slower friends on group rides

[Parrulo]

what should we do when we have one of those? i just got into a huge fight with my father because i got home at 9 pm due a friend of mine not being able to keep up. he was getting dropped on every single road bump and instead of getting home at 8 pm i got home 1 hour later so since i hadn't told my father i was going on a ride(because i was expecting to get home much earlier) he got worried and mostly mad lul

anyway what do you guys do in this situations? we kept waiting for him at the the top of climbs and going slowly on the flat because he couldn't even keep up there in the later part of the ride.

would you guys kept you pace and leave him behind avoid problems with your parents/wifes or done what i did?

btw i pretty much regret not leaving him behind . . . .

 

[Michielveedeebee]

what should we do when we have one of those? i just got into a huge fight with my father because i got home at 9 pm due a friend of mine not being able to keep up. he was getting dropped on every single road bump and instead of getting home at 8 pm i got home 1 hour later so since i hadn't told my father i was going on a ride(because i was expecting to get home much earlier) he got worried and mostly mad lul

anyway what do you guys do in this situations? we kept waiting for him at the the top of climbs and going slowly on the flat because he couldn't even keep up there in the later part of the ride.

would you guys kept you pace and leave him behind avoid problems with your parents/wifes or done what i did?

btw i pretty much regret not leaving him behind . . . .

As we would say in Vlaanderen : 'Samen uit, samen thuis'. If you leave with 3-4 guys, you end with 3-4 guys. When riding in big groups, like 10 guys+ on well known roads, it's no biggie to leave 2 guys behind.
Just went on a ride as well with 2 mates and we also have to wait for one. If doing hills I just ride little circles on top of the climb in lowest gear while waiting.

Don't leave your friends behind Parrulo, that's evil

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

If time is a factor go on with your ride solo, just be honest, say your peace and take off. Sounds like there were other people in your group willing to wait for the boat anchor.

Have a cell phone. Call your dad while waiting for your friend at the tops of those climbs and let him know you're being held up. Be the good son! Just sayin'

 

[Izzy eviel]

Never leave anyone behind, only if they say so! Especially on night rides.

 

[Parrulo]

If time is a factor go on with your ride solo, just be honest, say your peace and take off. Sounds like there were other people in your group willing to wait for the boat anchor.

Have a cell phone. Call your dad while waiting for your friend at the tops of those climbs and let him know you're being held up. Be the good son! Just sayin'

didn't take my phone because i wasn't expecting to take that long and the place where we were had no reception anyway and calling like 5 minutes before i got home would be pretty pointless.

also my father is the biggest drama queen ever so it gets pretty annoying at 9pm its still day in portugal at this time of the year.

anyway in the end we did wait for him and gave him most of our water so he managed to get home. he better man up tomorrow tho if he has the legs to climb out of bed

 

[ElChingon]

If you're on a schedule for any reason just state so from the beginning or when others join in so they know what to expect. If people join the ride and don't know the route then they're putting themselves in a bad predicament. If they were invited then the invitee needs to stay with the invited guest no matter what.

Its nice to say no one left behind but there are always situations where you may have to leave a few behind for a reason or two as long as anyone left behind is not alone or knows where they are and notified of their situation all is well (if all is well).

I've been on both ends of the situation and well usually someone or a few are assigned to guide/help the slower/injured/bonked/mechanical-ed rider along.

If you had to get back at a certain time for any reason then you should of notified the rest and gone on to meet your schedule. If they're your mates then they will understand, and you can pay them back some other day in some way or another. Don't fret on the little things, just have a good ride for as long as you can.

 

[daveinzambia]

Unless you make it clear at the start 'we are doing a hard ride and you can come but if you cannot keep up then we will not wait' then at least one person has to wait. The guy is being pushed out of his comfort zone and is only doing so in the knowledge he is with some mates.

if he is way to slow on the climbs then ride back down and do the hill twice. Extra training for you and may slow you down slightly after a few repetitions.

 

[Havetts]

Pirates code, if they drop leave them behind! All jokes aside, always stay together.

 

[ggusta]

didn't take my phone because i wasn't expecting to take that long and the place where we were had no reception anyway and calling like 5 minutes before i got home would be pretty pointless.

also my father is the biggest drama queen ever so it gets pretty annoying at 9pm its still day in portugal at this time of the year.

anyway in the end we did wait for him and gave him most of our water so he managed to get home. he better man up tomorrow tho if he has the legs to climb out of bed

always take your phone. period.

When I led rides I always made sure that anyone who dropped WAY back was willing to be alone. But as leader with slower people, you have to 'lead from the back'. If there is someone that far back and I know can handle themselves, I usually get back to the parking lot and take my time hoping they will show. If 10 mins pass, I call. If they have no phone, I have no choice but to stay within sight of them at all times.

As far as being the anchor, I am probably in the minority. I have been and will continue to be an anchor on some rides that I don't lead. I HATE the feeling of being a drag. I am truly a loner so being alone is good times for me! The situation calls for some discussion, usually the anchor should say what's on his mind. I usually say go freaking ride, if I take a short cut or just turn around I'll leave a note on your car or what have you to let you know I am not dead and if I have a serious problem I will call. If you get to the parking lot and my car is still there, call me and see how I am. Put pride and ego aside and just all let's get home safely.

