| RE.1
>The way we do it the lead rider moves to the left and slows down
>just a tad
Lead rider should pull off into the wind (assuming it is not exactly
dead ahead.). I was educated on this in one of my first races with
much embarassement. Feel feel to break this rule when riding with
friends in traffic for saftey reasons.
Most people take too long a pull at the front. For a smooth team
effort, keep it to approx. 20-80 strokes (my memory is fuzzy on
exact number) at the front. Do not ride to the burn point before
peeling off.
Don't forget to signal the people behind for bumps, glass etc. (unless
you are very seriously racing ;-) )
Thom
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| Since Team Time Trials (TTT) are not very common in America most teams or club
training rides don't practice pace lines per se. The idea is to become
comfortable in a group rather than work like well oiled machine. From watching
TTT races on TV it seems that on the track the leader takes VERY SHORT pulls, a
second or two, on the road it's longer but still quit short, about 5 seconds.
My opinion is since you have to share the road with cars it is always best for
the leader to pull off to the left. That way the group stays close to the
shoulder.
A couple notes for fellow non-racers who get into pace lines
o Try to keep pedaling, be smooth, rather than coast soft pedal.
o If you feel you have to touch your brakes a little do it on the
front. It's a scary feeling to be in a tight group with your
nose glued to the wheel in front of you when you see the brakes
close.
o After you take your pull remember you can't rest until you are
back in line. If you pull off to the left and sit up the line
will pass you by and you'll have to sprint to get back onto the
end.
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| > o After you take your pull remember you can't rest until you are
> back in line. If you pull off to the left and sit up the line
> will pass you by and you'll have to sprint to get back onto the
> end.
I'm not a very strong rider and it gets very frustrating when I'm leading a
line and pull off and the line suddenly accelerates. I try carefully to not
fall too much behind but as soon as I'm nearing the end of the line I find
myself pushing hard to catch up.
A couple years ago I got one of those bike computers and started paying atten-
tion to it while in a pace line. If we were going 16 mph while I was at the
lead, I'd notice that, as I pulled off the lead, the new lead rider would be
passing me at a high speed...and just to see what was going on, I'd try to
keep abreast of the leader long enough to check his speed. Lots of times the
new leader would kick it up to about 2-5 mph higher than what we were doing
while I was leading...
...which really made me feel inferior. And the funny thing is that if we're
NOT in a pace line then all of the same riders go pretty much at the same
speed overall anyway!
I could never know if this speedup was intentional, becuase I was going too
slow, or if it was the change in wind. If you're #2 and the leader pulls off
you'll feel more wind on you...that might make you over-compensate and inad-
vertently pick up speed.
Anyway, after a while I started pointing out to folks that they were making
big changes in the overall steadiness of the paceline (thanks to my computer)
and the riders would eventually keep it even...helping me a lot! Then they
got their own computers and stopped paying attention to me...and we went back
to riding like yoyos.
I guess what I'd like to see is a paceline going at a steady, overall speed.
If it's 18 mph, and that's what you're doing at the lead, then you're PUSHING
to do it. Next, when you peel off, you only back off a little. The line
keeps going at 18 mph and SLOWLY passes you. You feel good because you're not
pushing anymore as they do it. Next, you pull up in back and continue to do
18 mph, but this time with far less effort than what you experienced at the
front.
If there are four of you and each rider takes a 5 second turn at the front
then you push 5 seconds out of 20. That's not too bad.
I don't know if this is how it's SUPPOSED to work...but when it worked this
way for me I've always enjoyed it more. The things that spoil it are:
1. Someone is too weak to keep up and slows everything down to a crawl,
dropping the overall speed too much.
2. Someone's too strong and speeds thing up to the point where the pace
line isn't PACE-ing but is acting like a yoyo...fast for the one
strong rider and slower for everyone else.
...and the point of 1 and 2 are that, if you're with a group of riders who are
about the same capabilty then you'll be OK. If not then you have to decide
ahead of time how the paceline is to behave. If I'm the slow rider in the
group I'd rather the rest of the riders go off on their own. I'll catch up at
my own pace when they're taking a coffee break, or whatever. If they say it's
OK to go slower, consistently, at my speed, then I'll ride (and I'll bet over
the long haul we all get THERE in better time anyway).
Dick
P.S.
Why would the lead rider need to break off INTO THE WIND, as mentioned in a
previous reply? I don't understand the reasoning behind this. I'd rather the
leader ALWAYS break off to the left. Then there's only one person who needs
to worry about traffic! Also, if you've broken off to the right you're very
likely to cause a crash...the RIGHT is where all the broken glass is!
Chances are that if you're the ONLY one riding to the right, the line will
push you further INTO the right. That'll expose you to more rocks and glass
and increase the chance of you're making a sudden swing to the left to avoid
something. If you do that then the whole line gest screwed up.
If the entire line is off to the right, the leader will be looking out for
road hazards, and the line will probably avoid such hazards more gradually.
If you're off to the left of the line (having just pulled off the lead) and if
the line moves over, you've got the whole road to get out of the way.
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| >Why would the lead rider need to break off INTO THE WIND, as mentioned in a
>previous reply? I don't understand the reasoning behind this. I'd rather the
This is the way I always did it, back when I raced a bit. the reasoning is
that if the wind is coming from the upper left or left of your screen :-)
then the pace line would look like this:
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wind> |
since the draft "hole" is somewhat to the right of the bike in front. With
wind from the other direction the pace line looks like:
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| <wind
if the leader always "goes left" (or whatever) in the second case he's
slowing down in front of several following riders moving faster than him.
Crash city. Also, in many pace lines, especially racing, the front wheel of
the bikes behind you may be overlapping your wheel by several inches. Go
left (case 2) - Crash City.
If the wind is coming from dead ahead or behind, the line generally stays
on the edge of the road (right in the US) and the leader would peel off
left when he quit his pull.
BTW, there are drastic differences in strategy for pace lines with friends
(riding a century together), racing with your teammates, and racing against
other bozos you want to beat ...
ken
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