Jon Anderson

Miles for Smiles Racing / Pedal Play Bicycles

Stay cool, calm, and relaxed. Be predictable. Pedal smooth; ride a straight line. Your front wheel is your problem.

Before joining a group, learn to ride a straight line; learn to follow a wheel.

To preserve your skin while riding in a paceline, avoid riders who ride with locked elbows, riders who insist on riding aero bars, riders who can’t ride a straight line, riders who frequently and suddenly grab their brakes, riders who often stop pedaling, and riders who take both hands off the bars with others behind them.

Pace Line Basics
No sudden movements. Everything is smooth and slow. Remember that your riding affects all other riders in the group, so be consistent, safe, and predictable. Communicate your intentions and any hazards on the road.

Pedal smooth; ride a straight line.

When you first start riding another rider’s wheel, relax breath deep, start 2-3 feet away and work up to closer distances as you start to feel more comfortable. With practice you will become comfortable riding closer. Keep your elbows bent and body relaxed. Don't fixate on the wheel in front of you. Instead, look beyond the rider directly in front of you to see what's up the road.

Pedal, baby, pedal! Learn to soft pedal when the pace slows (light resistance on the pedals). This keeps everything smooth and prevents gaps from sudden accelerations when you start pedaling again. To slow down, move yourself out into the in the wind, sit up some so your chest catches more wind or feather your brakes, but keep on pedaling. Learn to reduce your speed by sitting up or moving out of the draft without overlapping wheels. You can feather your brakes very lightly, but you must keep pedaling!

Don’t overlap the wheel in front of you. If you roll up, move slowly away from the wheel until you are at least 1-2 feet to the side (protect your front wheel). Then, soft pedal until you drop back to a reasonable distance.

If a gap opens, just chill — don’t go ballistic and pedal like a maniac. Simply put a little more pressure on the pedals and close the gap slowly. Keep everything smooth. If the rider in front of you opens a gap and is too cooked to close it, swing out (slow and smooth), put just a bit more pressure on the pedals and slowly pull the group up.

Aero bars are not welcome in a paceline. They are not stable for group riding and your hands are too far from the brakes. If someone is in the paceline on his/her areo bars, politely but directly, tell them they must sit up if they want to ride with you.

If you take you hands off the bars, you best be at the back of the bus, baby! That’s the place for eating, drinking, or taking a smoke break.

When a rider changes from a sitting to standing position (on a hill for instance) his or her bike can suddenly move backwards as much as a foot-and-a-half. Some riders, more so than others (you will get to know which ones) seem to do this on a frequent basis. So be alert and prepared (allow a little extra space) for the rider in front of you to stand and drive his back tire towards your front wheel when approaching a hill. To stand without drop kicking the rider behind you, shift up, put a little extra pressure on the pedals while you stand up slowly; your bike will not rock back.

When you go downhill, allow more distance between you and the rider in front of you. The draft extends back further at higher speeds and the extra distance gives you a little more reaction time if needed.

If you brush shoulders, hands, or bars with another rider, don’t panic. Stay relaxed in your upper body to absorb any bumps. Riding in close bunches and the associated contact is quite safe provided riders do not panic, brake, change direction, or totally wig-out.

If you have a flat — relax — keep pedaling. If it’s the front tire, shift your weight back on the bike. Slowly, smoothly, and calmly slide out of the paceline. When you are clear, then you can slow down. While you are slowing, tell your riding partners you flatted. If you are near the back, you will need to put some lung power into it so they can hear you, otherwise they may not notice you are missing for miles.

Stronger riders should pull longer, weaker riders shorter. Keep the pace steady.

Protect your front wheel. If someone hits your rear wheel, a fall is unlikely because the rear wheel has nothing to do with steering the bike. However, if your front wheel is contacted it can be twisted off line faster than you can react. Help prevent this by never overlapping someone’s rear wheel.

If someone overlaps your rear wheel, relax, keep pedaling, let them try and get off without stacking it. It takes a huge hit to take you down from behind.

If your faced with the choice of slamming into a car or hitting your brakes – lock em up! Yup, everyone it going to pile up behind you, but the damage done will probably be minor compared to barreling into a car that pulled out in front of you. We can avoid this by scanning the road, identifying hazards ahead of time, and not putting the group in this position to begin with.

When you are in the Lead Rider position:
You are the eyes for the group! Point or call out warnings like cars, other cyclists, potholes, glass, road-kill, etc. This warning should be passed down the line by the other riders. Consider the flow of the paceline, if you clear a crater sized pothole by only 6", in just a moment, you will hear the sounds of cyclists getting swallowed by the pothole. Seconds later you will feel those who survived, pummeling you upside your head with their water bottles. Allow plenty of clearance as you guide the group around hazards

When making a turn, in particular a left turn, you have to make sure the traffic is clear for the entire group, if not warn folks, slow up, and wait till it is. If you turn the whole group will follow.

When you hit the front of the group, don’t jump or accelerate hard when those endorphins start rippin’ through your brain. Keep the speed steady. If you want to up the pace, wait till the front rider latches on the back, give him a few seconds to catch his breath; then raise the speed slowly.

Don’t stay on the front so long that you decrease the group speed.

Don’t stay on the front so long that you are too cooked to latch onto the back of the train.

When riding downhill, keep pedaling. Others behind you may be coasting, that's okay; however, you have to pedal to keep the group from bunching up.

If the pace is too fast for you to maintain, take a short pull. Try and stay on the front till the rider that just pulled off gets on the back, then pull off (about 15 pedal strokes).

If the group is traveling too fast, or you feel bad, sit on the back. When the front rider pulls off, move to his left (assuming the rider is pulling of left) so you are on his wheel on the left side of him as he drifts back. Repeat when the next rider pulls off.

When you reach a hill keep the speed up till the whole group is on the hill. Otherwise the group will start to bunch up. Once on the hill, keep the effort constant, not the speed. You should be trying to work at the same level you were working at pulling on the flats. Our tendency is to punch it on the hills, which creates gaps in the paceline. If it’s a longer hill, just over the top you might have to let off the gas some to allow a regrouping

When you pull off (make sure you understand the customs of the group – left, into the wind, etc.). Stay close to the group as you drift back, this will shield the others from the wind. As you are drifting back, you are still pedaling, you are not resting. As you come abreast of the last rider in the line, pick up speed and then slide over behind his wheel as he comes past. When done correctly you won’t need an energy-wasting acceleration in order to latch back on. You can rest after you get back on the train. If you slow down too much while drifting back, you will miss the train and the effort to get back on will take its toll. If the group is moving fast you might not make it. You have to pull off before you are totally spent, so that you have some energy to get back on.