Originally Posted by
Dean V
On one race I did on our tandem with the rest being singles I found there was only one way to drop them. That was to drift of the back near the top of a hill and then really go for it down the other side. You go past the bunch of singles with such a great speed difference that they can't jump on.
In bike racing, this is called the "slingshot," and is pretty much the basis of track sprinting. When you've got two guys evenly-matched for top-end speed, the only way to beat the other is for one guy to accelerate into the dead air behind the other, and then carry that speed past him. I think this is one technique that most bike racers don't practice enough. I remember that Mike Walden and Dale Hughes were very big on this at their training camps. Most bike racers are loathe to lay off by a couple of bike lengths when the tempo picks up to sprint rollout speed. At the recent NWTR in Medford, we blasted past a much faster tandem on a descent using this technique. You do have to be a decent bike-handler, so you don't run right up the other bike's back wheel, though!
Luis
(btw, in case you're interested, the response to the slingshot is "the razor," or "keeping your opponent on the razor." So if you're the guy in front, you make sure to accelerate only to about 80-90%. Then, when the other guy comes around, you then make the real jump and keep him on your hip. If both of you have the same top speed, you win.)