There comes a time in every cyclist's life where they decide that they want to ride in a group. For some, this comes early on as there is safety in numbers, as well as knowledge. For others, however, it comes later in their personal progression as a cyclist. I would venture a guess that most folks who choose to start turning pedals tend to gravitate toward groups. This is a great way to get started on a bike because you will have no problems finding similarly experienced groups to join. You will find like minded friends to share your new addiction (it will become an addiction, trust me!), and you will learn from each other. Most bike shops sponsor at least one group ride a week for the newer riders where some of the shop guys will ride along and offer pointers. This is an excellent way to learn! There are also bike clubs in just about city where new riders can come out for a ride tailored to their needs. This is kind of the intermediate learning environment. Finally, there are the advanced groups which push every rider to their limits over many a fast paced mile.
For me, my early experiences on a bike were pretty much solo. Its not that I thought I knew more than anyone else, I just wanted to avoid getting laughed at as I wobbled around on skinny tires. I enjoyed riding alone with my thoughts. I could take breaks whenever I wanted to , go wherever I felt like, and stop to take pictures when the mood struck. It was the perfect extension to the freedom that already is cycling. To this day I prefer riding solo for many of the same reasons...although, I'm less worried about getting laughed at now, and more worried about "riding my ride". That being said, group riding is an important skill to learn because just about every cyclist will find themselves in a group scenario eventually....even me.
My first experience in a group situation happened about six weeks after I started riding seriously. To be honest, I was scared to death, not so much about the distance, although I was worried about that too. I had been riding alone for so long, I really didn't know how I would function in a group setting. Would I hold everyone back, would I crash, what would be expected from me as I rode. So many questions kept rattling around in my head. I did a lot of research online about hand signals, pace lines, and general group etiquette. I figured I was ready for my first group ride which was the 2011 Tour to Tanglewood which benefits MS research. Ironically, on this ride, I started in a group, but quickly found myself riding ahead and doing my solo ride as I was used to. I was in my comfort zone, and I was happy about that. I did see the vast majority of the riders in groups helping each other along. Ehhh, that wasn't for me, I was the lone wolf and I liked it that way.
My next experience with a group ride was in June of 2012, when I went with the Kernersville Cycling Club to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Again, I refreshed my knowledge on group riding and started out with the group. Again, I found myself going ahead of the pack and riding solo again, only something was different this time. I had another cyclist that followed me as I pulled ahead, and he stayed latched onto my wheel for a good 25 miles. I didn't mind, it gave me somebody to talk to as we went up and down the hills. I was here for a group ride, and group riding was what I was doing....well kind of. I learned at a critical point that group rides are all about sharing the workload. Since I had been in the lead the whole time, and pushing myself to maintain a normal pace on some mountain terrain, I was wearing out. I only figured that the guy on my wheel was feeling the same way....well, not really. As we were climbing the big climb of the day, I was cracking and could not maintain the pace forward. My company pulled around me and went on to finish the climb with very little issues. I thought about it, and realized that I had been doing all the work leading up to that climb. I was blocking the wind, and giving him a draft to stay in. That was the first time I really understood the value of a group ride...sharing the load.
I completed the climb and was too pooped to latch onto the guy I had been with for so long that day. I limped back to where the majority of the group had made their mid point stop for the shorter route. It was there I joined up with a pair from the Chair City Cyclists who were fresh and ready to roll. They quite literally pulled me all the way back to the start point. My theory was correct....less energy is expended in the group which was wonderful because I had no energy to spare. I was learning about group rides in a very slow manner, unlike how most learn from very early on with the bike shop rides.
Starting to feel a little more comfortable with group rides, I again embarked on another Tour to Tanglewood and decided that I would do some pace line riding. Early on, I broke away from the pack and was having a hard time finding somebody that was riding similarly to me. After about 15 miles or so, I realized that there was one guy I seemed to be hanging with that was doing pretty much what I was and riding alone. We stayed together for a few miles, introduced ourselves and decided to ride together. This time, I understood the value of rotating out the lead position. We had a fairly regular rotation worked out within the first 5-10 miles we rode. I noticed that while I was in front, I was getting tired....but when I rotated to the draft position I was able to rest. Hmmmm, that's pretty cool! Yeah, I know...5000 miles on a bike and I'm just now figuring that out. I'm slow at times. We continued our own little paceline that would grow by a few cyclists here and there over the two day event. It was my first successful group ride where I actually did what I was supposed to do. You know what???? After two days, and 165 miles, I still felt pretty good. This was due to the paceline more than my own personal endurance.
