu8104]

The difference between a group ride and a ride with friends; With friends, conversation(sh!t talking) is natural and easy. A group ride can feel like speed dating on bikes, especially if it's an environment that wants to prove how hip or racer they are.

[SlowPokePete]

We are all in this alone together.

SPP

[joosttx]

Tell a guy that you broke his strava KOm while on an ebike. But it was legit since you were wearing jeans. True convo I heard this year.

[David Tollefson]

Ways I've ruined a group ride in the last year...

* Roll off the front without even trying, and just solo the rest of the route. Kinda says it's the wrong group.
* Pulled a first timer aside to tell him to stop crowding people and forcing them to the ditch or the lane line.
* Gotten a flat and just told everyone to roll on, I'll catch up. I did, but with about a half-mile left on the route.

[MarkC]

For something simple in concept, group rides seem amazingly difficult to make great and maintain. Like many, I grew up with the awesome Sunday club ride, then used to lead rides trying to keep the flame going. Gave it up when folks stopped riding well and when folks didn't want to learn. There was an inflection point around a dozen riders where things seem to go from great to poop quickly. Attribute that to friend of a friend bringing a friend syndrome. Eventually this shreds the original group.

The big group ride (being part of or organizing) is something I cherish from my youth but no longer worry about recapitulating. It's part of a bygone era with many factors contributing to the demise.

[Saab2000]

How to ruin a group ride....??

• Turn a non-competitive group ride into a race.
• Half wheeling your buddies
• Being totally unaware of automotive traffic
• Squeaky chain and poorly adjusted equipment suck

I am kind of an elitist snob when it comes to this stuff and group ride etiquette is a big deal to me......... I could go on but this is a decent start.

[colker]

Don't talk too much.
it helps.
If no one talks at all.. it's a success.

[bigbill]

As I've stated before, I live in the Galapagos Island of cycling. A couple of hours separated from any other cycling group. Habits develop here and are not challenged because everyone does them.

Examples:
Lane split stopped traffic at a light just so they can pass you again.
Run said traffic light with all kinds of traffic around.
Take up two lanes.
Straight pacelines with a crosswind, just can't get them to understand an echelon.
About the time they grasp an echelon, we're heading the opposite direction and don't change the echelon angle.
Run over each and every piece of debris and then complain about flats.
One guy in particular has caused several crashes because he doesn't pay attention, scorecard includes a carbon frame (not his), a Eurus rear wheel, three guys with a total of 20 stitches. He didn't go down.
"hey, I've got a flat, anyone got a tube and pump?".

For all the above, I volunteer to be the rabbit and leave a few minutes early.

[NYCfixie]

Turn a non-competitive group ride into a race.

To me, this is the most annoying reason and why I rarely go on group rides.

[guido]

I've never been on a group ride. I live on a road frequented by them and they just don't make it look attractive. Occasionally riding with a friend or finding someone of similar pace to ride with on a Brevet is as close as I come.

[lumpy]

- Stretch or drink when you are on the front. Brakes go on behind you right down the line.

-Stay on the front until you are going slow.

-Lack situational awareness. Lead the front of the group through a traffic light so the back of the group gets stranded.

-Go off the front when you don't know where the group is going. Everybody who knows where they are going can worry about you, wait for you, or look for you.

-Lack a sense of perspective. It's not the Olympic Trials. It's just a training ride. Don't yell at traffic. Don't tell pedestrians they are idiots if they step out without looking for you. When you're in town nobody expects a line of cyclists bearing down on them at 20 miles per hour. Accept the reality you live in, and dial it back. Your training plan will not suffer.

-Forget about the ride plan once you're warmed up and feeling sprightly. If the deal was a steady roll until you hit North Bootieshorts Road and then it's game on, don't start launching attacks 10 miles early just because you want to stick it to your buddies. A deal's a deal.

These are the dynamics that afflict our rides. Some people need a firm hand to govern them. Elect me dictator!

[Nierman]

Stopping for turtle pics.

[monadnocky]

Go riding with anyone you haven't known well - and ridden with - for at least 10 years.

Probably why 99.5% of my rides are alone.

Perhaps also explains why I'm not particularly popular.

[bigbill]

Local group tries to stay 18-20 into what is normally the headwind section. On the way back it's 22-24. I've been yelled at because I was doing 28 going downhill with a tailwind. No shit, people will ride their brakes on descents to keep under 24 mph. I just do my own thing 80% of the time.

For SAAB and others who have done the Pungo Death Rides in VA Beach, every ride is a race. If you don't want to ride all out, ride by yourself. 20-40 riders all continuously pushing the pace, each pull adds speed until the pack is rolling at 28-30 mph. On my "easy days" I'd sit on the back to North Carolina State Line into the wind and then solo back at a nice pace.

[Saab2000]

Local group tries to stay 18-20 into what is normally the headwind section. On the way back it's 22-24. I've been yelled at because I was doing 28 going downhill with a tailwind. No shit, people will ride their brakes on descents to keep under 24 mph. I just do my own thing 80% of the time.

For SAAB and others who have done the Pungo Death Rides in VA Beach, every ride is a race. If you don't want to ride all out, ride by yourself. 20-40 riders all continuously pushing the pace, each pull adds speed until the pack is rolling at 28-30 mph. On my "easy days" I'd sit on the back to North Carolina State Line into the wind and then solo back at a nice pace.

This is right about the Pungo rides. But they did some things right too. I generally found them respectful of traffic and called it out. I think the narrow roads make this necessary.

Additionally, there are B and C level groups that are less competitive and I often rode with the A group southbound and the B group back into town.

One of the things I don't like about my chosen group here in the Twin Cities is the lack of interest in obeying traffic lights. There are a few things that drive motorists nuts and one of them is the perception that cyclists consider traffic laws like stop signs and red lights to be for everyone else, but not them.

[edoz]

Turn a friendly, no drop ride into a dick measuring contest.

[Lionel]

I love group rides mostly in France where I ride with people that have mostly been riding all their life. I get annoyed by most of the groups in CA where they keep on yelling stupid stuff like car up, car back. If the case is not a danger there is no reason to yell. Also stop pointing stuff on the road that is not dangerous, it's annoying.

[Matthew Strongin]

Turn a friendly, no drop ride into a dick measuring contest.

Or turn a dick measuring contest ride into a friendly no-drop. Every ride has a personality, at least here, so the key is finding one that matches what kind of riding you want to do. It drives me nuts when I'm on a tight-nit crew, steady ride and the new guy/gal wants to show everyone how fast she/he is by ramping up the speed when it's their turn at the front. But it also drives me nuts when I'm on the unsanctioned race, hammerhead, balls to the wall ride and someone is bitching about surges in speed.

Oh, and if you're on one of those lung searing, unsanctioned race rides and you're cross-eyed hanging on for dear life because you're out of your element...go to the back. Otherwise you'll be the cat who opens a gap or worse. And opening gaps is definitely one way to ruin a group ride.

[dogrange]

Worst things about group rides well specc'd above. Worst thing in some ways is the "necessity" of joining them - sometimes get tired of riding around alone so have to accept the "compromises" of the groups.