THE GROUP RIDE PARADOX

After this past Sunday’s Tune Up Ride, one of our group asked me a pertinent question. “I have ridden that kind of distance before, at about that kind of pace,” he said. “But after this ride I felt a good bit more tired. Why is that?”

It’s a good question. There are a couple of likely answers. The more obvious one is that this ride was through some relentlessly hilly terrain. Hills take a lot out of you. But I know this rider. The hills contributed to his fatigue, but not enough to account for all of it.

In a group ride such as this, each member must compromise to maintain the group’s integrity. The better climbers need to slow on the ascents a bit, the descent specialists need to brake and relax a touch, and the diesels need to reduce speed on the flatter sections. This results in everyone being a bit slower in their specialty areas, but everyone is also faster on average. That takes more energy.

There is another more subtle lesson here. On this kind of ride, each rider must trust the group. No one wants to be a “dragging anchor,” holding the group back. This can cause a rider to work extra hard at their particular challenge areas. That results in a lot of fatigue. A more correct approach is to relax and deliver only the optimum level of performance.

Here’s an example. Let us say that I am not a great climber. I know this, and I know that there are other members of the group who seem to just float up the hills. I don’t want to be a drag. So I exert myself mightily on the climbs. I’m fatiguing rapidly, and the climbers are still waiting on me. Soon I’m exhausted, and I can no longer deliver a strong pull in my area of strength, the flats. This slows the group further.

On the other hand, if I stay inside of my normal range of performance on the climbs, exerting, but breathing well and not going anaerobic, I don’t fatigue as quickly. I reduce the group’s climb rate by a couple more percentage points, but I can make up for that by delivering a good strong pull in the flats. The overall average will rise. I just have to trust that the climbers will wait, just as they have to trust that I won’t ride their legs off on the motor-sections.

This takes a bit of time to learn. It’s counter to a lot of what the cycling culture practices, but then so is Audax riding. This is a co-operative effort, not a competitive one. Cooperation requires discipline and trust. It pinches a little here and there, but it yields terrific results. Once the group begins to settle down and work together it is far more powerful than any individual member.