Why are they called Group Training Rides?

[trymorecowbell]

I usually ride and train by myself but decided over the holidays to do a bunch of group training rides. What I eye opening that was! I went on several of your standard fast club type group rides that occur every weekend across the country. I was amazed that only a 5% of the riders worked hard throughout the ride and the other 95% seemed to be following a training model where you treat every ride like a race and what matters is how you "finish". One guy was measuring his fitness by how high he placed each week! The higher his "placing" the more effective his training. This made him "train" by sitting in and conserving as much as possible so he could be there at the finish as fresh as possible. On the ride he told me I should sit in to save something for the finish after I towed the group along on the flats. How is sitting in training? I know how to sit in. It's pretty easy to learn and doesn't take much practice.

Seems to me there are a lot of misconceptions in the general cycling world about what constitutes training. But then maybe I'm just out in left field.

Thoughts.

[Fixed]

when in rome do as the romans
cheers imho :beer:

[SoCalSteve]

I usually ride and train by myself but decided over the holidays to do a bunch of group training rides. What I eye opening that was! I went on several of your standard fast club type group rides that occur every weekend across the country. I was amazed that only a 5% of the riders worked hard throughout the ride and the other 95% seemed to be following a training model where you treat every ride like a race and what matters is how you "finish". One guy was measuring his fitness by how high he placed each week! The higher his "placing" the more effective his training. This made him "train" by sitting in and conserving as much as possible so he could be there at the finish as fresh as possible. On the ride he told me I should sit in to save something for the finish after I towed the group along on the flats. How is sitting in training? I know how to sit in. It's pretty easy to learn and doesn't take much practice.

Seems to me there are a lot of misconceptions in the general cycling world about what constitutes training. But then maybe I'm just out in left field.
Thoughts.

There are and you are not!

Swoop said it best: When people train, they dont go slow enough or fast enough...

There are great books out there on base training. Maybe they should be required reading before club rides.

Just sayin'

Steve

[swoop]

being a bike rider is one thing
being a cyclist is another.

both look the same to the uninformed.
'group' rides are the domain of the bike rider.
bike riders are lovely....

i do one group rode every few years.... new years.
so, i'm doing a group ride for new years... should be fun and entertaining...and hopefully half way through they'll have had their bike experience and gone home. its like taking the kids to the zoo...

[stevep]

that guy is an idiot.

for a lotta people the training ride is a race.
if uncontrolled they can be dangerous w/ traffic, etc. as for "finish"...i cant see it...unless you are a moron.
if thats yr goal you need to really race and race against the guys who are really racing. its not the same.

[Fixed]

that guy is an idiot.

for a lotta people the training ride is a race.
if uncontrolled they can be dangerous w/ traffic, etc. as for "finish"...i cant see it...unless you are a moron.
if thats yr goal you need to really race and race against the guys who are really racing. its not the same.
it's not the same
true words
cheers

[Fixed]

bro a group of 4 and i'm happy
a group of 50 then a couple of cats will try and string them out and make people hurt and drop others it's an ego thing imho :beer:
cheers

[Bruce K]

I am not the fittest or fastest rider here by any means.

But by riding with people from this group and some real racers that I have been priveledged to know personally (I don't know too many racers from the forum personally), I have learned one thing.

Training rides take discipline. Whether solo or in a group, there needs to be a "plan" and the "plan" needs to be followed.

Anything else is just a ride.

Nothing wrong with going for a ride or riding with a group. I do it all the time, generally more often than not, and enjoy them.

But if you are training, you are usually doing specific things over specific time durations to improve your strength or fitness.

Big difference.

BK

[SoCalSteve]

I am not the fittest or fastest rider here by any means.

But by riding with people from this group and some real racers that I have been priveledged to know personally (I don't know too many racers from the forum personally), I have learned one thing.

Training rides take discipline. Whether solo or in a group, there needs to be a "plan" and the "plan" needs to be followed.
Anything else is just a ride.

Nothing wrong with going for a ride or riding with a group. I do it all the time, generally more often than not, and enjoy them.

But if you are training, you are usually doing specific things over specific time durations to improve your strength or fitness.
Big difference.

BK

Gets it!

[Fixed]

bro i think a lot of the kids want to play racing ..but bro the real cats don't play in the sat group race/ride

[swoop]

actually there's fine group rides too. there's just the sharp and the dull end of the stick. add practice crits and the right guys on the sharp end and there's some quality to work to be done.
it just depends on how it fits in your picture and what the ride is.

i'll use them for intensity certain times of the year...

there were times at simi were its floyd, saul, van petegem, thurlow, all of saturn, even lemond out there all at once.
if its hard the group sorts itself out.
it just depends.

there's others you can't pay me to do.

[maunahaole]

The character of the ride depends partly on the people in the ride, but a large role is played by the leader of the ride. If there is a good ride leader, a lot of the silliness either doesn't happen or gets sorted out during the ride.

[Bill Bove]

actually there's fine group rides too. there's others you can't pay me to do.

Knowing what's what and where you belong helps.

[A.L.Breguet]

http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=96&CID=59

The king of cutthroat rides.

[SWorks4me]

http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=96&CID=59

The king of cutthroat rides.


no no no...the Specialized lunch ride. If you have the fortune to ride it with the Captain himself, Overend... it is a true group training ride not for the faint of heart.

[Erik.Lazdins]

that guy is an idiot.

for a lotta people the training ride is a race.
if uncontrolled they can be dangerous w/ traffic.


I quit doing regular group rides here in TUL a couple years back as the group nearly always became a swarming mass of imminent disaster, crossing into oncoming traffic etc. That said I've had the privilege of riding with a group rides where there is a good leader that is respected and this does not happen.

A lot of what happens on these swarming inconsiderate training rides perpetuates the bad motorist-cyclist relations and causes a fair amount of accidents.

My question is this: Does anybody who knows better ever speak out against these bad group rides? and if so, do they listen?

Competitive spirit in group rides is great and one of the reasons I sought out these group training rides, however at the expense of etiquette, I'll ride alone.

Thanks for reading - E

[Spicoli]

Couple Sundays ago, 55 miles @ ?group pace? 1956 kilojoules on a herky jerky group ride/so called hammer fest? Not slow enough/Not fast enough :crap:

Last Monday, 55miles @ endurance pace 2020 kilojoules 4 guys riding smart in the right zone the whole way. Ask which one felt like I did something the following day. ;) even though the zone was technically lower.

Ride smarter not harder. I also find I dont do enough work on group rides since I will inevitably get pearl harbored by someone doing there best 15 seconds as soon as I pull off the front. Not gonna drop ya, only gets annoying though. My teamates and I shoot for ten minute pulls on our Sunday training rides but we do let others ride with us, it just gets to the point where you get sick of telling people how not to ride like an idiot so we just deal with it for awile till something snaps. I think a spontanious route/time change is coming again. :D A race is when someone says GO! and you all start at the same time. Not a leisurely roll out of a parking lot on a Sunday morning. Social is fun but unfortunatley stupid gets in the way a bit too often?

[Viper]

We should all finish like this, needing O2, fluids and a photo of Slave Princess Leia to revive us atmo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QO9CfgoZ5c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQojh-wqL04&feature=related

[shoe]

i like to mix it up and ride with a bunch of groups in the area when not with a few friends or alone..some of the fastest and slowest rides i have been on...each group has their own dynamic which is always interesting from an outsiders perspective...i'm always glad to be riding though...dave