Yup. 40 years ago, when I was racing, training in a group of 5 or 6
disciplined riders was a lot of fun, and it was important to do it
regularly, so that in a race the close quarters riding was comfortable. But
now, in my dotage, I like a lot more space between me and the next guy. And
besides, the good disciplined riders these days are 40 years younger, and
way too fast for me.
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 3:47 PM, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 05/24/2016 09:49 AM, Scott Henry wrote:
>
> "Plus, wouldnt you want to be able to say you did the ride under your own
> steam? Maybe thats not important to some. Maybe its not important."
>
> - Thats crazy, drafting is easier. That's why people do it. Bicycles,
> cars, runners. Drafting works for a reason, you can ride easier, whether
> its for speed, for time or even to allow the tired out of shape rider to
> make it back home.
>
>
> Easier, and also very much harder mentally. I find the mental stress
> exhausting. At least the god-awful screaming and shouting in pace lines
> warning of cars and gravel popularized by the AIDS rides seems to have gone
> out of fashion again.
>
>
> As was stated though, don't look at the rear wheel, look at the hips.
> Once you are in the groove you can accelerate, slow, rest, turn, get led
> out, anything, all without looking. Its trust and teamwork.
>
>
>
> Yes, and it can all go pear-shaped in the blink of an eye. Somebody drops
> a water bottle -- that ended my penultimate ride in a pace line. The way
> everybody scattered every which way - left shoulder, across the road, slam
> on the brakes - instant dissolve into chaos - was terrifying. I pulled
> over and asked myself if the 5 minutes saved on the total ride time would
> be worth the six months (let's count the seconds, shall we? 26,000,000
> seconds!) recuperating from a major accident and decided the risk was
> vastly disproportionate to the reward. Then a year or two later, a
> neighbor cajoled me into joining the pace line she was in at Bike Virginia,
> and the aforementioned screaming ("Gravel, for the love of Jesus!" in an
> area where every road was chipseal, and there was gravel on every shoulder
> and in every crossroads) did me in once for all.
>
> But I to agree, if you did it by sucking wheel the whole time, never took
> your turn pulling, you really can't say you did the ride "under your own
> steam." That's a big issue on the extremely popular Seagull Century, a
> flat 100 on Maryland's Eastern Shore where many, many novices go to do
> their first century. Pacelines there tend to be Hobbesian -- the war of
> each against all -- Pace Mobs and Pelotoons where you routinely see
> shockingly, even horrifyingly dangerous behavior and where there's a body
> count that makes me think of Bloody Lane and Devil's Den.
>
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Peter White
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