CraigB

Unless they give me a target range, I never rely on what others verbally tell me the speed is supposed to be. Who knows how well their computers are calibrated, or, if they use GPS units, the speed display can be off considerably from one moment to the next due to environmental conditions. Instead I glance occasionally at my own unit's speed readout when I'm back in the line (carefully) and then work to maintain that speed when my turn at the front rolls around.

chefisaac

Craig: This is an inside joke.

Some should make sure their computers are calabrated.... IBO!

IBOHUNT

Mine WAS.
All Ya'll three of you had bad GPS readings. I can't help it if my 16 mph was your 18 mph

CraigB

I figured it was. But it's still a situation that happens and people need to be able to work around it. I was suprised the first time I noticed my expensive-to-me (and therefore presumably accurate) Garmin's speed reading was thrown off while riding on a moderately-wooded MUP. I know I was going at least 16 and it showed readings from 11 to 14 until I'd get into little clearings. Fortunately, very little of my paceline riding is done on MUPs.

Seattle Forrest

There was a thread a long time ago in the road forum about this. Some people go out on a grass field at 5 mph and practice overlapping tires, taking turns in front and back. The idea is to get used to it, in a safe environment, so that if it ever happens at speed, you'll have a good chance of keeping the bike upright (and not taking the people behind you down, too). I don't know that I'd recommend it ... but food for thought.

sjvcycler

The number one rule in a pace line is to learn when to use your brakes (most of the time you don't). That alone will save you from crashing yourself, the person in front of or behind you. Newbies should not pull and should rotate through the front for their first pace line ride. For new people, getting the feel of the pace line and learning what a safe distance between themselves and the rider ahead of them is the thing to learn first. I've ridden in pace lines going 15 mph and I've ridden in pace lines going 27 mph the skills are the same. Experienced riders should always make sure to take care of new riders and coach them. If newbies don't want help learning and or won't listen I've learned to either drop them or not ride with them. Those are my two cents.

CJ C

I have the wheel sensor (GSC10) that is supposed to kick in when the GPS is not working right. Like your exact situation. in theory

in practice, i get the same exact thing if its heavily wooded. i will be crusing at 16mph in the clear. but at the same cadence and same gear in the wooded i will get the 11mph-13mph reading. Took about two months of hammering thought that section to figure out that it was the trees not my effort.

mkadam68

+1

chasm54

People learning how to race do this all the time. They also deliberately make contact with one another, lean on one another and so on so they become accustomed to staying upright in contact situations. I believe some trackies will go further and deliberately overlap their front wheel with the rear wheel ahead of them, then make contact and hold it together by steering into the rear wheel. I wouldn't be suggesting these drills for beginners, though, not least because as far as the last one is concerned, I dont know how to do it myself...

mkadam68

+1

Although, I would recommend some "contact" or "bump" drills for pseudo-beginners (those who at least know how to ride), especially if they can be done in a safe manor. These are incredible at building self-confidence and agility & balance. Wonderful things to have for beginners.

TrojanHorse

I don't think that's the way the GSC-10 works - you're either using the wheel sensor or you're not. I say this from the perspective of some body who fiddled with his GSC-10 for 2 months, getting erratic results until I finally replaced it.

If your wheel speed sensor isn't reading EVERY revolution of the wheel, your speeds will "flutter" and your ridden distance will be shorter than it should be.
if you tell the garmin to ignore the wheel speed and use GPS, you'll get overall good results but again, the speed will tend to fluctuate around your actual speed depending on GPS signal error.

Tragically, there is apparently no logic built into the garmin to compare the two sources to validate that the wheel speed and distance sensor is working properly. I lost 3 miles on a 30 mile ride one time as a result of that, even though the damn GPS obviously knew I was moving.

Like I said, one of my GSC-10 sensors could NOT be made to work properly so I ordered a new one. I still needed to add some of these puppies to the magnets (both cadence and wheel) to help with my chainstay curve - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00 and now everything is peachy.

avance

While in Destin, FL 2 weeks ago I went out with a paceline ride from Robin's cycling. I was told it was an 18mph ride, which is pretty easy in a paceline. We started off with a 24mph+ sprint down scenic 98. I was doing 24mph pedaling my butt off and couldn't keep up. We stopped at a stop sign and the group got back together and then it was a another dead sprint and I couldn't maintain pace at 22mph. At this point about 1 mile in to the "group ride" I dropped myself and rode at a comfy 17mph.

CraigB

The group I ride with on Thursday nights is advertised (on the shop website) as averaging 16-17 mph. Nearly all of our rides this season have actually averaged in the neighborhood of 18.5. Not the discrepancy you noted on your ride, but enough that it could discourage some.

avance

I usually ride on a Tuesday and Wednesday group ride. Tuesday speed is up to the leader, but no more than 20mph, usually in the 17-18mph range on the flats. Wed has 2 seperate rides, one is an average 14mph pace for 18 miles and the other is a 16-18mph pace over 25 miles. There are hills in both of these rides but that is what is expected on the flats.

sjvcycler

that is not how it works. If the magnet in the wheel is present, gps is no longer used for speed calculations.

sjvcycler

Here is an easy and safe way to drill. Ride side by side with your buddy and learn to learn into another and bounce off when you get close. That way one day when you are not paying attention and get to close, its not a bid deal. One buddy I ride with and I are so used to each other that its no bid deal if I reach over and push off him once and a while. That way when you look up and your about to bump into somebody, you don't over correct and crash everyone.

CJ C

I have the wheel sensor present, and i have tested time and again on one section on a heavily wooded MUP, i will be in a clearing at 95rpms going 16mph then once in the heavy wooded area in the same gear and the same rpms my speed will drop to 11mph-13mph. The most logical explanation is the gps signal is lost or weak, and either deffered to the wheel magnet or sticks with a crappy GPS signal and never uses the wheel.

i dont think my wheel expands in this section, i have not ruled out some crazy magnetical field here either, so i cant say for sure what is going on.

You would think some kind of logic would be written on such an amazing little computer. I will need to check my settings about the ignore wheel speed. i always assumed that the unit would automatically use the best one.

I have those rare earth magnets, put it on the crank arm for a test, i couldnt get the dang thing off, powerful little buggers!

paisan

I'm pretty certain that for the wheel sensor to be used exclusively you need to have the "wheel size" on the bike profile page set to "custom". If you leave it on Auto it will use the GPS signal to determine speed.

sjvcycler

I guess its best to set it on the 500
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=27927