Drafting technique

Spatulala

I'm confused. I did a 100mile charity ride on Sunday, and spent a few miles in the company of 3 other riders at a similar pace. We'd all take turns by accelerating to the front of the group and staying there until the back rider came past us and took his turn etc etc

Later on, me and a mate tagged onto the back of a faster group for a bit. In this group the lead rider would pull out and then drop back to the back of the group, leaving the 2nd place rider to pull for a bit.

Which is the way to do it? The latter seems much better as you can't have people sticking to the back and never taking a turn to pull. Also if it's a big group I'm worried about overtaking 12 riders and then being too knackered to keep up the pace when I reach the front. But I'm sure I see more groups doing it the first way.

How does this work then?

Smokin Joe

The latter is the proper way.

Sprinting from the back of the group to take your turn is just plain silly as it wastes energy and slows the whole group down.

oldwelshman

Smokin Joe wrote:

The latter is the proper way.

Sprinting from the back of the group to take your turn is just plain silly as it wastes energy and slows the whole group down.

Not true bith are correct it depends what your trying to do.
For example if your in a club ride or sportive and riding liesurely then it is best for riders to do a turn in the front and swing off allowing next riders to come through, this is usually done in pairs but this is not effective for drafting which I presume OP is asking about.
If however your going much harder and almost flat out you do through and off as it is much more efficient for drafting and the high pace is maintained if your trying to keep a break away or if your trying to chase a break down.
With through and off the riders are going through on eiher left or right side, single file so providing shelter on one side so is more efficient for drafting.

oldwelshman

Just another pont to the op, you were doing through and off not quite right anyway as the idea is not to accelerate through but to ride through steady then when passed front rider swing in so the pace stays constant as possible.

edhornby

I'd go with the latter as well, keep the pace the same, front rider peels out to the middle of the road and eases off, attaches to the back of the group

I got in a group of riders at the end of manchester-blackpool and they were doing the opposite, where second place dragged the rest of the group past the last rider on the outside.. very odd

there was also a train of about 10 riders not helping as well which really boils my p1ss but that's another thread....

Monty Dog

The objective is to keep the pace constant, so the rider coming off the front moves to the side, recovers slightly whilst the others riding at a constant pace pull through and takes his place at the back of the line. A common mistake is for the rider coming though is to pull too hard, forcing the recovering rider to have to work hard to get back on the line, just tiring everyone out. Accelerating through from the back is just plain daft if you're working together unless you are actually trying to drop weaker members of the group. The problem is that often the rider on the front doesn't realise he's slowing and rather than dropping back to recover, pig-headedly carries on..

Spatulala

Ok thanks, so have I got this right?:

Through and off (when the back rider pulls steadily to the front) is best for high pace as there's less chance of the pace dropping. Does this work with larger groups still?

Front rider (or pair) peels off to join back on more steady rides.

Also, how long do you tend to spend on the front? On the ride it felt that changes were pretty frequent, when I could have happily spent longer pulling.

MikeWW

With the former you want it to be a constant change. i.e as soon as one guy has come through the one behind does the same.
In the latter anything from a couple of minutes to maybe 5 works OK

Pross

I'd go with either the front rider or pair of riders pulling off having done a decent stint or the line just going through and the front rider pulling off straightaway when going hard (my understanding of through and off). I can't see the point in the back rider coming from behind though as they are moving up in the wind whilst not protecting anyone. There's also the option that the rider on the front flicks his elbow and the rest of the group come past him as the pros tend to do in a break, that way you aren't easing up as much as if you pull off the front.

Bunneh

Get behind the fat guy with a cattleprod. He goes fast and pulls you along with them.

ridelikeapro

There's actually two ways of drafting in a group... through and off, sometimes called the Chaingang which is a double line or riders, and then there's The Paceline which is a single line. Both are highly effective, but require attention to detail in order to get full benefit.

Check out Riding Techniques on the Gregarios' website:- http://www.gregarios.co.uk/cycling-clubs/cycling-sportives-racing-training.html[/url]

RoadieBob

Spatulala wrote:

Ok thanks, so have I got this right?:

Through and off (when the back rider pulls steadily to the front) is best for high pace as there's less chance of the pace dropping. Does this work with larger groups still?

Front rider (or pair) peels off to join back on more steady rides.

Also, how long do you tend to spend on the front? On the ride it felt that changes were pretty frequent, when I could have happily spent longer pulling.

There's no reason for the back rider to be coming to the front, unless he feels the pace is way too slow and wants to speed things up a bit. Riding through and off means riding in a line, peeling off when you get to the front, and dropping to the back alongside the paceline. How long each rider spends on the front depends on how many riders are in the group - the more riders, the less time each one should spend on the front. In a fairly large group (let's say 10 riders or more), each rider can peel off as soon as they hit the front, leading to a group consisting of two lines, one moving up to the front, the other dropping to the back. Like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5CfRsmtQ44

mattward1979

Back rider coming to the front just means that he/she is essentially knackered once they are in position, slowing the entire chain...

Watch any Cycling in a Velodrome... the front peels to the right, drops back and joins as position 4, with position 2 taking the lead.

Its just crack talk to do it any other way, unless you are all on crystal meth!

Spatulala

Right, think I've got it now thanks everyone. Never seen a good rolling chaingang in action before, that looks pretty cool. Think I'll stick to getting the paceline right for now!

The diagram for Paceline suggests the front rider should drift back on the inside (between line and kerb) is that right?

ridelikeapro

That's exactly right, there should be an "empty lane" on one side of the line so that the front rider can drop though to the back after completing his short stint on the front. Without the front rider "riding out" the whole process will collapse. It should be a short fast turn, then get the hell off the front, so someone else can repeat. Everyone has to ride out from the kerb. to create the "drop back" lane. javascript:emoticon(':D')

Pross

Spatulala wrote:

Right, think I've got it now thanks everyone. Never seen a good rolling chaingang in action before, that looks pretty cool. Think I'll stick to getting the paceline right for now!

The diagram for Paceline suggests the front rider should drift back on the inside (between line and kerb) is that right?

The direction the rider peels off should be determined by the wind direction. Also, if done properly the line would be diagonal across the road in the event of a cross wind but not recommended unless in a race!