The Group Rides

The local group rides are something of a cycling tradition, I think, and if you look, you can find them in almost all  major cities. They tend to evolve, often starting out as two or three friends meeting up at a certain place on certain days at certain times, usually for a nice moderately paced ride. Over time more riders start to show up, and inevitably as the group grows, the ride gets faster. Traditional sprint points emerge, fast segments and easy segments are established, and the ride begins to get a reputation of sorts, depending on who the regular riders are, what kind of training they are seeking, and the vague unwritten consensus that loosely governs the ride over which nobody dares claim ownership. The local weekday, and often weekend, in-town rides tend to be early in the morning or late in the evening to accommodate work schedules and minimize traffic concerns, and for many riders they constitute the bulk of their training miles. Some rides, particularly the regular weekend ones, become essentially race simulations, while others remain as moderate endurance-level rides. Riders often complain about one thing or another on these rides. It's too fast, it's too slow, it's too dangerous. For some rides, if you flat or get dropped there's no guarantee that the group, or anyone for that matter, will stay with you. For others, everyone will wait in order to keep the group intact. Usually.  Here in New Orleans there are a number of regular rides, some long-standing, some newer. None of these are officially organized or controlled by the club or, for that matter, anyone in particular.

Giro Ride about to head out from Starbucks

Giro

The oldest regular group ride, by far, is the Giro Ride. This ride started out back around the mid-80s when Glenn Gulotta had a bike shop called "West End Glenn's" out by the Orleans Marina. He had a number of Junior riders who were interested in racing, so on Saturdays he would lead them on a little training ride that he dubbed The Giro because it made a circuit more or less around and through City Park out to Orleans on Moss Road, and eventually back to the shop. Of course, people heard about it and started to join in. It got faster. As the group got larger, the route, of necessity, started to change. The start moved to the west end of Lakeshore Drive. For some years the route went out Lakeshore Drive, down Hayne Blvd. to Paris Road, continuing on Paris road (prior to I-510 being completed) to Almonaster. Sometimes an out-and-back over the "Green Monster" bridge over the ship channel was included, but mostly the group turned right onto Almonaster, racing to a sprint near the end before turning around and coming back via mostly the same route. The direct connection with Paris Road was eliminated when I-510 was completed, so since then the group crosses over two lanes of interstate to get to the exit lane and the service road that was once Paris Road. Eventually, the road surface on Almonaster started to deteriorate in places. Around the same time, Highway 90 / Chef Menteur was re-paved, so the route changed to go out Chef Menteur to Venetian Isles. It's remained mostly like that since, but when the city shut off the I-510 service roads because they were tired of having to pick up the trash - including truckloads of old furniture or used car tires, and other junk - the return route shifted to include Lake Forest and Bullard. The Giro is usually easy until Hayne Blvd. at which point it abruptly gets fast - sometimes very fast. Riders who flat or get dropped are often on their own, although it's not unusual for a small group to stop with a rider who flatted. The Giro now goes every Saturday and Sunday at 7:00 from the Starbucks on Harrison Avenue, a start location that emerged when a number of the regular riders started meeting there early for coffee. The full ride from Starbucks and back is just over 50 miles. Like all big group rides, it takes a while to learn the ride and know where it usually gets fast and where it usually eases up. For many riders, it takes a few tries before they make it all the way without getting dropped. On the plus side, much of it is out-and-back, so there's the option to turn around early on Chef Menteur and get pack in when the group is on its way back. Occasionally, when the stars align just right, a subset of the Giro Ride group will extend the ride beyond Venetian Isles and ride out to Fort Pike and over the Rigolets bridge, sometimes continuing to Slidell via Old Spanish Trail. 

