Group rides vs Solo rides

Riding more would help you. If riding with a group gets you out riding more, then riding with a group will help you. ;^)

Also, always riding the same speed for the same time will only trainn you to ride the same speed for the same time.

If you're riding 18 solo then 20+ in a group might be the same effort, depending on the "+".

I try to ride with a group once a week to be sociable, and because the group I ride with pushes me harder and farther than I would normally go on a weekday.

x2

I ride with groups about 2% of the time because me schedule does not work with group ride schedules.  But when I do ride with a group, it really helps build base conditioning, it helps me learn how to handle my bike in a crowd and become an over all better cyclist.  However, I also find that the speed of the ride is not usually what I need or want to accomplish at a given point of my training.

In a nutshell, I think it is always a good idea to ride with others, particularly experienced rides.

I mostly ride alone, or a few times per month with one other guy and I usually ride off the front. I agree with Bear but I do think that too much group riding allows you to hide in the pack and not push yourself enough. And if you are training for long course, get used to being alone on the bike.

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I'm trying to improve the quality of my bike training.  I'm doing a longer z2/z3 ride and an interval ride and assuming that the number of rides per week is constant, would I gain more by making my 3rd ride a group one or just riding solo? 

IMO, ride alone and HTFU. Make EVERY WORKOUT COUNT.

You can do better by making your 3rd ride a stepping stone to the 4th and 5th. ;^) Doesn't really matter if the rides are in a group or solo.

My opinion is to get out with a group once every week or so because you will get pushed harder than you push by yourself if you are mortal like most of us.  Plus it pretty fun to meet new people that could teach you a thing or two.

I don't know if it will make you faster but if you are averaging 18 and they are riding 20-21 and you take your turns up front I think you will get faster. 

Like Bear said just ride.

Depends. If you ride with significantly slower riders, you won't get a great speed workout. Although those rides are still great for long rides that you might not do on your own. Safer in a pack, and much more fun as well.

Best are rides with stronger riders. Those can help a LOT. I would be 1/2 the rider I am today if I hadn't dived into the local roadie club and gotten utterly smoked the first few times out to put things in perspective.

I should do the same for swimming... 

I do a mixture.  I mostly ride by myself during the week but on the weekends I try and do a group ride cause they always ride further then I want to ride by myself.  It also allows me to ride more "areas" so that I get more variety in my ride.  I have no problems being pushed by group rides, even in moderate rides.  I have yet to go on a ride with more then 5 people in it that hasn't split into those who hammer and those who ride a more moderate pace.  I tend to try and stick with those who are hammering and then when they finally manage to drop me (and they always manage to...or I guess I technically drop myself since I am the one who runs out of steam) I know I have a nice recovery section of the ride coming with the rest of the group.  Best of both worlds. 

As for being pulled by the group, I am sure they will give you your chance to do the pulling:-)

YES group riding will help.  i used to ride myself at 18-20, after a few months with a 22-24 mph group i ride 20-22 mph.

my schedule on normal base periods.

2 x 20-25 miles solo
1 x 50-60 miles group 24+ these days

for HIM training:

2 x 30+ miles solo
1 x 60 miles

1 time every 2 weeks i will do group ride and follow up with 10-15 miles solo.  i think riding with a group makes the ride more fun, it gives you a nice sociable atmosphere, and if you are smart and get up to the front you can still push it hard on a ride like that. 

my group has 100 riders and even with that many i tend to pull quite often at much much higher speeds then when i solo ride.

I also ride solo during the week but with the bicycle club of Las Vegas every weekend.  I really like riding alone, but I also really like the group rides as well.

The group has faster and stronger riders than me and being competitive in nature I always chase or try to pass, which pushes me past my comfort level and makes me stronger.

In addition when there are 30 to 40 of us in bright yellow, orange, red and other colored jerseys, I sure do feel alot safer on the main roads.

The group tends to do alot of hill climbing which I need here in Vegas, plus I love drafting

I think part of it depends on you as a solo rider.  Do you push yourself on those rides or do you find yourself just falling into a steady habit kind of pace?  If you're the latter getting in with a group that will force you to push hard is good on occasion. 

For me I've ridden with groups that really pushed my abilities and with groups that I could be really lazy riding with most of the time.  I don't ride with the slow group any more.

Yes I try to push constantly

Just started training with HRM, set my zones, and now have 1 long ride in z2/z3 and 1 ride with intervals to z4/z5a.  Typically I think I can ride 3x per week so that leaves me with another solo longish ride or joining a group ride on Sundays. 

I'd ride more often, run more and swim more too but life gets in the way of that to some extent.

Thanks for the replies so far

decided to bite my tongue on this one

Edited by jbjboc 2009-08-15 10:33 PM

i very very hardly ride with a group,

the few times i do its for one of two reasons.

1- this happens about once a month, i join one of hte FAST road groups around here to get my legs torn off for a hard, fast, 40-50 mile ride. this is often one of the hardest rides i do. its fun, but i dont do it much because it leaves sore for a few days

2- i'll go on some other group rides around here because i know most of them are slower than me, and i use it as a chance to loosen the legs up and see some friends/talk to new people and it forces me to stay a bit slower. this happens about 3 times a month.

the rest of my training is done alone. i prefer to ride alone most of the time, as it lets me get done what i want/need to do, at my pace, and when you get into a race having trained alone all the time, it makes it that much more fun.

i have no issues pushing myself on the bike though, so it works for me.

I like group for my weekly long ride.  Makes the time disappear.  Several pace groups, so I can go as fast or slow as necessary.  I also do same for Sunday long run.  Most other workouts I do alone.

 

Thanks for the replies folks, Here's today's entry from my blog:

I joined a local cycling club today - they have a Sunday morning ride each week departing from the cycling shop 3 miles from my house.  I'd never ridden in a group before, and only a couple times I've ridden with another rider, so this was a new experience for me.  They have different levels (I'm sure this is standard across the known universe) A+, A, B, C.  I spoke with the leader to introduce myself, he asked a few questions then suggested I join the A group. 

For the first 5 miles or so, I was the caboose by choice just to see what's what.  There were some hand signals and verbal signals that I picked up and as I became more comfortable, I slowly closed the gap between my front tire and the next guy's rear tire.  Had some issues early with accelerating to maintain distance, then coasting faster than the guys in front and having to touch the brakes, then repeat...That stuff will come with experience I guess. 

I moved  up in the group during the middle part of the ride, the good thing was that the ride was over roads I ride all the time so I was familiar with the road conditions, and kind of knew where they were heading.  During the final 5 miles or so, there seemed to be some separations created - some people looking to finish strong, some going into cooldown mode I guess.  I stuck towards the front.  Two guys eventually pulled away, one wearing the local tri club jersey.  There were 4 people in front of me and they didn't try to keep in contact so I just said OK here comes daddy.  I was able to catch up to them (took way more effort than I had bargained for), and the 3 of us cruised in back to the cycling shop.  They have coffee and donuts and stuff after.  Small talk with some of the riders, then back on my bike to cruise home.

Couldn't wait to check my Garmin data, turns out this was a great ride overall, fun, and the time flew by pretty quickly.

z1 9%
z2 15%
z3 21%
z4 31%
z5a 12%
z5b 7%
z5c 4%

Sounds like you had a good experience.

What you describe above is commonly called the "slinky effect," and comes as these little accelerations and decelerations in the front of the paceline are magnified as you get toward the rear. Actually makes the back of a paceline a harder place to ride.