Riding in a Group is Great
Group riding is one of the highlights of cycling. By working together, riders can go further and faster with the added bonus of chatting to your cycling buddies as you roll along. Over the years I’ve solved lots of the world’s problems on the bike and really grown friendships as we shared time out on the road.
First up, for me, a group ride is where the entire group commits to ride a route where they start and finish together. They’ll stay together and work as a group on all but the longest climbs or descents.
Committing to staying together is important because it means that the stronger riders in the group commit to not riding at their top speed, and blowing up the group, while the weaker riders are going to be in for a hard day – at or just below their limit. There’s an old saying – “If you can’t ride strong, ride smart.” In a group ride the weaker riders need to be as smart as possible – sitting in the wheels near the front of the group either not taking turns or taking shorter turns to preserve energy.
A good group ride will have a road captain – read more about that here. The road captain will keep the group focused, on pace, and on track. Getting the pace right is the key to success. The pace has to be set with the weaker riders in mind. There’s give and take here. You’re relying on the good grace of the stronger riders to ride at a pace slower than they would normally ride, while at the same time relying on the skills that the weaker riders should have to sit in the group and conserve energy.
On the Flats
If the stronger riders aren’t patient and/or the weaker riders don’t have the skills to save energy in a bunch then the group ride is in trouble. There will be riders going off the front and dropping off the back of the group at the same time as the group blows itself apart. All the road captain can do is ask the stronger riders to ease off the pace a little and position the weaker riders near the front of the group where there is less of the concertina effect and the pace is generally smoother.
On the flats, riding smoothly and predictably is the key. Everything should be done gradually – accelerate slowly to keep the group together, brake slowly so riders behind you have a chance to react.
Look up the road to see hazards before you get there. If you’re sitting in the bunch look at the rider in front of the rider in front of you. Use your peripheral vision to track the rider in front of you and look at least two or three riders up the bunch to give you more time to react.
As a rider, you should think about the riders behind you. If a gap opens up in front of you, close it slowly and steadily taking all of those riders behind with you. Sure you might have the strength to jump over the gap and close it quickly, but do the riders behind you? If you jump across the gap all you are doing is consigning the weaker riders behind you to a world of hurt.
If you see a gap in front of you and you can’t close it, ask the rider behind for help. Ask them to close the gap and take you with them. That way the gap gets closed and you expend as little energy as possible.
On the Climbs
The real challenge of course comes when the road starts to head up or down. The key to success in four words – “slow up, fast down.” What we’re trying to avoid is “the mushroom”. We’ve all been there, a group rides up a little hill and all of a sudden the riders at the back of the group are on the brakes and all over the road as they catch up with the lead riders and form the dreaded mushroom.
The key to success with climbs on group rides is for the front of the group to ride with intent into the climb. If you’re at the front of the group don’t freewheel or cruise onto the hill, pedal into the hill and maintain the group’s pace until the entire group is on the hill.
Once the entire group is on the hill and climbing, it’s decision time – if the front of the group is near the top of the hill (it’s a short hill) keep the pressure on the pedals and punch over the top of the hill with intent. That way those at the rear of the group will not slow down too much and should be able to draft most of the way up the hill and avoid a mushroom forming near the top of the climb.
If the group is all on the climb, and it’s a long way to the summit, the lead riders should gradually ease the pace until they are climbing at the pace of the weakest rider. It needs to be a gradual change of pace to avoid a mushroom forming at the bottom of the climb. Once you’re at climbing pace it’s just a matter of holding a pace that the weakest rider can climb at until the group reaches the top. Judging the pace can be tricky on the climbs and riders on the front should be listening for a call of “steady” or “easy” as a cue for them to take some pressure off the pedals to keep the group together.
Pedal, pedal, pedal
Descending in a group is another skill. Riders on the front of the group need to roll over the top of the hill and slowly start applying pressure to the pedals. There is no coasting on the downhills at the front of a group ride. If you’re on the front you need to press on the pedals otherwise everybody behind you will be on the brakes. It’s simple physics, you need to convert that altitude you’ve gained into free speed and distance down the road.
If the riders at the front keep the pressure on the pedals they will drag the rest of the group down the hill with them at speed. There will be no braking (or very little) in the peleton and collectively the group will go faster and further with all of that beautiful free speed. Here it’s important that riders at the back of the group do not let a gap open up. If a gap does open on a descent it will be almost impossible to catch a group working together at speed.
Once the road starts to flatten out, the riders at the front should slowly bring the pace back to the agreed pace. Again, it’s a gradual reduction in pace, slowly easing the pressure on the pedals.
While there’s a lot to think about on a group ride, after a while it all becomes second nature. There’s no better feeling in cycling than the finish of a good group ride. You can sit around the cafe or bar and recount the good times, the bad times, the laughs and the tears of the day, all the time being quietly satisfied that you went that far that quickly and you still feel great.
