For the Roadies: The Chain Gang
Paceline, or a.k.a. the Chain Gang:
A group formation of road cycling teamwork where each rider takes a turn breaking the wind at the front before pulling off, dropping and rotating to the rear position to ride the group’s draft. The rider eventually cycles to the front once again.
How it’s done:
The chain gang forms. Each rider in the diagram is single file, but there are more complex gangs as well. The pace is set and the rider in front maintains a speed that works for the group. When the ultimate goal is speed, each rider should make their best effort at the front, but should never sacrifice speed to do a long turn. Shorter, harder pulls that maintain a high, but constant pace will work better and avoid causing everyone in the group to slow down and then reaccelerate over and over to accommodate the lead rider. That endless cycle of intervals will doom a group in no time. Do your turn and go to the back before you start to suffer, and always keep something in reserve. Watch the timing of the rider rotation and learn how to soft and hard pedal throughout to maintain pace. Sounds tough, but once you get the hang of it, you can FLY.
Do’s:
Do rotate.
The speed advantage of riding in a paceline is 100% due to aerodynamics. It’s all about staying out of the wind; the less time each rider in a group is exposed to the wind, the quicker it’s possible for the group to go. So don’t be a hero; a proper paceline rotates like a set of meshing gears, and staying on the front just un-meshes the gears of the machine. It also hangs whoever just did a turn on the front out in the wind to dry as they rotate back, wasting their energy as well as your own. Ease over into the receding line as soon as possible without interfering with the riders behind you.
Do remember the accordion effect.
It’s the same as in your car at a traffic light; a minor acceleration at the front gets multiplied due to the effect of reaction times as you go back down the line. In a paceline, that means riders 5 or 6 places back will have to accelerate much harder to maintain close gaps in the line, and a rider who’s transitioning from the receding to the advancing line will have to sprint to get back on every time. This is very taxing, the opposite of efficient and a guaranteed way to split up a group. Most riders who dislike pacelines and think they’re really hard feel that way because of this. So make whatever pace changes you do make gradual ones. While your absolute speed might be very high, your speed adjustment in tune should be in tune with your fellow riders, and be slow-motion ones.
Do look after your mates.
If you’re at the front, call out any road hazards or turns and give a hand signal so the others can pass the message back. And if you’re in the line and see/hear such, make sure the message gets relayed back. One of the most annoying things that can happen in a tight bunch is to get run through a big pothole or over some broken glass just because the riders ahead of you didn’t bother to call it out or pass it back. Seriously poor form! Ditto for riders at the back letting the group know about traffic behind if it’s not a rolling closure situation. It’s never a good idea for passing cars to catch the riders at the front unaware, and often they can’t see behind the group. So let them know if there are cars behind the group, and make sure the message makes it to the front. In tight groups, everyone is dependent on each other not to cause a crash, so be smooth and predictable – don’t be that guy.
Don’ts:
Don’t get too close.
Close is aero, and aero is good; but if you’re overlapping wheels, you’re asking for trouble and endangering everyone behind you. You have less visibility from being close behind other riders and a reduced reaction time from the tight distance, so even a great bike handler is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to reacting to the unexpected. This is a judgment call and depends on how well you know the habits of the other riders, but if you’ve watched the team time trial in the Tour de France you know even the best get into trouble sometimes when they get too close. And they do around 20,000 miles/year together; so be advised!
Don’t stall the motor.
If the speed of the group is high enough, sometimes you can find yourself having trouble going fast enough to maintain the tempo of the advancing line. Admit it, we’ve all been there. In these situations, all you’re going to accomplish by trying to maintain a set place in the rotation is stalling out the line when you hit the front. It’s much better to sit on the back until you’re fresh enough to do a proper turn. All you have to do is let the rider ahead in the receding line know to come on over, and leave them room to do it so they don’t waste energy figuring out what you’re doing. They’ll appreciate it, and they’ll be glad to have your smooth help at the front when you’re able to get back up there.
And the most important “don’t” rule of all: NO PASSING GAS!! If you want to keep your friends, I suggest you don’t eat any beans before your ride.
Then when your ride is finished, you can relax and hang with friends and you’re not as tired because you used the simple concept of teamwork…
Then you can occasionally splurge on THE BEST COOKIE IN THE WORLD: Sow your oats, by the best bakery in Durango called Bread. Even Lance loves ‘em.
Info and extractions from www.sceniccityvelo.com and www.apresvelo.com
Black and white paceline: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jowo/63770749/
