Are Group Rides Ruining Your Training?

[@Anon.User.602]

I'm a soloist; its meditative to be alone and enjoy the roads, while I admit occasional group rides have certain technical and safety advantages besides socializing.

[@roadcyclingacademy]

Thanks for sharing on the thread. Agree with the medicative nature of 'solo'!

[@n22pdf]

Solo here to 😊 Pete

[@jamsxr]

Yep, part of the attraction of road riding is the solo element. Tend to ride in groups on my mtb.

[@dilligaf2818]

Always rode by myself...No friends (LOL)K's are my meditation plus the fittest for an ol' mate.(65).sometimes if can keep up with a group i hop on the tail ...gee it is easier. I dont avg 30 so wouldnt keep up with groups anyway. great vid.

[@the318pop]

​@@roadcyclingacademymeditative 😂

[@stuartfrancis519]

Group rides are great if you need motivation and aren't working on things specifically. But if you have very clear goals, I find it easier to train by myself.

[@gregmorrison7320]

Been years since I've done a bunch ride, got too frustrated waiting for people to repair punctures or waiting for people to arrive in time to start. I really enjoy my solo rides, can start when I want too and go where I want at whatever pace I want. Of course, I miss out on the social aspect, but even with the way traffic is these days I prefer to choose my own quieter routes than the bunch rides around here.

[@patty109109]

I’ve never done one, but it sounds like a great way to spend two or more hours doing a one hour bike ride!

[@christianemeiners9224]

The only drawback I think solo-riding may have is the lack of practice riding in a bunch; that is something I lack as a skill while riding events where you find yourself in a bunch going very fast and especially cornering becomes an adrenalin rush 😳😅 other than that I find it more beneficial to do your thing and improve over time aka as reaching your goals.

[@roadcyclingacademy]

Good point there Chrissi, thanks for sharing on the thread

[@DennisNowland]

I tell you what I have found as a senior (70 years old) group rides on Zwift, at steady pace.are no good for me. It's almost like riding in erg mode. I would much rather ride alone at my own pace and the ups and downs of my capacity within the ride. More importantly, I actually enjoy riding alone, much more, and that's what matters to me at my age. Hope this makes sense.

[@WarHammerWH]

I find that a bunch ride enables me to go beyond what I would usually do, and I use it as my hard ride of the week. 2 days later I do a 40k recovery ride and in the weekend a solo ride or longer but less intense bunch ride. Some years back I was doing only bunch rides and got slower because I could never fully recover. So this video is spot on!

[@rolffuchs2737]

I was in Training camp in April in Girona. I only did the first and the last ride in the group. They were riding riding crazy out of Girona accelerating from traffing light to traffic light and then riding against the wind with 37 km/h before the mountain started. So yes a group ride is usually destroying the training, especially when you ride with ambitious riders who think they are pros but don't train like them.

[@moonshinejack]

One hard bunch ride a week for me on Sunday, right before a rest day on Monday. I train solo so much the social aspect is energizing, plus it’s nice to have my legs ripped off to keep me humble and motivated!

[@bugwan1]

I've been adding more and more fast bunch rides to my week and my climbing has suffered as a result. My VO2 is good now, but steady state seems to be tougher - clearly an adaptation I've made. Some weeks I'm doing 5 hard bunchies...even an amateur like me knows thats a few too many 😬 It's hard to peel myself away from them, as they're great fun and when you're on top of your game it feels great. This is a great vid to put things in perspective

[@Ben-iv4yb]

I bunch ride in a group of anywhere from 3-6 and find we are all very very similar levels. We often make sure we discuss the day before what were doing, e.g. no drop ride, chill reocvery day. Zone 2. Or were out to push and if your dropped your dropped but theres often meeting points to regroup etc along the way. I find this super fun and enjoyable and if i want to train solo, i train solo. Plus the social aspect once-twice a week is good for mental health

[@tweed0929]

I was rejected by local riding groups. I didn't want to ride with the group because of training, but because of social aspect of it. Turned out it was the social aspect that made me a soloist for the rest of my life. I've never seen a social circle so rejecting and so literally exclusive as the road bike circle. Being 95% a roadie, I enjoy MTB scene a lot more. Friendlier, nicer, more supportive.

[@pavlos..]

sounds like you just happened to approach the wrong club. Ours is super welcoming to people of all levels

[@phoffen3829]

@@pavlos.. They are all the same from what I have seen. The "social" ones are still full of people who go 10 kmh faster than the posted flat no wind speed, so they are all full of crap, cyclists. I like riding on my own, where showing off is not a thing. I am 65 FFS, who needs it?

