Erik

I joined a local club on a group-ride this morning, thinking I might get a membership there. I didn't really like it. Sure the speed was fun, but sometimes I couldn't really keep up (especially when climbing) and had to ride faster than I would have liked. An hour later some other members felt the pace was to high so we all slowed down untill I didn't really feel I was getting a good workout. Also, some riders would shout to other cyclists to get out of the way when we passed them, even when it wasn't necesary at all.

In the end, I think I prefer riding solo. I like to determine my own pace and get into that "Zen" state (that I think every roadbike enthousiast knows), with only the sounds of the wind and my bike.

shaharidan

sorry you had a bad time
may be worth giving them another chance and talking to some members about your concerns. no reason you can't keep your solo rides and occasionally enjoy the social aspect of a club ride. may just take finding the right members to ride with.

SipperPhoto

I agree with Shah there... try out a cluba couple of times, maybe you jsut need to fall into a groove with how the club works, and what to expect on a ride.... if after a couple ridses.. you still don;t like it.. look for a new club.. that is what I did... the first club I was riding with was too slow for me.. and even though I am not the fastest cat on the block... I was routinely pasing everybody... I found a new group that is a little bit faster.. averaging 17-19 mph... I get a great workout.. everyone is cool... and there is not attitude

Jeff

DnvrFox

Right on. You have it figured out correctly.

~LongRider~

I definitely prefer riding solo, or in small numbers.

brent_dube

It would be nice to try to ride with a group. But I think I would still prefer solo, for the own pace and such.
When I used to ride my ATV all the time, I would only go alone. It wasn't nearly as fun if I had to keep with a pace of someone else.

Also I would probably feel uncomfortable with all those people around me. My anxiety is bad enough, just riding around with cars flying by me.

mightypudge

I think it all depends on the group. The same people won't be on every ride. Maybe soon you'll meet some people that you click with. That might make it more enjoyable.

Until then, go solo. I have to admit I prefer to ride alone. I like to choose where I go and how fast/slow I ride to get there.

Arsbars

I perfer to ride solo unless it's for group training rides. Or with one or two of my friends that I know won't mind me in my "zone"

Laggard

The best way to get strong and be a better rider though is to ride with a group that is a bit stronger than you. It forces you to really push yourself. I found that it was too easy to slack off when riding alone.

One of the issues I had when I was racing was that it was obvious that there were quite a few people who, while strong, hadn't ridden in any groups. They were nervous and really lacked the bike handling skills necessary to ride in a pack. It made for some really dangerous riding.

On the other hand, every week I took part in a ride that was made up of 30-40 really good and pretty strong riders. I only saw one crash during the two years that I did it.

SamDaBikinMan

I ride solo most of the time but will do 1 group ride every couple of weeks and sometimes every week.

It is hard to find a group that suits your personal preferences. I am lucky that the group I hook up with likes to burn up the road for stretches then re group for a bit of easy spinning between hard efforts.

We all know we can ride whatever pace we want and someone will be there with you until the next intersection.

Chris L

Personally I prefer riding solo too. Although that has more to do with the fact that the type of rides I like doing aren't the type of rides that most groups like. In fact, very few cyclists at all tend to ride the sort of places that I ride.

Having said that, group riding per se isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think it's important to find the right group. One that has a similar speed to you and rides in a general way that suits you. If that group doesn't offer this, maybe you could find another that does.

F1_Fan

Too bad your experience was bad. I belonged to a great club with some really super guys. Saturday club rides were a highlight of my week. Sure I got blown out the back at the 2/3 point most days but I made friends and met new training partners.

No one yelled at anyone, in fact we got dressed down pretty good by the ride leader when someone fingered a car that honked (it was the mayor's wife objecting to us riding 2.5 abreast... fair enough).

Usually mid-week I'd ride with two or three club guys who I got along with and were a little bit faster than me. I've got one very good friend now that I met on club rides 15 years ago.

Try a different club... once you click with a group it's an awesome social and athletic thing.

Grendel

I prefer the group rides, but that's mainly because I'm very sociable and like to be around folks even if I have to make adjustments to do so. At first the pace threw me off too; there were times when I found it hard to keep up but that was mainly because I would sometimes want to take it easy and spin for a bit and the group would keep going. When I ride solo I sometimes tend to take it easy in spots, often slacking off without even realizing it, and groups rides will expose that tendency because now you've got a wheel to catch. All in all I prefer the group setting, even though I'm kind of in between groups now; I'm dropping the slower social group but not yet fast enough for long enough to stay with the hammers. Luckily our rides have groups with different speeds, so I start with the faster group and stay on board as long as I can and when I get shot out of the back of the paceline I just spin for a bit and maybe eat some Oreos or something else to fuel up and then ride with the social group when they catch up.

dexmax

i ride solo almost everytime.. occasionally, someone from the LBS would join me... But I don't consider 2-3 riders a group..

