tiiger

Didn't state your point specifically, but came close...

From the article:

A group is concerned with others’ well being. We point out obstacles in the road, we signal directions and we take care of each other. A rider who is struggling is sheltered from the wind and given food and drink. We wait for those who have punctured and help them repair the flat. Every cyclist has a bad day. A group will get you through the bad moments.

pdedes

IA group like this is invite only plus guests. Thing is, because of the quality of the riders that show up (very good), it's a low fireworks deal, so there might be some fun over the top of a climb or a town sign, it's mostly conducted under a flag of truce. The aim is lots of miles, good conversations and a coffee in the middle or at the end.

More group rides should be like this.

thechemist

Key point and a good one. Want a great group ride? Find one that rides atleast every week year round

StephenH

"this is invite only...because of the quality of the riders that show up (very good)..."

I notice, in real life, and on the ol' interwebs, that it is very popular to complain about the lack of cycling skills in other riders. It is also very unpopular to do anything about it. This article kind of demonstrates that. He's describing the "perfect" group- which, to his mind, doesn't include anyone new, anyone slower, anyone less experienced, anyone they don't already know. Which is to say, it is fundamentally different from the club that he himself learned to ride in.

pdedes

He would have done what it took to get the invitation. The corrections are sometimes gentle and sometimes not. But you get in and even though there are conversations up and down the line, it's remarkably quiet. No "car up, car back, hole" and the like.

These rides are typically populated by racers and former racers. They pin on a number if they want to race.

caloso

Yes. It sounded like a team ride to me. Ours often include former teammates who have gone on to bigger and better things, future teammates, retired racers, and friends of the team, but we all know and trust each other to be able to handle his or her bike.

big chainring 

I think the prerequisite to riding in this manner is a seasons worth of riding on the track. A dozen or so miss and outs with 40-50 riders will calm your nerves while riding in two abreast formation.

Brian Ratliff

Not a prerequisite, but it helps.

GFish

Being a newer cyclist without paceline experience, I'm confused on the double paceline technique described in the article. In a double line, I thought the inside line moved forward and the outside line slipped backwards. Both lines working in a counter-clockwise rotation. So instead of both front riders splitting off, only the inside front rider moves left while that outside line continues to slip back.

I assume the double line rotation could rotate in either direction depending on wind.

Do I have this all wrong? Or is there more then one method for double pacelines?

gregf83 

You described a rotating paceline whereas the article referred to a two-up double paceline where the leading riders simultaneously peel off to the outside of the line. See attache link.
https://www.lostrivercycling.org/paceline.html

nhluhr

I'm a little bit amused that any of that article's content is news... I guess that speaks volumes to the lack of good mentoring out there with the various shop and club rides.

StanSeven

I ride occasionally with two groups. One is smaller with maybe 30 members of a former team of racers. We do pretty much everything in this link. The other is a large club with multiple rides all over the area every weekend. Often I see people only that one time and the rides are the exact opposite with people showing off their strength by picking up the pace, stopping for intersections and red lights is rare except when traffic forces them to, and taking up most if not the entire lane. When someone tries to correct these problems, riders just ignore them or don't join that ride again.

Slackerprince

Like slipping seamlessly into a Blues jam.

S

ultraman6970

In my area is like this, and sorry but even the club riders groups look like monkey's B-day celebration. That's the reason I dont ride in groups, ride with a found partner and he had been absorbing stuff from me, he is riding pretty well now.

Nobody wants to learn and nobody wants to teach or even take charge of the conglomerate of "monkeys" you find riding in large groups.

Like 3 weeks ago I hoocked up with a club group and the riding of all of them was just horrible, the non experienced in the back clearly were not being taught and pretty much from the little words I crossed from them (3 guys) clearly after 6 months nobody taught them crap, they were not sharp enough either to figure it out from looking at the rest either, since "monkey see, monkey does"... the only things i noticed is that the whole group learnt some bad habits from somebody that probably was not even in the group, was a real weird experience.

Been saying for years that experienced riders should take their time to teach newbies, is the only way to create conscience in new riders and basically protect themselves and everybody.

Cheers.

Lamabb

This article is great! I like to think that my club follows most of these guidelines but there are always a few who push the pace. It's a beautiful thing when I go on a ride that stays together and rides in sync with one another - when everything and everyone just "clicks". I give props to the author, this needs to be shared around.