Nobody here has said that their group AVERAGES 33 mph, many have said they paceline that fast. When you account for warmup, stoplights and signs, traffic etc you may end up with 25-28 (still crazy fast). What that pro number tells you is they are pacelining along at 40 mph to get an average of 35.8.

I'll tune in next Thursday morning for the sequel.

Hot rock in a hot rock dropping contest....very funny!

Well done, Grasshopper. The student becomes the teacher.

Those TTT speeds are nothing compared to the finishes on flat stages. With six or seven teams throwing there domestiques into the front to fend off attackes, the field will be turning an 53/12 or 11 for miles and miles at speeds of 40 MPH before the sprint.

And I don't know what kind of riding you do, but lots of training ride in these parts consist of high level amateurs, semi-pros and retired pros.

You had some very funny analogies there. I can relate to your pain and suffering. When I joined our school racing team (late 80's) I was barely able to keep up with the group on the flats and got dropped the instant the terrain started to go upwards. After some rigorous training with the group and some excruciating solo rides I was able to hold my own and even pull the paceline up some moderate climbs in the area.

The fastest time I was dropped was about three months after joining the team. We were flying along the Victoria waterfront at a reasonable pace of 38km/hr. I had just completed a good turn at the front and peeled off to resume my place at the back of the line. I was a wee bit tired when I pulled up onto the back wheel of the last rider so I missed the signal (if there was one) to let me know of an obstruction on the right. With my head down and hammering hard to prevent getting gapped on the slight incline I never saw the hatchback parked on the side of the road until my front wheel hit it (immediately followed by my handlebars and face). Since I was at the back of the line, none of the other riders saw me hit the car. After I dusted myself off and collected my stuff (the impact knocked the pump, waterbottles, computer, and seatbag off of my bike and the shades off of my face) I noticed my downtube was permanently bent. I limped back to the school by myself vowing to never look down in a paceline again. I just wish I had this on video.

Since I'm the one who unfortunately opened Pandora's box here.... I never claimed that we got back to the parking lot after the 40-mile ride, looked down at our collective cycle computers, then clapped each other on the back and exclaimed, "Good ride, guys. 33.3 -- not a bad effort, eh?" I said that 32-33mph was common territory and implied that we'd ride at that pace for an extended period of time. Re-read my previous posts. Never said squat about an average. (Also can't imagine that there are a lot of training rides that "warm up" in the 30s -- we typically spend 4 or 5 miles spinning at 18-22 before the hammer goes down.) Whether you believe me -- that's up to you.

I also never said it was "no sweat." There aren't a lot of guys who can sit in in the low-30s, let alone pull that pace. Or cover a break if one opens up at that pace. Our ride of 30 people will get cut down to 15 or a dozen pretty quickly when that happens. The local "A" club ride (no-drop) of a similar size got cut to 4 people last night when we hit the low-30s two miles before a town-sign sprint. There aren't a lot of guys and gals riding in the low-30s who aren't busting their cajones to do it. Cajone-busting is the whole point!

Finally, as anyone who has done any cycling at all ought to know, to finish a ride with a certain "average" speed requires maintaining speeds far in excess of that average for long periods of time. Last night's local "A" ride of 44 miles (attended by racers and serious recreational riders) hit 30mph on the flats several times, was frequently cruising along in the high-20s, and yet we only finished with an "average" on the computer of 20.7mph. Why? Warm up. Stop signs. Traffic lights. Turns. Hills. Hanging back to collect some who had been dropped. Cool down. This principle is at work in any group ride, no matter how speedy or slow the riders.

Superdex, when I read this yesterday morning I was laughing so hard my eyes were tearing. I wasn't laughing at you, but at myself for the times that the exact same things and feelings happened!

Hope you go back; I did and it was worth every gut wrenching pain that went through my body.

Hip, I agree with what you say. If you are out there for the Zen and ture, no one has a right to tell you that you should go faster. Thing is, if you go out and ride 18, day in and day out, you will never ride anything but 18. There is a certain sense of accomplisment the day you come in at 19 or do a century at 20.

Rhumb

Wait. These guys wouldn't even make sure everyone got off from the light before sprinting away? That just sounds like those guys are real *******s. Hell, even the professional racers wait for the guys who fall.

Well, here it is the Wednesday hence, and as luck would have it, I'm still at work and I'm missing the ride. The sequel will have to wait another week. Stay tuned, I'm gonna go back!

you could get some miles in this weekend and have something to show them on wednesday..maybe you will be able to hang in there for 2 miles longer...baby steps, baby steps! :-)

Dude, I've waited for a week and you have the audacity to skip the ride for work?

Shame on you.

what job do you have that is more important that the report that would have followed "the ride"?

Tell the asshats that you need to ride and they can stuff this job up their Selle Italia.

Check this out: https://www.velonews.com/news/fea/8706.0.html

The author is looking for euphemisms for getting shelled. I nominate the OP's "Dropped like a hot rock in a hot rock dropping contest."

I did a group ride this past weekend that was reminiscent of this thread, except with 80 people there were B, C, D and who knows what groups. The A guys disappeared pretty quickly; I think I ended up in the more or less B group. We finished with a 17.0 mph average, which is roughly where my solo rides end up; in a nice paceline that was occasionally being pulled by a tandem, we cruised for several miles at 25+. It was my first really big group ride; it's been a long time since I've had that much fun with pants on.

Pics are here. I'm the ape mid-corner in picture 122...

did

Yeah, I did a ride like that last summer ... stayed with the group but barely. That same group called 911 3x last summer for ambulances .. I guess I just prefer to ride fast but still enjoy the ride.

update? you said there was going to be a sequal damnit!

Going this week, last week I was stuck at work. Stay tuned....

I say yes, because none of the B riders showed up. They probably have a fetish with dropping the fresh meat (newbie). And then after the ride they sit around and have a few laughs. If you show back up you'll earn respect.

now I'll go back and finish reading the thread

bleh, nobody follows through

hahahahaha! I had to go back and read the original post. I forgot how FUNNY it was!

What a fantastic post! You really have captured the essence of bicycling that many new people don't realize. You always hear about biking triumphs on this board but never the opposite. I say go back and see if you can hang a little longer.

Wow, it's only been a year since this thread was created, and I already forgot about it.

I NEVER assume that a group ride is going to be as "slow" as they say - it is an unfortunite fact with the faster groups out there. I very much enjoy going fast - I mean really fast - unfortunity the group rides tend to be like this - hammerfests. I have ridden in my fair share of group rides avertised at 21 MPH ave - who get out on a flat road and crank it up to 30 - 32 MPH - and this is a recreational group!

Between about March and September IMO any racer who is not at the race is looking for something fast on the weekend. I now ask every ride leader before I ride (or even bring my bike out) how fast 1. do you cruise, 2. where do you ride, 3. What do you average, and finally 4. How many miles. If they are honest then they will give you fairly accurate numbers.

As a rule, add at least 30% MPH to any groups average to have an idea of how fast you need to be able to go to "hang" - 12 MPH - 15 MPH APROX, 20 MPH - 30 MPH APROX -

Just an idea!

Mandy


Oh ya, group rides are just a testosterone fest - even more than racing!

The title of this thread should be "When topped is an understatement"

--Steve

It's not about the average speeds, it's about the burst and semi constant cruise speeds you need to be able to maintain.