jimmuller 

A friend who used to race decades ago (during and after his college days) was telling me about tricks they used to do, or rather, tricks other riders told him about, for gaining advantages during a race. I'm pretty sure he wasn't pulling my leg but I wonder whether the other riders were pulling his.

One trick was to ride the painted shoulder lines on the edge of a road. He said it was smoother and thus used less energy. My experience is that most painted lines these days, where they exist, feel rougher than the pavement itself. More importantly, the effort required to track that narrow a line would seem to be more than any benefit gained. Yes or no?

Another trick was when someone was on your rear wheel you should subtly slow then speed up then slow then speed up because the person following would spend more energy reacting than you used riding that way. I dunno', it seems you could wear yourself out that way.

So I'm just wondering if he was naively believing stuff other riders had told him as their way of maintaining their own advantage over him.

What say you? Who was pulling whose leg?

TheLibrarian

Both seem like something someone somewhere would try but can't say how effective either is. Messing with someone who's trying to draft you is probably more useful than riding the paint. Taunting someone at the start line might do something... encourage them to severely win you or overextend themselves who knows. You got any good yo mamma jokes.

clubman 

I'd buy both of them. Riders always look for the smooth surface and mind/body games are de rigeur.

3speedslow

Never heard any of those but one trick.

I did see over in Germany racing ( 87-88 )was two team mates would get beside each other and use their arm to support the other rider. When the race started, they were both already upright and feet in the cages.

Seemed to work, they really did not have to use fancy tricks on me though. Just plain rode me off their wheel.

caloso

On the line, maybe. They'd be more concerned about the wind. If there's a left to right crosswind, riding in the gutter is a time honored tactic to drop drafters. On the slow down, speed up, sure. You see this in breakaways where you're trying to drop a "passenger" (a rider who's not pulling his weight). Usually requires teamwork, though.

Bandera

Leg pulling no doubt by someone, likely the "others" in "tricks other riders told him about".

1) Riding the slippery painted lines is never a good idea for staying upright, even if you Think it's dry.

B) Yo-Yo-ing deliberately in a paceline at race speed or otherwise is ill-advised to say the least.
Dropping sitters-in is a necessary skill, there are more effective and less dangerous ways to do it.

Learning sound tactics, solid bike handling skills, acquiring endurance, power and speed from lots of seat seat time in structured training in a team are not good topics for lively riveting conversation.
Pulling the leg of the credulous certainly is.

-Bandera

lostarchitect 

There's smooth and there's slippy. A lot of places now put a grit into the road paint to try and prevent this, but without it the painted stripes can be slippy. I can tell you that motorcyclists avoid paint on the road like the plague. I can't imagine cyclists would find that an advantage in any way.

clubman 

Paceline no, no one would want to ride with you again but dropping a single wheelsucker? It happens subtly and often. You don't want your wheel lapped but you can raise the stress level on the bastad.
Riding dry paint in a straight line is somewhat riding the gutters around the Arc de triomphe...dangerous and faster. I remember the day I was leading out the pack and Sean Kelly said to me...oh that's a story for another day.

rhm

I was on a ride around eastern Long Island with @photogravity a couple years ago, and we definitely noticed that the reflective paint lines were smoother that the surrounding asphalt. Since then, I have made a point of riding on the paint line when practical. And I have found absolutely no consistency: sometimes the paint lines are better. Sometimes the surrounding asphalt is better, and sometimes I can't tell the difference. Worse, the lines often coincide with (and disguise) cracks in the asphalt. So to use this trick to advantage, you'd want to know the route well. Knowing the route is the real advantage, while knowing where the lines are smooth is just a detail.

Ronsonic 

Where I ride near Tampa the paint lines are usually a lot smoother than the pavement. Yes, they have less traction, but for JRA in a straight line, so what.

b dub 

Perhaps some what off topic but the trick that comes to mind is
Anquetil's wisdom. How can you argue with a five time TDF winner?
Y

ThermionicScott 

Later on in that book, he notices that Anquetil's bidon is never pictured in his jersey pocket, but why let facts get in the way of a good story?

jethin

That's pretty funny.

plonz 

I can totally see riding the paint. Many of our south Texas country roads are chipped seal and pretty rough. The paint stripe offers a noticeable reprieve from rough surface. They can get slippery though!

FBinNY 

While there's some elements of truth to using various techniques to discourage folks from drafting too close, I suspect the whole thing is more by way of urban myth than anything else.

While there may be (may be, not is) reduced friction on some surfaces, it's not enough to build a strategy on. Road position is chosen based on wind more than anything else. Unless the wind is from the left, you're far better off in the middle of the peloton than on the fog line. Also consider that riding the fog line means no room to maneuver when things happen (and they always do).

As for annoying the guy drafting, consider that racers all know each other's tactics, and anyone who got a reputation for discourage drafters can count on the same and worse visited on him in the future. So the technique might be used on a particular rider once in a while, but it can't be SOP.

gaucho777 

Yes to the painted lines but no to the yo-yo tactic. In fact, riding the painted line is one of the few tips I remember receiving from my coach before my first ever jr. national TT championship event (not at all to be confused with national champion win). It's definitely smoother and will give less rolling resistance. With all due respect to @Bandera, I'll +1 to the tactic of riding the painted lines, but certainly not in the rain. Riding on a painted stripe is not too hard. The trick is to look far ahead and not directly at your front wheel. I used to make a habit of riding along the painted white line to practice keeping my line, and could consistently stay in the paint for miles and miles even in crosswinds.

