Question: I’m new to road riding and enjoy going with our local Sunday group. But I don’t understand why the pace is so variable. We’re cruising along talking, then suddenly the pace increases drastically or several riders go sprinting up the road. What’s going on? — Harry I.
Coach Fred Matheny Replies: Welcome to pack dynamics! You may not be in a road race, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
There are several reasons why the pace can heat up:
- Human nature. As the old saw says, any time you have two or more riders, you have a bike race.
- Hills. Ever since bikes were invented, the pace has accelerated when the road tilts up. It’s a natural reaction by those who can climb (or think they can). They simply enjoy dealing out the hurt to non-climbers.
- Traditional sprints. Does your group ride include customary sprint markers such as mailboxes or city limit signs? Or does the terrain favor sprints at certain points? When you’re new to a ride, ask one of the experienced guys if sprints are on the agenda. Once you know a sprint is coming, it’s easier to survive the acceleration even if you don’t contest it.
- Friskiness. No matter how mellow the pace, someone may be feeling good and wanting to go faster. He’ll put the hammer down at some point during the ride. It’s a law of nature.
One more reason – Strava Live Segments. Why did several riders suddenly go sprinting up the road? Because their computers told them to!
Is the city limit sign sprint really a thing? It’s definitely not where I live. I feel like it’s a meme that keeps getting repeated, but that it’s something nobody ever does or very few ever do. Perhaps a question of the week?
Town line sprints are definitely still a thing in California – and boy am I sick of losing all the time 😉 !
It’s definitely a thing where I live in California and bragging rights are repeated over and over. I am the lone female that rides with a few guys and I dare not tell the wives how their responsible husbands and fathers of their children turn into crazy, testosterone riddled cycling rockets for the city limit sprint while I watch the battle unfold from a safe distance.
This is why I quit large club rides. They are advertised as a certain pace (i.e. 18 to 20 mph) but never hold true. Some yahoo “weekend warrior” always wants to do his Lance imitation. In addition, you don’t know half the riders who show up nor their bike handling skill level. Very unsafe. Find two or three folks to CONSISTENTLY ride with for true enjoyment and safety.
On one of our local group rides, we often use a rotating pace line. The idea is to keep the pace steady as you come to the front but some people don’t have a good sense of what constitutes a steady pace and are afraid to cause the pace to slow, so they actually accelerate. I don’t understand what is so hard about keeping the same pace for the short time you’re on the front of a rotating pace line, but there it is. And “everybody knows” that if two particular riders end up together in the pace line, the fist one will pick up the pace on the front and then second one will pick it up even more. All of a sudden we’re going 3 mph faster.
IMHO, pace lines with more than 5 or 6 riders are pretty dangerous. Even experienced riders sometimes fail to maintain a consistent effort (note that I did not say SPEED). Once the effort from the lead rider in the paceline line either picks up or falls off, there will be a larger or smaller gap between that lead rider’s rear wheel and the second riders front wheel. The second rider either picks up the pace if the gap widens or slows down if the gap becomes too narrow. Unfortunately the magnitude of that marginal change in gap is increased all the way down the pace line as riders react and adjust. I will ride with up to 10 in a paceline where I know all the riders and also am confident in their abilities to maintain a consistent effort. However getting into a long paceline with folks you don’t know is a recipe for disaster. Even one inexperienced rider out of 5 or 6 can mess up the entire paceline and easily cause a crash. Pacelines in large group rides or invitationals with lots of folks who have never ridden together is a big reason why there are so many crashes. If find yourself in front, simply maintain a consistent even effort. The closest thing I can quantify this to is to maintain a constant wattage to your pedals & drivetrain. This will keep the gaps between folks behind you constant (assuming they also maintain a consistent wattage). If you find yourself down the line a few riders with your gap changing, avoid making quick adjustments; smooth and steady helps the paceline’s overall consistency to be maintained.
It’s up to the ride leader (assuming it’s a club ride) to set the pace. If a ride has an advertised pace, the ride leader should maintain that and let the folks that want to push the pace to go off the front. This is especially important at the lower level rides which are typically “no drop” rides. Faster rides – A or AA in our club nomenclature – are always pace line rides and the pacing can vary over the course of a ride. My personal preference is to ride with people that I know and who’s riding level is similar (or slightly better) to mine.