Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
I think the high stakes Carbon fiber boy is thinking of are not "winning the ride"
Rather it's the risk of serious injury or death that is on the line anytime you ride in a group. Obviously it's fairly rare for people to suffer severe injuries on group rides, and fourtunately exceedingly rare for people to die, but both happen.
The point being that bad stuff can happen if you mess up, even on a moderately paced, non competitive, ride, and you need to take care in your own riding, and be alert to trouble developing from others
I preface this by saying my experience is obviously entirely anecdotal, but while I've sadly known several who have been seriously injured in bike crashes over the last couple of years, none of those incidents occurred on a group ride. I actually think on the whole group riding can be safer than individual riding, chiefly because you're more visible to motorists and they're generally less likely to pull something stupid that can lead to serious injury, or even death, for you.
Also, it's tougher for a driver to flee an incident involving a group ride for a variety of reasons. I know someone who is currently recovering from serious injuries after being hit by a car on a training ride in the spring and if he hadn't been in a popular area and had a number of witnesses to the crash, the whole incident could have devolved into a "he said, she said" thing, making it much more difficult for him.