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Group ride "games" ideas
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We've got a really big spring/summer/fall weeknight group ride. The A/B splits pretty early on. It's a bit of a cluster of paceline on the way out and people going off for a few attempts at segments.

The route's a total mixed bag. Starts out with some miles of steady rolling terrain, then gets broken in town by some hills, stops, and neighborhood turns after about 1/3 of the way. A crossing of town 1/2 way through the ride paired with not the nicest pavement or route means the ride feels like it is almost over by 1/2 way.

I think people get antsy wanting to do things sometimes and push pace at dumb times through neighborhoods.

Anyone got any ideas for "games" for the group other than the normal hill sprint and flat sprint stuff?

I thought about seeing if on the long out of town part if the groups wanted to split into lead/chase with a 30 second gap. Or, have a safe loop on the ride for a 10 minute crit. Or, if the A group is smaller one night.....let the group ITT a few mile segment as part of the ride.

I'd like to propose something fun. Idea being that it would give each A rider a challenge to look forward to without getting antsy during the ride and pushing pace through parts of town that aren't wise to do so.


Whatcha got?
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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A group around here did one night where it was "guess your time". Before you ride, you put down your projected completion time/avg MPH, start your garmin/phone/watch and put it in your back pocket and ride "blind". Closest to your guess wins.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [mgreer] [ In reply to ]
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I suggest re-enacting the classic video game "Road Rash"

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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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You should send the B group out ahead of the A group. Try and time it so both groups finish or reach the rest point around the same time. This will keep the A folks from trying to break the group up early, and overall both rides will be more civilized. A group folks will get plenty of turns at the front to get their work in so they can be patient.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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This might not solve the problem to flying through neighborhoods, but what about a points race? Everyone who wants to enter chips in a $ and over the course of the season you keep track of the score. Have a custom jersey made for the winner at the end of the year.

Strava
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [gmh39] [ In reply to ]
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I wish Strava did a "group premium" that could track weekly sprint points and hill sprint points or something.

Otherwise a points game over the year would be tough to police and administer manually. Doing so after the fact would make people disinterested if it doesn't accrue weekly. Maybe once monthly points are up for grabs if you did it manually.

Chasing the B's would work, but the route has several lights and it may encourage risk taking at points where folks should be riding smart instead of hard.

I really like modding the route to go to the arena for a few crit laps, then back on normal course for the hill sprints. 2 points for the 3 mile crit, 1 point for a sprint, 1 point for a hill sprint.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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If riders are pushing the pace at the wrong time, then the pace is too slow on average or the wrong person is setting the pace.

If people are getting bored or "antsy" as you put it, then they are either in the wrong group or the group is not setting the correct pace.

At the top end of club rides, which I assume this is one of for your club, they should be very close to hard as you can go when it is safe to go that hard, and a few should get dropped on every ride. Anything less and it is nothing more than a "bell and basket" ride at a faster pace.

As far as games go, I've always looked at those games the way I look at Strava King of ... People will do stupid things to win, and that is dangerous out on the road, as well as a liability for a club. We don't do anything like that.

"...the street finds its own uses for things"
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [AutomaticJack] [ In reply to ]
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AutomaticJack wrote:
If riders are pushing the pace at the wrong time, then the pace is too slow on average or the wrong person is setting the pace.

If people are getting bored or "antsy" as you put it, then they are either in the wrong group or the group is not setting the correct pace.

At the top end of club rides, which I assume this is one of for your club, they should be very close to hard as you can go when it is safe to go that hard, and a few should get dropped on every ride. Anything less and it is nothing more than a "bell and basket" ride at a faster pace.

As far as games go, I've always looked at those games the way I look at Strava King of ... People will do stupid things to win, and that is dangerous out on the road, as well as a liability for a club. We don't do anything like that.

I've thought this kind of. I think the ride is a combination of too short in duration, too fragmented with stops, and the A group is way too large to give people enough turns on front and keep people engaged.

Maybe we should split the A's up into groups of 8 max and set them off 5 minutes apart. Then they can work more.

When the A-group is 20 people and you've only got a few miles of continuous road at most to trade blows.....you're right. Bell and basket.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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Take them off road.

Nothing like taking a road bike on some easy mtn bike trails to keep their bike handling skills in check!
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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When I ran the cycling segment of my tri club we'd often have 40-50 people setting off on a Sunday morning.
I'd try to keep groups to 8 or less (narrow London roads) I had to be very bossy and loud.
As it was a training ride I'd set the faster groups off with slightly different starts to the route to avoid grouping on the roads.
We would have a king of the mountains for the 5 or 6 hills route but not many other games stuck.
My favourite was setting one guy up the road and then the rest of the group had to work together to chase. This only works once we were on quieter roads. For some reason this works for me when I'm coaching teens but not so well with adults.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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I'm no lawyer, but I know that some people had the idea of doing a summer long "points" race for our weekday ride and the ride organizer adamantly said no. I think it was directly related to basically racing on open roads without a permit, and the club (who had a checking account with thousands of dollars in it) as well as the ride organizer (who is a doctor) could also be held liable if an accident occurred where one of the riders is at fault even if the ride organizer was not on the ride that day.

