My First Group Ride Tonight

[riverc0il]

I have been following the local Group Ride schedule trying to identify a good first ride to join them on and tonight looked about right at only 24.5 miles and no major climbs. My major concern prior to getting into the ride was not being able to keep up. Turned out my biggest concern while actually riding was not going too fast. I knew to expect faster speeds in a group due to decreased wind resistance but I had no idea how dramatic the difference would be, wow!!!

The ride started very slow with a 5 mile warm up. I found myself spinning high cadences often around 100ish (way higher than my normal 80-90) because if I bumped up the gear, one rotation would have sent me flying. I figured we were doing about 13-14 MPH tops. At the first regroup, my comp said 17.1 which is just a little under my steady 17.5 MPH average. That was the warm up. My jaw almost hit my handle bars. That was the most effortless 17.1 I have ever peddled.

At least physically. Mentally I was really on my toes trying to get the pacing right. I just hung on the back and tried to get my timing with my distance to the next rider down. I had a hard time adjusting my normal riding style and found myself simply doing a rotation or two and gliding. Instead of charging up the hill, I needed to coast, get in a low gear, and get ready to spin. My solo instincts were at complete odds with group dynamics.

The reward was my third (almost second) fastest MPH of the year with my fastest time of the year being less than half as many miles during a full on start to finish sprint. It boggled my mind that we were going that fast with that little effort (save for the guys up front, at least!). Obviously, the speeds to my solo rides are not comparable.

Any ways, pretty darn cool riding with a group though very mentally challenging on my first time out despite minimal physical effort. The group was going pretty slow due to the heat and normally goes faster, so I am looking forward to riding with them again and picking up the pace a little.

:beer:

 

[drjeff]

Cool! Now flip on verses and you'll really get an appreciation for what the guys in the tour de France are doing! (i've been watching it this evening, along with the red Sox game, with my wife who this year has become a BIG fan of the group rides organized via our local bike club/LBS)

 

[marcski]

Riding with a group and drafting saves 30% of your power. In other words, it takes 30% less energy to ride behind someone at the same speed in their slipstream. Makes for huge difference in your average speeds.

 

[smitty77]

Way to go, Riv! Group riding adds a whole new dimension to just plain riding, and can make you a better bike handler to boot.

I used to be a "roadie" in my teens and I remember being a little intimidated when he said we were going to do a group ride around Mt. Monadnock. It had always just been the two of us, but I had to trust his experience after years of club racing. He told me not to worry - if we get dropped, we get dropped. In the end I kept up for all but the last 5 miles (out of 50+) on the return to Rindge, NH. I had bonked hard on the outskirts of Jaffrey and couldn't recover and that's where I learned a valuable group-riding lesson: Despite being able to hang with the group without much difficulty and even riding near the front on the climbs, I burned up WAY more energy that I thought I had and did not refuel properly at the lunch stop. I've heard other people say they tend to push a little harder when riding in a group without realizing it. Something to think about on longer rides.

 

[mlctvt]

Group rides are fun but as you pointed out very different from riding alone. I'm sure you'll get more comfortable as you do more of these rides. I think you're taking the right approach by being cautious and riding towards the back initially. This way you can watch the group and learn who the better riders are and who to stay away from. Each group always sems to have at least one crazy or erratic rider!

I always try to a couple of group rides per week with more experienced/ faster riders. Riding with better riders will definately help improve your riding skills and ability as well as keeping the riding interesting.

I'm going a group ride tonight. It's just under 100 degrees , I hope the leaders won't spring the hills like usual:-o

 

[riverc0il]

The pace yesterday was slower than usual I was told. Likely due to the heat, I would imagine. I can't wait until next week and hopefully they will pick it up. I can definitely see the benefits of riding with a group in terms of improving performance and handling. I felt handling wise I did well but my control was notably less than more experienced riders. I got into the middle of a pack during the one mild sprint that was done but I resisted the urge to give it everything I had... I can see how there is that temptation! I stuck with the pack the whole ride and had plenty more to give at the end of the ride so I think my pacing went well.

 

[andyaxa]

Thanks for that Steve. Your average cadence/speed sounds very similar to mine, and I have always ridden solo, so your perspective is great. Please share again after your next ride, so I can live vicariously through your peleton.

