Does anybody do it, and what types of workouts do you do behind the car or Vespa? We’ll be doing regular motorpacing this season so I’m just looking at some variety to mix things up a little.
Adam, I think its kind of funny that you go by…Trauma!
I do a bit for cross.
Pretty straightforward microburst type stuff (this just sort of happens to stay in the draft).
Kurt
There are a number of workouts you can do, from big gear accelerations to high RPM speed work. Riding the cushion behind the motor develops great pack riding skills among other things. Using a scooter allows great attacking and breakaway workouts as there is plenty of room. We used to do rotating workouts around 80-100 miles using a scooter and 4 guys, each woud take his turn on the scooter, attack, ride off to the side or ahead of the scooter for as long as possible at 55kph, then drop back in last place and recover - at 50+kph until you were back at the front.
I only ride a motor now on the track as the roads in Socal are much less friendly than the old Hines/Northville/Pontiac Trail/Ann Arbor Rd/Joy/Hines loops in Michigan.
Have a trusted experienced driver and establish an S&M like non-verbal communication link.
Enjoy,
-SD
Does anybody do it, and what types of workouts do you do behind the car or Vespa? We’ll be doing regular motorpacing this season so I’m just looking at some variety to mix things up a little.
I live on the stretch of road near Cronulla where Crowie Alexander and Macca train when they are at home, when Ive seen them motorpacing they are generally just sitting in, I assume getting used to riding big gears at high speeds.
The pro roadies that I see motorpacing sit in, then when they hit a slight incline they try and accelerate off the front to simulate an attempted breakaway or a jump on a sprint finish.
You also need to know the local statutes as some law enforcement officers may take exception to your drafting on a public highway. I don’t want too sound sour, but I have had plenty of friends get a ticket while motorpacing. Especially behind a licensed vehicle( car or big bike), there seems to be less intrest behind a scooter.
I don’t know about the US but its not legal in the UK. Having said that, I have never known anyone to get caught doing it here though.
I trained behind a proper derny a few times along the canals and lanes between Brugge, Aalst and Gent in Belgium last summer, its alot of fun and replicates the feeling of being lined out in a fast bunch very well. Having a few riders is even more fun but you have to remember that drafting works the other way round, i.e. the closer to the front you are, the better the draft so put the weaker riders there. It does depend on how aero your driver is and how long your line is, though. You really need an experienced road racer to do the driving.
One time we went ‘into the hills’ with the Derny, being that part of Belgium they were just drags, perfect for acclimatising yourself to racing up fast hills in races. It really brought my form on and I got my best results soon afterwards. It probably won’t have much direct benefit over regular training for a non drafting triathlete except that its a lot of fun.
Also, last summer I got to drive the spare wheels car at our local road race, its very hard to manage the speed pacing riders back to the bunch. What most people do is steadily increase the speed until they drop the rider, then slow down again, repeat. Don’t do this! Also, remember that driving at 35mph isn’t scary, cycling 2 inches from a car going 35mph is very scary indeed. Make sure you never use your brakes or engine braking, also make sure you separate and take different lines for the corners. A good way I found to modulate speed accurately over hills and things is to put the car in a much higher than normal gear, that way it accelerates and decelerates much more like a cyclist would.
We don’t use open road, we use a small closed loop (well it’s a business park type place, but we go off hours. They used to use it for a crit series before they changed venues.
I’ve done it a bit. It is really good training for road races. Helps to find the draft and gives a good idea of going pretty fast in the draft.
Motorpacing is the new EPO. Just get a good driver, and watch out for cops.
I don’t know about the US but its not legal in the UK.
I think technically, in the strictist sense, it is not legal here in the US either. Most states, countys, or at least municipalities have laws on the books about maintaining a minimum safe following distance and seeing as a bicycle and its rider are subject to the same set of laws as motor vehicles, whether or not a violation occurs is left to the discretion of a police officer who may observe the rider while motorpacing. If it is somewhere where law enforcement is used to seeing riders motorpacing and the officer sees no danger to other motorists from the cyclists actions, then probably not going to be a hassle. On the other hand I bet if a rider or riders were motorpacing a car or motoped/motorcycle in remote areas where law enforcement is not used to such things (aka they are bored and looking for something to do), even though there may not not be any danger too or from other motorists, cyclists may find themselves - not the pace vehicle driver - getting a citation for unsafe following. While not quite the same, in the past I have ridden with groups in which we were given warnings from police for motorpacing the city buses. Of course with the condition of city streets - aka lots of large, deep potholes (of which I managed to lay it down after rolling over one in the dark the other night) - in Houston, that was probably in our best interests.