BT Confession: Today I was "That guy"

Eh.....don't be afraid...those guys are funny, you'll have a ball.

Keep the group moving along as it was. Don't hammer and splinter (or threaten to break) the group each pull. Sure there will be some surges or breaks here and there, but not every time. Generally, keep everything moving smoothly so that there isn't really much of a difference from one guy to the next when leading. Be predictable and learn how to keep everything flowing together smoothly. I've ridden with guys who would hammer, or attack hard late in my pull then sit extra long behind me. Doing stuff that didn't really make sense for a group ride. I stopped riding with them because it wasn't fun and I wasn't getting as much out of the rides.

I had a unique group experience on one our local paved rail-trails last week..

I was on the streets heading towards the trail head when a local race team with about 9-10 members came up behind me.  The first thing I thought was do I try and hammer it, do my normal thing or slow down and let them pass me...

My decision was made for me as we got close to the trail head...There was a very large puddle of water on the trail and I rode into the grass to not trash my bike any more than I had to when I heard someone yell "don't go through the mud puddle, it will get your bike all dirty."  When I first heard it I thought it was one of the more experienced riders giving $hit to a newer one but when I looked back they all rode through the puddle, albeit at a slow speed...

So once I realized they were mocking me for avoiding the puddle I decided I would be the tail on their ride....At the point on the trail we hooked up there are about three or four intersections in succession where the trail crosses some city streets so no matter how much things crank up between you always have to slow down for traffic...They tried to snap me off a couple times and couldn't however when we got to a section with 5-7 miles of uninterupted trail they really tried to lose me....We got up to 28-29 mph which was on a slight incline gradient (former railway) and I could see a couple of their big dogs up front just trying to smash me...They cycled through about half their riders by the time we got to the next intersection.... I heard chirping and laughing going on throughout the ride but couldn't make any of it out...

Anyway, they tried again to snap me off the back but couldn't and honestly it wasn't that hard to stay on.... I know for a fact they could destroy me in a technical setting and had their group been smaller they could have snapped me off the back but due to the size of their group AND the trail not allowing for anything crazy, I stayed on...

Sorry for the long story, I brought it up because I wasn't sure what I should have done in a normal situation.  I thought about asking the first guy I was on the wheel of if it was allright that I was there but once I thought about their open mocking of me, they'd have to tell me to get off...

Question:  Do roadies and mainly race teams look down at triathletes because we aren't "all-in" for cycling or do they think we're lesser cyclists because many of us tend to go solo and hammer for a lot of our riding miles and aren't usually as strong a technical rider?

Again, sorry for the long post..

Good points, thank you for sharing.

I agree many roadies could be very good guys and gals to ride with, however it's the chance encounters where it's nearly impossible to actually strike up a quick conversation to lay out some ground rules etc..

As for my comment on hammering, I over-use that term...I basically meant working hard...I tend to ride most of my workouts at a similar effort level, it's just the distance varies per the plan....

Lastly, I went with a buddy to look at buying a used Venge from a guy who races here locally and in conversation it came up that I'm a tri guy... The guy was really nice and commented that it's so interesting that cyclists and triathletes while using a very similar tool (bike) couldn't be further from each other in application..... I agreed..

And a pre-emptive sorry if I over-generalized roadies and/or cycling teams....I'm always curious to find out what others would do in the same situation..

Maybe he has a race coming up and he was getting in a ride with the helmet to get comfortable with it before the race.  Sometimes it is not all that complicated.