getting dropped

[OakLeaf]

So you could get "dropped" out front.

That's okay (and appropriate IMO) on an informal ride, but if it's an organized club ride with a designated leader, policies usually dictate that the leader has to go after the rabbit, so that s/he can make sure everyone finished the ride. A rider with that very habit is one of the reasons our Wednesday ride leader resigned at the end of last season

[PscyclePath]

That's okay (and appropriate IMO) on an informal ride, but if it's an organized club ride with a designated leader, policies usually dictate that the leader has to go after the rabbit, so that s/he can make sure everyone finished the ride. A rider with that very habit is one of the reasons our Wednesday ride leader resigned at the end of last season

Depends on the club rules and "generally accepted practices"... Several clubs have a general rule where if you pass the ride leader and sprint off past the horizon, you're no longer part of the ride and are wholly on your own after that. Our group (Arkansas Bicycle Club) hasn't discovered the concept of cue sheets just yet, so I've used some of these instances last year as a teaching point, and taken the pack off to a parallel, but different road for better scenery or less traffic.

Outside of learning to ride in a racing peloton or practicing race tactics, your average club ride is intended to be a social occasion where we share our enjoyment of this marvelous sport. In Magnuson's book, Heft on Wheels, his friend Saki always admonished, "Ride together."

Add together the fact that a pack of cyclists quickly succumbs to groupthink like a school of fish, and successful ride leading becomes nearly a black art...

[SadieKate]

Yep, the 3rd time you zoom out in front of the ride leader and you miss the turn? We're not chasing you down and your rescue and return factor is now entirely up to you. When we count noses at intersections/turns, the total has just dropped by one nose.

You get one freebie no matter what. You get a 2nd because I'm just too much of a mother-hen guilt ridden sort. The 3rd time, you're on your own.

I have no problems with people riding in front of the ride leader, but only if they stop at all the intersection that we've agreed to AND they know how to get to that intersection.

[SadieKate]

That's okay (and appropriate IMO) on an informal ride, but if it's an organized club ride with a designated leader, policies usually dictate that the leader has to go after the rabbit, so that s/he can make sure everyone finished the ride. A rider with that very habit is one of the reasons our Wednesday ride leader resigned at the end of last season

Sorry, but I think that even on an organized club ride a repeat offender should be allowed to "drop" themselves off the front. The group isn't dropping the offender, the rider is doing to the dropping him(or her)self.

Good ride leaders are far too valuable a resource to waste.

[indysteel]

Our weekday training rides, which are sponsored by the club and do have a ride leader, are marked so you can ride at whatever pace you want, although the expectation is that you stay with the group (there are actually at least two groups at most rides, one faster than the other). If you pull ahead or get dropped, you're on our own. The ride leaders will sweep the course if someone doesn't return to the parking lot within a reasonable time. There are multiple training rides, however, around town on any given day. Some are more "maternalistic/paternalistic" than others. The more they cater to the racers in the club, the less likely that anyone will care if you stay with the group.

When I ride more informally with a group of friends, we stick together. I've never known anyone to sprint off and I've never known us not to slow down if somebody starts to struggle.