Originally Posted by
TheKillerPenguin
I think my take on it is that if you are looking to get stronger it's not the right course of action, but if you're looking to maintain it's great. You get practical benefits out of it as well like being used to riding around people that pay off with extra confidence on the weekend, or it feeling normal responding to other people changing the pace versus anticipating when your next interval starts.
I think it depends on the group.
The guys I ride with are all 2's and 3's. Depending on what wheel I'm on, I could doing 300+ just stay on wheels. Riding with these guys, for me, has helped me immensely with fitness and bike handling. The other day my normalized power was 260 for close to an hour..something I don't typically do on my own no matter what workouts im doing. Nothing has been better for my racing on the weekends then riding with these guys
The other groups around here though, I would rather ride on my own than with them. If I was to only ride with those guys my fitness would decline.