Originally Posted by
chefisaac
Good question: My opinion and thought: It gives everyone a break. As Paisan gives the example of the shorter riders, its hard for a bigger rider behind to get a draft if he is next behind the front person pulling. And I also think it causes more yoyoing. A great example was Saturday when we road in the initial group for the first 20 or so milee. One of the guys would go in their drops or areo bars and surge up. An older guy in red would try to catch him and more people would do the same. Then you lost the point of a paceline. For me pulling, I think about the folks behind me (except when I eat beans the day before
) and I suck the wind to give them a break (not that I have any options.... I am a big guy to boot!).
I disagree with this. The whole line is going to be moving quicker if everyone, including the person who happens to be at the front, pays some attention to aerodynamics. If someone smaller than me is in the drops ahead of me, I just get in the drops. When we are both in the drops the difference between our sizes is minimised and I can still get a reasonable draft - I've drafted behind a thirteen year-old girl in a pace line and got a certain amount of shelter even though she was in the drops. Admittedly, she's a very fast thirteen year-old girl. And being in the drops won't make you "surge" unless you want to.
Personally, if the object is to get people more comfortable with bike-handling and increase their speed, I'd be encouraging all of them to make use of the drops more. Nothing else they can do will make as big a contribution to their stability and speed as lowering their centre of gravity and getting into a more aerodynamic position.