My last group ride of the year was an extremely cold fall ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. After the butt whipping I took on my last Parkway ride, I was really anxious to see how riding in a paceline would help in the mountains. The short answer is....it made all the difference in the world. I rode the same distance as before, but with more climbs. While I'm sure I was in better shape than I was in June, this was a huge boost to my confidence when it came to group rides. I really saw the advantage to them. There was conversation along the way which made the miles tick by quicker, none of us had to use 100% of our energy reserves for the whole ride, and it allowed all of us the ability to save our energy for the climbs...where it was needed.
So, 2012, was all about learning the benefits of a group ride....albeit on a small scale. Personally, I would recommend learning group riding in smaller groups because there is much less chance of a misstep that leads to a crash. I knew that there were benefits in a group when it comes to distance riding, and even with speed. Riding in the Tour, my average speed was the quickest it had ever been for a century, and I really wasn't that tired afterwards. I could only imagine that in the right group, I could have gone even faster! One of those crazy ideas that I have from time to time crept into my head after the Tour, and was cemented after the fall ride on the Parkway. I was going to sign up for two different cycling events that are essentially large group rides.
The first was the Assault on the Carolinas, a 100K ride in the Appalachian Mountains between North and South Carolina. The second was Double Down to the Beach, a 200 mile ride from Greensboro, NC, to Wilmington, NC. I doubted that I could do either of these without the help from being part of a peloton (a group). I trained for these events doing solo rides, but kept in mind that I would eventually be part of a group to complete the actual events.
The first event was in April, and this was my view from the starting point. Yeah, that's a lot of cyclists....about 1000 of them for this event. Some are pros, some are enthusiasts....but in my mind all more capable than me. We were being funneled through a choke point to start and it was a mass start. I was very nervous because I've never been all that smooth getting started on my bike. Yeah, that would make for a great experience to wobble getting started and crash out knocking others over. Fortunately, all of that was avoided....but I was holding my breath! My group riding education continued with this ride. No longer was I in a paceline of 2-5 cyclists....nope, I was in a full on peloton of 20-30 to start with. We were taking up the whole lane of the road as we left town. There were other wobbly bikes on either side of me...and I was wobbling as well, dodging things in the road. My heart rate was elevated (even though my monitor wasn't functioning, I just knew), and it wasn't from the ride itself. Nope, I was scared that something was going to happen, and a wheel would get bumped, and I would be knocked over. I didn't like this...not one bit! However, I did realize that there was power to be had in a group this size. My average speed was really high for the terrain, and it felt like I was being sucked along without putting forth much energy...but I was feeling the strain of the ride, and knew that I had a Category 1 climb ahead of me. I was having a hard time concentrating and focusing on the ride, and really thought that the pace we were riding at was going to wear me out long before we reached Caesar's Head at mile 40. I decided let myself get dropped by the group and continue on my own. For me, I think this was the right choice as I immediately enjoyed the ride much more. My speeds dropped, so I knew without a doubt that being in the peloton was helping my pace on a noticeable level. I just couldn't hang with the group comfortably.
I learned quite a few things about group riding from this ride. First and foremost, a large peloton will allow some crazy speeds to be had. It becomes a single entity, and gobbles up pavement with a purpose. However, when you have different skill levels, and when nobody knows exactly how the others ride, it gets a little harrowing. While group ride etiquette is pretty standard, there are twists that everyone puts on it. A misinterpretation by one can lead to a break in the peloton, or even a crash. Nothing like that quick slow down on level ground for no apparent reason to cause everyone to get really close to each other and possibly bump. There is also the danger with these types of events that you get into a group that is more capable than you are. I think that this is what happened with me here. I could hang with them, but I was pushing more than I thought I should with the climb coming up. When in this situation, you can still burn out and run out of energy before you reach your goal. Being in the draft won't always pull you home, you are always the one who will be turning the pedals.
My biggest ride of 2013, was also going to be the ultimate test of my group riding skills...this was Double Down to the Beach. It was going to be the first time I had ridden anything near 200 miles and I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to do it riding alone. I was going to need to be in a paceline, or I would most certainly run out of energy long before I reached Wilmington. Here comes the tricky part though....what pace would I be looking at? I knew that there would be several different groups traveling at various speeds, but which one would I fit best in. I knew just a couple of people out of the 100 that were starting this ride, and I wasn't sure that their pace would be the best match for my goals on this ride. I started looking for a 16-17mph group thinking that would be a conservative pace, but I started to get worried that I wouldn't make the cutoff times on the rest stops. I was approached by a group that was looking at 18+mph which seemed a better fit for my riding, although I had doubts about being able to hold that pace for the 212 miles we would be riding. It was a gamble, but I chose to be optimistic....I had found my group which was about 8 or so riders to start with.
