Originally Posted by Brian Ratliff

My goal of riding a bike is not to not get into an accident. Yes, it is probably the leading cause of bike accidents. At some point, you shouldn't care. It's a sport. It's about extending your body. My goal in riding a bike is to go faster. Riding with a group, learning to go fast with a group, is part of bike riding for me. For your point about fitness, some of the hardest rides I've done have involved pacelines. The objective of staying with the paceline and contributing to pace pushes you more than simply plodding along alone. Yes, I race. Yes, I was riding in pace lines long before I was racing.

You don't like riding in groups. Good on you. You're the guy who walks up to a bar, orders a glass of water and preaches to everyone within earshot about how awful drinking is for you. Put kindly, a downer. The goal of my life is not to not die. I like building things, including my body and my motor skills, and if that entails a little more risk than planting my ass on the couch, so be it.