I like the solo ride, or to ride with my wife.. Its peaceful.. Since I don't have to think how fast or how slow the ride should be... My own pace..

DnvrFox

I like to explore - take a side road, go on a new trail. Sometimes I just start out without having any idea at all where I might end up, and I surprise myself by how far and where I go. I find some of the most interesting things this way.

Biking doesn't have to be about speed and mileage. It can be about discovering your world.

The other day I found a whole new area I had never explored before, and, lo and behold, I found some decent HILLS, which I greatly enjoy doing (It is very flat east of the Rockies).

To me biking is discovery, being close to nature, seeing new things and sometimes seeing old things in a new way.

That is really hard to do in a group ride.

Markedoc

I prefer solo rides at this point, but have to say I haven't tried group rides either. What I know I don't like is riding with people who don't seem to have much riding "common sense" - ie - pulling up along side of me to my left to "chat", as I come up on a pothole or a pile of glass ... or not knowing whether to pull ahead or go behind when a car approaches from the rear and there's no shoulder and we end up both slowing down (and wasting momentum) ...

ChipRGW

Group rides can be really fun. I ride with my club, every weekend, usually both days. The important thing is to find a good group of riders that ride at a similar pace to what you want to ride.
Our club, for example, has something like 350 members. Many of them come out for the weekend group rides. We have 7 different ride groups. They are not all active EVERY weekend, but there's almost always 3 or 4 different pace groups to choose from. Most of the people are friendly, and fun. Our club is dedicated to things like, sticking to the advertised pace, following road rules, and well functioning, organized pace lines. If you're a new rider, there's always people that will help you with your group skills.
Some other local club rides are just FYB* pack rides. Great fun if you just want to develop "race skills", but they are pretty insane, and rarely follow the rules of the road. I personally have no interest in riding with them.
Keep looking, when you find a good group, you'll realize what an enjoyable experience this can be. Not to mention the great resource it is. On my first group ride with the club, one of the longtime members noticed I had toe clip pedals, without straps, and said I really needed to get some clipless. I said that I was shoppiong for some. He gave me a brand new pair that he had bought, but didn't like. Now, we are riding with a new girl. She has a nice Trek, with toe clips. My new Bianchi came with some SPD's that I'm not using. I'm going to give them to her. Things like that are what real "club" riding is all about. Oh, yeah, our club had a nice get-together for day 1 of the TDF. We are all getting together tonight for a nice dinner.

(*- FYB stands for "F*** your buddy")

djbowen1

By the looks of the the group that rides in laps at my local park i want nothing to do with any of them, they are rude, unfriendly, and snotty. But then again so is the whole freaking county.

deliriou5

i think doing group rides are essential for learning racing techniques. and there's nothing like riding in a huge pack of 30-40 riders at 30mph - pretending you're in the tour de france....

OK - I only lasted for about 1 minute... but it felt great anyways!!!

Laggard

Exactly. I think that those of us who race/raced would kindly ask that if you choose to only ride solo that you stay away from the weekend races.

FOG

I think riding with a group is a lot of fun, but I do recall having some weird moments, like when I finished a 20 mile ride in the middle of a pack in less than an hour, and the ride had been listed as a C ride- average 14-15 mph (this was a long time ago, when I was in a lot better shape). I think that each local club will have its own characteristics, and once you figure out what they are, you willl find an appropriate group to ride with. Don't just rely on the advertised pace.

As an additional note- maybe this will give ride leaders some reason to think about what pace they establish, and how they deal with new riders. I would hope that most clubs want new riders, and that some leaders, official or unofficial, within the club, would ride at a pace likely to encourage a newcomer to stick around.

peloton

Erik, you will only get better by riding with better riders. Period, end of story. Riding solo, you will get to a point where you just won't push anymore, and you'll stay happy in that Zen state. A group ride makes you work and forces you to become a better bike handler and a more alert rider.

If you never want to get better, then that's fine. But in my book, that means that your cycling will remain a pastime, not a sport. To be a sport, you must have goals, and the most basic goal is personal improvement.