the joy of pulling
 

I'm know a lot of you are solo riders, but for those of you who ride in groups.

One of the great pleasures of certain group rides is doing long smooth pulls. I had a ride like that this morning. In this case, it was not a particularly difficult ride - a Sunday ride, not very fast overall. I was riding with friends who are more or less at my level, but for whatever reason today I had a little more in the tank than the others. In a 50 mile ride, I had about 4 different long pulls, each for something like 3-5 miles. Not heroic, just riding a little above tempo. Glancing back, they were clustered tight on my wheel, enjoying the draft. Others in the group contributed great pulls also.

There is a certain feeling in those moments. There is always a good feeling when riding at sustained, but not extreme, effort, but more importantly, a feeling of connection.

Anybody out there have similar experiences?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most cycling fun ever. Riding solo is fun, but riding in a paceline is Really Fun. I did that every Sunday for many years, all with the same group. The group is sorta still there, much diminished in number and ability so that we really can't paceline anymore. Riding with friends is still fun though. I'm starting to get back to it, sucked a friend's wheel for 37 miles a week ago. Folks have become more dilapidated at an uneven rate, so we get spread out now and regroup at the rest stop. Some of us went to e-bikes, but they're a minority so far.

Learning how to pull takes some experience. When we ride solo and the wind gusts a little, we usually keep the same effort, meaning we slow or speed up in the gusts, depending on direction. Pulling, we hold the speed and vary the power. Going over the top of a hill, we accelerate as soon as we start to descend. Can't do that with a paceline. The leader can't accelerate any faster than the last rider in the paceline. Lots of stuff like that. It's an art. But that's the fun of it, too. Riding with people who know how to pull is a real pleasure. And conversely . . . I like to say that on a group ride, we speak with our bikes. There's a language. That's a great way to get to know each other. We're pretty naked out there.

When I rode in pace lines we had set lengths of pulls to create a rhythm and keep everyone relatively at the same level of strength for the entire ride. I always enjoyed those rides. OTOH I am basically a TT guy and that's how I ride these days. I think my strength and what I really like is being a Lead Out man.

Me too! I always tried to lead out the guy who could totally out-sprint me - and everyone else. Those days were so much fun. Right on about pull length. 3-5 minutes was good. What did you do about the folks, if any, who'd go off the back if the pace was too high for them? Rare, but it happened. I was the boss - I'd run the line and talk to those who weren't behaving.

Yes, in some of the groups I ride with, there is an expectation that people take measured turns of 3-5 minutes, like Carbonfiberboy just mentioned. Generally, those are somewhat faster rides, and it is the most efficient way to distribute the effort. On that kind of ride, you don't actually want people taking the sort of long pulls that I described in my OP - it actually slows things down b/c the effort up front is too great for people to sustain it for, say, 5 miles. What I was describing was a less intense effort, overall.

In both scenarios, pulling in front of a group that stays tight on your wheel feels great.

There are other variables. In some groups riding a double pace line, the two pullers end their pull synchronously, requiring some communication about when to be finished. There are other double pace line rides when people finish asychronously.

When I was in Germany, I went on a Berlin Rapha Clubhouse ride that was the most regimented ride imaginable. Double pace line, all pulls ended synchronously and the pulllers went all the way to the back. Consequently, the person next to you remained your partner throughout the ride. Actually, pulling in that scenario just felt like work. It didn't have the joy that motivated my OP.

Usually the line would slow down and a strong rider would go back and pull them back up. Also if someone was too tired to take a pull when he/she was the last rider the spent rider dropping back would pull in in front of that rider.

I did the drop back thing a couple times but the rider said, "Hell, no." They were done. I've been that "done" rider too. Nothing like 40 miles of solo as best as one can do. Strengthens the mind. We never wanted to slow the majority. Different folks . . .

On my first long 1500km brevet, next to last day, I slept later than most and played catch-up. Well rested, I was flying. I collected stragglers who sat in. By the time I stopped catching people, I had a train of 10-15 behind me. We stopped for food a couple times, then we'd start up again. That was probably a 100 mile pull.

Indeed, it was fun.

At the end of the day, I got a cot at the arranged overnight, where most of my train decided to ride on through the night to the finish (since they were fresh lol). I was toast. Good times.

Read this earlier and meant to call it out, but forgot to. Very well put "we speak with our bikes. There's a language". Exactly captures the feeling of a good group ride.

The ride I described yesterday - every one of the guys on that ride, I've ridden many hundreds of miles with them - and with a couple, many thousands. Yeah, we talk, but there are long periods of time when we are communicating just with our bikes.

My buddy once rented a tandem that we did a century on... neither of us had ever been on a tandem before, he was captain.

Took us a while but we eventually found our groove and we had really long lines behind us during the flat sections. Then everyone would pass us on the next hill and tell us how cool that was.

I remember and savor great pulls like I do great descents. I can play back the tapes in my head and they always bring a smile.

The only "pulling" I like to do on a bike is myself. I have done group rides numerous times. I am not enamored to riding with others for that long. I am okay with a ride partner, maybe a couple, usually for short periods. I love riding my bikes, but prefer soloing. I do not mind another rider jumping on my tail for a bit of time. If I do not wish for it to continue, I can speed up to pull away, or slow down until they are gone.

Such a German attitude. I am German and grew up with the regimentation that Germans seem to embrace to create order and regimentation.

I've never even seen a double pace line. That'd take the whole lane. The most fun paceline I've ever been in we were going really fast, pretty much lactate threshold pace. When one came to the front it was like being hit by a fire hose. One pulled over as soon as possible and joined the backwards moving paceline and just tried to hold on until another rider moved over and shielded one from the firehose. We did that for an hour, most sadistic fun I ever had.

