Ever gone out cycling with a group and hated it?

MB Lacey

I'm not sure group cycling is for me, I enjoy cycling on my own or with my OH, but people are adamant it's the way to go if you want to up your mileage.
I'm thinking of giving it a go, but I'm pretty sure I won't like the close proximity of the other riders.
Anyone feel the same?
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
Any tips for cycling with others on a group spin?

DirkVoodoo

You will get used to it, and IMO, being able to cycle in close proximity to others is an essential skill to have if you want to ride a bike.

Darkglasses

I can definitely understand that, personally I prefer just going out with one or two friends rather than 20-30 others. Give it a try once or twice and see what you think. I was very apprehensive the first time I went out with the club, but it turned out to be very easy to ride in a bunch. Also, I got so much encouragement from the other riders, it was definitely a positive experience for me. Just not sure I want to go with a big group all the time!

Here's some basic tips, stick to these and you should be fine (taken from www.wexfordwheelers.com)

* The group rides in two abreast formation. Pair off in twos and rotate at the front every couple of minutes or so. The frequency of rotation depends on the size of the group, the weather, pace etc. Riders will often call ‘up and over’ to indicate that the riders at the front should rotate.

* Maintain a steady straight line.

* No sudden movements. Be predictable with all your actions. Avoid braking or changing direction suddenly. Likewise, don’t get out of the saddle abruptly. It could cause the rider behind to hit you.

* Lead riders should use hand signals to indicate stopping or turning as well as clearly audible shouted instructions.

* Riders at the rear should warn of approaching cars, particularly on narrow roads.

* Point out and call out any road hazards ahead. These include potholes, drains, speed ramps, animals, parked cars, opening car doors, wet or icy road surface, etc.

* Don’t overlap wheels. A slight direction change by the rider in front could easily catch you out. If you ‘touch wheels’ with the rider in front it’s tough to keep upright.

* Make sure to keep pedaling down hill when you are at the front of the group so that the riders behind don’t bunch up behind you. It can be a bit fraught if everyone has to reach for their brakes.

* Be smooth with your turns at the front of the group. Avoid surges. Stay alongside and don’t increase the pace to move a half wheel ahead of the rider alongside. He/she will have to speed up to maintain the two-by-two formation and the speed will escalate unnecessarily. Don’t acquire a reputation as a ‘half-wheeler’!

* Don’t sprint up to take your turn at the front. Move up smoothly with a small increase in pace and ease that pace ever so slightly when you move alongside.

* Avoid leaving gaps when following wheels. Cyclists save a huge amount of energy by following in the slipstream of the rider in front. However, don’t become mesmerized by the rear brake of the rider in front as you
concentrate on staying close as there’s a good chance you’ll ride into it! Keep looking well ahead to spot hazards and terrain changes.

* When climbing hills, avoid following a wheel too closely. Many riders often lose their momentum when rising out of the saddle on a hill which can cause a sudden deceleration. This can often catch a rider who is following too closely, resulting in a fall from a wheel touch.

* Don’t panic if you brush shoulders, hands or bars with another rider. Try to stay relaxed in your upper body to absorb any bumps.

daragh_

It's not that difficult to get the hang of, it's much more fun, you get to go faster and you'll look cool*

It helps if the people you are cycling with are awesome.

*I look really cool in my head. The actual reality is vastly different. I've seen the photos.

MB Lacey

Darkglasses wrote: »

I was very apprehensive the first time I went out with the club, but it turned out to be very easy to ride in a bunch.

Yeah me too, especially after reading all those rules tips :eek:

Seems you have to cycle in a straight line like a robot over all the bumps and pot holes in the road or you ruin the cycle for yourself and everybody else. It all seems very, very controlled.

Darkglasses

MB Lacey wrote: »

Yeah me too, especially after reading all those rules tips :eek:

Seems you have to cycle in a straight line like a robot over all the bumps and pot holes in the road or you ruin the cycle for yourself and everybody else. It all seems very, very controlled.

Nobody rides over bumps or potholes, the guy in front of you points at them so that you'll cycle around them. You do the same for the guy behind you, and so on.

daragh_

All that stuff looks intimidating when it's listed out but it all will seem very natural when you are doing it. If you go out riding with a friend or friends you probably unconsciously manage your group in the same way.

Mostly it's about being predictable for the sake of the people you are riding with.

There really isn't any need to be anxious about it. As Darkglasses says it's more likely to be a positive experience. You'll be amongst other cyclists. Cyclists are nice

Redmond101

This point can be looked at from two perspectives. I'm in a club and like riding in a group, personally I prefer when the groups are smaller about 10-12 riders, firstly, you get into a better rhythm than a larger group, secondly, a smaller group allows for more time/frequency at the front doing some work. On the other side if a group is going to be greater than 20 riders I'll normally just go solo. Just my preference but each person will have preferences.