SaMoRi and Semi-Tough

Some years ago riders who wanted a slightly less competitive ride using the same route as the Giro started what is now known as the SaMoRi (Saturday Morning Ride) that starts at 6:45 (sometimes 6:15 or 6:30 depending on the time of year) from the west end of Lakeshore Drive (roughly 7400 Lakeshore Dr.). The Semi-tough club started a regular Saturday ride that starts from Hey! Coffee, just off the Lafitte Greenway, usually at 7:30 am. It isn't officially organized by the Semi-Tough club any more, but details are usually posted to the Semi-tough Facebook group. That ride's routes can vary a bit. It's usually around 50 miles, so similar to the Giro and SaMoRi, but it's a different route and the pace generally remains fairly moderate, so it makes a good alternative for those looking for a somewhat easier and more social ride. 

WeMoRi group on Wisner from across Bayou St. John

A newer ride that has become very popular with the weekend warrior crowd is the WeMoRi (Wednesday Morning Ride). This early-morning (5:45 am) ride started out as a regular group out by the lakefront looking for a quick training ride early enough to avoid traffic and have time to get to work afterward. They start from the parking lot where Robért Fresh Market is on R.E. Lee Alan Toussaint near the lakefront.  It rather quickly grew into a pretty fast ride incorporating all of Lakeshore Drive, and a loop around City Park, with a number of designated sprint points good for bragging rights, nicknames for the regular riders, and a weekly emailed race report. I usually make just the second half of this ride, but it is often the weekday ride that nets me the highest, albeit brief, intensity levels. The group doesn't wait for anyone, ever, and will ride though stoplights if it looks clear. It takes a while to learn this ride well enough to keep from being dropped, and since it's mostly done in the dark you'll need lights. Also, riding in a group in the dark takes a little getting used to for most people. The full ride is somewhere in the 25 mile range.

Levee ride starting back from Ormond

Morning Levee

Note (Spring 2024): The Corps of Engineers began a levee raise project in April on a section of the levee bike path starting at the Orleans/Jefferson parish line and going two miles upriver. As a result, the 6 am levee ride has shifted to Lakeshore Drive and the Lake Trail, starting at 6 am from NOMA in City Park. The levee work will take over a year to complete. It is possible to get past the closure by taking River Road. The other regular weekday ride that I do is the 6 am levee ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a smaller group, anywhere from three to twelve riders, that meets on the levee bike path near Dakin Street, just upriver from the Orleans/Jefferson parish line. Although it does occasionally get fast, the more typical ride is a steady paceline rolling along in the 21-24 mph range depending on wind and who shows up. Unless the group is particularly small and the weather particularly unpleasant, this ride goes upriver about 18 miles to Ormond and back, so for most who ride there from home it's at least 40-45 miles. This group will always wait for riders who flat, and generally tries to stay together with each rider taking pulls at whatever pace and for however long as desired.

Tuesday Loops

There is a popular Tuesday evening ride that happens mostly only during DST. Tuesday Loops starts at 6 pm from the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park. This one is a combination of easy and fast. The group rolls out through the park to Marconi and down Marconi to Lakeshore Drive where it immediately gets fast. They continue over the Bayou St. John bridge, around the traffic circle, back across the bridge to an immediate and sharp left across traffic to get onto Beauregard and then onto Wisner where it remains fast to a sprint over the Wisner overpass. they then roll back into City Park where riders re-group in front of the museum. That "loop" is then repeated a couple more times. 

Mellow Monday & Friendly Friday
There are a couple of other regular rides that I sometimes do. One is the Friendly Friday ride. This one starts at the Museum of Art in City Park at 6:00 am and as the name implies started as a small group recovery type ride out to Lakeshore Drive and around City Park. Nowadays it can get fairly fast on Lakeshore Drive and then toward the end on Wisner Blvd., with a sprint to the top of the overpass there. There's also a Mellow Monday ride that is essentially identical to Friendly Friday. Both of these rides typically have 10-15 riders.

Thirsty Thursday
Also, on Thursdays, there seems to now be a fairly regular "Thirsty Thursday" group that does essentially the WeMoRi route starting at 5:45 am from in front of Landry's on Lakeshore Drive. This one is similar to the WeMoRi, but with a smaller group, fewer attacks, and more steady-type hero pulls. 