We started doing this coming out of the last rest stop on a big ride. The riders we passed would get on the back. At one point we had maybe 30 riders behind us, but after an hour no one was there. We were just riders who'd never seen each other before, but we seemed compatible riding together and after a while that paceline just happened. I don't remember how, but probably the rider on the front really picked up the pace, pulled over, and we all thought that was fun, last 30 miles, no more hills, let's go! It was wonderful to be strong and celebrate it.

Originally Posted by MinnMan
There are other variables. In some groups riding a double pace line, the two pullers end their pull synchronously, requiring some communication about when to be finished. There are other double pace line rides when people finish asychronously.

When I was in Germany, I went on a Berlin Rapha Clubhouse ride that was the most regimented ride imaginable. Double pace line, all pulls ended synchronously and the pulllers went all the way to the back. Consequently, the person next to you remained your partner throughout the ride. Actually, pulling in that scenario just felt like work. It didn't have the joy that motivated my OP.

You both need to come down to Franken and Bayern... we're definitely are bit less regimented on the Local town Sat afternoon ride.
Can't speak for Schwaben.
The young and strong pull longer and harder... the old get practice wheel sucking.
It definitely feels more like a SoCal 'social ride... But then they're very accommodating when the quite old 'Kaliforner' shows up for the ride... LOL!
They do have their younger riders ride which are a bit more structured.
Ride On
Yuri

Actually - I was living in Oberfranken - Bayreuth to be precise. I didn't find many group rides to join there. On the other hand, it is one of the best kept secrets for fantastic road riding, at least in the warmer, drier months.

Enjoyed trading off pulls on club rides a couple of decades ago. We set a 2 min max time to be out front. Last summer did a couple of pulls on another club rides, and it was a good feeling. Always enjoyed the compliment that I kept the pace constant and when in the paceline, was a good smoother when the line became disjointed.

AKA a "good wheel."

Back in my distance running days, we always classified our runs into one of two general categories -- "long, slow base" runs, and "performance/training" runs.

The performance runs always had some route and component to the run where we pushed things, working on certain aspects of our running abilities. Harder hill climbs, intervals, sprints, whatever.

But it was the long, slow, "running base" efforts that always grabbed me and kept me coming back. I could de-emphasizing the specific performance aspects needing work, but instead focusing on better connecting mind/body/spirit on the run. Managing the breathing, going at a pace that could be sustained almost indefinitely, "recharging the batteries", taking in the sights along the way. Turns out, these sorts of runs developed into much more rapid pace, as we improved our overall conditioning and performance. But it was also on some of this moderately-quick "base" runs where I would most often get that almost-euphoric "runner's high" feeling.

Learned to apply much of that to my cycling. Mostly, I have always done A-to-B transportation cycling. The "long, slow base" type approach seemed to have worked well for most of my rides as well. These days, I've got old injuries that preclude any sort of performance running or cycling, but longer, moderately-paced or slower-paced rides still appeal to me. It's what all my rides consist of these days. No "cycling high" feeling from the exercise itself, in terms of the endorphins, as I no longer push that hard. At a certain pace, it's almost meditative. But from a "battery recharge" standpoint and better-connecting with the experience ... it still works. And I still love it.

Sounds like the definition of Zone 2.

Above I wrote about the manageable and organized pace lines that worked like well oiled machines. No one rockets off the front and if someone is getting tired on the back, someone or the group will fade back to get them back on board.

With a different group, sponsored by a LBS, there were a lot of hot shots and the pace line was FAST, at least for me. A sustained mid-20s ride is pretty spicey. Being in the draft was good but still was working hard. Then came my turn to pull. Think I was out front for a minute or so - which felt like an eternity. Spent, I gave up the front and drifted back as the 15 guy train was passing. Did another rotation and this time was really shot. When I got to the back, I had nothing left to jump back on and fruitlessly tried with everything I had to latch back on. One bike length quickly became two, four, ten, twenty as i watched them motor away into the distance. Thought I could hang with the big dogs, but they taught me a lesson about my capabilities or incapabilities. I rode the rest of route solo at my own pace and decided that once with that group was enough. But it sure was fast fun while it lasted.

"most sadistic fun I ever had."

Have you ever tried to explain that to your spouse or anyone else who isn't remotely interested?

Had that beyond my limit pull yesterday and was hurtin' for certain last night. Pain and pleasure at the same time!

I know what kind of looks I would get if I tried. Incredulous disbelief, with a touch of ‘are you out of your mind’, comes to mind.

Actually, she gets it. Been there, did that. Stokers rule. Yeah, I'm a lucky SOB. That said, I kinda don't get it myself. Maybe it's an evolutionary thing associated with survival. But yes, most folks think I'm nuts, which is a fair appraisal. OTOH, at the gym folks say, "You're how old?" So there's that. On my way back, squatted 125 for 12 yesterday. Yeah, that hurt. :) Actually, it's just egoism. Nothing wrong with that when appropriate.

When I had a tandem, and it was a good male friend and me, since we were the fastest, all we did was pull. On the Seattle to Portland one day ride, we pulled trains of up to 15 people, which was never reciprocated. On RAMROD, we would pull people for miles on the flats just to have them pass us when we started climbing, because tandems are not fast climbers - only descenders. Then we would descend so fast, no matter how hard they tried, the could not catch our wheel.

With my wife as stoker, all she wanted to do was catch and pass people, which we did a lot. No pulling since I was not doing group rides then.