Esroh

Lads.

Those rules/Tips may sound like they make a group ride very regimented but if you think about it they just make it easy to keep it together.

2/4/6 lads can see most of the road hazards themselves, they will know if someone is dropping off the back and will hear the cars coming from the back.

If someone is surging off the front a shout is enough to calm them down. If you have 10+ lads you'd want a loudhailer .

A Good Group is made by the riders in it not by the rules

smacl

MB Lacey wrote: »

I'm not sure group cycling is for me, I enjoy cycling on my own or with my OH, but people are adamant it's the way to go if you want to up your mileage.
I'm thinking of giving it a go, but I'm pretty sure I won't like the close proximity of the other riders.
Anyone feel the same?
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
Any tips for cycling with others on a group spin?

I don't much like it either and do most of my cycling solo or with one or two others. Never bothered me that much on sportives and the like, though I dare say it isn't helping my already miserable speeds. I also tend to choose my cycling times as it suits me, and regularly change my routes on the fly, which doesn't help the group riding thing either. Outside of early mornings, I'd tend to see more solo cyclists and ones and twos than groups while cycling around the Wicklow hills.

That said, group cycling is a skill worth having, so probably worth joining a club for that alone. I tried, and ditched it, and mean to try again at some point (ThinkBike, very friendly bunch FWIW). If you're considering racing (I'm not), its an absolute must, and joining a club is the only way to go.

smurphy29

daragh_ wrote: »

All that stuff looks intimidating when it's listed out but it all will seem very natural when you are doing it. If you go out riding with a friend or friends you probably unconsciously manage your group in the same way.

Mostly it's about being predictable for the sake of the people you are riding with.

There really isn't any need to be anxious about it. As Darkglasses says it's more likely to be a positive experience. You'll be amongst other cyclists. Cyclists are nice

Yep, group riding is great fun. It's very sociable, you end up getting to chat with most of the riders in the group. In my opinion it's the best way to improve not only your riding ability but your bike-handling and form. You'll generally ride with lots of experienced riders who you can generally chew the ear off for tips and advice on how to get better. The miles go by a lot quicker in a group.

It's far from robotic, and it's not the case that you have to ride absolutely dead straigt or you get roared at. As the posters above say, it's intuitive enough and you should get the hang of it very quickly.

colm_gti

I don't think I've ever cycled in a group bigger than about 10-12 people, outside of a race that is...I think groups that big are a bit unfair to motorists. On the very very rare occasion that groups are that big at club spins, they're usually split in half (I think this may have happened once, ever, during my membership of this club).

smurphy29

colm_gti wrote: »

I don't think I've ever cycled in a group bigger than about 10-12 people, outside of a race that is...I think groups that big are a bit unfair to motorists. On the very very rare occasion that groups are that big at club spins, they're usually split in half (I think this may have happened once, ever, during my membership of this club).

10-14 is pretty much the optimal size I think. Any bigger and the willingness to do wrok at the front generally starts to diverge within the bunch, and it's a bit laborious trying to get the group around roundabouts, right turns etc. in one piece.

cdaly_

smurphy29 wrote: »

Yep, group riding is great fun. It's very sociable, you end up getting to chat with most of the riders in the group. In my opinion it's the best way to improve not only your riding ability but your bike-handling and form. You'll generally ride with lots of experienced riders who you can generally chew the ear off for tips and advice on how to get better. The miles go by a lot quicker in a group.

It's also worth letting the group / leader know you're a novice. They'll look out for you more and will give tips rather than give out. They might ask you to stay near the back of the group to start with as mistakes you make are less likely to impact on the group than if you're up the front. I reckon I may have been responsible for somebody crashing out of a group some years ago by being too eager with my brakes. I know better now...

youtheman

I do all my cycling in a group (not racing, just sportives). It's very sociable as you chat to the person next to you (who changes every few minutes as you 'roll up'). Plus the mechanics of it is that you're doing approximately 60% of the effort of the guy in front, so it's the most efficient way of getting from A to B. Then you stop for a coffee break and continue the social element of the cycling.

Try cycling into a head wind on your own and you'll be praying for a group to come by and drag you along. On the other hand, cycling in a group at 40 km/hr on a nice flat surface when the whole group is literally 'humming', now that is a nice feeling.

The only time I don't like it is when you are the 'weakest link' and you end up having to slow the whole peleton down (for me its always on a climb).

At its best, you have something like the 'Tour de Munster' where you are traveling around Munster with the sun blazing down on you (as it did in 2012) with 150 fellow cyclists (not all in the same group !). The best four days ever (even beats skiing, and I love skiing).

furiousox

You will go faster and further with a group than you will on your own.
The only negative of being in a group is the impatient drivers behind you.
I do enjoy the quiet solitude of the solo spin though!

