Long Tom

I had the opportunity to ride with a fast group the other day for a few miles... I found myself unable to MENTALLY close the gap and instead hung about 6 feet back, in the turbulence...

My situation is that I suffered a serious contusion to my brain in a car accident 2 years ago. I'm told that I'm now high-risk for reinjury; my brain is now "brittle". Plus the symptoms of another injury, should it happen, might be permanent. I can't tell you how much that freaks me out! Don't want to go back there.

There are two issues I'm having with trying to draft.

First, a residual effect from my injury is that my ability to process incoming data quickly is tangibly impinged. When I'm 4" off the wheel of another bike at 20 mph, I exceed my ability to process fast enough to feel in control. I pretty much just have to go into a fairly passive mode mentally and let things blur on by- hard to describe.

Second, I am very worried that I'll end up in a wreck because of people in front of me going down. At drafting distances, there's really no time to react.

However, if I'm going to get better, I need to get good at this, or, just decide it's not for me and let it go. So..... how common are paceline crashes? And how can I absolutely minimize my risks here?

RollCNY

I have only ridden regularly with one group, intermittently with other groups, so here is what I know:

A good group will have no problem with you hanging off the back until you are comfortable. They don't want you uncomfortably in their midst any more than you want to be there.

Even 3-4 ft. back, you pick up an advantage. You don't have to go from 6 ft to 4" overnight. Work at your comfort level, and not over it.

Never overlap wheels, and do a minimum of braking to control speed. If you have to overlap, swing far to the left or right. Be 2 ft to the side instead of 4". Get back to your spot without sudden moves.

Never stop pedalling. Soft pedal as needed to not overtake the person in front, or increase your drag.

Most importantly, if you don't feel safe with the group, then self select out of it. Drop yourself. Better to ride safely alone than with company into a crash. As much as I like my primary group, I will opt out if certain riders arrive. What is interesting is that others do the same thing, and I end up with a more comfortable group.

10 Wheels

Our club had a paceline death last year.

Andy (24 y/o) was 2nd in line getting ready to take the lead when he hit the rear wheel of the lead rider.

Crashed into the roadway where a truck was already passing the group.

10 Wheels

Andy crashed where the rider is in Yellow.

Long Tom

RIP Andy!

StanSeven

One thing you or anyone eventually learns about pacelines is you don't focus on the wheel in front of you. What you need to do is look further down the road infront of several riders. Since you are all going the same speed, the 4" or 6" gap (and that's tight when maybe 6" to 10" is fine) will stay the same. You need to watch the wheel occasionally but your primary attention should be on the road ahead. You'll be able to see what's in the road and what other riders are doing and thus avoid crashes

bigfred 

Whether you persist in becoming comfortable at closer following distances is entirely up to you. I can share a couple thoughts on the subject though.

1. The company you keep can be everything.

My wife was very uneasy with the idea of riding close to others. We ended up joining a club and the slower groups that she joined did nothing to ease her concerns. The less fit, less experienced, less proficient riders simply weren't particularly good at maintaining a nice smooth predictable pace line. This made it difficult for her to find an comfort in the middle of such groups. When she finally resumed riding with me and wanted to train for an upcoming event I took her out for a couple of paced endurance rides where I would establish a heart rate I knew she could maintain and simply hold a rock steady cadence, shifting in order to maintain that HR. She had an epiphany. We have subsequently ridden in pacelines with both friends and strangers and she's considerably more comfortable now that she can recognize when it's not her and simply a poor paceline.

2. Most of us can't react quick enough to a wheel we are following by 4" if we are focused on that wheel.

Learning to look, up the road, through the other rider, is key to anticipating their future movements. With experience you learn to judge distance while looking at their jersey intead of down at their wheel. This provides you with more forewarning about situations that may result in slowing, swerving, etc. As long as no overlap exists, minor side to side movements are not of great concern and you'll find that the slight increase in wind resistance that occurs with such can be used to fine tune following distances while continuing to pedal and without use of the brakes.

