Originally Posted by
nahungry
I was able to hang with the group but I kept failing to notice when the pace picked up until they started pulling away rapidly and would catch up to them either when they slowed down to cruising speed at around 22 mph or I push my rear and burn myself to death every push to catch up right away. Once caught up, I was okay hanging with the group; not saying it was a breeze but I was okay.
Not having the sense to see the push right away made me fall about 5 bike lengths away every time and that made the whole effort so much harder without any draft on windy trail.
It's something that comes with practice. You learn to read the ride, and be able to predict accelerations, or at least react to them quicker.
Keep your head up; don't fixate on the wheel in front of you. You need to keep the wheelin your peripheral vision, so you don't overlap, but your focus should be up the road, looking past the rider in front of you. That will make you smoother in the paceline, as well as safer in that you can see problems developing sooner.
Use your ears too. You can hear sounds such as free hubs clicking( or stopping clicking), people shifting, etc., that also help you anticipate surges and lulls.
Watch who's pulling, and when the lead at the front changes. You'll be able to learn what happens to the pace of the group as those changes happen.
Mostly, its just repetition, and trying be really situationally aware.