Tripleshot Cycling

Words were exchanged at coffee this morning over something or other that somebody did or didn't do or something that somebody yelled or didn't yell. (names withheld to protect the innocent).
Heated exchanges are always a good time to revisit some basic rules, like the ones produced by the Velominati.
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

The video posted as part of Rule #5 "Harden the F**k Up!" is very funny. Stephan in particular will find it amusing...

These are hilarious and very real and beneficial to all of us!

I don't ride B often and am not sure what happens most days but may I suggest that along Dallas if we are in a pace line we rotate the same was other pace lines during the ride? Fast on the left, peel right, slower on the right? This morning we ended up peeling off to the right on the pace line.

Any thoughts?

Another thought. It was a pretty big group this morning. How do we split it and keep the B1 riders (faster stronger) in one group and the B2 (somewhat slower) in another? A suggestion I heard was maybe at the end of the first sprint on the box, the first 12, 14 take off and the rest of us form a second group when we have a group of 24 or more? On the regular Friday ride, the 12 or 14 to the top of Ash split?

Just a thought and something to think about. If you disagree, a respectful "F^&% Barton, you don't know what you are talking about" would be appreciated!!!

Stay Happy! Keep riding!

Oh ya, I think we should add at the top of the list of these "rules" our number 1 rule, This is a Group Ride first!!

Barton.

Most excellent Alan.

Another TS rider and I discussed the idea of rotating clockwise in all conditions, to keep the group narrow. There are drawbacks to this, such as when the wind is from the left. Riders trying for cover on the right of the wheel in front, risk getting their wheel taken out if the rider in front moves right. (I think this needs a diagram but don't have time right now.)

Another way to keep the group narrow is, um, ....to keep the group narrow. At the youth sessions, I describe the easy, two-up parts of rides as good practice for bunch skills, where you stay on a wheel, don't overlap, watch the front, learn to read the pace changes, and ride close to the person beside you. In short, "Nice tight two's please". We could certainly be tighter than we are.

Is this a crazy risk? Can this be learned? Its worth noting in the recent Windsor Park VCL, which very kindly hosted the road portion of the recent amydf youth camp, in the three youth races, with 55 riders taking part, there were no crashes. In the open races after, there were five crashes, including a dislocated shoulder, a broken collarbone, and stitches in a hand.

Most AMYDF riders had little track experience, which was the amydf session the day before windsor, and many had no bunch experience. But they got lots and lots of drills Saturday morning on the track, including weaving through pace lines and passing between two lines of riders about 4 feet apart. And three races each, with only one minor fall which resulted in a skinned knee and a rider determined to race again. Yes, VCL races are faster and longer, but if distracted 13 year old boys can learn this, anyone can.

Yes to all 3 suggestions Barton....25 or 30 is fun...12 is alot safer. The "reverse rotating pace line " on Dallas Tuesday morning was crazy. And should we be doing any kind of rotating pace line on Dallas, leading into the sprint(s)?? We normaly don't.

Safe riding .. cheers pc

The "reverse rotating pace line" is pretty much standard for the B1 rides after Hollywood. I suspect that's due to the prevailing winds along there, which, when they're blowing, are blowing more often than not from the SW (scroll down on this page to see the wind direction for the last month). It seemed like there was only one person who had a problem pulling off to the correct side, although maybe there is some more general divide here between trends in the B1 and other groups.

I agree with trying to split up larger groups one way or another, although I think this is more important on the Tuesday rides than the Friday. On the Tuesday rides the turn onto Cedar Hill and the the sprints can get ugly fast if there are cars or other riders anywhere along there, and having a big group, even when it is drawn thin, only compounds that ugliness. Maybe at very least, instead of having a blanket limit and split on the group size all days, we can encourage Tuesday groups not to start, or grow, beyond 16 or so.

I've been away for a month and have gotten fat(ter) and slow(er), but I did manage one group ride with the Ottawa Bicycle Club. Though they have some 1200 members, there were only about 16 of us for a Tuesday night ride- two groups of 8. I big turnout is ~50 people for a weekend ride. Left me wondering what all the other members do....
anyway, with the rural Ontario roads, they keep in skinny twos. They do this by having very slowly rotating pace line with a defined clockwise rotation. There was lots of yelling and consternation when someone didn't follow this routine.

Imagine if you will, 2-3 min full in the left lane of the pace line, then another 2-3 min pull in the right lane. This means that you are never 3 or 4 wide, only ever 2 wide. If you pull too long in the left lane, that won't work out so well for you. Once benefit is you get to have a new person to talk to every couple of minutes.
RG

Being in the navy I get moved around a lot and the rotation method Rob mentions above was the method used by the other clubs I have been involved with.