There’s also the successful business plan that can adapt and pivot during changing economic climates. They can walk and chew gum.
We have no idea where there resources go nor should we speculate to the detriment. This seems like a no brainer for the times and took 10 days to implement, considering the business has been running ~10 years i find a lot of the commentary in here a bit short sighted.
I recently listened to your interview on Endurance Junkie podcast in 2014 where you spoke about these sort of features and I honestly that you must have moved in a different direction since then but I’m pleased to see it come to fruition.
There’s been a plan since 2011, it just takes a long time to lay all the ground work.
I notice that the GCN channel on YouTube are doing live trainer sessions with their various presenters - just under 300 following the current one.
Not remotely disappointed, and this rollout seems like a stellar demonstration of the “users don’t know what they want until they have it” phenomenon.
I’m an introvert who was already splitting time between working remotely, training indoors, and playing video games before the pandemic. Nobody in my already-small-and-mostly-online social circle trains on a bike. I’ve never been on a group ride. I am emphatically not the target market for Group Workouts, and if you’d asked me about it two weeks ago I would have said meh, I’d rather have privacy zones for Strava imports. Two days ago I had an absolute blast doing Bays +1 with a total stranger. 
This is something I have been hoping for. I have been using TR or Zwift while using FaceTime or Zoom for years to workout with friends
I notice the cycling specific logo is vanishing slowly…Guess we’ll all have to wait and see what’s on the cards next and how Group Workouts compliments the next platform update.
Love your work TR. 
I only read the initial comments so maybe this has been mentioned since then.
It is a feature that I will probably rarely use. But I have dreams that someday my friends and brothers will get into cycling and then I could see using the feature regularly.
I also think it would be a lot of fun to do a workout with @Nate_Pearson, @Jonathan, Coach Chad, Pete, or Amber. I will continue to watch for those opportunities. It might be a little awkward to do a workout with someone I don’t know but I feel like I know all of the podcasters.
I’m also a bit like my grandma who loves riding Amtrak because she gets to sit with random people at dinner. I’m guessing that like @ellotheth I will probably enjoy riding with random strangers.
Yeah I go out of my way to avoid this scenario 
Harsh, cynical, and baseless claims. Hope you feel better now.
There are features I’m looking forward to as well, don’t see how it helps to lash out and make statements like “never developed” when its been clearly communicated things are still in the pipeline.
To use a baking analogy, there are cakes being prepared and some are in the oven. It smells good standing outside the bakery, but that doesn’t mean you get to eat the cake 
right now 
Peace 
and ride on 
This is indeed an great feature! I may not use it right away. But as many people mentioned earlier, it’s good to see there’s option there. I can definitely see me go through more intervals with more “peer pressure/video”.
What holds me back is the concern to interrupt my current workout. I am now at MV Build session which I have my 5 pre-scheduled workout plan + 2 recovery day. This is my first year using TR. Therefore, a part of me just asks me to stick to training plan as much as possible without deviation.
I feel I may only do a group workout exactly matches my scheduled one at my regular training time. The solution I see is host my own workout and hope people will join me.
I would suggest also to have group workouts based on workout lengths (60mins, 1hr 15 mins, 1hr 30 mins etc.) and intensity. Each person may have their own specific workout, but the time of that workout is supposed to be same, or something like people who have “60-min sweet spot workout” can form group together.
Anyway, I am excited about future progression of TR! Keep it up and go faster! 
How to lose all credibility in one sentence:
Peloton, the company that sells junk equipment and would rather litigate copyright claims in federal court than pay music royalties off the bat.
It’s interesting and somewhat telling that a lot of replies are along the lines of “I won’t use it myself, but I think it’s a great idea”.
I have to agree with the OP that I’ve seen countless calls from triathletes on this forum for more support from the calendar with their activities and very few requests to make TR a more social platform.
Making TR more social during the Covid 19 situation is a nice thoughtful move, but given the usual “if it doesnt make you faster than we wont be adding it to our platform” approach that Nate takes, this group ride function seems like a strange feature to push out.
As I mentioned above, there are studies about improved performance when people work around others vs solo. And they cover this aspect loosely in podcast 253 this week, about the better performance and avoidance of bails.
So it fits into the “faster” litmus test on those grounds.
I can’t wait to bash triathletes when runs and swims are added to a CYCLING program because that does not make anyone a faster cyclist! 
Im not saying it doesnt make one single person faster. Im sure you could prove that lots of things make a small group of people faster. My point was that this feature seems to be a strange one to be so high up the priority list
What do you mean by a cycling program? TR does have tri plans. Could better managing stress and recovery from multiple sports not make a triathlete a better cyclist?
I don’t take pleasure in “bashing” any group of people, I’m sorry that you do.
No this is great, now that there are so many issues identified with Zoom maybe I should convince my company to buy everyone TR subscriptions instead. 
that’s actually black mirror S7E2
A successful business owner knows when to listen to customers and when to trust his own instinct, and convince the rest of the world that he is right.
Been there, done/doing that with my own business. Every time we launch a new product, a sizable percentage of our audience is left scratching their heads. It takes time for them to come around, but many eventually do.
As for TrainerRoad, group workouts is huge. While Zwift isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it’s not the fact that it’s a game that leaves a sour taste in some people’s mouths. It’s the type of game: a cross-platform MMO.
TR is never going to be considered a game. It’s a serious training tool. But that doesn’t mean people can’t have fun with it, and it doesn’t mean TR can’t follow in the footsteps of the gaming industry. I’m sure the folks at TR are way ahead of me on this, but what I’d like to see is something along the lines of non-MMO multiplayer games where ongoing group workouts and pending group workouts are listed in a chart, and you can freely join or start your own. Likewise, they can be made private (for your friends) or public.