The Group Riding Skills Thread
Back in the Day, when I founded my local tri club, I and a few others did a very good job of creating a pretty good group riding culture and skill set within the club.
That culture and skill set has pretty much disappeared since then but I dropped in on their Wed night ride last night at the Rose Bowl. Below is an email I wrote to the club. Lynda and Allen are both very good friends and leaders in the club and therefore also make excellent examples of what not to do 
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In my opinion, developing the skills and mindset to ride well with much faster cyclists is one of the best things you can do to become a stronger cyclist. You could summarize that as "staple your tongue to the rear wheel of the guy in front of you. Get your ass kicked and come back next week." Within ^that^ are many formal and informal rules of how a group ride works. Please share your tips here!
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Good ride. A couple notes:
- Luis and I led our group up the west side and we decide to employ the tried and tested Yappage Pacing Protocol (YP2) -- speed is directly proportional to the volume of Yappage produced by the rider riding 2nd wheel, in this case Lynda. So we simply dialed up the pace until the Yappage was dialed from it's typical 11 to a much more tolerable 2 or 3. Ah, quiet! Mission accomplished!
- Lynda and another rider (Garmin kit) took a big pull. Note: only pull as long as your ability to sustain the pace AFTER your pull is done. If you drill yourself allllll the way up the westside and gas yourself, you're at risk of getting dropped by the group when your pull is finished. Lynda got gapped and I pushed her back up to 2nd wheel to keep her on. More importantly, she still wasn't talking, as YP2 continued to be in effect. Another huge win!
- Somewhere along the eastside downhill Brian's group began to pass us, with an unnamed rider (name begins with an A, ends in a Yee) riding second wheel. Near the clubhouse this second rider decided the pace was too hot and bailed out to the right of the peleton. Brian's group was instantly splintered. I dropped into the gap and pulled Luis and a couple others back up to Brian but by then the damage had been done. We went on to have a good, but smaller, ride.
- Lesson: if you have no intention of taking a pull (Allen), don't ride second wheel. If you do find yourself in second wheel and know you can't / won't / don't want to contribute to the work (Allen), move a little bit out of the paceline and clearly indicate with a handsignal for someone else to come up and take your place. By sorta staying in the line you're offering a windshield to 3rd Wheel to come up and assume 2nd Wheel. Abruptly yanking on the ejection handle (Allen) will create a big gap that can often not be fixed.
- The VERY bad thing is to ride second wheel but not take a pull (however or long or short) when 1st Wheel rolls off the front. Basically, 2nd Wheel means you WILL do some work (doesn't matter how long or short) if 1st Wheel asks you to.
If people are doing a lot / most of the work at the front you pay them back for that work by:
- Shutting up and paying attention. Nothing is more annoying than to be at the front riding steady, safely, pointing stuff out...and hearing lots of chatter behind you. You look back and 2nd Wheel has allowed a gap to open up because they are yapping and not paying attention. They wake up, see the gap, close the gap, open up additional gaps behind them and it generally sucks for the people at the back. This isn't much of a problem at slower speeds. But at higher speeds the stronger riders tend to gravitate towards the front, riders for whom opening and closing gaps isn't a big problem so they talk...but this accordion effect sucks for the weaker riders at the back. Again, shut up, pay attention, and mind the gaps.
- Mind the gaps: offer a wheel, tell someone to come through if you can't close a gap, etc. Sucks to be one of those 2-4 guys at the front doing all of the work and get to a light...but where's Timmy? Did anyone see Timmy? What happened was everyone flipped their switches to Semper I mode and Timmy got dropped. Worse if Timmy's name is Sally and we now have a woman riding solo, potentially lost. Not good.
Of course, all of ^this^ is difficult to make happen consistently at the Rose Bowl, a very chaotic environment. But learning how to ride efficiently in a group is a fun and valuable skill to have.
Allen is a good friend so I'm sure he's not offended. As for Lynda...I'm hoping that YP2 becomes the PTC pacing standard :-)
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Comments
- For longer rides, shorten the pulls as the volume adds up. E.g., maybe 3 min pulls for a smaller group through the first 30 miles, then 2 minute pulls to 60 miles, then 1 minute pulls for the remainder.
- Don't over accelerate or go faster than the group if you are first wheel. Where I live, a lot of groups include A and B riders. You can get an A ridier who moves to the front wheel and takes the average pace from say, 22 to 25 mph, and the group shreds as some riders were barely hanging at 22.
- If you are on a tribike, do not ever go into the aerobars if you have your tongue stapled to the wheel in front of you. I've seen it before andd that's why cyclists hate triathletes. And regardless of what type of bike you are riding, don't ever cross wheels with the guy in front of you.
You're done with your pull, do you hand it off at ....
A) Bottom of the hill
or
B/ Top of the hill?
I tend to work to the top of the hill, but I ride with several guys that drop off at the bottom of an upcoming climb.
I'm not picky, some others are, there is an occasional 'discussion' over it with a few of the guys.
What say you?
Huh, good question. It depends on the group:
That said, it's more important what the 2nd Wheel guy does in this instance -- poor form to watch a guy work across a flat and into a hill, then explode up the hill when it's your turn to pull...unless that's the point of the ride, which is fun too.
I do know when I'm in Scenario #1 and have learned how to time my pulls in the rotation to keep my from some of the more volatile climbing pulls. No shame, that's a group that I'm just happy to finish strong with the pack. It's just funny that I start working on this timing so far in advance of the particular climbs!