Smallguy

How do you pace to get back on if you've been dropped. this weekend I had a mechanical and dropped my chain then chased for over 40k brought back a few riders but never caught the pack

I dropped my chain on a hill where I am weak

I tried to hammer the sections that were faster and relax on the hills at bit

MDcatV

do the opposite of what you did. you need to go harder when it's harder and easier when it's easier.

Smallguy

so the logic is I can gain more ground by hammering the hills because it is unlikely I can go faster than a pack on the flats ?

Brian Ratliff

That is your only hope. If the pack is not going hard, you will gain more time going hard when the pack is slowest and nobody really wants to pull. Headwinds and hills.

If the pack is intent on going fast, then you are kind of screwed. The only reason why the pros in, say, the tour de france, can catch back on is because there is a mile long caravan of vehicles to draft off of behind the field and their wheel change or mechanical problem only costs them 15 seconds at the most. You don't get that in your local road race.

wanders

From the "Climbing for Fat Guys' bag-o-tricks" - when approaching climbs, you need to filter toward the front, if not get on the very front. Then as people come around, put everything you have into not getting dropped. You can rest at the top or the following downhill. Tabatas and 1 minute intervals help you recover quickly.

I have about 7 of these efforts in me before I find myself getting shot out of the back. I then make that one last hail Mary effort (I drill it) to catch back on. Usually 50-75 yards is my outer limit, if I do make it back, I pray for a lull, a downhill ... or a flat tire(mine).

I once had someone tell me I was pulling too long as we approached a climb, I was actually soft pedaling in anticipation of the ugliness about to ensue.

I said "I'm not pulling, I'm blocking"

colobrio

In addition to agreeing with MDcatV, I would add that the best odds usually lie in a relatively short, all-out effort. In relatively short races - which includes most lower cat races - there is not a lot of easy riding. Often, unless you're overdue for an upgrade, you could time trial at threshold the rest of way and not make up any ground. So you have to decide whether to do that, and hopefully at least pass a few, or bury yourself with an all-out, anaerobic interval for five minutes, and either catch back on or blow trying.

mattm

Hopefully not a problem you really need to learn how to solve.. **** happens, just gotta roll with the punches.

carpediemracing 

+1

In my clips I talk about bridging gaps fast. It's technically incorrect - it's better to not sprint across a gap. But when a regular racer goes to "bridge a gap" or "chase" they usually go about the same speed as whoever they're chasing. They'll never catch. If the pack averages, say, 25 mph, you need to average about 28 to catch them in any reasonable time. If you lose 30 or 45 seconds you'll be chasing at high speed for a good 5-10 minutes.

Alternately if you go harder, like 30 mph, you dramatically cut the chase time. I worked out the numbers but now I forgot them, but basically for given avg speeds (historically based) there are minimum chase speeds so I don't chase for more than a minute or two.

Remember, once you're on you'll be able to average 130-160w or so by sitting in, so it behooves you to bridge as fast as possible.

That's why I say to bridge gaps hard. Don't "time trial" because going 1 mph faster than the field won't get you back in the field quickly. You need to go a lot faster, like 5-7 mph faster.

Ideally you'll bridge at the top of a short rise so you can recover on the following short descent/flat. Or you bridge in the tailwind section so you're sheltered in the headwind. Etc. There is some terrain/wind thoughts like that.

A clip where I talk about bridging fast, with some examples:

mollusk

Wise ass answer: Go faster than the pack for as long as it takes.

Not so wise ass answer: It depends on how big the gap is, what your "power profile" is, when in the race it happens, and what is happening in the race.

TT-mode rarely works, but it has for me in the past. I got stuck behind the wrong wheel going up one of those fictional hills in Florida (90 second power climb) early in a RR and was very seriously gapped off. On the other side the attacks started coming fast and furious. That worked out great for me. I was in TT-mode (steady) and the group as surging to very high speed and then coming to a crawl. After 7 miles I caught back on and finished Top 10.

In other RR races I have been caught behind crashes, but have made up the difference by semi-sprinting (more like a multi-minute 'pursuit' effort) and catching back on just before the elastic would have snapped. If the mood of the group is mellow I can recover. If they suddenly surge I'm f'd. Better that than trying a 1 hour time trial that is doomed to failure.

While it is well outside of the official rulebook, sometimes the guys in the wheel truck will give a "helping hand" to those that got gapped off the back due to bad racing luck and not their own fault.

carpediemracing 

Dropping a chain can happen to virtually anyone, no matter how the bike is adjusted (except if you have a well adjusted N-Gear Jumpstop). This is why I try not to shift into the small ring in races.

I also don't do races where I can't do the hill in the big ring.

JandersUF

Its really simple math. You are behind the peloton. You need to go faster than them to catch up. It is hard to go faster that a big group.

Your best chance is to catch on within the next few minutes. So go as hard as you can for 3-4 minutes, see if you are making any headway. If they are still totally out of sight, you might just want to settle into long-term TT position and get to the finish by yourself as fast as you can.

In general, you'll make better time if you go a bit over FTP during uphills, and a bit less during down hills.

Creakyknees

As a fat 3 racing Masters open, I get dropped pretty often. What cdr and the others said is right, but, I can't over-emphasize: don't get dropped in the first place.

