Why is the recovery ride not a group workout, but a group ride without a group leader or a fence? Wouldn’t it make more sense to force everybody to ride at a prescribed percentage of their FTP and stick together? I rode way above zone 2 just trying to ride a group ride. If this is part of ZA, I certainly think it should have been set up as a group workout.
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I had an awesome experience on Tue.
Yes, there were the idiots that flew off the front. Let them go - they’re not the ride leader. Most of us made a very nice group riding at 1.7 ish. The fact that they chose S&S made that a bit difficult though, but we stuck together and had some nice chats going on. Which is what a recovery should be.
Just go there and do your thing. If there are guys that don’t want to recover, then that’s their problem.
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Group workouts are one thing being banded together but a group ride where everyone crawls along randomly speeding up and down while swerving all over the road because of the rubber banding? No thanks.
The group workouts aren’t compulsory (you can do them on your own if you want) but the group rides are compulsory and people shouldn’t be forced to grind out 45 minutes of dullness just to tick them off.
Remember “Fun is Fast”.
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i don’t mean to be rude but a fundamental part of learning how to train properly is learning how to ride the appropriate pace yourself
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The Recovery Ride has its purposes for being scheduled. Not only does it serve to help riders regroup from the hard workouts and fatigue, it also allows us leader to guide the riders to do it in a proper manner through a mass group setting.
This also allowed us to encourage social interaction among participants and swap training tips, feedback, pitfalls which will help everyone do the program better.
Personally, I have been leading recovery rides since 2016 in Zwift and have imparted the best practices on the event I led on Tuesday. Hope you can join me or any Recovery Rides and benefit from their intended purposes.
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I was surprised at how well the recovery ride went on Tuesday. It was all thanks to your excellent leadership. I can only imagine how badly these rides must go when there isn’t a leader.
So, do you not use ERG??
I get this. But the problem is that since everyone’s recovery pace is different, the group ends up all over the road and it’s just a solo ride at that point. Right now, the purpose of a recovery ride and the purpose of a group ride are conflicting priorities as things are set up.
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Thanks Síobhán. All I did was try with what I know to engage the group. The real heroes of the day were the women and men who did their best to upkeep the meaning of a recovery ride. I had fun because you and everyone made it so; much appreciated for that. 
Hi Geralt,
I agree everyone has different capabilities so it may end up being spreaded out on the road. However, ride leaders have the privilege and opportunity to set it right for everyone if we can agree on an achievable travelling speed or efficiency ratio(w/kg) to follow from the very start. Then I am sure the rest is up to everyone else to do their best to follow and so on.
That I am very sure most will appreciate an easy day off together with like-minded folks 
than busting their lungs (ego) to emulate another unofficial Academy workout 
BTW - Academy Group Rides do not use ERG mode which is a reserve for workouts.
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do you mean when i’m doing intervals in general? no, i don’t, i use my power graph. but that’s neither here nor there