Have you been on a group ride and afterwards you feel like you didn’t get what you were looking for?
Welcome to the club as group rides often become so dysfunctional due to the wide range of agendas and abilities there!
Over the past 10 years leading camps and community group rides we have found three things that really work.
1. Lay out the purpose of the days’ ride at the start. It’s so simple that it gets overlooked, but everyone has a different agenda coming into the ride. Use leadership and make a plan that involves everyone of all abilities. This often looks like key, known, regroup locations. Also, we have found detailing the “intense” zones and the “social” zones so each person can really lock into what to do.
2. Like in this video, acknowledge the differences in abilities and give direction on how they can best work together. We have found looking to the experienced riders to teach and the less experienced riders to learn. If you just call the goals out everyone can just take a deep breath and ride without pressure. You would be surprised how many riders are terrified to be dropped or “hold’ the group up. On our rides it is all about teaching and learning.
3. No ego, just work. It is your ride, your team, and your day. Focus on using each other as a team whose mission for the day is to make one another better. There are plenty of other places where there is “only one winner.” Make this ride a unique place where everyone leaves feeling like they are standing on the top step of the podium.
Give these a shot on your rides and get the wide range of abilities to work well together to help you, and your community, win their rides!