My worst case was when I just was starting out and went on a hilly 50 mile ride on new year's eve. Bonked severely and discovered that if you are new to riding the saddle and your @ss need to be friends for a ride that long. They were NOT.

I called the leader after having told him to go without me that I just couldn't go any more (4 or 5 miles from the parking lot.) I was just done. DONE DONE! He came and picked me up when he got to his car. No big deal. When I got in his car it was like God had just descended from heaven and plucked me from Hell.

If someone is being an anchor and they seem like they do not want to be alone, well then I guess just send the other crew on ahead and teach him how to draft off of you. Worse things have happened.

Hope you guys weren't, like, on a 400k or anything!

 

[Parrulo]

Hope you guys weren't, like, on a 400k or anything!

it wasn't a long ride. it was short but with a lot of very tough hills with some very tough off road section one of them with terrible road always up and down mostly no real flat.

we may have overdone it a bit i admit

 

[daveinzambia]

Have to say I too have been the Anchor and it felt bad. New to riding with a group and learning the lesson that 80 mile 7am sunday rides and no breakfast is not a good mix. ended up bonking completely without really understanding why, saying just leave me to the group and then realising i had no idea where i was and no energy. luckily one older guy understood what was going on, came with me, showed me the way to a shop for a mars bar and made sure i knew the way home. Could have been in real strife otherwise (this was back in the day of no mobile phones).

Now i am older wiser and considerably less fit so i mainly ride on my own and take a phone and a cab charge card with me to cover my options

 

[KassyC]

I am often (almost always) the one who gets dropped. I know all the routes around here and it's very safe. If anything happened you'd be helped by someone or could jump in a taxi at any point.

I tend to ride with faster people (almost anyone on a bike classifies as faster) and then kill myself to keep up for as long as possible then when I drop off the back I just toddle on home at my own pace. I really HATE the pressure of everyone waiting for me at the top of the big climbs once I have nothing left in the legs. I tend not to ride with those who insist on everyone waiting. It's nice if someone is taking an easy day or coming back from injury if they pace me up the climbs or ride next to me and have a chat. But I just don't want to ruin anyone else ride by making them wait ages after every climb.

But maybe that's just me. If I didn't know where I was going I would want someone to wait though!!

 

[mewmewmew13]

I am often (almost always) the one who gets dropped. I know all the routes around here and it's very safe. If anything happened you'd be helped by someone or could jump in a taxi at any point.

I tend to ride with faster people (almost anyone on a bike classifies as faster) and then kill myself to keep up for as long as possible then when I drop off the back I just toddle on home at my own pace. I really HATE the pressure of everyone waiting for me at the top of the big climbs once I have nothing left in the legs. I tend not to ride with those who insist on everyone waiting. It's nice if someone is taking an easy day or coming back from injury if they pace me up the climbs or ride next to me and have a chat. But I just don't want to ruin anyone else ride by making them wait ages after every climb.

But maybe that's just me. If I didn't know where I was going I would want someone to wait though!!

That's cool if that's what you really want to happen. But I have also learned the hard way that you really need to declare this up front before the ride goes. That way you don't have friends waiting in places and guessing what you may or may not do, like turn off or are struggling with a mech.
It is important that everyone in the group starts out with the whole picture and expectations.

 

[Marcuccio]

The guys I ride with are / were friends before we got in to cycling. 1 or 2 might be slower, but they're friends, so I sit back and encourage them.
I have my Monday - Friday solo rides to work, or the occasional Saturday club ride if I want to hammer, so the other ride, with my mates, is a casual ride.

I find it better to sit on their wheel and give them a 'you're doing good dude, push push push', as opposed to just flying off and leaving them. That does more to discourage them. I do this cos my mates took the same approach to me when I first ever started.

 

[Handbrake]

Never leave a slower rider behind or someone who has had a puncture and says I'll fix it and head home by myself. I said this once and then found out my pump was stuffed and ended up stuck in no mans land until finally a rider passing 20 minutes later offered help.

I started riding a couple of years ago and couldn't believe guys 10 - 15 years older than me would zoom up hills so much faster than me. I made sure I did some extra riding outside the group rides to close the gap (which took longer than I thought) as I really hated holding people up.

Now I have a friend starting out I make sure I do more work and if we go up a big hill I reach the top and circle around, ride past him down the hill and ride back to the top. There is nothing worse than people waiting at a top of a hill with their heart rates back down to 60, and as soon as you reach them with a heart rate of 140 plus they want to ride away at pace since they are feeling fresh.

