How many people would typically be in these groups and how long were the sections? Standing around waiting for others can get quite chilly in non-summer.
IIRC, the old limit was 12 total, including ride leader and assistant. It has now reduced to either 8 or 10 total, I forget which, after a review decided that the “peloton bus” could sometimes get too long with 12, creating troubles on some tight and twisty roads. Popular group rides sometimes get many applicants, so if there is another leader and assistant available, they run as two “buses”, X minutes apart, but I forget what X is.
The hill sections chosen weren’t hugely long, maybe a mile. One popular one was a long straight, so you could watch people climb all the way.
These beginner-gentle rides are either c30 miles with a cafe stop or c20 without, IIRC, and might have one or two of these individual bits.
We also have gentle, purely social rides using only paved cycleways, and not particularly gentle “gravel” rides on unpaved routes - the latter have a fair few stops to regather simply because everyone spreads out when climbing on single-track or no-track (grass) sections, these are about the only group things I do these days.