I don't know the extent of your symptoms. But, if you were joining me in a group ride, I would appreciate you telling me about your situation. The knowledge might assist me in providing a safe and enjoyable ride for both of us and anyone else on the ride.

merlinextraligh

Sorry to hear about Andy.

There is no doubt that the risk of a crash is higher riding in a paceline. No matter how safe you try to be, and follow all the rules on how to do it, your odds of a bicycle to bicycle collision are higher riding in a pace line than riding solo.

Anyone that's spent much time riding with groups, or just watching professional bike races has observed that.

You can reduce the risk by riding with better riders, and working on being safe and predictable yourself. Good technique reduces but doesn't eliminate the risk. Even Pro's crash occasionally riding in a group.

On the countervailing side, I strongly believe, admittedly without quantative data, and setting aside the example of Andy, you're much less likely to be hit by a car riding with a group, just from safety in numbers,law of averages, and visibility.

So IMHO, your odds of a crash go up riding in a paceline, but your odds of death from collision with a car go down.


Also, you have to factor in the fun of riding with a group and what that benefit is worth to you.


Applying this to your situation, I think you have to make an honest assessment of the risk of a second head injury that you're willing to accept, and your own riding skills, and ability to perceive and react.

merlinextraligh

Preface: The following is by no means a criticism of Andy, but taking the opportunity as a teachable moment.

When both my wife, and my daughter started riding with me, or in a group, that exact scenario was a great fear to me. You overlap wheels, and fall, you're putting some skin and you're collar bone at risk. You overlap wheels, fall out of the bike lane into passing traffic, and you put your life at risk.

Lesson to be learned is that you need to be particularly careful about spacing when traffic is passing for this precise reason.

Also people can tend to let up or not hold their line, when they're spooked by or concerned about passing traffic. Hence the need to be mindful of what's in front of you when traffic is passing from behind.

bigfred 

The various overtaking traffic scenarios are not unique to pacelining nor drafting. Our club had a fatality last year when a rider stood on a climb and swerved or wobbled just a bit while in a traffic lane and about to be overtaken by a too close logging truck. The truck clipped her bars, causing her to fall toward the truck and go into/under it's trailer.

I only mention this, because I believe overtaking traffic to be a significant risk, regardless of whether one is pacelining/drafting or not.

On a couple of occassioins we have assumed a double line in order to place less experienced riders against the cub, protect them from the overtaking traffic, and better occupy the lane with experienced riders who are more capable of absorbing the air blasts from passing traffic while encouraging that traffic to only pass if they can do so while moving almost completely into the next lane.

Like driving on the highway or any other activity at high speed and around others, situational awareness is paramount.

patrickgm60

Well, I'll play Contrarian, here. OP, I think you should avoid fast pace line rides, altogether. Your auto accident heightens the risk, two-fold: impaired processing of visual data and increased likelihood that any future head trauma could be disabling. The benefits are simply, IMHO, not worth it.

Check into moderate- and "social"-paced group rides in your area and give them a try. The slower pace will make the tight formation less critical, increase your reaction distance, yet with the benefits of a group ride.

bigfred 

You admitted to being the contrarian.
This is where we will disagree.
It has been my experience that as long as those "slower" groups are comprised of less experienced or serious riders they remain less predictable and more challenging to read and react to. Put 8 less experienced riders together and someone will freak out when a truck passes way too close or a dog runs out into the street, giving chase. PUt a few experienced riders together at whatever speed and you could have a Peacock attempt to take flight through someone's front wheel without a single rider going down, as happened last Saturday.

Jed19

Yep, crashing in a paceline is a very real possibility. I have been in many pacelines, never crashed, but have seen many other people crash. As merlin mentioned, even pros crash sometimes. If you've been lucky surviving a serious accident that involved a crucial body part as the brain before, then a paceline is a very dangerous place to be in. I won't do it.

Will Goes Boing

From what you said in the original post.... I would advise you stay away from pace lines. First of all because of your condition, and secondly because riding in a pace line safely requires you to be a confident rider. If you're shaky and scared the last thing you need to do is hang off of someone's rear wheel in a group. I wouldn't want someone who's like that riding behind me.

patrickgm60

You say we disagree, and then you change directions.

