by John Campo
Pulling a pace line – Road and Track – grits and taters;
Fundamentals are the most overlooked skill in cycling. In almost all other sports fundamentals are taught young sport fans participating and non-participating alike.
Anyone can tell you what encroachment means in Football – walking in Basketball – balking in baseball and so on. However in cycling how many times have you jumped off the front and two riders bridge up to you, you think cool I have help only to find they have no pace line skills and cut your wheel, pull too hard, or can not pull at all because of the effort they have just made to catch you. This is common and the reason is; the only criterion for cyclists has always been, who goes the fastest, gets to be a pro the quickest.
Not that it has not worked for this long but at some point some poor schlemiel will be hired to teach this person fundamentals. Good luck. Stories of former glory don’t work.
On the track a standard for riders is being developed as we speak. Halleluiah!
Common mistakes and solutions; show me what you’re working with…
Inconsistent pace
Think / count cadence
Close gaps gradually
Maintain gap 6 or fewer inches on the track
Keep your wheel a tire width to one side or the other of the wheel in front of you to give yourself a way out incase of mishap.
No sudden movements
Brake lightly – no sudden stops
Pulling off the front:
Signal the rider behind you by and elbow – Right elbow means you want the rider to pass you to the right and left elbow means you want the rider to pass you on the left.
Move over gradually and drift to the back – on the road call out hazards. On the track look over right shoulder peripherally to check riders coming up on you. If a lap count is being kept call out the #.
On the road stay close to the riders next to you, keep the group parallel and tight, don’t pull off too far, leave enough room to clear handlebars. Beware of fast downhills and steep up-hills, which require the group to be aware of slower riders; decisions might have to be made.
It is always easier to keep the group together. Sometimes someone might have to play drill sergeant to accomplish this. Riders on the front never coast.
On the track or road never overlap wheels – never bump handlebars.
Up from the back; Who is baggin’ and who is haulin’…
This is a very hard pace line where the front rider must be passed by the riders behind at top speed. On the road in turns passing is transferred in the line right to left and depending if the turn will allow a pass. Right turns pull to right and etc. Keep your eyes open – lead riders might not have enough breath to yell a warning.
Single or Double pace line; you have to start somewhere… either of which can be rotated or not – when not rotating a rider takes his turn at the front either for a set measurement of terra firma or duration of time. It is okay to put a hand on your neighbor to maintain a safe distance coming back or pulling through especially on the track.
There is no better way to gain respect of other riders than by showing your skill in these fundamentals. The tour is so afraid of the way Discovery can pull a pace line they have eliminated the team time trail. Why? It works.
Campo, great points. If I can add one often overlooked point in road racing – use your (bike) computer! Most riders only ever use their computer to measure training distances and max speeds in finishing sprints and downhills. But, it can be an invaluable tool when in a break or gauging your pace when attacking. For example, when in a break, keep an eye on the pace of your companions. If you see that a rider is pulling faster or slower than yourself or others in the break, that’s important information. Use this reference for yourself as well so as to better hide your condition from the others when you pull through.
Another benefit is calculating the effort needed for an attack. Say you’re in a crit and want to attack with 1k to go. During the race make note of the usual pace in each section of the course – especially during prime laps. This way you’ll already have an idea of not only how fast to go, but also how much speed you can expect to lose on say a headwind or hill section. Obviously, you’re going all out anyhow or as Jonas Carney used to say “attack once and attack hard,†but this may help reduce the headgames we all tend to play on ourselves when off the front.
Now we are talking. Thankyou sir.
You see there are smart riders out there.
Come on I want more.
I’m in a break with you any time KC…
Hey John, you are right on the money. I think the basics are often overlooked because people learn to ride bikes when they were kids. Even in your own neighborhood the fastest guy (or girl) was the winner.
I think riders have that encripted in their minds. If you are not the fastest or the strongest you can’t win. When all you have to do is outwit your oponent. In our case the basics are many times overlooked, all you end up doing is adding miles in your workout.
Then you find yourself wondering after the race…Why did he beat me????
The answer is simple. He (she) outwitted you. As we all know strategy plays an important role in our sport. It all comes down to managing your resources. The best manager is the winner at the end of the day.
I once heard an engineer define his trade as: “one who uses basic principles to solve complex problems”.