[Closed] Do you ride harder with your mates or on your Jack?

On stuff I don't know, if I'm with mates I'll ride it harder.

On stuff I know really well, I'll push harder on my own.

Certainly on climbs I go hardest when I’m on my own. Very I occasionally I’ll have a good race with a friend. But usually in a group there’s no point going fast since it’ll be longer to wait at the top.

On descents, I hold back when I’m riding alone.

I honestly think that there is no difference for me, but then I ride solo for 80% of the time

Riding solo definitely means that I’m able to push myself more on the climbs and flats though. Not because I’m awesome, but just because there’s no social aspect to worry about

Overall I'm quicker on me tod, (Usually 2-3 mph more average speed) However I'm more confident on the tech when I know theres someone else about if I bin it.

Same as nobeerinthefridge on the descents.
For climbing I always push harder on my own*

* I rode with the Scottish XC champ earlier this year, he was just cruising along and I could barely keep up at pretty much my max effort 😳

I certainly crash more when in groups - I think peer pressure has got to me at times.

Always ride within myself on my own, as any accident, both physical and mechanical is going to be a bigger issue, riding with others also gives you confidence to do things and push yourself, that chute that looks too steep, the double or gap that looks too wide, if you see someone clearing it you get a feel for the speed and movement required and it pushes you on.

Uphill stuff, that's just annoying whether alone or in a group!

Usually ride faster and push myself more on my own. Although I tend to end up more tired from group rides. Think that's down to slower rides taking longer plus a lot of stopping and starting. I don't mind that, nice to be out with others.

Amen on the uphill stuff. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit tempted every time I see lads out on their eBikes!

Faster uphill with friends, they're fitter than me and I have to chase to keep up/not end up left in the previous county.

Downhill, no difference either way - unless someone in front is holding me back.

I'm equally happy riding with friends, Jack Jones or with my family. I definitely get different things out of the ride depending on who I'm out with - even with friends (mostly from one large group) the mix of people out can create quite a different dynamic in terms of the riding and the banter. I love that about riding bikes.

I push harder on my own for the most part but am rather more conservative on descents, just in case...
But sometimes I ride with a group who are super fast on the flat and uphill and I need to push past my comfort zone.

I always ride faster in a group and tend to push myself to keep up with who ever is in front. I hate been the leader and seem to crash more so usually let someone else do it.
I'm sure my off yesterday and the hanging upside down like a fruit bat was partly due to been in front.

I think I ride really slowly on my own, which is most of the time. Not deliberately. Any time I end up with a group I realise how slow my usual cruising speed is and I have to switch my brain on to keep up.

I must just enjoy the trance like state of not trying too hard. But then I also enjoy chasing and being chased down crazy trails on uplift days or Alps trips which is the minority of my rides unfortunately.

I won't do anything new or scary when I'm on my own. There's no point pulling something if there's no one there to see it anyway!

My riding mates only really ride bike parks so I ride those harder when I'm with them as they help me progress. When on an XC loop or trail ride I have to hold back a bit as I have better stamina than most of them.

So for me it's:
Bike Parks = harder with riding buddies.
Trail/XC = harder on my own.

it depends on who you are riding with surely,

on my own i tend to ride faster, but it depends on the mood. its nice to slow down and take it all in, with group rides we all push each other.
if i know the particular group will be slow and more chat than riding, i'll tend to do a big ride the day before or the day after

Depends on skill and fitness...

If group/mate is stronger it is pushing me on.

On my own depends on mood, feeling, temperature, wind, barometric pressure...

Cheers!
I.

On my own I find my own flow for my state of mind. Sometimes that's railing everything as fast as I can, other times it's chilling and enjoying the surroundings.

Now, if there's a photographer or heaven forbid, a girl near a jump or something, then it's foot out flat out!...in my own head most likely 😀

My mates are all faster. 🙂

I push harder with my 12 year old ! Not on the way up, but deffo on the way down 😀

I think I ride solidly with less breaks on my own - when riding with others there’s more hanging around chatting between sections but then I’m always having to push hard uphill to try and keep most people I rode with insight and then going downhill I probably go quicker too. Either trying to make up for me being slower uphill or to try and keep up with faster people
Downhill (depending who I’m riding with).

Faster / more continuously on my own.

But with mates I try more things, get out of the focus on getting round faster and think I progress more skills-wise than if I just hammer round as fast as I can. Not sure which involves riding "harder" though, that probably has more to do with my mood on the day than the mates / no mates aspect.

My riding mate has been my son this year and he's fit as a butcher's dog as well as fast, so I destroy myself out with him. Mainly so he doesn't have wait too long (he still does!)
On my own I take it a lot easier.

It depends who the mates are.
My racey cx mate I will push and so will he so it's a good workout. we generally try and smash stuff up and down (although my down is less smash and more make it to the bottom safely).
My other mate is more of a pootle, plenty of stops, just happy to be out riding sort of vibe.
On my own, I just go with the flow and see what happens, so probably with y racey mate I push harder.

I push harder when out on my own as riding with my mates has become more of a social where we stop plenty of times to shoot the breeze. I'm also probably a bit more bike fit than my riding buddies (not saying much!) too so usually have to drop back to them.

My overall ride is always faster on my own as there is no stopping to talk to etc. Downhills are generally slower as I hold back in case I crash (there is a couple of exceptions where I used to head out to try and bear my friend on Strava in some friendly rivalry on local trails). Uphills kind of depends on what mood I’m in.

Faster on my own on the ups. Faster in a group on the downs.

Faster in a group, eg out this morning for 120k on road with a bunch of strong riders, at least two stronger than me, one by quite some way eg I blew up just sitting on his wheel on the flat on the way back, he was probably doing about 400 Watts without too much effort!

If I go to our local built woodland tracks (5 or 6 different runs around a minute each, nice wee climb back up too), I'll do far more with my mates, for sure. If I go on my tod, I'm more likely to fanny about, get the tools out and do a bit of maintenance, or just chill.

Always faster with my mates, I need to be to keep up.

Out by myself I tend to take it easier.