OK… as a single-parent I don’t get to do many of our local group rides but tonight was a rare free evening and I was looking forward to doing the 43 mile loop. On Wednesday nights we have 80-something riders so there are a lot of friends to chat with on the warm-up getting out of town which makes it fun as well.
Where I live the wind averages about 18mph and today I’d say it was probably around 20. That’s not that big a deal on the way out because it’s a tailwind and we (not me for long) can paceline in the high-thirties. Turning around at mile 22 you better have a freind with you, though, because that tailwind has now become a 20mph headwind.
I’m one of those not-as-fast-as-the-A-group but faster-than-the-B-group kinda guys and on the way out eventually get dropped in no-man’s land between the two groups. It’s not that big a deal with the tailwind, but turn around at the half-way point and deal with the 20mph headwind by yourself for 21 miles is pure hell.
I turned around alone at the half-way point and spotted a guy probably 200 meters in front of me. I put my head down and tried to bridge the gap to him but when he looked back and saw me he got out of his saddle and started sprinting! Now mind you, there’s no one in front of him so he’s not trying to bridge a gap to someone else… he’s trying to not let me catch him! Instead of waiting for me to catch him, and then work together to catch the first group, he keeps sprinting away. I no longer try to bridge the gap but I’m faster than he is so every time I gain on him he sprints away. This goes on for 10 miles. Finally a paceline comes by that I latch on to and I can pick up my pace almost 4mph and still have my heart-rate drop. When we come by Mr. Big Balls he latches on as well, but I guess all that solo sprinting took it’s toll because eventually he couldn’t hold the pace and dropped off the back.
This isn’t the first time that this has happened and it’s never anyone I know ('cause all my friends are faster ;-). It’s not like I’m 4’10 and ride a 47cm bike that no one can draft behind. I’m 5’10 and ride a 58cm bike, usually pull longer than I’m pulled, and pull in a straight line and a constant speed.
Other than being foolish or ignorant of how much energy could be saved by drafting, could there be a reason why he did what he did?
Yeah, seems 'kinda “inexperienced” in the roady kind of way. I doubt he just wanted to “be alone”, especially since he latched onto the paceline. He will learn soon enough. I always wait for stragglers to help me/help them if I get dropped or I’m trying to catch a faster paceline. An “A” group paceline is just about impossible to catch alone, especially in a headwind, no matter how strong you are.
I no longer try to bridge the gap but I’m faster than he is so every time I gain on him he sprints away. This goes on for 10 miles.
Just an observation: if you didn’t catch him in 10 miles, you aren’t faster than he is…
I’m constantly amazed at how many people there are who believe the way others ride should conform to their standards and expectations. I believe all riders need to conform to certain standards of safety and predictability when it comes to riding in pacelines and groups. But to fault the rider in the situation you outlined is, in my view, ridiculous. You don’t know what his motivations are for riding. If he didn’t want to be caught by you, so what. That’s his perogative. I live in an area where the local club is mostly folks who would be in the “C” group in most big city clubs. They regard me as a second class citizen because I like to ride fast. It’s stupid. I don’t tell them how they should ride, but they try to tell me I shouldn’t ride so fast. I should ride with the group. I should ride 8 mph below my comfortable cruising speed. Anyway, that guy may have had a very good reason to be pushing himself to stay away in front of you. I have training buddies that challenge each other that way all the time. You don’t get stronger on the bike by sucking wheels every time the going gets tough. I’m betting that guy will be strong enough to hang with the A group all the way before you will 'cuz he’s digging and fighting for it … not hoping for someone to drop back and help drag his ass home.
I have no idea about that sort of bahaviour. I would wait for you or anyone else to catch up. Two can always ride faster and easier into the wind than one. Plus it’s supposed to be a bit social, afterall.
Perhaps he was doing a set sprint work out, but if that is the case, he should have done this on his own and not started out with the group in the first place.
You should ask him why he rides like that and suggest that you might work better together as a team.
I ranted a while ago about a guy who’d ride on my wheel all day long and sprint off in the last 2 miles. After being thrashed here, I had a nice discussion with the guy about how he could be faster if he trained a little differently, and since that time he has become a much more valuable person to ride with, and faster, too.
But I gotta agree, if you couldn’t catch him, you’re not faster.
i think it’s great you talked with him about this, he probably had no idea what he was doing and how you felt about it. i tell you, it wouldn’t surprise me if I have pissed of people in group rides…the sad thing is that if i have i don’t know it. is there a website or something where i can learn more about the unwritten guidelines of cycling?
Ah, kitty - just keep cycling with us. The “rules” will become apparent eventually. In the C (middle) group that you likely ride in they are very cool and there is no posturing like there is up front with me, Rob, Jim, Fraser, etc. We are still friends in the end though but pretty damn competitive up front - that is what makes us all faster and why our group took so many places at the last local crit as well.
well, i enjoy all of you guys. but one time i was riding with rick, angie, another guy or two, and rick hung back for angie and i went ahead with another guy and didn’t wait. then he zoomed on past me close to the finish. i wondered if i ticked him off. i’m probably over thinking it…lol.
Isn’t it amazing how it’s so important for some people to catch the rider in front of them to have someone to work with, but they never think of dropping back to the rider or group behind? I wonder what the riders in the paceline thought about you when they saw you working so hard solo to catch a rider up the road instead of dropping back to work with their (faster) group. So what really happened here. You went out for a group ride and ended up doing most of the ride solo because you didn’t recognize that there was a faster group coming up on you and you would have been better off waiting for them. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.
