travelerman

Anyone else have difficulty with slowing down the pace for a more casual ride?
Some of my riding partners - like all of us - are getting older, and I have struggled on group rides these past few years to keep from getting out ahead of them... I am BY NO MEANS a racehorse - I average from 16.5 - 17 mph on longer rides in our hilly neck-of-the-woods (my highest average last year was a century in a flatter part of the state - about 18.2 mph average).
Our local club has a NY Day ride, which I have missed the past two or three years, and I met up with some of the guys I've ridden with for years at the start; we stayed together for the first mile, but the rolling-hill nature of the terrain (and a wicked crosswind) ultimately found me dialing up the speed, to maintain momentum, and I didn't see any of them after the first five miles were past. I finished the ride a good 2 mph higher average than the guys I started out with.
I know a longer, slow ride is good for training, but I really struggle to not hammer it out, especially when the hills require a little momentum going down to keep a good pace going up.

Carbonfiberboy 

Need a faster group of friends, that's all. Not everyone ages the same. Try some folks 15 years younger. That works.

datlas 

Plenty of riders I know are like that.

Best solution is to ride with like-minded and like-abled riders.

However, if you find yourself on a more mellow ride, try to drop it back and enjoy the scenery or socialize a little. You might enjoy it.

john m flores

When I ride with friends with less fitness, I tell myself that this is a social ride, not a training ride, and I ride accordingly. I'll also do things to even the odds and keep it interesting for me, like offering to carry peoples' gear (water bottles, clothing layers, etc...), gear down to work on my high RPM spinning smoothness, or gear up to work on my strength, sprint ahead to stop and take action photos then sprint to catch up, etc...

big john

Nice problem to have, being too fast.

wheelreason

I do my long ride with a slower group of club riders, depending on what mood I'm in, I'll either put my wife's hybrid wheels on, pull the front, or do intervals and turn around and chase back up. I also ride to the start point, adding 16-25 miles, that evens things out and gets me home wiped out and hungry, which is the goal. Maybe you are just too awesome, and need to cut back on the PEDs a tad...

WhyFi

It's more of a problem when I'm alone than when I'm with others, but I guess it depends on what you want to get out of your rides with others. I have friends that are newer to cycling and/or less fit - I approach rides with them as being social more than anything. If I'm feeling antsy and need to stretch my legs, I have weekly club rides that are spirited or I can flog myself on solo outings.

shelbyfv

Well, depends on what you are training for and your training plan in whole. You didn't mention your race plans but training may be much different from recreational riding. I can't say that I have a problem riding more slowly than possible and often do that when riding with a congenial group. I think below about 3 mph is where I would have trouble.

Bah Humbug

It’s a good skill to develop, as annoying as it can be at first.

jbasirico

If you have a regular fast ride/training workout, then you'll have less of an issue with loafing along in between those workouts on casual rides.

MoAlpha

Most of us Freds don't get enough Z2 time, anyway.

masi61

You can also use the ride with your slightly slower than you buddies as an opportunity to test ride some more tourist oriented bike builds. I have a 1999 Cannondale CAAD3 R1000 that is retro set up with SunTour 3x8 XC Pro/Command shifting and a cobbled together Dura Ace 7410 crankset into a 1/2 step + granny triplizer triple with Salsa chainrings and a 12/26 SunTour Accushift rear cassette.

It can most definitely huff it and ride spirited if called upon for the speed. However, the funky fun Command paddle shifters are different enough from every body else’s STI that it ends up lolly gagging really well too.

Dan333SP

This. I will also add that a tip I learned from the Vegan Cyclist on youtube that actually works is to "dress down" for casual, chill rides. Do it in a t-shirt and running shorts instead of a kit, and you'll naturally find yourself riding at a slower, conversational pace instead of tickling your threshold every time you hit a grade.

