burnthesheep wrote:
IT wrote:
It usually irritates riders when pace drops. If stronger riders want to increase the pace, that means that my pull at the front will probably be shorter so I can survive. I don't really give a rip as a racer or tourist if someone thinks I took a short pull.
Some group rides are more "cooperative" than others.
Question on this.
What keeps the strongest rider(s) from perpetually lifting the pace harder and harder each time they come through the rotation?
Let's say on the flats it starts rolling 24. Strong folks rotate through. Next time you come up front everyone is at 25. Strong folks rotate through again. Now we're at 26. Then 27.
I've been on rides like that.
Assuming the terrain is flat and the wind is pretty constant...and for comparison sake, let's assume that all riders are the same weight, cda, rolling resistance, etc.
Let's say the group is going 24 mph, while you're sitting in the draft, you're in your 50/15 gear at 90 rpms. It's also taking you about 200-225 watts to maintain this. When it's you're turn to hit the front, you don't change anything except your power output. Your gear selection and cadence remains the same and you continue to travel at 24 mph...it just requires 260-285 watts to keep that speed at the front. The person who just pulled off the front bears the responsibility to gradually reduce their speed...say to ~23 mph, and you will eventually pass them and "pull through" without changing your speed. Thus the speed of all the people behind you doesn't change either. When the person who just pulled off the front has their front wheel clear of your back wheel, you move over in front of them, then you gradually back down to 23 mph so the person who was behind you (previously doing 200-225 watts at 24 mph), and is now "at the front" can move past you at 24 mph at 260-285 watts...thus the speed of the group as a whole never changes.
The problem with people who never have done a rotating paceline is that they feel when it's their turn to hit the front, they know they have to apply more power, but in doing so, they apply too much power. In turn they increase their cadence...or worse...you hear them shift to a harder gear. That's when the speed increases...suddenly they are in 50/15 gear at 97 rpms, going 25.6 mph and using up 300-320 watts...thus the rider behind them in the draft is now requiring to also ride 50/15 at 97 rpms and using 240-260 watts in the draft. Rinse repeat and this goes on until the group is going so fast that nobody can keep up or maintain the pace required to move to the front.
The only time the speed at the front should increase is if you start to go downhill or the wind changes favorably. In the above example on a flat road, we assumed the rider at the front is doing 260-285 watts at 24 mph. If the road suddenly goes to a -2% grade, then obviously you don't want the person at the front to just coast, or soft pedal at 120 watts simply to maintain the 24 mph speed. It is expected the speed will increase, but generally the increase is gradual, and still represents around a 260-285 watt effort at the front. So it might end up being that the rider at the front is now doing 32 mph at 260-285, and the rider behind him is also doing 32 mph at 200-225 watts. When the road eventually flattens out or goes back slightly uphill, the opposite of course happens. You want the rider at the front to gradually back down the speed as the effort required to say up front shouldn't change much...again...260-285 watts and 200-225 watts in the draft.
It takes a lot of experienced riders for this to work well...which is often why it doesn't work well.