Originally Posted by EventServices
Our Tuesday night ride is fast and furious, and strangely has no egos. It's all the fast guys in the metro-Detroit area. We rotate a double echelon at about 30mph. We sprint at pre-determined points. We regroup. We chit chat. Then we fire it up again. We have sprinters and lead-outs. But again, no egos.
And every week, we get new riders jumping into our line and trying to roll with us. That's fine. Go for it. But you should be prepared to meet a very steep learning curve.
Some fail to realize what we're doing, and when they make mistakes, we yell.
You will get yelled at for the following mistakes:
- If you're on the front, do NOT pull the line through the bumpiest section of pavement. GO AROUND IT! There is no need to trash our wheels and bodies.
- If you're on the front, don't ride on the very edge of the pavement. Give some room for the echelon behind you.
- If you're on the front, you MUST pedal down the hills. Do not coast.
- If the line is hammering and you want out, you must hammer until you are on the front - even if it kills you - and then pull off. Do not pull out of the middle of the line. That's dangerous, and it creates a gap that the rider behind you must cover. You will get yelled at.
- When it's your turn to pull through and take your turn on the front, DO NOT accelerate. That's bad.
- When it's your turn to pull off the front, flick your elbow and move smoothly to the side. Nothing abrupt.
Please do not call us elitist. And don't ask us to 'dumb down' our training ride.
I've been participating in hard core rides like this for 20 years. And I'd have to strongly disagree with two points:
• If you can't pull through, you pull OFF. This 'pull through even if it kills you' nonsense is absurd, simply because if the rider who fails to pull through is unable to - well then all the frantic flailing around trying to catch the 30mph wheel in front of him - the one that he didn't have enough snot to reach in the first place - is only going to make the inevitable gap that is created LARGER. And if you want to 'Yell' at the offender, that's your adolescent perogative. Get a clue. If that dude pulls OFF he's done you a favor by keeping the gap 20 yards instead of 50. And if you're too weak to close a 20-50 yard gap maybe YOU'RE the one who has no business being on that ride. Nobody likes it when the guy in front of them lets a gap open up. But that is strictly YOUR problem. Hey, the poor guy who just allowed it to happen is about to get DROPPED all together. Look at it that way. Isn't that penalty enough?
You 'must hammer until you're at the front'. Yeah, OK. What do you do to those who don't? SHOOT them? Bring a big clip cowboy. As always, Titanium bullets please.
• You're advising people in a 30mph paceline to make sudden moves around bumpy pavement? The last time some idiot did that our local 30mph ride a couple of months ago he nearly took DOWN the 5 guys behind him. If you can avoid pavement smoothly, predictably, you do. If you can't, you ride OVER it and HOLD YOUR LINE. Spare us the whining about your $1500 Zipps. Get a trueing stand.
God, that's the most elitist crap I've ever read.
ELITIST ELITIST ELITIST.
Zieg Heil mein kleine Road Nazi : ).