Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
Maybe so, but at 25mph, two feet is almost off. At 30+mph, I've been dropped for not being able to close a two foot gap.
Here is an equation from
The mathematics of breaking away and chasing in cycling.: CF = .62 - .0104 Dw + .0452Dw^2
Where CF is the correction factor and Dw is the distance between wheels in meters. The correction factor is the ratio of resistance between the lead and following rider.
In any case, if you're trying to follow a wheel at 30mph it will take approx 380W (550 for the lead rider) so if you've been working and are on the rivet you may not be able to hold the wheel regardless of how close you are.