Originally Posted by
RShantz
Question for all of you aerodynamicists out there. If you have identical riders, on identical bikes, identical aero position..... you get the point a bunch of identical folks. How much faster, if any, would a peloton of 50 riders be than a small group of 3 or 4 if the lead riders in both groups are putting out identical watts.
At first this was kind of confusing, but then I realized a lot of it was only an attempt to say "all else being equal except the number of riders in the peloton " in other words, does the size of a peloton provide an advantage. I believe the answer is yes, especially when the peloton is a few riders wide, because drag is more dispersed. If you're talking about a single paceline, the guys in the back are NOT having lunch and chatting while the rider in front is working his guts out.
When you see everyone single file in a race, they are all working, maybe not as hard as the one at the front, but the guys in the back could be hanging on for dear life. When they're bunched up, sure, have a snack, take a break, whatever. Of course that's about more than just the effects of drafting, but that's part of it.