Stumbled Onto My First Faster-Than-Advertised Group Ride
 

So I went out tonight to ride with what was advertised as a "B" ride (which around here means 14-17 mph). I ride the 11 miles out there and I'm informed there is a "faster" group that breaks off the front (@ 20-22 mph) but that everybody else rides the advertised pace. Ok, I think to myself, it's Monday night so we've got the "fast people recovery ride," since most people put in the big/fast mileage on the weekend. No problem, considering that I usually average about 17.5 without working too hard and that's without a wheel.

My first mistake was trying to chase the fast group right out of the box. I got stuck behind everyone who was riding three abreast and had to make up about half a mile on a well-organized paceline of four guys. They were going about 25 when I caught up to them. Needless to say I had to full on sprint to catch the group, so on the first big hill I was gassed and realized there was no way I'd keep up with the big boys tonight. Humbling, and totally my fault. Lesson learned.

No problem again, I thought, I'll just drop back to 16 mph or so and wait for everyone else. Then the rest of the group catches me going 20-21, sees me struggling, nobody offers me a ride on a wheel for a minute to catch my breath and get back up to the pace. We turn left onto a new road with a slight 1-2% downhill grade and everyone is hauling 26+ mph. At this point, I'm thinking, "you've got to be kidding me." The ride leader pulls up NEXT to me (again, if I could have gotten a wheel for a mile I might have been ok) and asks how I'm doing. As calmly as possible, I remark that for a 14-17 mph ride, this one's a bit fast. Ride leaders response: "yeah, this is a fast group." I wasn't far from home so I opted to "accidentally" wrong turn and call it good for the night.

I don't mind getting dropped, it just means I have something to work on. But ride leaders, please for the love of everything holy put some kind of note in your ride listing if you're going to average 5-8 mph over the advertised pace. If I had wanted to ride 19+, I would have gone and found the "A" ride tonight.

Good news was, I managed to hang on for 8 miles running right around 24 mph (most without the benefit of a draft). My total mileage was 32 and a bit, averaging about 17.5 mph. I HTFUed a bit and learned a lesson about chasing a guy in a US Postal Service jersey (they must ALL be doping)! But I still think it's BS that the ride leader did not take the simple step of re-classing the ride on the calendar.

Vent complete.

I don't know the size of Lansing, but could you look for a club that isn't peleton oriented.

You got into a new group and decided to chase the big dogs right out of the box while the rest of the group was still in the cruise mode? Yes that was a mistake. You also could have asked the leader for a pull to help you recover. After chasing the big dogs they might have assumed you were a big dog as well. But that is water under the bridge. What might I ask was your average speed when you got home?

'Bout 17.5. I wasn't expecting to keep up with the big boys the whole ride, I just expected that I'd be able to drop back to the advertised pace. Whoops. :rolleyes: So next time I go out I'll hang with the normal folks and plan on going about 19-21. Humility. A valuable life lesson.

17<17.5 Doesn't look like such a large discrepency to me.

I agree with bigfred you got into a group that, Averaged, 14-17 and even after chasing the As you ended up with a 17.5 average. They may have been talking average.

That sounds a lot like the "B" group I ride with. Twice a week we go out from the local shop and they split into 5 groups: one "A," three "Bs" and a "C." The B groups are, from fastest to slowest, Killer Bs, Honey Bs and Bumble Bs. I ride with the slowest B group and routinely finish midpack with an average of 18-18.5. That means, after factoring our traffic stops, most of the cruising is done anywhere from 19.5 to 22 or so, with occasional faster stretches depending on mood, gas and wind.

Our Saturday morning "B" ride historically averages a true 15.5-17.5 mph over reasonably hilly terrain (not counting stoppage time). Subsequently it's not unheard of to maintain 21-24mph along reasonably long stretches of flat road.

Give it ago again next week. But, this time, ride it smarter. No chasing after the fast guys. Attempt to maintain the second or third wheel position. Don't volunteer to go to the front and pull, unless people naturally rotate off the front of you. In which case, take a pull, but, keep it reasonably short. Don't linger at the back. The gaps and excellerations are exagerated back there.

I agree again.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons that day, and getting whiplashed off the back end of the paceline was one of them. I had just sprinted to catch the tail end of the fast guys when they turned a corner and I had to do another hard short sprint to get back on the wheel. Next week I will ride it much smarter - take it a bit easier on my 11 miles out to the ride, and no chasing the fast guys. The hard extended sprint I had to do to catch the breakaway right off the beginning of the ride is what killed me. I had to really crank (for me) at 26-27 mph for nearly half a mile to catch them. It turned out to be a valuable race lesson as well. If I had worked with somebody and we had alternated taking pulls I could have caught the group with much less effort and would have been able to maintain the pace much longer. Thanks for all the good advice and having a bit of patience while I got that off my chest. :)

I do a bit of cyclocross right now but I want to start racing crits next year, and the fast road rides are just what I need to discover where I need improvement and hone my peloton skills. I really underestimated how important strategy could be even for a group ride. Lord knows I would have gotten dropped off a real race within 4-5 laps. I also learned how much I need to work on my ability to do short, steep hills.

A lot of the rides I go on I am one of the guys riding off the front, and we usually get spooled up to 19-20 and that has never been too difficult for 20-30 miles (still having conversations). Silly me thinking I could full sprint and then settle into a 22-23 mph paceline for 20 miles. But now I have something new to work for.

BTW, I did some asking around, and it turns out the "fast guys" are all on a race team sponsored by Cannondale and two local shops, race Cat 3 and above, and have 3000-6000 miles per person on the road this year. So I felt a little better that I couldn't keep up. I used to ride BMX and MTB, and I've been commuting regularly for years now, but this is my first year getting serious about road and I have a whopping 350 miles under my belt. Whoops.