Northshore Rides

Over on the Northshore there are also a few regular weekday and weekend rides that start from the Mandeville Tammany Trace Trailhead, St. Benedict's on Smith Road, Abita Springs Trailhead, or the Abita Beer Brewery. However, in January and February the NOBC does a series of northshore weekend rides (Saturdays this year) from either Abita Springs or the Lee Road park. Those are in the 65-75 mile range and usually have groups of a dozen or so at the start, with a few turning back early to make shorter rides. These rides always try to stay together on the way out, and usually include a store stop, depending on what's on the route. They can get fast in some places, but the group will generally wait at major intersections for a minute or two for riders who were dropped. These are intended as early season base miles, with some fairly brief segments of higher intensity. Thanks to the rolling terrain, they can seem harder than some of the in-town group rides on flatter terrain.

How to keep abreast of the local rides?  There is an NOBC Google Group and Facebook Group, a Semi-tough Facebook Group, a Northshore Cycling Facebook Group, a NOMAMBO Group for MTB, and probably a few others I missed.

BEST PRACTICES FOR GROUP RIDES (stolen from USAC)

Be on time and prepared

Do your best to be ready to roll out at the planned start time, with the food, fluids, tools, and extra layers you might need for the day. Be sure you have your own tube and inflation device, preferably a pump in case you run out of CO2. Group rides are a collaborative and supportive environment, so people will help you out with a tube or a gel or a couple of dollars if you forget, but it’s better to give than to need. No one is perfect and people might be late or forget something occasionally, but do your best to be self-sufficient and on time.

Introduce yourself

Introductions work both ways. If you’re a regular at the group ride and someone new pulls up, introduce yourself and welcome them to the group. If you are the new person pulling up to start area, break the ice and introduce yourself. Communication is key to making people feel welcome and to making sure everyone understands the route, the expected pace and/or technical difficulty of the ride.

Point out turns and road hazards

Once you are out on the road or trail, make sure the riders behind you know about upcoming turns, potholes, glass, or road debris. You can use hand signals – point to the hole or hazard – or audible cues, just make sure the information keeps moving to the riders further behind you. Flat tires and crashes disrupt the ride for everyone and avoiding them is a team effort.

Act in the group’s best interest

When you ride in a group you have to think and act like a group. If you are at or near the front when the group approaches a traffic light or a turn, consider whether the whole group can safely get through the intersection before you commit to stopping or going. You don’t want to put riders in the middle or back of the group in an unsafe situation.

Adjust your time at the front, not the pace of the group

Group rides can move faster or go longer than you will on your own because riders share the work of setting pace at the front. Maintaining a steady pace is the key to a cohesive and smooth group ride. If you are feeling super strong, spend more time on the front rather than increasing the pace of the group. If your fitness level means you can only hold the group’s pace for a short time, take a shorter pull at the front and rotate off while you still have enough energy to get back in the draft at the back of the group.

Stay off the brakes

Obviously, you can and should use your brakes whenever necessary, but when you are in a group you want to minimize abrupt changes in speed. Grabbing a handful of brakes in the middle of a pace line or pack has a ripple effect for the riders behind you. To adjust your speed and the distance to the rider ahead of you less abruptly, move a little bit in and out of the draft so the change in wind resistance helps you maintain your position with little or no braking.

Shift up as you stand up

Shifting into a harder gear as you stand up to pedal out of the saddle is another behavior riders around you will greatly appreciate. If you stand up without shifting into a harder gear, your bike will likely “kick back”. To the person close behind you, your rear wheel suddenly slows or appears to kick back toward their front wheel. This can lead to crashes due to overlapping wheels, or at least an annoying and unsettling experience for the people behind you. By shifting into a harder gear as you rise out of the saddle and put your bodyweight over the pedal, you can maintain your forward momentum and avoid the kick back.

Don’t half wheel your partner

“Half wheeling” is a scenario where two cyclists intend to ride side-by-side but one rider accelerates to keep his or her front wheel just ahead of their partner’s. The partner then speeds up to draw even, but the first rider pulls ahead again, and again, as the speed gradually ratchets up. Half wheeling is a bad habit, annoys or even angers people in the group, and messes up the spacing for the riders behind you.