Group Riding Speed and more - Proposed Pacing Guide by Mr. Gadget

[aschendel]

We should be willing to just enjoy the ride and know that we are helping new people through the learning process of participating in group rides.

I'm trying to decide if I should be snarky and attend your next ride and request a much slower pace or point out that the typical leaders can only be a certain amount of "unselfish" in a single short season...

No matter.  A lot of us have seen a lot of drama surrounding the fact that there aren't a lot of organizers and even fewer leaders willing to step up (we covered burnout already, right?).  I'm no old-timer here, but I flat-out appreciate anyone willing to organize/lead a ride, and if I am able to tag along I have absolutely no preconceived notions about being catered too.  If I (or anyone) needs catering, that should be brought up well before a pre-ride meeting.

Speaking of catering, I've only seen one person explicitly put together training rides; the iron fist, no BS, read your sheet, barely slow down for anything other than his ~200 mile range.  Now maybe I need to go between the pace classification lines being offered on the Hill Country and Fall Colors rides (or better yet, attend a few (I wish)), but the way I see it one guy has gone way out of his way to bring people up, not chase them out -- in spite of his "bark" (shh, don't tell anyone). 

Let me differentiate something for you guys---rides I have been on that we have had multiple leaders and called out a "fast" group and a "slow" group or whatever, the reality is all the groups are riding about the same pace(probably within 5 mph of each other)...

Can we talk more about this very interesting observation?  If it's not actual speed that's causing "grouping", what do we think causes people to think of others as either "fast" or "slow"?  I'm going to guess bidirectional "reputation" and "perception".

a.s.

[Deplorable, thank you!]

Let me differentiate something for you guys---rides I have been on that we have had multiple leaders and called out a "fast" group and a "slow" group or whatever, the reality is all the groups are riding about the same pace(probably within 5 mph of each other)...

Can we talk more about this very interesting observation?  If it's not actual speed that's causing "grouping", what do we think causes people to think of others as either "fast" or "slow"?  I'm going to guess bidirectional "reputation" and "perception".

a.s.

For me it is more about manageable group size. Preferrably less than 6 or 7 per group, ideally only 3 or 4...my prefference, others have their own number. That answers your "grouping" but not your question of "fast" or "slow". I am routinely called both, so....

[vince]

If I show up on my Harley and I ride it real fast am I still in the slow group? I do have a sport fairing on my purple one and a lower one on there too. So now when I get it up to those triple digits I need a stirring damper. Do you think they make one of those for my bike?

[dl]

Vince, if its a Dyna they do. I had one on my FXDXT.

[snowflap]

If I show up on my Harley and I ride it real fast am I still in the slow group?

Yes.