MB Lacey

Well, I bit the bullet and headed out for my first group spin at the weekend.
I was nervous when I arrived, felt a bit overwhelmed at being surrounded by lots of very experienced looking cyclists laughing and joking with one another, and me not knowing a soul, bricking it with thoughts of not being able to keep up with them etc.

Out of 50ish cyclists there were 3 women, one went off with the non stop fast group, one went off with another faster group and I remained with about 16 other guys in the 'slower' stopping group.

As suggested on here I let the leader know I'd never cycled in a group before, but had been going out on my own over the last few months.
He was a really nice guy and ran through what had been mentioned on here about group cycling and we set off, 2 a breast. This was it.

Cycling in a group is a completely different way of cycling from A to B, some things I liked, some I didn't. For anyone who is reading this and wondering (like I was last week) what it's all about, here's some of my very first impressions.

The main thing for me was that I missed taking in all the scenery!
Maybe because I was concentrating so much on the guys cycling in front, beside and behind, pothole calls, stopping, slowing, hand signals, which direction we were heading at junctions etc.
We cycled along some beautiful quiet lanes around Blessington and I know if I was cycling on my own I would have gone slower to take it all in.

Pace.
If you're out cycling on your own you go fast/ slow in a way that suits your rhythm.
There were sections of the cycle I really would have gone a lot faster and was frustrated that the pace was too slow, similarly times when I would have gone slower, but they bombed along and you have to bomb along with them!
On some hilly parts when my legs were heavy the lads kept the pace fast when I would have slowed up, I kind of liked this as a way of pushing myself, but I can see how you'd feel responsible if you were the slowest one of the bunch.
In fairness to the group, one of the guys did get left behind on one of the hills but the whole group waited at the top, regrouped when he arrived and set off again.

A to B so fast!
We arrived at the scone shop in Blessington and it was like we'd rocketed there in the blink of an eye, this could be good if you're after QOM's/ PRs on strava etc, but I felt I'd missed out on the kind of cycling I like, where you take in your surroundings etc.

Social.
It was certainly nice to meet new people, have chats etc, everyone was extremely friendly and chatty. I would have liked more women in the group (at least one more would have been nice!)

Cycling Presence on the roads.
The feeling of being with a large group of cyclists is amazing, it's like you become this juggernaut of cyclists going down roads, it was a really powerful feeling, like someone said in an earlier post there's nothing like the 'humming along' in a group of cyclists.
Cars really gave way, much more so than if you were cycling on your own. I felt much safer from traffic, but I also realised afterwards that I hadn't paid half as much attention to traffic as I would have on my own, this could have been because it was all so new to me though.

Good new routes.
You'll be taken on routes you wont have been down before, it's a great way to get to know what's around to help plan your own future routes.

Protection from elements.
The day we went out was freezing (my garmin read -1.5 going up the Embankment) but the main weather devil was the wind. My bike was being blown around under me and we had to cycle hard in some parts to go down a hill! That would have been hell on my own, but in the group, shielded from the worst of it, we got in a decent 63k cycle quite easily.

If you're not much feeling like a cycle but feel you should go out for fitness/ whatever reasons, cycling with a group is a definite motivation/ incentive to get out on the bike.

I'm glad I gave it a go, and will certainly go again, the guys were very welcoming and helpful in explaining the 'up and over' and other parts of group cycling.
I was happy I was able to keep up with the guys over the 64k (we averaged 24kph), I didn't crash into anyone, or cause anyone else to crash, I didn't get a puncture and hold everyone up, and I wasn't left behind on the hills.
Overall it was a good experience, I'm not sure it's entirely for me as a weekly thing to do, but I can see the benefits.

route66

MB Lacey wrote: »

<snip>

... 64k (we averaged 24kph)

I'm interested to put this in perspective - any idea:

• What the speed would be if you were on your own
• How much climbing was involved

Thanks for the writeup - very interesting.

t'bear

Excellent feedback and very similar to my own initiation back in January.

Chips Lovell

Fair play MB.

I found that when I first started riding in club groups I'd spend a lot of my time focussing on keeping my position and staying the right distance from the wheel in front. It starts to come as second nature after a while and you've got a bit more chance to enjoy the scenery and the chats.

Which club did you go out with?

MB Lacey

route66 wrote: »

• What the speed would be if you were on your own

Pulling back the curtains that morning, seeing the galeforce winds outside I'd say if I'd been on my own I would have managed 0.0kph going back to sleep.
Seriously, difficult to say as it was so windy and kind of incomparable.

route66 wrote: »

• How much climbing was involved

Not all that much I guess, honestly everything goes by so quick I think there might have been 4 or 5 climbs - nothing too difficult or too long. It was the beginner group and I think that was reflected in the route.