[@xGshikamaru]

To be honest, I'm quite disappointed about doing structured training and stick to it because it didn't bring the benefits people say it does. I didn't get any better than I was last year even with a huge amount of volume. My maximum aerobic power is basically the same as it was and so all the other values are pretty much capped by that. The only benefit I've seen is the ability to repeat threshold type of efforts more in a single ride. Maybe I've been doing it wrong, but those zone 2 rides don't seem to bring as much benefit as some people say they do. My conclusion would be: do what you enjoy, and if that's group rides then it's fine just listen to your body, the most important thing for progress is consistency and progressive overload. You're going to plateau anyway

[@francisdayon]

I went from 325 to 395 ftp in 8 months. Very happy with my progress. 89kg

[@tobiasbouma4071]

Also seeing lack of progress but 100% limited by my local surroundings. A safe stretch of 10k road literally doesn't exist where I am, and neither do road users that have any resemblance of knowledge of the highway code. Inside workouts are great though and seem to be going in some direction. Sadly that's then also limited by the room heating up, so I find it hard to hold the power, so again I tend to get demotivated ..

[@drucejnr]

Solo rider and I love it. I ride to the weather conditions and set my goals before I head out/compared to what I’ve already done during the week

[@elviracatherinetalaoc2070]

My husband was a average rider, and he’s not much of a climber. But ever since he joined the club and did a lot of group rides he made a big improvement.

[@mlafleurhua]

Great video and great topic. The discussion was very balanced. One aspect possibly for a follow up: Many times the implied target audience for this topic are racers, i.e. riders whose main targets are races or events (fondos, etc) other than the group rides. These riders use group rides as high intensity training and for in-group fitness validation. As indicated in the video, they are the ones who need to back off their use of group rides to improve their overall training and recovery. But what about the riders that don't race, but for which that block of time in the year when doing 3 high intensity group rides per week is the "racing season". For these riders, the group rides are not training, they constitute a 8-12 week season where the weekly group rides serve as A and B races. How should these riders approach group rides? How should they stay competitive, sharpen themselves for key weeks, while maintaining good recovery, avoiding staleness and possibly over training? Telling these riders to back off from the weekly group rides will sound to them like skimping on their main season objective. Final point, this population of cyclists also has a propensity of avoiding zone 2 solo rides and going for sweetspot rides instead...

[@anthonymian1242]

What about wanting to win the group rides? I am training secretly alone during the week so I can blow away my sunday group ride!!!

[@stavejobas4938]

😂😂😂😊

[@rodmacpherson8383]

I’ve been predominantly solo and enjoy that I can go where I want, when I want, and how hard but one thing I found is I tend to back off and coast then go harder etc. the down side was I’d get on the bike ride then get off the bike…… I recently started riding with the local cycling club (and they have been fantastic in welcoming me and patently teaching a “lone wolf” to play nice in a pack!) for the social side but also to learn and build confidence riding in groups. The upside I found was I’d ride harder and with a lot more constant effort but the hard group ride is only once a week the others are more social. In the end I’ll continue to do both as I think it’s a nice balance.

[@jamesmckenzie3532]

Day before the bunch ride I would do something like Wahoo SYSTM Recharger/primers/Openers to set the body for the effort. Day after would be a thirty to forty minute Z1-2 ride to clear out metabolic crud (not lactic acid, that's long gone).

[@roadcyclingacademy]

Nice one James, and thanks for sharing on the thread. When the fitness is solid, 'Do As You're Told' in another good priming session I have found. Cheers, Cam

[@jamesmckenzie3532]

@roadcyclingacademy6476 Yep DAYT is certainly a priming session and you better listen to the Quebecka DS. And them Pain Suckers stink!

[@clas683]

In my opinion and experience group rides or bunch rides should only be extra thing to your training - If you actually are training with a goal. You are all over the zones and even when they are hard and fatiguing 1/3 of the ride is still in zone 1. And you need an extra day to recover after them which mean you have to cancel a good meaningful workout. However as an extra thing once a week or so they are good. First as menthoined for social reasons and you can get good tips from others. Secondly they teach you riding close to others. Some fast bunch rides are race like where you learn where there is a wheel close by. Also some rides finish with a sprint and you get tougher mentally forcing yourself not to give up. Where I live there are these extra fast early morning bunch rides for people who race. I started joining them in 2019 where my goal always was not to get dropped. The year after I got my license and in 2021 I rode the national champs in my country finishing single digits behind the winner. Part from a structured training those bunch rides helped alot. Just don’t do them more than once per week and stick to your program 🙂

[@robertosantoro9685]

I ride solo during the week for some structured sessions. Then on Sundays I do bunch rides, normally longer than my solo rides, and where my effort is dictated by the others. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's harder. But that's fine because it adds variety and fun.