 

[riverc0il]

Thanks for that Steve. Your average cadence/speed sounds very similar to mine, and I have always ridden solo, so your perspective is great. Please share again after your next ride, so I can live vicariously through your peleton.

Second group ride was last night and much different than the first due to the type of riders that showed up and less heat. My big lesson for the evening was never fall off the line. Other than making that mistake, I hung with the faster of the two groups and generally held my own.

Ride started with a long but fairly mellow up hill with a regroup at the bottom of the down. When we got going, the first group took off and I wanted to hang with the faster group so instead of drafting with the slower group I worked hard to catch up and did so just prior to the second regroup.

Next up was a 500 vert hill with some steepish parts. I almost was able to hack this part. Having never done this ride before, I used up too much energy on the second false peak. After a another regroup, the faster group took off and again I had to catch up. Ugh, developing a pattern here. Which was again repeated after another regroup leading into a flat section. When I realized I was off the line again, I pushed hard to catch up but given the flat nature of the road with occasional rollers, I just couldn't get back into the line given how fast they were going with minimal effort.

So about 1/3 of the group ride was really a solo ride. I never fell off the group for lack of ability to keep up but I just was not paying attention and did not react quick enough when the group surged ahead at a faster speed. I learned the hard way that if you don't pay attention, you get dropped. And once that happens there ain't no catching up until the next regroup.

So last week had the group going a little slower than I would have preferred and this week a touch faster than I would normally pedal when solo. Lesson learned to keep in the line and pay attention and react when everyone else pours on just a little sauce.

 

[Madroch]

Gotta tell you-- The title of this thread gave me pause for a minute....

 

[andyaxa]

Thanks for the update, Steve. Must be cool to experience the feeling of being "pulled along" and hearing your account you really understand how guys get popped off the back. I can never get my schedule around any group rides, so it's just me.... repeating Jens Voight's famous words...."Shut up Legs."

 

[riverc0il]

Really bad ride yesterday. Girl went down during the ride. Before we started, everyone was a little nervous about the weather but we started off and it was dry. A few miles later it was a down pour with thunder in the distance. The rain fell off a bit and all looked well. I think she rubbed tires with someone either in front or maybe someone tagged her from behind. It was wet so breaks were not as quick to react must have been the reason.

Any ways, she was literally right next to me when it happened. I have never seen anything happen so fast before. I had no idea how to react and did not have an "instinct" to guide me automatically. I was able to just keep riding straight by without making contact. We were not going to fast but she was hurt enough that she was slow getting up and didn't want to (or couldn't) ride afterwards. Really scary situation.

And soon after that, the thunder started.

 

[smitty77]

Really bad ride yesterday. Girl went down during the ride. .... I think she rubbed tires with someone either in front or maybe someone tagged her from behind. It was wet so breaks were not as quick to react must have been the reason.

That stinks. I hope she gets better soon. Crashes suck, and luckily you were able to avoid it.

My dad has a lot of experience in pack riding from his days of racing and cycling coaching, and he always told me touching the wheel of the rider in front of you will drop you instantly, or at least quick enough where you won't have enough time to grab the brake lever. Even when getting bumped from behind, odds are the rear rider will crash.

His #1 rule he preached to me regarding pack riding was to NEVER overlap wheels because if the rider in front drifts or even slightly swerves the bike to avoid something in the road, the rider in back will go down. I'll admit it's darn tempting to coast and let the bike glide into the gap afforded by drifting alongside the wheel in front of you, but it's a dangerous practice.

Another possibility is she slipped on the white line - some types of paint get dangerously slick when wet. Be very mindful of this when making turns at intersections where crosswalks are involved and feather the front brake when it's wet, maybe even applying it a little later than normal.

And some sections of road are just plain dangerous when wet, especially just after rain has started to fall (and not had a chance to "wash" the road surface). I remember watching the world championships in Norway that Armstrong won, and pro riders were dropping left and right on the slick downhill sections of the course in the rain.

 

[riverc0il]

Good advice regarding not over lapping wheels. I have done that a few times to control speed without really thinking about the possibility of being swerved into. When the rider went down, I was on the inside so it was not a painted line. Given that she came up from behind, it seems like she hit the wheel of one of the guys in front. Scary as hell for sure. Though I have my composure enough that I am already starting to look forward to next week's ride again. But at the time, I was more than glad to follow the pack of riders that didn't want to finish the route (the weather didn't help either :lol: ).

