Paceline Rotation

[Greg F]

Thanks to MDAWSON for posting some cool vids from this morning.

It reminded me of a question on direction of rotations - in most rides I've been in, the pacelines rotated CW (faster line on the left, pull over to the right to ease back). On one of the vids and in a few instances on my rides, they went CCW (faster line on the right); maybe the wind was a factor in the video since that was filmed by Oak Bay? In previous places, all the pacelines I was in went CCW (regardless if they were rolling or not and regardless of wind direction, traffic, parked cars, etc).

Just curious if there's a reason behind going CW most of the time?

Greg

[Bosie]

My impression is that in the B rides, the paceline rotates CW to "protect" those on the curb. And also to not confuse things. ie. If we always do it this way, those learning to do a pace line wont have to worry about it changing.
In the A rides, the paceline is more organic. This might be because of the wind and tactics, but it also might be that when someone falls off the pace, or cant pull through, someone else drags up the line. Id be interested to know from one of the regular A folks why they think it is. Its certainly one of the adjustments one has to make when trying to transition from the "B" rides to the A1 ride.
Its why I think the A2 ride is so useful now- there are jumps and gaps in the paceline which need to be filled and is less "ordered" and "smooth" as some of the lower rides are. Its nothing close to the A1 ride, but definitely has a different feel.

[MDAWSON]

Yes I posted that paceline clip because it's so rare the As are working so smoothly in a paceline together! (haha jk jk...sort of).

Like Bosie said, the A ride pacelines are pretty fluid, with direction changes happening all the time depending on the terrain, the wind, what side the leader pulls off to, and who's coming up from behind on what side. We also single up quite a bit when there's an acceleration, then default back to a rolling paceline in whatever direction until the next acceleration.

The entire purpose of our ride is to create gaps, make breaks, and generally shatter the group so although the default is nicely rolling paceline, the cohesiveness is often strained.

One unspoken rule on the A ride to preserve some coordination is the 'pay to play' mentality. Attacks and accelerations are welcomed essentially from beginning to end of the ride, but you are expected to not miss any turns and do your fair share of work if you are going to be breaking the cohesion of the group by attacking. So basically, sitting in and attacking is frowned on, riding hard in the paceline and attacking is bonus.

[jbarrett]

With strong cross winds from the left, it makes sense to rotate to the left. That's because those behind are overlapping slightly and safely (or would like to) to hide from the sideways wind. It does spread us out across the road in an echelon and upsets cars trying to pass, but if there's little traffic and everyone knows we're switching left instead of right ... it's OK.
It's a problem when we're all going flat out and if it's not understood we're rotating left, not the normal rotation towards the gutter. But with communication, switching the the left should be as natural as rotating to the right.
Joe

[Lister Farrar]

"Like"

Really good explanations Mike and Joe. It's hard to explain this stuff AND the values of the group and the club, but I think you nailed it.

[Greg F]

Good education, thanks all!

Greg