Originally Posted by
Gladius
I cannot stay with them for more than a few minutes - we warm up for the first 10 minutes and then they're off, and I can only hang for a few minutes until I'm dropped. To be clear, I'm not even taking pulls, I am just trying to draft and hang on but can't their pace for more than a few minutes and I'm way over threshold.
How does this happen? Is it on an uphill where they just hammer away? Or is it flat and they just increase the pace to something you simply can't sustain? Why and how you are being dropped will probably give you a clue on what you need to work. If it is a steady pace that you simply can't sustain, then some threshold work will probably be helpful. If they hammer for a few minutes to get rid of the deadwood, then you probably will need to work on your Vo2max efforts to be able to survive the high intensity long enough until the pace becomes more manageable. There is also the whole 'tactics' thing. Are you in the middle of the pack holding someone's wheel closely, or are you constantly dangling from the back? Particularly important during turns and changing terrain.