I had been thinking about considering looking into racing. After that crash, I am not sure if I have the stomach for it considering how much riders go down in races. Especially concerning considering the race structure is that all the green inexperienced Cat5 riders all race together with very little experience. Sounds like a recipe for disaster for sure!

 

[riverc0il]

Last night was fun. Group ride was in Moultonboro and Tuftonboro. Really starting to hate downhills. Other guys are pedaling while I need to either feather or slightly but continuously ride the brake. My weight really carries my momentum. Put me behind someone's wheel and I just ride the break even on a slight downhill, sitting up in my seat trying to catch a breeze or if I can, slipping out of the line slightly to get some wind to slow me down. I don't enjoy that part of group riding.

After the first break to let folks catch up, I found myself behind the leader for today's group ride. He slid back to check on things leaving me out front for my first pull ever. Was not ready for that but said "what the heck" and gave it a go for a few miles. Learned that I need to check my six to ensure I am not getting to far in front or going too fast for the group. And if I don't know where I am going and there is a turn coming up, it is time to slip off the lead spot (amazing how I didn't think of it at the time but seemed pretty stupid obvious in hind sight!).

Felt really nice to ride hard while up front... I often feel the group ride speed is slower than I would prefer. I spend a lot of time managing my speed when I would rather be spinning. Might try hooking up with the Tuesday ride out of Plymouth that is much faster and has a lot of guys that compete. Next week will actually be an ideal ride to hook up with them as I am familiar with the route and shouldn't have any problems keeping up (I hope). Worst case, I get dropped and enjoy a nice solo ride up to Woodstock and back. That is a pretty good worst case scenario if you ask me.

Should pass 1k miles for the season by the end of the week! I should have more than that... need to step up the days but work has been tough, lots of 12 hour days lately and weekends to boot. If I stopped making excuses, I could set the alarm and ride in the morning....

 

[mondeo]

Last night was fun. Group ride was in Moultonboro and Tuftonboro. Really starting to hate downhills. Other guys are pedaling while I need to either feather or slightly but continuously ride the brake. My weight really carries my momentum. Put me behind someone's wheel and I just ride the break even on a slight downhill, sitting up in my seat trying to catch a breeze or if I can, slipping out of the line slightly to get some wind to slow me down. I don't enjoy that part of group riding.

Yeah, that can be a bitch. Good part about the group I ride with sometimes is it's small enough, and the roads are lightly enough travelled, that on the downhills we splinter a bit and it's every man for himself. But solo rides are where I have most of my fun descending. Goup rides where we have to stay together, it's just an opportunity for a break.

 

[bvibert]

At my size I run into the same downhill issue mountain biking too. It can be a pain, especially when I'm trying to use that momentum to get up the next hill...

 

[drjeff]

At my size I run into the same downhill issue mountain biking too. It can be a pain, especially when I'm trying to use that momentum to get up the next hill...

Yup, us big guys are damned either way by the small folks while on the bikes. We get pissed at their scrawny little butts as they fly up the hills quicker, and with less effort than we can, and then their puny mass can't get out of the way of our momentum as we're headed downhill at them! :lol:

 

[riverc0il]

Yup, us big guys are damned either way by the small folks while on the bikes. We get pissed at their scrawny little butts as they fly up the hills quicker, and with less effort than we can, and then their puny mass can't get out of the way of our momentum as we're headed downhill at them! :lol:

Interestingly, I do pretty good on the hills against the light weights. I carry a lot of speed into the hills along with having a little extra grinding power, so I get pretty far up the hill before throttling back to easier gearing combos. But more importantly, most of the guys on my group ride have doubles whereas I have a triple so I can usually keep up with even the fastest guys on the up hills. At least for shorter up hills before my legs and lungs give out...

Speaking of triple versus double, it has been a high priority of mine to not use the two largest cassette gears while in the small chain ring as I am trying to gauge whether I could get away with a compact double around these here hilly parts. I am pleased to report that I have not used my lowest gear combo in weeks and very very rarely have resorted to my second lowest combo... which means I should be able to do just fine with a compact double. Which will have to wait until I decide to buy a carbon bike upgrade because it ain't worth buying a whole new drive train on an entry level road bike.