Leading Rides

[Tom Kunich]

I have a problem leading rides. If I ride at a moderate pace the others drop pretty far back and I have to slow up. Then if I let them by to take the lead they ride 5 mph faster than they were riding. Then on the return, they are beat and crawling.

These guys are in their 70's and 80's and are not and never were the fast group. How the hell are you supposed to deal with that?

[Catrike Rider]

Some lead, some follow, some reject all forms of group thinking.

[Roger Meriman]

It’s generally less about a set pace, but keeping a set distance.

Though I quite often lead from the rear particularly as on a gravel ride I
often will have some green roadies who I might want to keep a eye on.

I’m by some way the most technical in the club so keeping up isn’t a issue.

Roger Merriman

[Tom Kunich]

I used to ride drag all of the time but when the group are all experienced riders that shouldn't be necessary. Today it happened again. I was holding just 12.5 mph and they fell further and further behind. But I led the reverse direction to stay out in the sunshine as much as possible. After the coffee stop one of them took off at 16 mph and held that steady even while taking a short cut instead of my normal route. Then he blew up a mile from home (which was fine with me.)

Tomorrow I'll put in another very easy 40 miles at my own speed since no one else will be riding.

[funkma...@hotmail.com]

On Saturday, June 3, 2023 at 11:06:58 AM UTC-4, Tom Kunich wrote:
> I have a problem leading rides. If I ride at a moderate pace the others drop pretty far back and I have to slow up. Then if I let them by to take the lead they ride 5 mph faster than they were riding. Then on the return, they are beat and crawling.
>
> These guys are in their 70's and 80's and are not and never were the fast group. How the hell are you supposed to deal with that?

To recap:
- when you lead, they let you ride away
- when they lead, they ride away from you.

Why am I not surprised?