When The Paceline Stalls…

October 27, 2009 · Comments

skccCrit1

I had an interesting experience on Saturday while racing the Warny.  After Feedzone #2 when the peloton split and the hard chase commenced I was rolling turns with all the big hitters of the race.   Everyone was driving hard and doing their share of the work nice and smoothly.  Then, all of a sudden I found myself in an unfamiliar situation that I’ve seen many times but never been directly a part of.

As I rolled through the paceline of riders I pulled off in front of the lead rider.  Another rider did the same and pulled off in front of me.  Then nothing.  There was no one else coming through and the whole chase effort had stalled.  The guy on the front was stuck there driving the pace while everyone else was sitting on.   I looked behind us to see what was going on and started to wave my arm so to initiate someone to come rolling through to get it going again.  Then I found myself being yelled at with everyone telling me to pull another turn.  What…Me?  I just did a turn!

I’m sure many you have been in the same situation where you’re rolling along smoothly with everyone sharing the work up front and then no one pulls through.

There are a couple things here:

1. Why does the paceline stall?

Sometimes the paceline stalls simply because someone at the back skipped their turn and left the guy in front with no one on his wheel.

However, quite often it’s not the rider who skipped his turn fault (the guy who decided to stay in the slower lane in illustration below).  It’s often the fault of rider who just pulled into the Faster Lane who isn’t pulling through smoothly and is dropping wheels.  This is the worst type of rider to be behind and often people will skip their turn in order to find a better wheel to follow.

trackTurns

Therefore, if you keep finding yourself at the front of the paceline and it keeps stalling with no one pulling through, it’s likely your fault that this is happening.  You may not pulling out of the slower lane into the faster lane smoothly and predictably.

However, many times the paceline stalls simply because riders are being lazy (or shifty) and/or someone got into the wrong position and disrupted the flow.

2. Whose responsibility is it to get the paceline moving again?

There is no easy answer to this one.  I had a good chat with Kristian House about the situation I found myself in and we both agreed that it would have been good if I had come out of my second position in the long line and pulled another turn (yes, I make mistakes too!).  It would have also been good if the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc rider did, but they clearly weren’t up for it.   Therefore I should have taken the initiative to pull through one or two more turns to get the momentum going again.  After a few attempts if nothing got moving again I would have done all I could do.  Of course there were 20 other guys in the line behind me who could have done something, but my second position in the pack was by far the easiest out of everyone to roll another turn since I only had one rider ahead of me to pass ahead of.

I hope this makes sense.  It’s a tough thing to explain but if you’ve been in this situation I think you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

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  • Seb
    Sounds to me someone didn't want anyone to close the gap.
  • brave
    in order to get the rotation happening again, 2nd wheel needs to have confidence that 3rd wheel will follow.. So it is important 3rd wheel communicates that he will also roll through. If done smoothly, 4th wheel and the rest of the group should join in. unless team tactics are in play..
  • At the end of the day, it is a race. We are all passionate about it and how we do things and sometimes we can only do so much, which might not be what others perceive as the "right" way.

    As a my friend, JF, would say: "It is a beautiful thing!"

    A.
  • MH
    Not uncommon for some of the heavier weight drivers to take a breather immediately before an incline - often these flatlanders will tow the line for heaps of flat k's only to be hurt by the hill climbers at every opportunity.
  • stuart
    Hey Wade.. It was me offering you some "advice" on Sat... In that instance I think a lot of riders were hedging bets hoping others would help them bridge across to that next group. The Fly V boys were conspicuous in their absence at the front.

    But second wheel needs to drift back out and come over again, but a quick tap on your bum indicates to the guy behind you that you expect him to roll over promptly. Most guys will unless they are blocking...

    On the other comments here.. The worst thing you can do is barrel through at a hard pace if you are trying to get the chase going again. It usually breaks down when someone at the front rides too fast and creates a big speed difference between the lines. Hitting the front hard only discourages the rider at the back to swing across and take the forward going wheel because of the big surge required to get on it...
  • paolo
    i reckon the best way to avoid this hapening at all is for suffering
    riders to call in others rather than leave a gap in the forward moving line...
    providing the group is supposed to be co-operating

    it's the fault of the rider who silently let the forward line go up the road...
    so i don't think it's anyone in particulars job to get it going again.
  • Had this happen recently in a handicap. Starting from scratch meant nothing but chasing for our group. The start of the race was a 22km climb. Ouch. Our group was struggling by the 10km mark (or earlier) and so me and two other guys rolled through at the front consistently while everyone else pulled an occassional turn when they could. Our attitude was that if they were trying to conserve for another 10km of climbing we didn't want them anyway! They wouldn't have the goods to continue the chase beyond that climb. We dropped about half our group as a result (not ideal in a handicap). But the alternative was to essentially give up the chase so everyone could share the load and roll through. In that kind of race you do what you can to keep the momentum up.

