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lookign for some inspiration to ake group rides a little more interesting other than the usual riding, scoial, occasional bravado race up a hill.
I've started introducing a little group sprint session for the first past a 30mph sign when out on the road bikes. littel interval sprint and then relax for ages / stop for a massive breather. Means fast riders can have an outlet for speed without feeling the need to rip the legs off everyone else all the time
What else do you do to keep rides playful?
Donkey Kong.
1st gear races.....slight downhill..everyone selects lowest gear than go. (no singlespeeders allowed)
this
[url= http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Riding-Your-Bike-While-Dizzy-is-an-Awesome-Idea,28770/bturman,109 ]Dizzy [/url]
but some stronger tyres on, ride off-road
Games on group rides? We just ride around, talk to each other and occasionally try and drop each other!
ride offroad, race your mates down a steep techy section. No games or gimmicks required
Inspired by Vic and Bob, we all take oversize frying pans and cricket bats with us. Then at that perfect opportune moment....
Canasta, hide the sausage, musical bumps, that kind of thing
Rub the tyre of the bloke in front.
Push their reverb button on steep climbs.
Pull their brake randomly.
Buzz Marcus commenting on how slow he's going downhill.
All the usual.
try the no pedalling downhill race.
start in a line at the top of a hill and see who free wheels to the bottom first.
For the person struggling at the back - literally ride rings around them by overtaking, pulling over and dropping back to increase motivation!
Push their reverb button on steep climbs.
Reminds me of the trick old road racers would do on a climb: pull up beside the victim then distract them with something like "do they look strong?" when the rider looked behind to check, the pro would flick the victim's front mech to the big ring and ride off as the victim suddenly came to a halt!
No-pedalling downhills are good, whoever coasts the furthest before having to pedal is "winner" - really help you think about conservation of momentum, pickig the right lines, staying off the brakes
Hunt and kill is another one - if we see anyone else out on the trail we ensure they have a reasonable gap, then once "permission to engage" is given we go hell for leather to catch and pass them - making it look like we're not trying of course, no blowing out of your arse as you pass them 😉
For the person struggling at the back - literally ride rings around them by overtaking, pulling over and dropping back to increase motivation!
this is more likely to result in being punched! which is another game to play I guess.
Flick the cowshit at your mates with your front wheel is a favourite of mine.
We also do the fatbastard rolling race thing.
As someone else above
Rub Tyres
Press their brake as you go past
Drop their reverb
Trackstand in middle of trail until the person behind puts a foot down. If you can also fart at this time, all the better. 😉
see how many heavy rocks you can sneak into the riding packs of your healthier & fitter riding buddies is always a favourite of mine.
Alphabet! on the big boring hills to take your mind off the job.
Pick a topic and take a turn each naming a thing from the theme in series of the Alphabet: movie stars, names of songs/movies, names of musical groups/solo artists/female solo artists/male solo artists etc. Can get quite funny when you get split up, your mate comes huffing up the climb after you've been split up for 10 minutes and breathlessly shouts 'Michael Jackson' at you.
Damn it. Can't get the video to work. NSMB have some ideas [url= http://ride.io/videos/the-mtb-guide-to-april-fools-day/ ]here[/url]
Rarely go on group rides, but I did one where at the top of each steep climb the first person got off his bike and started lobbing snowballs down at the next person. Then when he got to the top he'd join in lobbing snowballs at the next person, and so on. The slowest guy of about 20 blokes was distinctly unimpressed after about the fourth or fifth climb.
Ha! Surprised it took any more than one!
Tyre rubbing is fun and annoying depending on which end of it you're on.
I like to play holding-back-then-sprinting-up-and-jumping-in-puddles-as-the-others-are-passing. Funny every time. A bit like the whacking-a-snow-covered-branch-as-you-pass-coating-your-mates-with-the-white-stuff game.
creamegg - Member
ride offroad, race your mates down a steep techy section. No games or gimmicks required
^^^ This.
Just reinforces my problem with road. You shouldn't have to do things to make it interesting. Can't stand riding just as a chore.
Ps, off road messing about is one thing but on road is just fuel to the bike haters, if not actually dangerous.
Split the lead rider, one rider rides to a junction or split in the trail, then someone else chooses where to go next till the next junction/split, speeds tend to increase gradually and rides get really random rather than same loops
Tiddlywinks..
Strip Strava
Don't make PB on a segment remove an item of clothing. Get one and put something back on. KOM gets two back on
eddiebaby, AKA Naked John
Follow my leader (leader goes off-piste in search of technical challenges).
Sprint to the pub.
East Lancs BMX track freewheeling challenge.
On a tricky bit if trail start singing to them, knocks them right out of their stride, doesn't matter what song but the more crappy the better.
From Russia
Drafting a roadie without taking a turn is a fun game. Even better if you don't know the other person and sit there silently for a minimum of 20 minutes. Better still if you are rad and keeping pace with your MTB knobblies. The other benefit is being able to post up here about your heroics afterwards 🙄 😆