All the group rides I've been on that have an organized FB pages for routes, meet times, etc. None of them document any type of sprint locations, even if it's just for pride.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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burnthesheep wrote:
AutomaticJack wrote:
If riders are pushing the pace at the wrong time, then the pace is too slow on average or the wrong person is setting the pace.

If people are getting bored or "antsy" as you put it, then they are either in the wrong group or the group is not setting the correct pace.

At the top end of club rides, which I assume this is one of for your club, they should be very close to hard as you can go when it is safe to go that hard, and a few should get dropped on every ride. Anything less and it is nothing more than a "bell and basket" ride at a faster pace.

As far as games go, I've always looked at those games the way I look at Strava King of ... People will do stupid things to win, and that is dangerous out on the road, as well as a liability for a club. We don't do anything like that.


I've thought this kind of. I think the ride is a combination of too short in duration, too fragmented with stops, and the A group is way too large to give people enough turns on front and keep people engaged.

Maybe we should split the A's up into groups of 8 max and set them off 5 minutes apart. Then they can work more.

When the A-group is 20 people and you've only got a few miles of continuous road at most to trade blows.....you're right. Bell and basket.

Sounds like you need a good cross wind, that always puts folks in their place. I agree that if folks are getting antsy, then the pace isn't hard enough if you're truly looking for a Wednesday Worlds sort of ride. There is no need to attack, you just go to the front put the hammer down and then let the next person pull through. It usually sorts itself out. Toss in a couple town sign sprints, and it's a pretty tried and true pattern. Maybe the route is the issue?
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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We deliberately aim to have 8-10 per group. We don't call them A, B etc as then loads of people refuse to go with the 'A' group as they are too 'shy' then hammer the genuine B.... We are strict that it's a group ride, then nominate 'fast segments' that are usually 2-3 climbs on the route we're using that day where people feeling strong can go for it, get to the top, then loop back to pick up the last rider. Anyone being a dick in the main ride gets reminded that they should save / have used their energy on the climb. We also encourage those people to stay on the front longer and those suffering not to go to the front.

Works really well. But that comes from being clear from the outset with expectations all around.

Short flat sprints, groups of more than 8 and open roads are a recipe for disaster IMHO. Even with experienced group road riders as egos have a real habit of getting caught in the front wheel spokes and then everyone is laying on the ground with road rash.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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Everyone gets a chance to pick the goal and the rest interval.

You could choose to go long, short, uphills, flats, signs, etc.

And the next person determines the rest interval and the next goal after regrouping.

So after the effort, the next person choosing can determine how much recovery they need/want and how they want to put it to others in the group.

It's really kind of fun playing with a big rest vs little rest interval along with short effort or long effort. Everyone looks forward to what they do best or what they need at the time.

Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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Am I the only one who thinks a group ride should be fairly predictable and uncomplicated?
  • Groups should be of a reasonable size for consideration of other road users (max of 8-10 per group)
  • Pace should be pretty consistent and group should be kept together. If you have problems with group discipline as it is, I don't think intervals and competitions are going to help, they'll just encourage more fragmentation.

The good group rides I've done generally follow a very simple formula:
  1. A consistent pace. Strong riders who attempt to drive the pace on when at the front will be asked to dial it back please. If anyone goes off the front mid ride they will not be chased and will be considered ignorant and childish.
  2. If anyone is dropped mid ride, the group will slow until they get back on. If someone is really struggling they'll generally tell others to carry on without them, but they won't be intentionally abandoned otherwise.
  3. It's not mandatory to keep the group together on long or steep climbs. You may find your own pace. However it's expected you regroup at the top.
  4. If you want to sprint for a finish point that's fine but is unofficial and organic, not a planned race.

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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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Two of the drills I have used with group rides in the past have a game feel to them.

The first game simulated chasing down a lone attacker (it also demonstrates the power of the group for newer riders). Send one rider up the road, allowing them to go as hard as he/she wants, for 30-60 seconds. Then, the group starts chasing as a group to pull back the rider. Depending on relative strengths, you may have to cap the attacking rider’s efforts, but that should not be a problem if the group is fairly even. The chase group then has 3-5 minutes to close down the attack, depending on what you decide. Regroup quickly after the catch, and send the next attacker up the road.

Game two is called bridging. For this, it helps to organize weakest to strongest, but it is not necessary. The last riders, however, will have to work more, so it is better to do this with groups of fewer than ten people. The first rider attacks hard for 15-30 seconds and then settles in at a moderate effort. The main pack rides steady at a moderate effort. Every 15 seconds, riders from the group behind begin bridging up to the front group. Once the Bridget’s catch the lead pack, they start working together. Riders in the second group hold the same moderate effort until it is their turn to bridge. Usually, the front pack’s gap starts to grow after a few riders bridge the gap, making the last couple of riders have to cross a larger gap.

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Re: Group ride "games" ideas [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve always played a game of “cat and mouse”.

Breakup the groups equally. Group A gets head start and group B has to chase and catch them before time/distance limit is up. If group A stays away they get point. IF group B catches they get point.

I always made it where each group has to rotate the group through etc and can’t just have 1 person pull or chase.

Flip it for round 2. Group B attacks and group A chases.

However the route y’all do sounds like it’s more the issue than anything and I think the goal/reason for the ride just needs to be objectively identified.

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II
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