RedBullFiXX

Drop your air pressure
Do everything you can to be un-aero
Take all the pulls, all day

Sort of the opposite of everything we are hardwired to do

rubiksoval

Ride with faster people. Be social in the coffee shop.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, I used to ride SS, about a 70" gear, just don't shift. Or ride really huge gears, like a 50 cadence and keep shifting to keep it low like that. Or the opposite, keep spinning over 100. Or with folks that are quite a bit slower, unclip one foot on a long climb and just trade feet, but drop back first so they can't see you. You can prop the lazy foot in the frame triangle. Or some of each of these things. One can have quite a good training ride that way and stay in the group. No one ever gave me a bad time about doing that stuff. Probably didn't notice.

brianmcg123

Sounds like they reverse dropped you.

canklecat

Yeah, most of my road bike rides are Z3 and Z4. I have a hard time dialing down the effort for the Z2 stuff. The road bikes and kit just encourage harder efforts. Another problem is I can't hear my phone announcements of my heart rate when the phone is in my rear jersey pocket. Wind noise drowns it out. So I tend to push harder. I don't have any computer on my outdoor bike, so I just go by how it feels, pushing as hard as I can sustain for 20-40 miles.

So about once a week I'll switch to the hybrid, no clipless, casual clothes, and ride with another group of friends for rides of 20-40 miles averaging 12 mph. Those are just as enjoyable. We had our monthly dinner ride last night, so most of my ride was to and from the meetup, a 25 mile round trip for me. Even then, when I was riding solo, I was pushing harder than necessary.

On the hybrid I can usually put the phone in a front pocket, or even my jeans or shorts front pocket. So I can hear Wahoo Fitness announce my heart rate every few minutes. Reminds me to ease up instead of turning a casual ride into just another workout.

Ditto indoor trainer sessions. I do only short HIIT sessions, or all Z1-Z2 spins for 90 minutes to a couple of hours or longer while watching movies. I do my tempo and workout rides outdoors.

Reminds me, I really should get a basic bike computer compatible with my HR, cadence and speed sensors for outdoor rides. At the moment I have one only on the indoor trainer bike.

Seattle Forrest

This.

People who can't do 15 mph on a bike don't like to ride very long. You can go on a short scenic ride with them, and then go get your workout on afterwards.

seypat

It's really not that hard. The first thing you do is turn off you data recording device or stash it somewhere so you can't look at it. Don't worry about the speed, watts, power, etc and the rest will work itself out. Take away the need for the effort and the effort will decrease.

shelbyfv

I've heard that a way to rid the group of an annoying rider is to let him go charging off the front, then the group makes a turn. After the ride "Oh man, we hollered at you but you were too far ahead. We knew none of us could catch you!"

travelerman

I guess my problem here might be what other commenters suggested; an imbalance with the guys with which I used to hang... most of this ride was Z2 for me:

nomadmax 

When riding with some of my friends I ride before I meet up with them or make it on a rest day. I'm also conscious that I don't half wheel them. They're gracious enough to spend time with me, I can, at the very least, be gracious enough to not make the experience miserable for them.

MoAlpha

The numbers may differ, but true.

This time of year, I rely on the gizmo to keep me from falling into the Z3-4 groove and turning quality, base/endurance (and enjoyable!) miles into "pyramidal" junk that only loads my week with stress.

robbyville

Our group rides are pretty well labeled. So if our Wednesday ride is a recovery and goes 17-19mph (flat area), and I’m in the mood for a harder workout I’ll just pull longer than my fair share or pace the group. Or ride on my own.

we recently started an amazing z2 ride, of course that’s different for everyone but basically 55 miles 19-22moh average and we get a huge group every Saturday of over 40ppl easily depending on time of year. Sometimes folks will split up and go off the front we let them go stretch the group and the legs for a bit. If they try to push the group beyond the intent of the ride we politely suggest the local A or B ride which are a different work out!

Then I have a smaller group of folks that I ride with regularly. When I choose to ride with them I know exactly what I’m in for a nice pleasant 14-18mph average for about 30 miles chatting all the while and coffee afterwards, I’ll pull a bit longer than some but always stay together since that’s what we bought into and as a smaller group would suck for the less strong people to leave them in the middle of the ride.

thankfully lots of options where I am!