Juan Foote

Went on a "B" no drop group ride this evening. This is my second time on the ride, had a GREAT time last week, and I took along a friend. He is in much better shape than I, but hasn't ridden in some time, using this to get his cardio.
The ride is a 25 or 30 mile loop according to a turn about midpoint in the ride. Pace has been around mid 14 at the back of the pack. Last week, my first ride, the group started off slow, everyone warmed up, and the pace quickened. There was a definate seperation about halfway through, where the group broke up into two. Fairly common with any group as far as I remember, and had no issues. The group would stop from time to time and let everyone bunch back up, and as well one or two riders would drop off the back to pace with the folks getting shelled.

This week, the ride started off with a much more aggressive pace. The first hill in, I got shelled, and was a solid quarter mile behind the main group. I expected as much, recovering from being in bed all week after having three teeth pulled. There were several other riders lagging, and one of the group leaders dropped back and stayed with us.
My friend, who as I mentioned is in much better shape than I, stayed with the faster group. They got so far ahead, and never stopped to wait on this ride like they did the first, that we completly lost sight of them. We ended up taking the shorter path (like was discussed at the beginning of the ride), and they had taken the longer path, with my friend in tow. A few miles after that turn, he fell off the pace, and was WAY back from the main group. After a while, he was litterally riding by him self, through the country on a ride he has never done.
Well, I didn't know this...we pulled in a little earlier than the main group having gone the shorter path. The main group pulls in, and a few stragglers pull in, and nothing. I start asking about my friend, and everyone is shrugging shoulders and commenting how they hadn't seen him for the past 10-15 miles. So, this B ride no drop group has just shelled my friend off in the middle of the country, and no one bothered to drop back with him, see that he was ok, or knew his way back.

Turns out that he shows up about 15 mins later, right as I am about to go looking for him. Turns out that as he is wandering around, he runs into a couple of guys on their way back home from the ride, and they tell him how to get the 2 miles back to the start point.

I am pretty pissed off. I tell my buddy about this great ride I want him to check out, with a moderate pace and no drop policy, and he gets shelled out in the country by a bunch of riders trying to run a fast "show me your balls" pace on the second ride of the season.
There is an advanced ride on Thursdays with this same group that has a higher pace, and a drop policy. This ride is not supposed to be that.

I am wondering if I should say something to the ride leader about this? Or should I just unbunch my panties?

rangerdavid

If they aren't even following their own rules, you certainly aren't out of bounds to say something.

datlas 

If it was me, I would mention it in a casual manner to the ride leader. But if the leader was with you in the second group, then it may not even be his fault.

10 Wheels

No Harm done. Forget it.

umd

It's simple, ask the "ride leader"* if you "misunderstood" the no drop policy of the ride.

If you go and start yelling at them for not stopping and waiting they may just get defensive.

*I don't really understand the whole "ride leader" concept. I mean I do in theory but I've never done a ride with one, really.

go4gr8

Yeah they need to stick to the policies. If they don't then they'll find some riders unprepared and lost and then they'll find fewer riders in the group upset because of it. Do they really want that?

Or, they could change their policy altogether by not having one. At least you need to know the group's expectations. No one likes surprises.

EventServices

"We can laugh now. We're OK." - Del Griffith. The shower curtain ring guy.

Suppose the friend is lost AND bonked? Harm is never too far away.

I concur with umd.

Phiberglass

I've only done group rides with fixed gear guys and no drop they tend to all stay together. For you're ride it sounds like the second group behind was the no drop buffer group. Someone drops of main group and joins the second group. He dropped off expecting to join the second group, but you guys went off course so he had no one to join. I would think if someone dropped from the second group they would wait.

umd

You guys are talking about "policies" like they are some contract that you sign. Sometimes "no drop" just means regroup or wait if we remember. I've been on rides where you get to the regroup, wait a few minutes, and then someone says "is everyone here?" If nobody is in the group to speak up for you, then off they go.

FL_MarkD

I would discuss it with the ride leader. However, I would expect that if you asked the riders in the front group they don't usually pay attention to any stragglers from their group because the 'slower riders' are always following behind them to pick up any drops from the front group. The fact that there are two routes makes it more difficult to call. You really need two 'leaders' so that someone is watching for problems or dropped riders in the front group. Or you need to know the route but that is not always the case for new riders, especially when they expect they will not be dropped.

My .02

Mark

patentcad

Pcad's Rule of Road Cycling # 8: There is no such thing as a 'no-drop' group ride. There's the Tour de France and the Tour de Fred and the Nyack Ride, but somebody's going off the back. Hopefully not yours truly.





So it goes.


P.S. Bring a cellphone. Hey, if you have an iPhone and the right app, now you'll have GPS. Harder to get lost.

Caad 8

Its simple, if you and I were on a ride together, I would be the ride leader.

Anyway if the ride is out of a shop, usually someone that works at the shop rides along (at least at 1 of my lbs's). So he's the designated ride leader.

patentcad

If Dr. Will were the ride leader, he'd drop all of BF.

umd

Haha, very true. I've been dropped from my own ride before

10 Wheels

I concur with PCAD with exception of the cell phone.

X-LinkedRider

So you never mentioned whether or not your friend liked the ride otherwise... The answer to your OP probably relies on the politics of the club/group you are in, but I agree that if it is claimed to be a no drop ride that SOMEBODY group leader or not should be paying attention. I have only just started to do group rides with the club this year and so far every one of them has been a B pace no drop. Slightly different paces ranging between 14-16 MPH depending on the terrain, but being new and riding off the back quite often I have been very fortunate to always have at least somebody pay attention and drop back to help me catch up.

Hashball

Bad move on the part of the ride leader. The whole point of a "no drop" ride is to encourage new-comers that might be hesitant to join in. I'd say something politely and see if you misunderstood the policy. At the end of the day it's up to the ride leader to enforce the rules. Was it the same leader last week as it was this week?

kimconyc

Bonk on a 30 mile ride? Seriously?

GP 

My club has them for the main rides. They choose the routes and email them to the webmaster every month. The ones that I ride with don't count riders or send out search parties.

Juan Foote

Thanks for the input. I think I will just keep it in mind, keep my peace, and see how it goes from here.

patentcad

You have qualified for a Pcad Upgrade from Cat 7 to Cat 6.

Well done.

kimconyc

If your friend is unfamiliar with the ride and you invited him, it might be good for both of you to have cell phones just in case.

Otherwise, don't sweat it. Did both of you have fun more or less? That's probably more important.

X-LinkedRider

lol

patentcad

If you posted this in the 33, they would burn you at the stake.

patentcad

Look, F all this stupid crap, don't worry about getting dropped, just tell the ride leaders if it's a no drop ride they should really wait, but just know the route or get a cue sheet, don't make that big a deal out of it, but yes, of course, they should have waited for you.

This is cycling. Everybody is a blithering idiot. The faster they get, the dumber they get. For some reason this often stops with the pros, all the pros I've met (a handful) have been unaffected nice men and women without an axe to grind. I can't say the same about amateur racers or some of the uber freds I meet. But everybody is different. Cycling tends to be 80% nice people and 20% dickheads, which makes it 100% better than the rest of life.