Here's my own experience with idiot racers: January 2008, 20ºF, four guys on a group ride that is typically a total hammerfest in warmer temps, but in the off-off season when five people show up, everybody tends to slow down. We get to the climb that splits up the group in May or June, and the one guy puts down 900 watts. I'm not going with him on a 20ºF day in the snow flurries 7 weeks before the first Spring race. I let them go, shaking my head. I haven't been back since, it will be a long time before I return to that particular idiotfest.

And that's why I stopped doing that ride. 12 miles in there is a mile long climb with a 10% section near the end, 2-3 guys on this ride are literally ranked in the top 10 guys in the NY Vets 35+ TT rankings, and I'm simply not going to match them watt for watt on that terrain without blowing a gasket. Not last year at least, I may try again this year when I'm in shape. I hung with them once or twice, but F that action. But I go on a fast group ride to get a workout, not to get shelled @ mile 12 and ride it in alone. You pick the rides you can do. I get dropped on the Nyack Ride - in the last .5 mile on the final climb by the best 10 guys. I've mixed it up with a who's who of NY area bike racing for the previous 45 miles with some climbs I can handle at that point, so I'm a happy camper. I do understand the 'take no prisoners this ride is like a race' mentality, but on a ride with 4 guys in the first week of Jan on a 20º (literally) day? That's really friggin ********. Sorry.

Pick your spots. If you get dropped, come back a bunch of times. If that ride is over your head, find another. Forget what other people think. I call people Freds mainly because it gets a rise out of them. I could give a **** if you call me a Fred, a Road Nazi or an ahole. I've been called worse. I don't ride to hear other people's bull****. I can't hear it anyway, I crank the iPod when I don't want to hear you.

botto does have a good point. Learn to ride in a group. Be smooth. Listen to criticism about your group riding skills. Your lack of them endangers yourself and others in cycling. On the other hand the only way you get them is by getting yelled at a few times. We've all been through it. It's worth it in the end. Cycling is great, so are group rides, so is racing. It does require you to wade through some crap. HTFU and deal with it. Your fragile ego will survive, and ultimately all the people I personally know who have been through this crap (like everybody who races or rides with fast groups) are very happy they put up with the initial perceived elitism.