Originally Posted by
Griffin81
Looking for some advice for developing better group riding skills.
I've been cycling regularly for several years (5-6 hours a week, long rides on many weekends, commuting in NYC traffic, plus a couple centuries a year), but I'm new to group rides. I joined a group sponsored by my LBS, open to all levels, for casual laps in a park. Unfortunately, in one of my very first rides with them, I was in a crash. We were in a double paceline on a descent when the two cyclists in front of me touched and went down, and the next thing I knew, I was in the air. Not the best intro to pacelines. Luckily, I wasn't seriously injured, and my bike was fine. I got back to riding on my own again as soon as possible and, a couple weeks later, joined a different group ride with more experienced cyclists to try again, figuring I'd be fine. But I was way more jittery than I'd anticipated, especially as these guys kept pushing me to ride the wheel in front of me closer than I'd ever tried before.
Did I just have some especially bad luck starting out, or are crashes in group rides not so uncommon? Is there anything else I should be doing to get over my new fear of drafting except just keep showing up to the more difficult group, focus on relaxing, and work on trusting the more experienced cyclists?
Double pace line on a descent with not very experienced group sounds like a big part of your problem. Typically, you don't see double pace lines in casual inexperienced groups.
Biggest thing is just practice; the more you do it, the better you'll get.
A big key is keeping your focus up the road. Obviously you need to keep the wheel in front of you in your vision not to overlap it. but it should be your peripheral vision. Your eyes and ears should be observing what's happening up the road so that you have time to see perceive and react. So keep your gaze up the road past the hips of the rider in front of you.