 

[Master50]

I am the anchor on the thursday MTB ride. I started out on this ride in 1989. More guys at my ability so we tended to all finish together. in the last 10 years or so the ride has attracted higher calibre riders and I am the last of the weak fish. Occasionally a pro rider joins us and the rest get a taste of what I go through. I guess since I so regularly get shed early they don't wait and they don't worry. I have just accepted that if I ride with these guys they are not waiting for me.
So I like the guys that wait and on the road bike I do a lot better but I still suck.
If you are an adult then I might offer your dad has a control and worry issue. I suppose if you live under the same roof you do have a duty to inform of your ETA but I have not lived at home for 37 years and my wife does not usually worry. I always carry my phone as a just in case.

 

[pedaling squares]

Parrulo, the bottom line is that you need a way better curfew. 9pm!

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

what should we do when we have one of those? i just got into a huge fight with my father because i got home at 9 pm due a friend of mine not being able to keep up. he was getting dropped on every single road bump and instead of getting home at 8 pm i got home 1 hour later so since i hadn't told my father i was going on a ride(because i was expecting to get home much earlier) he got worried and mostly mad lul

anyway what do you guys do in this situations? we kept waiting for him at the the top of climbs and going slowly on the flat because he couldn't even keep up there in the later part of the ride.

would you guys kept you pace and leave him behind avoid problems with your parents/wifes or done what i did?

btw i pretty much regret not leaving him behind . . . .

Considering the uncertainty, you did the right thing in waiting. Would you rather your dad be ****ed for a few hours or live with the regret of something happening to your friendship and/or your friend? Don't regret waiting for him. Unless it's understood from the start that riders may get dropped, leave that for your weekend crit or next race.

The group rides I participate in are classified as drop/no drop. Everyone knows what they're getting into, and should somebody get dropped, there is another group of riders that leave from the same point about 5 min after they can ride with. We generally decide what type of ride it will be just prior by judging the turnout. If it's a small group, we will call no drop. Another thing we do is wait for all mechanicals regardless of the ride type. Even if you're riding with the fast group, they will wait just to avoid the risk of that rider failing to catch the second group; they will often take short cuts and trim mileage down if some riders are getting tired. They only time I'd say a rider gets left is in the last couple miles when the finish is in the sight. At that point, the sprints and attacks start coming like crazy. Everyone wants the glory of being the first to turn into the parking lot.

 

[Boeing]

what should we do when we have one of those? i just got into a huge fight with my father because i got home at 9 pm due a friend of mine not being able to keep up. he was getting dropped on every single road bump and instead of getting home at 8 pm i got home 1 hour later so since i hadn't told my father i was going on a ride(because i was expecting to get home much earlier) he got worried and mostly mad lul

anyway what do you guys do in this situations? we kept waiting for him at the the top of climbs and going slowly on the flat because he couldn't even keep up there in the later part of the ride.

would you guys kept you pace and leave him behind avoid problems with your parents/wifes or done what i did?

btw i pretty much regret not leaving him behind . . . .

time to get out of the house and move in on your own sounds like to me

 

[Parrulo]

Parrulo, the bottom line is that you need a way better curfew. 9pm!

i am a 20 year old( 2 weeks till i turn 21) college student

time to get out of the house and move in on your own sounds like to me

ever tried riding in portugal in august before 7 pm? yesterday at the volta a portugal at 6pm they were riding under 34º . . .

its nasty lol

 

[pedaling squares]

i am a 20 year old( 2 weeks till i turn 21) college student

In that case it's a double shock and awe face.

Well, it's nice that he cares. And I guess if you aren't paying rent then he can call the shots. In that case I'd say you could ride off so long as your lagging buddy had someone with him. I also second the cell phone suggestion so you can touch base with your very protective father and keep him in the loop. If you are alone with the slower friend and unable to contact pops, I say stick with him and take the heat when you get back. You keep a friend, you keep your honour, and you learn to ride at an earlier time or with a different friend next time.

 

[Boeing]

so is the point

a. I hate my dad

b. my friend is a fread

or c. I am so fit right now

 

[AngusW]

Never regret not leaving your friend behind. You were right to stay with him.

Communicate: let your father know you're going riding and what time you'll be back.

Anticipate: take your mobile so at least you can text call even if only 5 minutes from home.

Investigate: he's your friend, you must have some idea of his fitness. Can he handle the pace you're going to have to ride at to finish the ride by 8pm? To be 1 hour slower indicates he's nowhere near fit enough even if he had a bad day.

Maybe your dad is a drama queen but only because he cares about you. Let him know you're riding and where you're going and how long you'll be (hint: build in extra time for unforeseen delays).

 

[Oldman]

If time is a factor go on with your ride solo, just be honest, say your peace and take off. Sounds like there were other people in your group willing to wait for the boat anchor.

Have a cell phone. Call your dad while waiting for your friend at the tops of those climbs and let him know you're being held up. Be the good son! Just sayin'

Good advice. Training is training and you talk it out first but never leave anyone unattended.

 

[Parrulo]

so is the point

a. I hate my dad <- nope

b. my friend is a fread <-nope

or c. I am so fit right now <- none of us is fit, its actually a question of who is in worst shape as after 3 years in college drinking is most likely the sport where we would be more successful

d. would it be ok to leave a friend behind on a ride? apparently not and i am glad i didn't