Loner Manners?

[Eden]

Silly me, here I thought that riding single file was pacelining without the intent of drafting.

I'll have to agree with you here - riding in a line with other people is pacelining no matter how fast you are going and not knowing how to do it is dangerous no matter how fast you are going... in fact falls at slow speeds are probably more likely to result in broken bones than really fast ones, which result in more road rash....

Even if you are a loner if you EVER plan to do an organized ride you will more than likely end up in some sort of informal paceline, so better to know how to do it than end up in over your head.

[Crankin]

Well, the only time I went down on a group ride was when the leader slowed without signaling. My husband was behind him, thinking this guy knew how to paceline. After he hit, he knew he was going down, and swung wide so I wouldn't hit him. Of course, my eyes followed him, and I went down, along with the 2 behind me. We were going around 20, which may not be fast for some, but for this group it was. I wasn't hurt, but I was shook up, my helmet scraped, and I had a headache for a week. We left the group and rode to the emergency room after my husband's elbow swelled like crazy (it was just from the medication he takes).
Not my best ride and I will never go on a ride with that leader again. He's very nice, but doesn't know how to lead.

[jobob]

Well, the only time I went down on a group ride was when the leader slowed without signaling.

Sounds a lot like the Ride Leader from Hell that snapdragen and I had a few years ago, when we participated in a series of training rides put on by a local club to to prepare us for the Cinderella ride.

Luckily no one suffered any bodily harm on account of said ride leader's boneheaded maneuvers, but I considered strangling her on more than one occasion.

[Geonz]

We also have social rides that have absolutely nothing resembling a paceline. There is, simply, more room between riders. Many of the riders are really glad that there is a chance to go for a ride and not have to have an extra skill set (and there's the occasional person who's been in a crash and is gun-shy... ). Sometimes there are 30 or 40 of us ... but it doesn't take long to become subgroups and we *do* talk about & encourage & dare I say enforce not being a traffic hazard with creative clumping.

Just a word in defense of outliers... many people overestimate their averages because they sort of interpret it to mean "the speed you spend most of your time going." Most faster riders (and it sounds like your club's easiest rides are pretty fast) use the actual average that the speedo gives... which means (at least around here, where we generally have to go a bit in traffic to get out to the ountry) that most of the time we're riding significantly faster than the "average." It's a constant communication challenge. (I can also sympathize with hoping that the easiest club ride would actually be in the range of a relative beginner.)

[OakLeaf]

many people overestimate their averages because they sort of interpret it to mean "the speed you spend most of your time going."

Actually in the two clubs I belong to, the "ride average speed" is expressly defined the way you're talking about. So, say a flat B ride will "average" 17-20 mph, because that's how fast we're going most of the time, even though at the end of the ride, with warm-up, stop signs, turnaround, etc., our computers will read a true average more in the 15 mph range.

[Eden]

Just a word in defense of outliers... many people overestimate their averages because they sort of interpret it to mean "the speed you spend most of your time going."

I find people tend to overestimate because they think of it as "the speed I see when I look down at my speedo most often..." and most people tend to look at and remember the higher numbers more than the lower ones

Looking at your actual speedometer average can be just as unuseful though..... if you ride anywhere where you have to contend with traffic, lights or stop signs that will drag your average speed down quite quickly. I think thats why our local club defines the rides by the "average speed of steady riding on flat terrain" and not the average for the ride. That hopefully gives people a better idea of what to expect.

[Crankin]

Believe me, I know that the outliers think that average speed means the speed you see when you look down at your speedo.
I now say: "What is your average speed? By average, I mean your true average. What does the av. speed function on your computer say at the end of a ride that has some hills in it?"
If the person can't answer that, then I ask,"How long does it take you to ride 15 miles?" "How many miles do you ride in one hour?"
Usually, someone can answer one of those questions and give me a clear idea of their riding.
The rides I lead are considered intermediate. The advertised speed is 13-16 mph average. Our beginner rides are 10-13 mph average. Our rides usually average 13-14, as there is significant climbing on most of them.