- The fastest a group of cyclists can go is in riding
in a pace line.
It's the best way to combine your efforts to slice
through the wind as fast as possible.
- Now you might not call it that name.
You might call it through and off or bit and bit
or a chain gang perhaps.
But whatever, the principles remain the same.
This is how to go as fast as possible.
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- To ride in a pace line you want to be
on flat or rolling roads where the speed is high and
you're gonna need at least four of you,
although the more the merrier!
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- [Male] The idea of a pace line is that you spend a shorter
time in the front of the group pushing into the wind
and then move to back seeking shelter whilst waiting
for your turn again.
This means that when you are on the front you can
ride much much harder than you would on your own
because you know you have time to recover after
and the more riders there are therefore,
the more recovery you will get.
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- There are two basic kinds of pace line.
The single pace line is a single line of riders.
We use them 10 to 20 seconds on the front before
peeling off, slowing down a fraction,
and drifting to the back where you take up
your place in line again.
- And this is probably the fastest way to do it.
If you watch a team time trial a race,
this is what they're gonna be doing.
And it's really efficient because you actually
spend less time changing riders which'll quit you fine.
It's actually a really demanding bit.
It's also good because you may easily balance out
the different abilities within your group.
So stronger riders can have longer turns on the front.
The weaker riders can do shorter ones.
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- When you are going uphill and on the front,
it can be a good idea to ease off a bit.
That's to factor in that though the riders behind you are
still sheltered from the wind,
they're having to work quite hard to ride uphill so they're
not getting the usual recovery.
- In terms of judging how long your turn on the front
should be you should use other riders as a little bit
of a gauge.
You don't wanna do too much more than your fair share,
and you certainly don't wanna go too hard and fall
into that trap of then not being able to get back
outta the back and get dropped.
That is not good for you, clearly,
but then nor is it good of the rest of the group.
There's even a weak rider they'll be less recovery
from everyone else but losing your strong but overeager
rider is gonna be a hammer blow.
- And do make sure you leave a bit in the tank
for that effort to get on the back of the line.
When training team time trials, the pros always emphasize
that your effort is not over until you're back safely
on the pace line.
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Then you have the double pace line,
so called because you have two lines of riders,
one faster, moving forwards,
and then a slightly slower line which is moving
backwards relative to the fast line.
Your time on the front is just long enough to move
from the fast line to the slow line before drifting
to the back again.
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You can be sure you will get shouted at if you do surge,
however I agree it is sometimes hard not to get carried away
on the front.
So one good tip to keep half an eye on your speed,
to take you're not accelerating when you get to the front.
With practice you'll be able to do this entirely on feel
even in undulating terrain.
- Now as soon as you're clear of the rider in front,
you can start to move across.
The tighter you keep things the more shelter everyone gets,
and therefore the faster you will go.
But it's not essential to bang your mate's handlebars
with your ass as you go through even if you have a big one.
And then it's simply a case of generally easing off
because as you see you don't have to wait long
before your shelter comes around.
That's so long as you haven't surged on the front.
No surging!
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- As soon as you get to the back of the line and move across
it can be a good idea to tell the next rider that you were
last so they know to start accelerating.
Now in a well drilled group, - Up!
it's not necessary
but it doesn't cost anything and it can help to
keep the group moving nice and smoothly.
Up!
- A simple up is literally all it needs.
Just to let the last rider know that the back of the group
is approaching.
Up!
And they can accelerate and jump back in.
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- [Male] If the last rider doesn't switch over
to the other line, it all goes wrong.
The string unravels and you end up on the front.
Now in races this can happen as riders try and sneakily
hide and save their energy.
There are ways for dealing with sneaks,
but in the short term in order to restart it,
the rider in second position needs to do an extra turn
and accelerate past rider one then move across,
effectively kick-starting the pace line all over again.
Another way it can go wrong is if the rider coming
from the faster line stays on the front too long and
doesn't pull over to the slow line until too late.
Now that leaves the rider who pulled over just before,
who's now going slow remember,
stuck in the wind for much longer than they expected
and it creates a gap in the slower line between them
and the show off rider that eventually pulls over late.
Now it might not sound like much but the extra effort
for that gapped rider can make a big difference,
especially if they're riding at their limit.
In fact, it can be a sneaky way to tire out other riders
in the breakaway in a race if you have a better chance
of beating them all at the end.
So there are a few hints and tips on how to make
fast group riding work for you and those you're riding with,
be they friends or rivals.
Just remember that golden rule,
try to keep something in reserve to make sure you don't
get dropped.
Even the strongest riders can come unstuck by trying to do
too much for a group.