Slower-paced rides do not necessarily mean less experienced. I know of a few local group rides that are made up of primarily older riders who simply maintain a slower average speed than the one the OP briefly joined. Conversely, one of the diciest group rides around is made up of experienced racers - lots of experience and lots of heightened risks, requiring quick reflexes.

gsa103

The problem is that the OP does not have the requisite experience and reactions for a "peacock incident".

I would definitely stick to loose formation rides, where you can give yourself a margin that you are comfortable with. Be especially careful approaching intersections/crossings as people may stop unexpectedly.

jon c. 

To me, that combination would make it an activity that is not worth the risk.

RollCNY

Where I am sympathetic to the two fatalities described here, I don't see how either makes pacelines more dangerous to someone susceptible to head injury. I know of three folks that have had head injuries from cycling crashes (2 20 years ago, 1 more recently), and all occurred when the riders were riding solo. These injuries were made worse by the lack of company, leading to longer delays before treatment. Based upon this, the OP should not cycle at all.

Edit: as frame of reference, in the group rides I deal with, I know of five crashes with zero head injuries, but broken collar bones, broken ribs, and broken fingers.

FLvector

Wow, very ironic, but a Peacock actually caused an accident in our group ride about a week ago. A younger, less experience rider, heard a peacock screaming on a rural road and was distracted on a slight uphill as he looked over. As a result he swerved just enough to cause a chain reaction, he took out another rider, who then fell and hit the front wheel of the rider behind her, then proceeded to run over his head. He took a jolt, but said he thought for a second it was a car passing him and was relieved it was only a bike tire. He was fine, some slight bruises and rib pain, but this just shows you how quickly things can happen. If this happened to you, would this cause damage to your brittle brain?

There's some very good advice above to seriously consider. If you have trouble processing your reaction to sudden events at a higher speed, you're not only a danger to yourself, but a liability to others behind you. Things happen fast with an A ride and there's so many variables that demand a high concentration. If you sit back 4-5 feet and expect to hang on with these fast rides, I think you'll always be struggling. Unless you are in tremendous shape. The longer the ride, the more difficult this will be.

So you need to give this some serious thought. You have several options, one of which is doing mostly solo rides, or even consider time trials if your up to it. Benefits vs. Risk and only you can answer that question.

halfspeed

The risk of a group ride varies a great deal depending upon the nature of the ride and who shows up. That said, however, I think it's not for you. You might get over the skittishness (and until you do, you'll be a danger to yourself and everyone else), but it sounds like you won't get over the impairment. I hate to be discouraging. Group riding is one of the great pleasures of road cycling, but I think it's a realistic assessment.

If you want to try it anyway, find a group of old guys who used to race.

Bacciagalupe

I don't think anyone has any solid data on the frequency of paceline crashes.

That said, if I were in your position, I would not do high-speed / technical / rotating pacelines. Given the increased risk of permanent brain damage, I don't think the risks are worth the rewards.

halfspeed

That's a good point. While the risk of a crash is higher, the fact that my group rides almost always have medical professionals riding along improves the odds of fast, appropriate treatment should the worst happen.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, don't do it. Leave a bike length between you and the next bike. If you can't hang here, find a slower group of friends with whom you can hang there. Injury is the absolute worst thing. It takes absolute concentration, good reflexes, and most importantly, the right reflexes to ride fast with a small gap.

I've never had a paceline injury, and no one I ride with has ever had more than a little scrape out of one, and very few of those. But these are all very experienced folks who've been riding together for many years and have nothing to prove.

eja_ bottecchia

I have to agree with Patrick.

The OP has admitted to some cognitive deficits. Why put himself at risk for further injury? And why put others, in the paceline, at risk?

Not worth it in my opinion.

I trust that the OP is sufficiently smart to come to the right decision.

Ride long my friend, but also ride safely.

OldTryGuy

Trying to stay with the paceline a bike length or farther back will be safer for yourself, safer for the group and make you stronger than riding in the paceline. Concentrating on a smooth pedal stroke and straight line handling will make you a better rider and build your confidence.

The big picture is to have fun and stay safe.