A, B, and C Pace Groups: How to Split a Club Ride

Twenty-two riders outside the café at 8:30. One route, one group, one pace described as "steady". By the first drag at km 12 the four strongest are 200 metres up the road pretending they aren't, the back three are riding on their own, and the middle of the bunch is doing unplanned intervals trying to stay in touch with both ends. Nobody set out to ruin the ride. It was built wrong before anyone clipped in.

Splitting into pace groups is the fix. Not because fast riders matter more than slow ones, but because a bunch only works when everyone in it can hold the same wheel at the same speed for the whole ride. Here's how to set the bands, decide how many groups your turnout actually needs, start them without chaos, and move riders up and down without bruising anyone.

Why one big group stops working

Drafting hides a lot of differences on the flat. Sitting in the wheels, a rider spends roughly a quarter to a third less energy than the rider on the front, so a C-pace rider can hang onto a B-pace bunch on a flat road for longer than you'd think. Then the road tilts. On a climb the speed drops, most of the draft disappears, and what's left is raw power-to-weight. The group splits on the first proper hill whether you planned a split or not.

Size breaks it too. A single-file line of 16 riders takes up roughly 40 metres of road. Calls from the front don't reach the back, every junction takes twice as long to clear, and drivers trying to pass have a lot of bicycle to get round. Past about 15 riders, a single group stops being a bunch and becomes a procession.

The rule of thumb most clubs land on: one group up to about 12 riders, split once you go past 15, and never let the spread of ability inside one group get wider than its leader can manage. If your last three rides all broke apart on the same hill, you don't have a fitness problem. You have a missing group.

How many groups your turnout needs

Start from headcount, not from ambition. A club with 14 regulars doesn't need four pace groups; it needs two good ones. Use your usual turnout, not your best-ever turnout, and remember that RSVP lists overstate the real number.

Aim for 6 to 12 riders per group. Four strong riders make a perfectly good A group; a no-drop C group wants a few more, so the sweep is never alone with a struggling rider and a puncture doesn't stall the whole ride.

The real limit is volunteers. Count your leaders before you count your bands: if only two people can lead, you run two groups, however many riders show up. The ride leader checklist covers what each of those volunteers needs to do.

Set the bands in numbers, not adjectives

"Steady", "social" and "brisk" mean something different to every rider who reads them. One rider's social pace is another's threshold, and that gap is exactly where a bunch fractures. Publish a number: the rolling average speed the group holds on flat-to-rolling roads.

A speed band alone doesn't tell a rider what the ride will feel like, so publish the rest of the contract too:

Three things to get right when you publish these:

• The terrain changes the number. These averages assume flat-to-rolling roads. On a hilly route the same effort produces a lower average, so post the elevation with the ride and say plainly: "hilly route, expect the bottom of the band."
• W/kg is a guide, not an entry test. Plenty of good club riders have never done an FTP test. It helps the ones who know their numbers; nobody should be asked for it at the start line.
• Your roads, your numbers. If your club's C ride has averaged 24–28 km/h for years and it works, keep it. Consistency week to week matters more than matching anyone else's bands.

Put the band in one sentence on every ride post: "B: 27–32 km/h average on the flat, regroups at the top of each climb and at the café." A rider should be able to pick a group without asking anyone.

Helping riders pick the right group

Most riders pick a group one band too high. They remember the average from that tailwind day in June, not the windy Tuesday in March. Give them three honest checks instead:

• Solo average on a familiar loop. Take a flat-to-rolling route of 40 to 60 km you ride alone. In a group you'll go faster for the same effort, thanks to the draft. So the group whose band matches your solo average will feel comfortable; the band above it is where you'll be on the limit.
• The talk test. Can you hold a conversation at the group's pace on the flat? If you can only manage a few words, that's not a group you'll survive for three hours.
• The climb test. If you're last to the top on most climbs, the regroup waits are for you. That's fine in a C group — it's what they're for. In an A group it isn't fair on anyone, including you.

The rule that saves the most grief: new riders start one group down. Three rides finishing comfortably — still chatting in the last 10 km, never the one the group waited for — and they try the next group up. Coming back down is not a demotion. Say that out loud, often, and have strong riders do it themselves on recovery weeks.

For a lot of riders a C ride sits around Zone 2 to low tempo, which is where most of their week should be anyway. Telling a newcomer that the "slow" group is good training is not a consolation prize; it's true. If they want to move up, how to not get dropped is the next read.