I don't believe speeding & slowing is a worthwhile tactic for a wheel-sucker since the trailing rider still maintains the advantage or riding in your draft. It's easier to catch up while remaining in the draft than to be the lead rider and speed up & slow down. You're better served to pull over wide quickly and force the rider to chase your wheel, or just attack and try to drop that rider.

look171

One of you legs must be longer by now. I ride the line all the time, and it requires little effort. I am not sure if its that much smoother, Maybe just a very little bit. wheel sucking for just 20 second would have more benefit then riding on the painted surface. Just don't try that in the rain. the rubber band effert he's maybe talking about is to not ride in the back of the pack. it happens all the time and it will kill you especially in the rolling hills where the group will hit the brakes going down and sprint up those damn hills. I think a better trick is to look at the other rider if you are both away and look at him and give a little smile and tear off a bit and make em' hurt but you must not show sign of weakness. That's what the old timers use to tell me in the 80s when I was a kid. It was very hard to do when you are at 90% and the finish is two more laps.

Don't speed up and slow down because other riders will pass you right up and you have to spend more energy to chase and fight for the top 5-8 spots.

calamarichris

Yes to riding on the paint--OF COURSE it's going to have less rolling resistance.
I've also noticed that riding on wet roads in the road means less rolling resistance, but I wouldn't corner or brake on the paint while it's wet--slicker than owl-dung, which is another hint about the rolling resistance.

And yes to the yo-yoing in a competitive situation too. If your competitor is drafting you, every little thing you can do expend his energy will benefit you. Look at it from the drafter's perspective: you want a steady puller up there, a considerate domeestique, so that you can focus on your fluid spin form, deep breathing, relaxing, conserving energy whenever possible.
Now imagine you have to instead focus on the guy ahead of you, to prevent his getting a gap, AND avoid drafting right into his rear wheel.
So much of racing is mental, tactical, being a ******bag. It's petty and stupid on a friendly group ride, but from a Machiavellian, racing perspective--every little advantage you can glean is worth taking. I confess I've done this in races, and usually they would just get irritated and attempt to ride away (I wasn't subtle enough about it apparently), and I would jump right on to their wheel and play dumb.
Not only are you whittling away at their focus, they are also using more energy, because even the most attentive drafter with the snappiest reflexes is going to have to waste more energy braking and accelerating than you will as the initiator of this cheap chicanery.

verktyg 

Two things...

When a rider from another team drafted from the inside rear, gradually edge him into the gutter...

In a pack, subtly upshift - a little later stomp on it for 10 hard rotations to get a jump and start a break away.

In the 70's we used to go down to Juarez, Mexico for criteriums. They used to get some dirty riders from Columbia who would do things like stick a pump another riders spokes also two riders would come up on both sides of someone and squeeze off the road.

One of our guys came from Florida and he knew some of the Columbian riders and warned us to stay away from the bad ones.

Best part of those rides was bringing back shopping bags full of dirt cheap Kahula liquor, mangos too!

verktyg

Chas.

72Paramount

1970's era used 10 greenies, 5 Advil, some preparation H and a beer for the win! This was before epo, testosterone, growth hormone and crystal meth.

Ex Pres 

How 'bout some illegal tricks?

There was a rider in TN a few years back that would "allegedly" disappear from the course during races (crits, lap road races) and reappear before the finish. Unless a course is completely marshaled, in the pre-chip days this could be effective.

Another useful crit trick is leaving your brifter just a touch loose. If a crash happens, even if you're not involved, you push your lever over a bit, head to the pits to get your bike fixed & get your free lap rest.

Convenient flats are also useful to earn a free lap. We've checked some of these "flats" in the pit after a rider has left with a wheel change and found that the tire still holds air.

OldsCOOL

I ride the fog line from time to time if the weather has been dry and temps are summer-like. However, I cant see how racers would think it to be an advantage that is indeed worthwhile when the degree of concentration necessary to stay on the line is better spent trying to be aware of nearby racers.

Last ride 76 

+++ Riding the line was for practice in keeping a line, as far as I was concerned. Always taking the shortest line, that was what we tried to do. i always felt glass was more likely to be found at the white line too. and didn't want the added risk of punctures.

Speeding up and slowing down, that's just silly - you're still the one sitting out in the wind. Jumping off to one side or the other and making them have to focus on your tactics or risking being dropped, yes! because if they don't respond quickly they lose all the draft, not just a couple of feet. Often, I found that after a few times eitherr they would start taking turns at the front, or would give up trying to match the jumps.

Regards, Eric

OldsCOOL

Did anyone mention the "Cinzano" yet?

Bandera

My favorite Leg Pulling story goes way back to when a teammate had a girlfriend in a town 40-50 miles away.

It was winter FG base mile season and he keeps going when it's time to turn around and head home for the group, off into the distance he goes.
Next day well into the afternoon he pedals into sight looking Totally Spent and Tattered.

"Where you been man?" We asked.

"Rode all day and all night, needed the Miles" he mumbled.
A Hard Man legend was born, to the credulous.

Of course his GF picked him up the day before in the next town and......

-Bandera