Sunday, June 26, 2011
6/26 Ride Recap - 53 Mile Ride Practicing A Rotating Pace Line
We had spectacular weather for today's ride, and our rotating pace line riding was somewhat improved under Clay's tutelage. We had seven riders, 6 of whom had recovered enough from yesterday ride (which may not actually have been a century according to a couple of riders that were monitoring their bike computers) on today's ride. Clay dropped off at 176, and Martin peeled off early to head home to Deerfield, but we picked up a couple of extra riders at a stop at Panera Bread. There continues to be a lively debate as to whether our group is better off using a double or single pace line, but consensus that we need more practice before we can come to a sound conclusion
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I came across the following advice in a post on rotating pace lines. "The formation (rotating pace line) is not a good idea when there is a wide range of abilities in the group."
ReplyDeletehttp://gccfla.org/ridetiprotate.html
I agree with Randy's comment. The rotating paceline is great when executed right and everybody is at a similar level. Anyway we should keep practicing it and see if we can maintain the target pace long enough. We can always go back to a single paceline.
ReplyDeleteRandy...I agree with you; however, the article speaks more to following the rules of a paceline. It seems every week there are new people learning for the first time and this creates the jerky motion we experience today. Hell, we've only practiced a rotating paceline less than a handful of times. You need to give it a chance. For the long haul, a sub 5 century, the rotating paceline will allow us to maintain 21-22 for the whole ride.
ReplyDeleteThe only advantage of a double paceline that I'm aware of is its potential to reduce the maximum length of the group. If done correctly this can be used to minimize the 'accordion effect' that results when the group accelerates and deaccelerates through turns, intersections, climbs and descents.
ReplyDeleteThe double paceline has numerous disadvantages, one is 'paired-pulling'. Golfers might be familiar with the better ball format where two players on a team each play their own ball. The low score, or better ball, among the two on each hole is the team's score. Now imagine a variation, 'worse ball,' where the highest score on each hole is the team's score. This is effectively what occurs when two riders are paired at the front of a double paceline, the weaker rider determines the length, and to some extent the speed, of the pull. As a result the ability of the stronger rider in each pair is underutilized.
Consider another disadvantage. A team of 12 riders riding in a double paceline can be viewed as two adjacent single pacelines of six riders each. With this perspective it's easy to see that - everything else being equal - each rider will have twice as many pulls and half the recovery time of a rider on a comparable team riding in a single line.
I Googled 'team time trial.' The resulting images are at:
http://www.google.com/search?q=team+time+trial&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Ank&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivnsu&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=MJv_TeiHM4Pc0QGu5NTPAw&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1320&bih=1009
You'll see single lines and a few rotating formations - but no double pacelines.
To Phil B,
ReplyDeleteHi Phil. I agree with you on most points about the double paceline. There might be a slight aerodynamic advantage to it if both lines ride very close to each other.
What we are trying to do is a rotating double paceline, which has disadvatages if not done well,or if the abilities of the riders differ much.
It is a work in progress. we can always go back to the single paceline.
Phil...... I think we are talking about two different things. We are practicing a rotating paceline. There is a fast and slow lane that rotates around. See video
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S129pCsN-YU
Nice to hear from you Felix. The rotating double paceline can be advantageous in a strong crosswind but as you mentioned, lacks a mechanism to deal with disparities in rider ability. My concern is that small disparities at the start of the ride will increase throughout its duration - everyone feels like Lance in the first hour but fatigue becomes a major factor in the fourth.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the best alternative for maximizing the number of riders that finish together? For the majority of the ride the best alternative is a single paceline with the lead rider pulling for a variable number of crank revolutions. The number is a function of rider strength and weather conditions, e.g. a stronger rider into a modest headwind might pull for 80 revolutions
and a weaker rider might pull for 10. At the end it's possible that the strongest rider could have been on the front for an hour and the weakest could have pulled for several minutes.
Thanks Cons...My original comment was referring to the sentence in Randy's post, "There continues to be a lively debate as to whether our group is better off using a double or single pace line." I assumed he was using the definitions on the Riding Tips web page that he cited, http://gccfla.org/ridingtips.html
ReplyDeleteI believe that the rotating/rotating double is a better alternative than the double but is still inferior to the single for the majority of the Sub5.
To Phil:
ReplyDeleteWe are debating exactly the same thing. My gut feeling is that we will end up using the single paceline for the actual ride, but it is fun to practice something new that takes more of a team effort.
Felix...I agree that a rotating double is fun to practice and should be an option for the Sub5 - especially in a strong crosswind. The disadvantage is that if maintained over an extended period you'll start popping riders off the back. It would be interesting to hear from its proponents.
ReplyDeleteSomeone already wrote my dissertation on pace lines. There are various reasons why you ride one or the other. About the only time a single pace line works is with no wind. Even a single pace line breaks down to a double when you have a crosswind, as an echelon. You might have enough room to echelon on the Sub-5, but as a practical (and legal no more than two abreast)matter club rides use a rotating pace line. It addresses all wind conditions with the same road space. You can only get good at riding pace lines by riding in them as often as you can, and improving your confidence on the bike in close quarters. If a ride is too fast the best thing to do is swallow your pride and sit on the back and watch. Jump back in when you have rested and full mental faculties.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lostrivercycling.org/paceline.html
BTW folks. I believe that the Sub-5 is started in groups of 25-30. I guarantee it will be a double pace line, unless there is a monster wind. You have to be committing to being able to pull at least 21-22 mph if you want to even come close. I expect the slowest group will be doing 22-24 mph. It doesn't matter what form of paceline you ride, you have to be able to ride it, keep the pace, and BE SMOOTH. That takes practice and conditioning..
ReplyDeleteLast year they were starting the Sub-5 in groups of 12. This year they said it could be up to 20.
ReplyDeleteIf we ride at 22 mph we will finish in 4.54 hours (~04:35). If we ride at 21 mph, then we will finish in 4.76 hours (~04:46). If we keep the breaks to a minimum (less than 10 mins total) we should be fine. From one of the blogs of a rider who did it last year, I see that his group had a total of 8 minute (3+5) breaks. Let's hope for no mechanicals, no wind and good team effort. We should mix up our training rides a bit. Maybe an Interval Training once a week for an hour.
"About the only time a single pace line works is with no wind."
ReplyDelete...or if you're riding the TTT in the 2011 TDF. :)