    But I agree with the statements above. When it's off scratch and the boys are playing, decisions can be tougher. Do you go harder and try to drop the passengers? Only if you know you can cause enough hurt. Or do you sit in and wait for the attacks that are bound to come eventually. The pace will lift. It always does. Then you don't want to get smashed by the bunch because you've been the diesel engine up front all day.
  • I actually think the best thing to do in this instance is for the second rider to pull out as if they are going around the lead rider and then for the lead rider to ease off. This makes it easier for the second rider to get to the front after they just pulled a turn and replicates what normally happens in a paceline. From there the second rider, who is now in front and should have the rest of the pack on his wheel simply finishes his soft turn by moving left and thus restarting the paceline rolling.
    All this normally takes is a small bit of communication with the front rider to stay left and then ease off once you pull round them.
  • Andy, WA
    I've experienced this situation many times. And quite often when riding with my own team. When it is my team that stalls the pace line I generally jump to the front (if I'm near the front) and do a longer turn to allow the other lads to take a breather. This really only works in the Team Time Trial style of riding that Cyclo Sportif runs here in the West we are timed as a team.

    This obviously doesn't work so well for mass-start events as it's everyone for themselves. Do you take another turn and drag everyone back into the pace-line at your own expense or do you peel off and drop back into the pack and let the pace drop?

    Not any easy choice and really it depends on what your overall goal is and how strong you are in comparison to everyone else. Oh and how far into the race you are. It does help if you know the other guys though. That way you can call out individuals to pull their fingers outta there ar*e to do some work. ;)
  • S
    Could the guys in the break have noticed your lack of strength and were doing it on purpose? Hanging you out to dry by making you take an extra turn?
  • I think in this case everyone was working with the same interests in mind - to close the gap on the leading bunch. There were no tactics at play since there was still over 100km to the finish. However, everybody is thinking about self-preservation and the name of the game is to use less energy than the next guy.

    You're right though - this does happen. I've done it many times myself!
  • It is an interesting subject, and sort of complex as well.

    In those situations, I try to think of a team time trial or a handicap race. If I am the one feeling strong, I take a long, hard turn without moving to the slow (left on your drawing) line. I also keep telling myself that someone not pulling a turn might just not be able to... or don't want to - bloody sanbaggers ;-). Still, it is up to us to react accordingly by dragging the whole bunch and blowing up or start skipping turns as well.

    I am no expert, the proof being I never win those races...


    My experience "The Avanti Classic".

    Thanks for the post!

    Cheers!!
  • Tommy P
    Yes, yes.. seen this many times before. It helps to roll around the guy if you are in second wheel, gently. Make sure the single line behind you is following then turn clearly to the left lane exposing the next guy behind you. He will need to roll around to the front and hopefully the pace line will be re-established. I have been in situations where I do this and the guy I overtook has to come around again and we repeat as only two riders. You have no choice but to slow down until someone else shows initiative. Usually a group would just go past at a great rate of knots. In that case you just have to make sure you have enough to get back in and hang on.
  • Brad
    Spot on Tommy - make sure they are following. A gentle word to the guy on the front to ease up so you can come through reaaalllllyyyyyy gently is even better. Anything you can do to coax the wheel suckers through.....
  • Will T
    This is pretty much the standard way of getting it working again.

    Although the rider in second wheel has just rolled a turn, the easiest way to start the roll again is for them to come around the lead rider again, as generally the lead rider will want to get off the front anyway so will slightly drop off the pace anyway.
  • Michael
    Maybe your were just putting to much hurt on everyone in your group, slow down WW!!
  • Actually, at this point of the race it was me who was riding out of my depth. There's a big difference between pulling turns with Lappers or Kristian versus many of the continental pros here in Aus. I was struggling to pull through it was so fast!
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