Originally Posted by
caloso
That's backwards. Line should maintain a steady speed, and then when the rider on front pulls off, he or she will softpedal and drift to the back of the line. The last person should call out "last" or "end" and the rider drifting back slots in behind. There should be no acceleration except for the tiny bit of getting back on the pedals as you hook on the back.
This is proper advice but incredibly hard in practice. There's nothing more satisfying than being a part of a good paceline where everyone's on the same page. I found out over the years that you need at least a dozen riders in a fast rotating paceline. Also, quality improves even more if everyone has similar fitness levels. My biggest pet peeve is someone less fit than the group average shows up to our Sunday group ride. That person drops like a rock on the slower side as soon as he completes his pull since he's likely on/over the limit. What happens is that creates a mess in the back of the slow lane people yoyoing. Is it a bad thing to ask that guy to stay off the back?