I was a total wheelsucker on the group ride today. Was planning to ride with a slower group, but right at the get-go, latched onto the faster megagroup ahead, and next thing, I know, am drafting off the back. Hit the first big climb, group fragments into 3 packs and I'm going all out to stay with the front pack of 6.

Realized that I was out of my league about a few miles in, but desperately wheelsucked the remaining 10 miles, barely hanging on for dear life. I'm sure I didn't get any respect today, but those guys were clearly out of my league. (I'm pretty sure there was a Cat1 in the mix!)

I owe you guys a pull in the future!

It happens sometimes.

staying with the front group = good

I did that for the last 20 miles on Thursday. I did the A-B ride which is a 40 mile ride around around a 22mph average (1500-2000ft of climbing). I plan on doing the A ride on Tuesday, which is even faster.

The interesting thing - I don't even think the guys up front wanted me pulling. I was waiting for one of them to give me a look or a comment like "WTF?! No free ride for you!" but every time I snuck into the 2nd to rear position, the guy behind me would take off to get ahead of me. The strongest guy up front made repeated sprints to lose us 5, but the power of the group is impressive, as we caught him every time.

the way I look at it, if the group isn't rotating in an orderly way they really won't care about wheel suckers. good job staying in the front group though. The group I ride with, we have to fight for pulls. When someone gets on the front they like to stay there the entire ride so unless someone over takes them, nobody else is pulling.

During our last 3 group rides I found myself opting for staying with the B group (which has become stronger this year), rather than trying to keep up with A guys and suffer the whole ride with repeated near-vomiting-inducing efforts.

I find myself pulling a bit longer in the B-group. Every once in while, one of the regulars is having a bad day or there is someone new just trying to keep up, and they sit at the back without taking their turn. Everybody including myself is OK with it, but if they drop, we don't wait.

I've been in those types of rides - I actually really like them, since nobody complains when you take a big hard pull in front. Today on the ride back with 7-8 other guys, I was going to give a big pull up front on the way home (not with the fast first group) but after I got to the front, the guy behind me immediately told me to slow it down for everyone (granted, slowing meant 24mph, not 26+). I thought that the group wouldn't mind someone going off the front, even if they reeled them in later, but wasn't the case today.

I am a total wheel sucker on my tuesday night rides, they don't seem to mind. When I'm barely hanging on, I usually choose to be last in line, even though I get more of the surge effect. That way, if I loose the gap, I'm not screwing the guys behind me.

Nothing wrong with that, I'm sure they'd prefer you to be at the back all the time raher than pulling slower than them.

That's true, the group ride I does doesn't mind if you sit back and don't pull, but there are usually 30 people doing the ride.

Maybe it was the TT bike you were riding? Do you know these guys? People are prone to making assumptions...