redlude97

You pulled for too long and you jumped too late or timed getting back onto the back wheel wrong. Its okay it takes a while to get used to. When you move over and soft pedal you still need to maintain a close speed differential with the line depending on how many riders there are and anticipate when the end of the line is coming up. You should be matching their speed by the time they pass and just sliding over

ksryder

But also people shouldn't surge when they get on the front. It can be two things.

colnago62

I don’t take long pulls for that reason. I don’t want to be so fatigued that getting back on might be an issue. Honestly, I don’t generally enjoy riding in groups where they feel the need to ride like it is a race. I bought a power meter and started using TrainingPeaks software. I noticed that many of the the groups rides were very uneven. The Efficiency Factor number was very high, while the average speed wasn’t much higher than my solo rides. I would always feel so toasted riding with those guys.

Zuzus pedals

Ah! That route starts in Owego! I'm in Ithaca and ride down to get on 96B/96 between here and Owego about 2-3 times a year, usually between Willseyville and Catatonk. Also have a low-hanging fruit (only 21.0 mph average) KOM on an out-and-back segment from Candor to Spencer and back to Candor. That area is definitely as flat as it gets around these parts - that and 17c between Waverly and Tioga Center. The bit from Candor to Spencer is a tiny bit more rolling than Strava shows it to be, but it's significantly flatter than the Ithaca area. That 17c stretch is where the state TT is. I've never done that, but drove down to ride on the course once to see if it was as easy as they say, and it's pretty flat too!

billyymc

Well this all turned out to be academic! Of the four of us planning to ride, two begged off a day before the ride.

So it was me and my buddy who did Ironman Lake Placid (last weekend in July). Well turns out he hasn't done a lot of riding since then, and 30 or so miles into this planned 200 mile ride he was falling off the pace quite a bit. He decided at mile 38 that he didn't have it in him to do 200 yesterday. I had already decided I wasn't going to ride the ride solo again, so we shut it down and finished a nice 60 mile morning ride and got home in time for a late breakfast.

phillman5

Not really. A local pro rider (invited to the Olympics try outs in '88 or maybe '92) and Team TT was his speciality, said the line should almost be continuously changing so you pull for maybe 10 seconds.

mcours2006

So what you're saying is that, yes, it is long.

Team TT is different than weekend recreational group rides. For most people in this category, posting the fastest time is not their goal. Doing 10 seconds pulls would take the enjoyment out for me. I normally ride with three or four guys, so about 2-3 minutes up front is just about perfect.

audiomagnate

We're supposed to do 45 seconds but traffic is a big factor on our rides.

colnago62

It is not the same pace. A 4 man team tt will cover 100 kilometers in under 2 hours. Their pace won’t be nearly that fast, which means you can spend more time at the front.

grolby

The "most correct" way to pull off is into the wind, but in practice, riding on the right side of the road makes pulling off to the left (and passing on the right, yes) the most practical way to roll a paceline. I've never been in a paceline where people pulled off to the right except in a race, and even then people tend to rotate to the left just out of habit.

I used to see guys do this when I was living and riding in the South, but the more conventional, internationally recognized "pull through" signal is to flick the right elbow.

caloso

Same. But when you get a big continuous rotation with experienced racers, people don't even flick. They just slot over.