Weeks ago I participated in a race (Deland Stage Cup race, Florida) and quickly discovered that some group ride experience was really needed to be able to stay in the race the whole way (I got dropped on lap 2 out of 5). It was fun, nonetheless to even try!

So over the past couple of weeks I've been trying to do some group rides, and I've been able to do 2. They both started at a hospital in Palm Bay. I took the slow one the first day because I wasn't sure how fast they were going. Well, I was pretty disappointed. We rode in a single file line with a bike and a half length between bikes. That left for a small amount of draft, and made me think that it was pretty pointless to even do a group ride. Once, I got out in front to lead, and they yelled at me to slow down (they made us keep it around 20mph, and my comfortable speed is 25mph). Then, once I decided to let someone else set the pace, I got out of line to drift back to the back, and they yelled at me to get back in line! The real kicker, though, was that it took 2 hours and 30 minutes to do a ride I could have done by myself in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Pretty gay.

So this week I went with the fast group, and they go 25 to 30mph at any given time. THAT was fun as hell. Everybody was really nice and I got into a conversation with a 50 year old lady about bikes and racing and group riding and everything before the pace really whipped up. Once we started up, I was doing well for awhile. I managed to stay with the pack for about 45 minutes but, again, the turns were what wore me down (glide in, accelerate out). I did better than at the race though! I only stayed with the pack for about 20 minutes then. So my goal for next week is to stay with them for an hour before getting dropped. We'll see.

Just thought I'd share.