Originally Posted by
fly:yes/land:no
imho, even the most aggressive group ride can't replicate a race. unless people pay to do the ride, they aren't going to go all out when they have to. unless people are not on your team, they will show mercy.
Last year, my team hosted a group ride which most of us showed up to, and we also shared the same coach. After sending him our power profiles, he deduced that we were consistently riding harder in the group rides than in almost all of our training races and a lot of road races.