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

I see the Concord in the background!! 👊😆

[@cyclotaur6315]

Solo rider 99%, occasional ride with a mate who never half wheels and doesn't know how to ride with others well 🤣, and do 2-3 big events per year and/or a group tour over a week or two. Find it hard to hook up with others regularly as they start too early and the rides are pretty prescriptive and mostly o-road, whereas I like to explore a bit more and mix in the trails.

[@cathalkenneally1614]

I have ridden with a local group that varies in size and speed. Some days they split up into four speed groups and I enjoy it. Most of the people in the group are sociable and friendly. Some of the riders are very experienced and are very forthcoming with friendly advice about how to improve my cycling. I never take umbrage at any advice; these people cycle ultra distances and are worth listening to. I still like my solo rides though

[@matt_kj]

Fantastic insights from Ryan 👍

[@josephreilman8527]

Used to be spoiled by the group ride. You can gain a lot of fitness starting out, but the only way to get stronger is to be out in the wind by yourself

[@znicho]

I smash the bunch rides but am really slow up hills. I think this must be the answer.

[@galenkehler]

Since youre riding slow in a group, you end up training muscles and postures that you'll never use in racing. Its hard to maintain the normal riding postures (that you'd normally hold for hours comfortably on your own when pushing hard on the pedals).

[@three10media]

I find the comments a bit bizarre. In my group rides we have 2-3 pace groups. Is that not common?? If you’re feeling fatigue ride with the B group or even C group…

[@WillPower46]

I live in a country where group rides have been pretty much killed off (NZ) so most people here train on their own. It's a shame really because most cyclists here miss out on all the benefits of group rides.

[@Strift104]

Where abouts in NZ?

[@XxxxTxTxxxX]

What's the reason for it?

[@johnrossvalderama2358]

Omg, when he said going up a hill is 300 watts for 10 minutes… I realized how much of a mortal I am.

[@Loekie-de-leeuw]

Luckily my typical group rides are social rides and no crits in disguise. When I am solo I actually find in more difficult to stay in zone 2 . I am also really wondering who has the time to ride 2 bunch rides a week and also manage to do recovery rides in between.

[@QuixoteCoyote]

People are doing 3 group rides a week? Damn seems like common sense that more than one, occasionally two, would ruin structured training. Having a solid regular group ride is crucial for racing though. Seen a lot of mad fit type A guys who only train solo, have terrible pack skills, crash and then get totally burnt out because they're not having fun with it.

[@rgfrobotics]

What if you're only riding twice a week?

[@Ultegra10SPD]

Unless the 2nd is in a t-shirt on a hybrid with non-cycling friends or wife or kids, then once/wk. You need those more focused sessions to get good benefits and not roasting yourself into a plateau. -U10

[@silverburn55]

Unless youre training *for* the group rides...

[@ChrisTaylor-Guitar]

Beer tastes better post ride with a group…

[@peterwillson1355]

Most cyclists are solo riders. Most cyclists are self- motivating.

[@Hobbot72]

if you RACE, you MAYBE can do a single bunch ride mid week. If you don't race, who cares about how fatigue you are

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

Sounds like what I've been saying for the last 20 something years. Yo0000 Cam!

[@nigelmcclean4166]

its ruining mine!!!!

[@derrickmurray3782]

Pick your training buddies very well, make sure you all have similar abilities and goals avoid like the plague, loud attention seeking wannabe racers who are in it for the glory, to be a face, to be a name in the bunch.

[@ronm7114]

wannabe racers? What are wannabe racers exactly? If u can do 37-40 km average in a bunch ride thats not really a wanna be racer. Those are (close to)race speeds. Doing less then that isnt racing nor can u pretend it is, cause it isnt. And anythin under 30 km/h average (mostly flat) is a joke compared to that so anyone there acting like a wannabe racer is appropriate cause it is a wannabe race basically if u want to look at it that way. And aint nothing wrong with pretending really. What glory? There is no glory in a bunch ride. There is adrenaline, respect and acknowledgement. What face? Everyone has a face at some point riding together every week. What name? See above.

[@bubby372]

Group rides SUCK. Most people are a pain in the ass.