· Updated · 3 min read
Ride along: how Tour du Pain keeps a group together whatever the watts
On 28 October Tour du Pain learned the trick every indoor group needs: ride along. Pick a rider and you stay beside them whatever your power, so 100 W and 250 W ride together. Within two days it had grown into planned group rides, and then into coffee rides with their own screen and a link you can send to anyone.
Ride with anyone
Ride along came in 1.10.0. Click a rider in the riders list, or the name over their head, and pick "Ride with". You stay beside them, and they get a quiet note that you're riding with them. When they stop, you stop with them.
Stop pedalling, or stay under 30 W for 5 seconds, and you drop. Pedal again within 30 seconds and you're back beside them. One click on the pill under the riders list's title ends it. It works with the bots too, so on a quiet evening you can sit next to a legend for a lap.
What counts stays honest. Your recording keeps your own watts, and bread counts only your own work, so being carried earns nothing.
Planned group rides
The next day 1.18.0 turned that into group rides. You plan one from Home with a name and a time, or start right away, then share the link and add it to your calendar. Anyone with the link sees who planned it and a countdown, and taps Join. Guests can join too; you need an account to plan one.
From 30 minutes before the start until 3 hours after, everyone rides beside the host whatever their watts. A late joiner is pulled up to the group. Stop pedalling and you drop back until you pedal again. The host can cancel, and an old or cancelled link says so.
Coffee rides
On 30 October "Plan a group ride" became "Plan a coffee ride", with a cup on the button. In 1.21.6 coffee rides got their own screen, opened from one row on Home: you plan the ride there and see your ride group under it. The Leaderboard got its own row on Home as well, with a trophy and the key K.
1.21.7 replaced the time field with a start picker. Choose Now, or a day and a big clock in 10-minute steps. A name is optional, and a time that has already passed moves up instead of showing an error. The link works the moment it's made, so whoever opens it early can already ride with the group.
1.22.1 folded "Plan a coffee ride" open on Home itself, so you pick the time and make the link without leaving the menu. The link stays open for 24 hours after the start, and after 3 hours the host can plan the next ride.
Why indoor groups need it
Outside, a group waits at the top of a climb or soft-pedals for the slowest rider. Indoors, every trainer pushes its rider at their own speed, and a mixed group can be spread over the whole lap within minutes. Ride along keeps everyone together without asking anyone to ride harder or easier than they planned.
The group can talk too, since voice and chat are part of the game; the post on voice in the bunch covers that. The guide to riding with friends and your club puts it all together, and Zwift alternatives shows how other apps handle group rides.
Clubs got the same ride along on 31 October, from 30 minutes before every club ride; see the post on clubs and the guide to indoor rides for cycling clubs.