Every group gets a leader and a sweep

A pace group without a leader is just a split bunch with better branding. Each group needs two named people: a leader who sets the pace and knows the route, and a sweep who rides last and makes sure nobody slides off the back unseen.

The leader's real job is holding the band, and there are two places groups always ride above it: the bottom of the first climb and the first 10 minutes after the café. Watch those two and most of your pace problems disappear. If a group is no-drop, that promise belongs to the leader at the front, not to the struggling rider at the back — what a no-drop ride actually means spells it out.

Before any group rolls out:

• Name the leader and the sweep out loud, so everyone knows who to shout for.
• Count heads. Write the number down or remember it.
• Agree the regroup points and the café.
• Leaders of different groups swap phone numbers with each other, not just with their own riders.

Count at the start, at every regroup, at the café and at the finish. If the number changes, you stop and find out why before anyone rides on.

Starting several groups without chaos

Once you have more than one group, the start order matters. There are three sensible ways to do it:

A five-minute gap is usually enough to stop groups merging in the first few kilometres. On roads with a lot of traffic lights, make it ten. What you never want is two groups catching each other and riding on as one big bunch — that rebuilds the exact problem you split to solve. If a faster group catches a slower one, it passes cleanly, in one go, when the road allows, and keeps going.

If you only change one thing, run the fastest group first on a shared route. It gives you the safety net in the next section for free. And whatever you choose, plan the route around the slowest group's needs; planning a club ride route covers regroup points and bail-out options in detail.

Moving riders between groups on the road

The best argument for a shared route with fastest-first starts is what happens when a rider is in the wrong group. Say a rider in B is on the limit at km 30. The sweep tells the leader, the B group drops them at the next named regroup point — a lay-by, a village square, somewhere off the road and easy to find — and they wait there for C, which is only five minutes behind. The B sweep messages the C leader so they know to stop. The rider is alone for a few minutes, in a known place, and finishes the ride in a group that suits them.

The opposite case needs a firmer rule. A C rider who's flying should not set off up the road to chase B. They finish with C, enjoy being the strongest wheel for once, and move up next week. A solo rider in no-man's-land between two groups is the least safe person on the road.

Drop rides need honesty instead. If your A group doesn't wait, publish it as a drop ride and say what that means: route on your own device, phone, money, and the expectation that you'll get yourself home. That's a perfectly good ride. What isn't fine is a ride sold as no-drop that drops people.

Name the regroup points in the ride post. A rider can only wait for the next group at a place both groups know.

Keeping each group inside its band

Bands creep. A C group that averaged 25 km/h in April averages 28 by July, because the same five strong riders keep turning up and nobody wants to be the one asking to slow down. That's how C groups quietly turn into B groups and newcomers stop coming back without ever saying why.

• Check the number at the café. If the group is over the top of its band, the leader slows the second half. Not a lecture, just a slower second half.
• Stop half-wheeling at the front. One rider edging half a wheel ahead of their partner is how a pace ratchets up a km/h at a time. The group ride etiquette guide covers it.
• Give strong riders a job. The fast rider who enjoys the social ride makes an excellent sweep, or a front rider with an explicit speed ceiling.
• Make the first 10 minutes after the café the easiest of the day. Cold legs plus fresh caffeine is when pace jumps.
• Review the bands each season. If your C group has genuinely become a B group, create a new C rather than asking people to ride slower forever.

A simple trigger: two rides in a row over the band means a quiet word with that group's leader. Three means the group needs a different leader or a different label.

For the bigger picture of running the whole ride day — sizes, timings, safety numbers — the club ride playbook has the full checklist.

FAQ

What are A, B and C groups in a cycling club?

They're pace groups. The club splits one ride into smaller bunches by average speed, with A the fastest and C (or D) the slowest. Each group has its own leader and sweep, and riders choose the one they can ride comfortably for the whole distance.

How fast is a B group ride?

Typically 27–32 km/h average on flat-to-rolling roads, but every club sets its own numbers and hilly routes come in lower. Check the band your club publishes rather than assuming.

How many riders should be in each pace group?

Aim for 6 to 12. Once a single group goes past about 15 riders, split it; a long line is hard to lead, slow through junctions and harder for drivers to pass.

Should the fast group or the slow group leave first?

On a shared route, sending the fastest group first is usually simplest: faster riders never have to pass slower ones, and a struggling rider can wait for the group behind. Send the slowest first only if the groups meet at a café and you've agreed how passing works.

What if I'm between two groups?

Start in the slower one. Three comfortable rides there, then try the next group up. Moving back down on a tired week is normal and nobody should treat it as a demotion.