I think this is very location dependent. Someone on this thread posted their Saturday ride in So Cal with 100+ people, bound to be hitters in the A group.
2.5 to 3 hours.
Nope, not in a club unfortunately 
Ah sorry. It’s not a sponsored ride, just a local one in the East Bay. I’d rather not name it as there are some folks here that may know it and I don’t want to bring criticism on it, I hope you understand.
Yeah, thats brutal. I’m more of a steady power guy and have done a lot of group rides with similar TiZ and avg / normalized power to what you describe and my legs are always smoked from all that anaerobic work.
Unfortunately, it seems like the ride and ride culture benefits the smaller riders and lets them play on the hills where they excel and disadvantages the bigger riders by neutralizing the sections they excel in. I have some semi-antisocial tactical ideas (safe of course) but those would probably get all the twiggy climbers (I can say that as one) angry for having to work so hard on the flats. Just curious, have you considered talking to the other big boys before the ride and tried to organize a mini-revolt?
Multiple 2-5 min climbs is always gonna be tough on a group ride. Most of my group riding is without climbs more than 1 min, and when we do have a climb we regroup at the top. Never gonna be easy for the bigger guys without a regroup
Haha, to be honest I think one of these days we’re (the bigger guys) just going to pace line hard on the 5 mile flat and see where it takes us. I agree that the steep downhills need to be neutralized, we’re mostly riding on 2 lane backroads with a lot of turns on the descents, it’s not safe to hammer down those things in a large group. But the flats…the flats should be a different story 
,
Yep, fortunately the “B” group does have a regroup on the 5 minute climb, I’d be smoked if it didn’t. The 2 minute climb is short enough that you can power over it and still catch up on the descent.
East of the East Bay 
Tend to have a different view of this. If you are knowingly stronger why would you push the pace of a slower group. This really is group dynamics and how the group functions.
I have dealt with this before and as a group we just let him go…when your alone and you realize no one is following you the choice is ride with the group or go solo.
I’m of that mindset too, just let the guy go. The problems happen when a third of the group decides to chase the guy and either don’t come back or blow up. We could’ve used you guys in the wind!!
Then there are those times when a formal national champ shows up and everyone tries to show off by hanging onto his wheel while he’s doing 430 watts sustained to catch up to the “A” group that he missed by 5 minutes. During those times I’m usually off the back, bleeding out of my eyes, and wondering what the heck is going on.
From my experience, the best group rides I’ve ever done have some kind of ride captain.
Basically, a rider that everyone respects. When someone starts hammering the whole time, or at strange times. The captain just tells them to ease up. Politely.
Simple really. However, it’s not easily implemented.
When it works, it’s fantastic.
Us cyclists are a strange bunch of humans, getting us all to agree on the appropriate speed and ‘race’ sections is always going to be complex.
I also believe that if possible with the loop, terrain etc a spirited group ride should always have a flat ‘race’ section. You can’t just ‘race’ the climbs. I say this as a 60kg man. It’s totally un-fair on the bigger riders if they don’t get their moment in the sun.
Keep it fair out there.
By all means have a climb race section, and a flat one, but have a regroup at the top of the hill. There is no way to hang on up a hill. Smaller guys can usually hang on when its flat
Funny,
The actual text I write in the description of all our group rides…
‘We’ll regroup after any significant climbs or fast sections’
Basically. If we split up, due to climbs, flat race sections, traffic, crosswinds etc etc. We regroup.
If you don’t do that, it’s not a group ride. It’s a practice race. Or, what some people refer to as a drop ride. Every country seems to have a different naming convention.
I’ve never done a full on drop ride on an open public road. I imagine if you had very quiet roads with zero traffic lights, you could do this. Sadly, this doesn’t work in most cities etc. Racing through traffic lights is suicide. How that is done safely I’d love to know…
So we end up with ‘group rides’. Some fast, some slow.
Have you tried getting to the front just at the base of the climb and let the faster people pass you? In a group of 30+ people, this would give you an extra 20 to 30 seconds minimum to do the climb and still be in the group.
Plus if the downhills are neutralized, don’t blow yourself up on the climbs and use the neutralized descents to catch back on.
The combination of the above two strategies, plus sitting on the back for a bit and missing terms should go a long way to allowing you to hang in.
I’m on the smaller side - 5’9” and I raced at 64kg - so I became an expert in being able to sit in a group and basically disappear on the flats.
Yep, on the approach to the climb I make sure I’m at the front and basically try to get to the top without blowing up or falling off the back too much. It normally works but lately, even though my power has been going up, it’s been a tough slog.
Have you analyzed what is happening when you fall off? That is: is the first climb getting harder for you? Or is it the third, fourth, etc.? And how hard are you needing to go now on the climbs compared to earlier in the year?
Doing the above analysis will give you a pretty good idea what is going on. Is it just that everyone has gotten fitter faster than you have, so that climbs you previously could do at 110% you now need to be at 115 - 120% to hang? Or is it a repeatability question where the tempo of the group dropped on the later climbs, and now the later climbs are being done just as hard as the early climbs?
What zone are you sitting in when cruising on these rides? If you’re on 90 or 100% of your FTP for the whole ride to try to keep up with everyone else, I’m not surprised that you can’t keep up on the climbs.
I’m pretty light and strong-ish on climbs, but when I go out with guys who are too speedy on the flats for me, I’ve got nothing left by the time I get to the hills.
Reading through your posts @TRusername you sound like me, though your ftp is 50w higher! I live in an area with lots of short <4-5min climbs as well as plenty of rollers and get dropped on the hills and rollers all the time. At 90kg I don’t have the wt/kg to keep up with the rest of the group, but can hang on the flats no problem.
Been training consistent for 18 months and have gained 70 watts in ftp - but like tons of folks have said before me it is the aerobic engine that I do not have to maintain TTE and keeping up. I just can’t put threshold out for as long as needed to hang on. The intervals through TR have helped so at the top of hills I’m still ‘fresh’ but roller after roller at threshold or vo2 and it is hard to keep up when the guys can get up with much less energy than me.
My plan for the summer is z2, z2, z2……though it is funny that I end up with less riding time due to family constraints and activities during the summer than the winter months, heh. So not sure I’ll get enough hours to add to my aerobic as I really need.
Know you’re not the only one that struggles at this!! Keep on showing up and trying. That’s the best part 
Yeah I’ve been listening to the TR podcasts and came across one where they analyzed how a fellow got dropped on a climb. Ultimately, it’s about everything leading up to the climb, which sort of applies to me. Again, each group ride is different and the one I’m on neutralizes sections that would benefit heavier riders like me.
The ride goes through a lot of rolling areas and has a few pretty good hills. Ideally, I’d like to be able to go hard on the descents so I can keep to the front before the next hill, but since descents are neutralized I basically have to sit in the group and try to weave my way to the front, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t :P.