Different group rides have different characteristics and sometimes they even vary depending upon who shows up from week to week.

Some group rides are hard, competitive race-simulation workouts. All bets are off there. Sometimes you'll have half the riders struggling and not taking any pulls while the other half is trading attacks at the front.

Some group rides are much more of a cooperative effort and have structured rotating pacelines.

Some group rides are more social. These may have a double paceline with riders pulling up to their comfort level and dropping back in pairs.

Random charity ride pacelines may just have a handful of strong riders pulling a very long train. Be careful grabbing the back of these. The accordian action can get sketchy.