Starting off with a mass start in the dark and rain is an exciting proposition if you aren't used to it. Sight distances are greatly reduced, there are enough blinking lights to cause an epileptic seizure. I didn't personally know anyone in the group, and only had a good bead on the ride leader that had recruited me...so I stayed attached to his wheel through the start until things started thinning out. Our peloton grew in size to probably 30 or so, and it was starting to remind me of my Assault on the Carolina's peloton. We were turning into an accordion as the front would surge and slow for no apparent reason. At one point, I had to grab my brakes to avoid bumping wheels which caused the rider behind me to do the same....we all missed contact by what seemed like fractions of inches. I talked to the ride leader who shared my discomfort of the situation. We decided to split our smaller group from the larger one, and let them go on. It tuned out to be a very good idea as shortly after the decision was made we saw a crash happen just ahead. Because of the surging nature of that group, tires had bumped, and a cyclist was knocked over at probably 18mph or so. he fell out into the travel lane of Hwy 421 which fortunately was not being occupied by a car at the time. he was very fortunate, and was unhurt. He got picked up, dusted off, and returned to the ride in short order.
We continued on and put more and more miles behind us. Our group stayed a manageable size from this point on and we all worked for the common good. The lead position was rotated out every mile or so to keep fresh legs on the front. This worked out perfectly, but there were some that were much better at keeping pace than others. I'll admit, it took me some time to get the hang of pace keeping. It felt like I was holding back when I was on the front, and my solo ride nature took over. This was not good for the peloton, and caused breaks to form, and we started dropping riders. This meant that those in the front had to soft pedal to let the ones in the rear catch back up. By the second half of the ride, we had the rotation pacing down to a science.
I did find that when I rotated off of the front, I didn't want to be in the very back because that was the part of the group that tended to get dropped from time to time. I realized just how important the integrity of the paceline was when this happened as I didn't have the energy to chase the peloton down, I was now stuck in the group that was now off the back. Fortunately, the lead portion waited at an intersection for us to rejoin. I decided to stick with those up front because I could maintain the pace, just couldn't catch back up in my current state.
In the last leg of the journey, I figured out how to use the draft to help a struggling cyclist chase back to the group. Feeling better after some much needed nutrients, I was able to do a little more work in the peloton, and found that there was other work to be done beyond leading the group. I started to stay more to the rear, but not at the tail. When I saw somebody drop off the back, before they got too far away, I would drop back and let them grab onto my wheel. Then we would slowly work our way back up to the main peloton. This was an effective way at keeping the group together, but it was causing me to work much harder than if I was just in the paceline, and taking my turn up on the front. I had to abandon this self-imposed task to ensure that I would make it to the finish. Energy conservation was key on this ride, and I wasn't conserving enough being a bridge.
I'm happy to say that Double Down was completed holding onto the same wheel that I started with. For the first time, I had stayed with a group from start to finish in a large scale ride. I now knew without a doubt the benefits of riding in a group, and decided that I would start doing more group rides to further hone my skills.
The easiest way for me to work on my group ride skills was to go out on the scheduled group rides that the Kernersville Cycling Club does on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Admittedly, I should have started by doing this rides instead of of doing the big events as my initiation. Club rides are much more relaxed, and usually smaller scale, although they can have large pelotons too. Most of the time, they are broken up into different speed groups....A group, B group, and sometimes a C group. This is an attempt to put the cyclists in groups that keeps everyone at the same pace, for safety as much as anything else....remember that accordion that caused the crash on Hwy 421. Club rides are great also because you will have different experience levels there and everyone can learn from everyone else. Its a very quick and efficient way to grow as a cyclist, and will help you gain stamina and confidence. I still prefer my solo rides, but there is a draw to being in a paceline that is moving just at that pace that makes you push harder than you normally do. Each person in that paceline will push themselves so as not to to be the one who slows the pace. With everyone doing that, everyone stretches their own capabilities, and becomes better for that.
Whether we participate in group rides or ride solo, most every cyclist wants to improve on their own personal best. To be a well rounded rider, I would suggest that you become proficient in both realms of cycling. For me, solo rides will always be my primary interest, and where I will spend the most time. However, I have become a stronger rider, and much more knowledgeable through riding in different groups with different riders. I have learned more about my own personal limits in group rides, and how to ride at or just below those limits. When riding solo, one tends to fall into ruts, and you lose sight of where your limits actually are.
Group rides are not always about limits though...there is a social element to them as well. I've found it very helpful to go on slower rides at times as well. While it doesn't really improve your performance, it gives you time to actually enjoy the ride, and see the scenery as you pass by. Isn't that really what brought us into cycling to begin with?