Sell your soul to hang onto that wheel, because once you're out of the draft, odds are very low that you'll see the leaders again before the parking lot.

Hida Yanra

At one point when I had decent TT legs (podiums in my cat), I had a flat in a race, and after a horrifically slow change, had 90" to make up. (not coincidentally, my last race on 9 speed)
Even though I made up 75", the last 15" are just as hard as the the first 75". I was close to the pack when they made a turn, caught a tailwind, surged, & were gone.
Lesson - gotta sell out completely to get back on, there's no knowing when the door will shut. I had paced my "get back" effort as a really hard TT, but not like a 4K pursuit. If you look at the profile of a hard TT vs a track-style pursuit, they are different enough to make the difference. Think - how would you attack from 4k out at the end of a race? That's what you need.

I just got one of these out of a misc parts bin in our shop... amazingly well designed. Everyone who can mount one of these on their bike should do so. It is MUCH better than a shark tooth / plastic hook / et al.

This would make a great sig for any racer - yeah, precisely this.

mollusk

You can save some weight (and maybe expense) by going to a single chainwheel, no FD, and a only a brake lever on the left side of the cockpit.

(I didn't check if this is race legal, but I cannot imagine why it wouldn't be.)

Smallguy

Thanks for the tips and I have purchased a k-edge chain catcher.

Hida Yanra

I have them on my non-round-tubed bikes... good stuff.

save10

also in the pro's notice the extra long hand off of bottles from the team car..darn those sticky bottles.

carpediemracing 

NGear is the best. A note: with the N-Gear I adjust my FD so it overshifts by a good 5-7mm. It forces the chain down, even under some reasonable crank pressure. The N-Gear is that good.

I have a K edge on the black frame (non-round). I still adjust my derailleur properly because it doesn't work as well. I've dropped the chain with it on.

If you have a Campy Ergo shifter you should learn to shift slowly into the small ring. For some reason I can't pick up a dropped chain with an Ergo/Campy set up (even with a Shimano FD). Generally speaking I shift slowly and deliberately when I shift into the small ring.

With Shimano/SRAM you can't do my "adjust wrong" trick because the front is indexed.

saratoga

Don't panic. Ramp up to speed and hold it, don't sprint.

I've bridged up to a 30 sec gap doing the diesel engine thing before, but it took a long time like everyone said. And it hurt like hell. If the gap is more than 30 seconds, I personally wouldn't even bother unless it was obvious that the field was easing up.

plantrob

I dropped my chain in last weekend's race as well. By the time I was going again, the pack was out of sight, and I was chasing others who hadn't made the cut in the acceleration that happened around the time of my mechanical. I learned pretty quickly that it was futile trying to chase with them - they hadn't been able to hang with the pack, so they likewise didn't match the pace I was setting trying to catch back on. So it became a lonely time trial at high tempo/low threshold pace. I never had much hope to rejoin the pack, but was dealt a glimmer of hope once on the long straightaway back into the finish (not the final lap) when I thought I saw a vehicle up ahead with the pack bunched up behind it. Alas, it was not the field being neutralized as I dared to imagine for a few seconds - when I got a bit further up the road my mirage had disappeared
In the end, although I wound up passing bunches of guys who had dropped off from all three of the race fields on the road, I most likely was losing ground on my pack continuously (my average speed solo was probably around 23 mph, vs. 25+ in the pack), and finished at a deficit of several minutes. I don't think anything my fitness level would have allowed me to do would have given a different outcome...

AzTallRider

Do any of the chain catchers prevent dropping your chain to the crank side of the big ring? That's the issue I have now and then. Using Q-Rings (and I do) increases the chance of it, as Wiggo has learned. The oval ring creates big gaps when the smaller radius is passing the chain guide, and that increases the chances of a drop. If his setup is the same this year as last, then the Di2 FD has even been repositioned (further back) to minimize the issue, and he uses a K-Edge. Yet he still dropped his chain in the Romandie TT.

MDcatV

if you drop your chain on the outside cant you just shift it back in toward the small ring and then back up to the big in a matter of about 2 seconds? only chain drops i've had to use anything other than the fd to get back on have been to the inside.

AzTallRider

Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. The first time it ever happened to me was in the Tucson Bicycle Classic RR. The course starts with some climbing, and I was in the SR. First time I shift to the BR, it pops off to the outside. It was an adjustment issue I had foolishly created the night before, trying to eliminate a rubbing issue, when I had too much time in a hotel room with my bike. Never having experienced it before, trying to get it back on using the FD really jammed things up. I believe the adjustment issue contributed to that. I had to get off the bike... twice! The couple of times it has happened since then, I was able to get it back on using the FD. Even if quickly rectified, it can cost you a race.

colobrio

I've never dropped a chain since installing one on my 'cross bike - and that's saying kind of a lot. Probably the best $10 I've spent on bike gear. I hadn't thought about sticking one on my road bike though, since I haven't had a problem - guess I'm pretty much a big-ring-race kind of guy as well.

himespau 

I bought one of those, but haven't gotten around to putting it on yet. Have a FD replacement in the works and figured that'd come first.