I have loved riding solo for as long as I've been riding.

Funny thing is, I tend to be a very social and friendly guy in my day to day life. In fact, I am certain that some people who know me wish that I would shut up.
Oh sure, I like riding with one of my friends who also ride but never more tnan1 other rider

My time on the bike is for me to clear my head and enjoy the quiet and solitude I don't like to talk while I'm riding...I don't know why but I just don't.

Oh, I will wave to other riders but I don't chat.

Every group rides I've ever been on was very social and I was uncomfortable....not like the everyday me.

Yes, I HATE group rides.

I’m with you!

Weird, my group rides are not very social at all. Show up at start time join the pace line, pretty hard to talk in those conditions, and then I leave when the ride is over.

Interesting the OP chose the word hate, and capitalized it, rather than dislike, don’t enjoy or are uncomfortable. Hate is a very strong emotion.

I hate broccoli.

I hate that the OP hates group rides.

Solo riding is ok but group rides are more interesting and usually more fun. I've done more of the social kind but also plenty of the head down and hammer kind.

I enjoy the social kind a lot more, even if there is extended hammering. Although I'm aging out of the hammerfests. Last Saturday I went with a non social club ride. They just hammer out, take a few minute break, then hammer back. They're great people, friendly and welcoming, but there is something missing compared to my main club. We stop and have coffee or snacks and talk about everything, including harassing each other.

I've been with the club for 36 years.

On a good group ride, one talks with their bike. There's a language. That said, not every group ride is a "good" one. A fast group ride can be "social," just not in the way that a rider new to the group might understand. I like a ride which has a feed and gab session after where we can talk about what went down.

My favorites are the coffee shop/bakery rides. We put our heads down and hammer, get to the bakery and order whatever and sit and chat for 20 mins. Usually at the end of the ride, a number of people chat for another 20 minutes.

I do understand the OP liking to ride solo. Think your own thoughts, go your own speed, no need to concentrate on what you and others are doing. I ride solo about 90% of the time and it is far more relaxed, even when I am in the red mist. Today I chased down another rider going the opposite direction after going another 1/4 mile to the turnaround. It was a concerted effort and it took 20 minutes and really didn’t ’t know if I could do the catch. Scored 3 PRs all by my lonesome, which I wasn’t really trying for.

I quit doing road group rides years ago. Seemed like every time you put more than 4 or 5 riders together there is always at least one guy that has to make life difficult for cars to get around us then I just end up feeling like a jerk the whole ride. Then there is the problem that the group is always either too fast for me and I'm killing myself to try to keep up or too slow so I'm doing nothing most of the ride. If I'm road riding which I don't particularly like anyway I'm doing it for exercise and to zone out. Mountain bike group rides are were I do social stuff. Everybody can just ride at their own pace and meet up at all the splits and BS. A lot of our mtn bike rides are an hour and thirty to two hours of moving time and an hour plus of BSing.

Group rides wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for all the other people.

I'm the same, but I'd put it another way, which is that I LOVE riding solo. It's what works for me. I also do a monthly C&V ride, which is fun and includes great people, but it's a different thing from riding solo. My mind is in a different space on solo rides vs group rides.

I love riding solo. I like riding with my SO and also a small group of select friends. Most of them are ex-local racers. I've given up on my club but that's mostly because of club "politics."

Solo for me as well.....

I actually love group rides for the company (as long as the group is small and cohesive), but luckily we cyclists can choose if/when to ride solo or when to ride with a group.

i like both but it does depend on the 'group'...

^ This

I want to love group rides, but I haven't been on a group ride for well over a decade. I certainly don't hate them, but there's a host of reasons why it's always just easier to ride by myself:

• Safety: When I ride alone, I follow the rules of the road and try to make safety a priority over speed. My experience with group rides is that the group feels that road rules don't apply to cyclists. Then there's the issue that not all cyclists know how to ride in a group, potentially making it dangerous to ride in a group even if cars aren't an issue.
• Motorist Rage: As a motorist, I know it's much easier to pass a single cyclist than it is to pass a group... and that's assuming the group is following the rules of the road. I feel super anxious when riding in a group on a road where it's going to be difficult or impossible for motorists to pass the group as so many roads aren't wide enough to accommodate slower traffic like cyclists (i.e., no shoulder.)
• Questionably Social: Wind and other noises makes it really hard to be social while riding. I often find that I'm almost yelling the entire time that I've tried talking to someone else on a ride.

I do have fond memories of group rides in my past, but I've decided that the only way I'll do one again is on an organized / sponsored ride on a course where vehicle traffic is being monitored or controlled so at least that issue is off the table. Riding as a group on some trails works OK, but most asphalt trails are multi-use and having a pack of high-speed cyclists zooming down a path covered with children and e-devices (bikes, boards, scooters, etc.) sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Fond memories of the past for sure. We all were very aware of the rules of the road.

Something changed. Were solo these days.

I generally ride solo. During the week, I enjoy running solo also. On the weekends though, the runs are with a marathon training team. There's over 1200 on that team with many subteams. The teams go out staggered with the fastest teams leading out so the SAGs aren't overwhelmed. You can run it any way you like, just depends on your mood. Best thing is there's always someone within 100 yards for safety reasons. If you're a cat 6 type, it's hard to beat.

I've always felt groups to be one of two types: chit-chatters, and performance-oriented types.

I'm all for chatting along, on a decent ride. So long as each cyclist "behaves" reasonably in terms of safety and precautions, not ditching those when nearing pedestrians (ie on a MUP) or when the chatting gets a bit lively.

I've never been much of a performance-oriented-group type rider. In those, on the handful of occasions I have joined them, they're invariably focusing on push, push, push, and determined to ride in "peloton" format (far too close for my preferences). So, not for me, these types of rides. But sometimes it's hard to know in advance what sort of ride it's likely to be, even if initially claiming it's more of a sedate, chit-chat type of ride.

My own preference: usually it's solo, or with a well-known buddy where our cycling styles match well; with the occasional chit-chat type group ride, so long as the group keeps from becoming a peloton type ride that "pushes" everyone along.

Nice thing is, everyone's different, and there are enough groups of people around who can gather in whichever types of groups they prefer, with each group gravitating toward the sort of cycling mode the group wants. Nice to have such choices.

This, minus the monthly group ride -- never participated in one, and almost certainly never will. 'Hate'? No. I completely understand why many cyclists like, or even prefer, group rides to riding solo, just as I have no desire to 'train' or record metrics etc but understand why many cyclists do.

I am pretty introverted by nature, though not in the "L'enfer, c'est les autres" sense. For me, cycling has been a respite from family and work interactions since I rediscovered it in 2002 at age 50.

I think you should shut up.

Realistically if you can have a conversation during a group ride it means you aren't putting in much effort. Crank that ride up to Zone 4 or 5 for the duration and nobody will be talking.

I don't like them because I go when I want to go and leave from my house and start riding. A group ride is not efficient for time and riding I don't like to be held to some way to ride either by slowing or going faster. I ride sole almost 100 percent of the time.

I prefer riding solo, but I'll do group/event rides if they're more social. Once in a while I do a ride with a local bike shop where we split up into pace groups, and then we have enchiladas at the Mexican restaurant next door. The group rides where cycling is treated like a serious chore just don't appeal to me.

Take a different view on this, because this is how I felt at one time.

But this is how you become one of the faster riders. If you keep at it, you increase your fitness. After a while what felt like killing yourself will be easy.