Anyhoo, if you're just going to hang back and not get any benefit of a draft, there's no reason to call out. You're just on the same road.

Wouldn't be surprised if it were both simultaneously.

Oh, good! Let's all argue about the standard deviation from an unknown cyclist's average heart rate!

Wheeeee!

I have a very strict 70 mile or more rule for allowing a bakery stop.

Not to completely derail this thread, but I dusted off my vintage 27 1/4" steel rim/frame 10 speed franken-hybrid monstrosity... :lol: Apparently I am faster on a road bike... Maybe I can hang with the road guys?

Me today on a similar start and return route as theirs:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9e90285b8a.png


Versus one of theirs:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...48d844e654.png

As a solo cyclist, commuter and road, though I see pacelines in popular cycling areas I don’t make any attempt to join.

I rarely participate in (mass) organized rides with determined routes and distances, and I have posted: BTW, [MENTION=488206]Synack42[/MENTION], I note you post from Michigan, and showed a map of Lake St. Clair.

FYA, by way of introduction, We still have family in in Macomb and Oakland counties, and when visiting, I bring a bike. In the past I have done some weekday group rides with the Clinton River Riders Bicycle Club. Check out their website; from my experience, and visit recently to their site, it’s an amenable and active group.

Is this at Bonneville?

How the heck can you find 40 miles of riding with 26 feet of elevation??

My vote is for Florida...

Wrong. Read the thread. Different peninsula entirely.

Heh, since there is so much interest in elevation here... I pulled up the rides from all four riders that posted it. All of them report different elevation changes (though the GPS route is identical):

26, 46, 92 and 223 feet are reported.

Ok!

The worst that could happen is they tell you no. Or, you join in at the back and they drop you.

I belong to a "club" which is more like a loose gathering of cyclists for a group ride once in a while, and everyone is welcome. If you asked us to join in, we'd welcome you.

Depends on the group. I know most of the folks who train on the route near my neighborhood. If I see the blue Elevate/KHS jerseys, I know I can't hang with them long, even drafting. It's a pro team and even their "slow" rides would grind me up into paste (their weekly "recovery" ride is faster than I can manage on my best day at full gas). And I'd interfere with their paceline. At that level they know each other intuitively. A new person would probably mess up their training. Nice enough fellows, though. We wave in passing.

The club I hang out with has A and B group rides. The B group is very informal and welcomes anyone who wants to ride along. They only ask for the usual stuff -- competence, be careful, be respectful of other folks who use the MUP since we sometimes need to use the MUP to get from one public road to another, hold a line, call out significant hazards, etc. It's no-drop and there's rarely more than a few hundred yards separating the front and back of the group.

Pretty much the same with the A group. I haven't recovered my strength enough to hang with them for long, but they welcome new folks or occasional participants who aren't official members. Same basic policies -- ride safely. That group usually gets strung out over the miles so they have a few regroup points depending on the route and distance. But what usually happens on their longer rides is the group begins with 20-30 folks and as they get strung out over distance they'll form two or three ad hoc smaller groups to tow each other along. Works out fine.

We gotta argue about something! This isn't A&S!

I'll stick to the single track mountain biking, to many rules on the group road rides. Hopefully I can get some descent money back on the road bike I just purchased.

You'll only get descent money back if you've done some climbing first.

what rules does your group have that mine doesn’t? My group’s rules are, don’t cross the double yellow, don’t cross the wheel in front of you, and have fun. I don’t think that too many.

Well damn I've been doing it for free this whole time! No longer!

Hahaha I love it.

:lol:

On my group rides there's also "know where you are in relation to others" and "communicate." I recently (Saturday actually) did a charity ride and the young fast guys were a mess. Not all buy any means but every time someone passed without announcing it was one of the aforementioned.

If getting passed somehow startles you and affects your handling, I would suggest the problem is not the person doing the passing.

If people aren't announcing their passes, I don't think it's the startle that's the issue. If, for example, the last rider in the group starts to pass the second to last at the same time the second to last decides to move out to make a pass, that's likely a crash which could have been avoided if either had announced their intentions.

I was thoroughly startled while touring back in June. Cold, rainy morning in Montana. Visibility not great. I was on a 70 mph road with a relatively narrow shoulder. Lots of up and downs. Worried about deer and even sheep coming out of the woods. (I had seen sheep on that road before, and if you have ever ridden on Montana you know that it's home to 6.20x10^23 deer, and that they like to run in front of cyclists and cars.) Totally concentrating on my surrounding and avoiding trouble when some jack *** I learned later was part of an organized buzzes me and yells something just as his mouth is parallel with my left ear. The really dumb thing about his actions is that if I had to suddenly swerve left to avoid a hoary marmot or some other critter and collide with him, I would have been the semi and he the Miyata. I and my loaded bike are going to win that battle every time.

If people on the ride can be counted on to hold their line then there shouldn't be any need to announce a pass.