Breaking up (with your group) is hard to do...etiquette advice?

[indysteel]

Beyond the safety issues (headphones and aerobars are dealbreakers IMO), I think you should aim to be tactful and kind about the "breakup," as these people's only other "sin" is being too slow for your current goals. Try not to burn too many bridges if you can avoid it. Your current goal is to get faster and stronger, but you never know when that might change. I spent several years trying to get faster when I first started riding. Now I'm just content to ride.

Even when I was training hard, I tried to keep a good mix. Riding hard with the same group can get old.

[arielmoon]

Great thoughts and advice here!

I think it is obvious that this slow group is holding you back and it's time to move on, at least a few rides a week. I am on the tail end of the A groups here and faster than the B's. I have friends in both and they would never think of giving me a hard time for being with the other group. Well, maybe a little teasing. If I want a recovery type ride, I hang back and if I am feeling good I go out with the big dogs.

One gal is a very consistent B rider who is great for me to pace myself with on long charity/ event rides. She keeps me from blowing myself out!

[JuneHawk]

So, it's a slow group and some clown insists on riding on aerobars? Clown is right. This alone (fast or slow) would be enough for me to stop riding with them. Aerobars are dangerous in groups and you shouldn't have to put up with it.

[marni]

I was once banned from a group ride of women because I had aerobars on my bike and refused to remove them each week after the two weeks of "introductory ride." This in spite of the fact that I never have nor ever will ride in aerobars unless I am completely solo on a training ride. I don't even ride in aero bars if I am doing a charity ride and find myself in a solo situation. Heck, Idon't even ride in my drops much in any group situation.

I was made to promise not to ride in the aeros on the first ride and reminded of that promise on the second ride. On the third ride they said that if I showed up with aerobars on my bike for the next ride, they would not let me ride with them. I pointed out to them that I had kept my word, and that I was an adult and a woman of my word. And that I trained four or five days solo for every ride I did with them and I wasn't about to spend that much time messing with my aeros for the questionable privilege of doing a polite 20-40 miles with them for social time.

Sigh.......

[Irulan]

so what's the deal with no aerobars on a group ride? I don't understand.

[indysteel]

so what's the deal with no aerobars on a group ride? I don't understand.

As I've always understood it, if you're in a paceline, you need to be able to react quickly and/or signal with your hands to prevent an accident. That, and some (though not all) people aren't as steady in holding a line when they're in their aerobars. I have some friends I don't mind riding with when they're using their bars. They're really steady, and I keep a little extra distance. Other people, not so much. At group training rides (where the paceline is pretty big and pretty fast), I strongly prefer that people not use them. It's the club's policy that people don't. Plus, you shouldn't need them. That's the whole point of a paceline.

[Veronica]

so what's the deal with no aerobars on a group ride? I don't understand.

Aerobars are scary and anyone who rides with them is just plain dangerous. Insert tongue in cheek icon.

Personally, I prefer to evaluate the person's abilities before judging them to be dangerous. I did a double century once almost entirely behind a guy riding in his aerobars. I never worried about his skills.

BTW I almost never go on big group rides because I can't stand how the groups around here disobey traffic laws. What do you mean I have to stop at the stop sign? All my rides now are solo or with friends.

Veronica

[indysteel]

Aerobars are scary and anyone who rides with them is just plain dangerous. Insert tongue in cheek icon.

Personally, I prefer to evaluate the person's abilities before judging them to be dangerous. I did a double century once almost entirely behind a guy riding in his aerobars. I never worried about his skills.

BTW I almost never go on big group rides because I can't stand how the groups around here disobey traffic laws. What do you mean I have to stop at the stop sign? All my rides now are solo or with friends.

Veronica

I've gotten away from big group rides myself, in part for the same reason. At least at the training rides I once frequented, there were always a lot of stupid manuevers in an effort to keep up. I finally had enough one day and never went back. I have a group of friends who have ridden together for years. They're about the only people I enjoy riding with now. Several of them use their aerobars when they're leading the group without issue. But the grou isn't huge, and generally isn't going really fast.

My issue with people using them at open-invitation group rides is that you don't necessarily have an opportunity to judge how skilled they are at using them before the ride starts. Add in a bunch of squirrely riders in general, and it's better to just have an enforce a strict policy against them IMO.