Getting Dropped
Sunday was the 13th annual Wolfville Roubaix and it hurt like hell. The first half 30km of the ride was an easy social pace that anyone could join. We averaged about 25km/hour while we all talked about how, at the 30km mark, things change pace and the hammer fest starts.
And right on the 30km mark, as we turned the corner the pace jumped from 25km/h to 45km/h in a split second. It reminded me of racing down Old Banff Coach Road in Calgary. I managed to last a good 70km or the total 80k of the race before I got shelled off the back. At one point I was going to hard my face had pins and needles in it. It was a blast o feel the pain in the legs again, and it being only my 3rd ride of the year there was lots of pain. Let the season being!
After I got dropped and tried in vain to catch back on I eventually gave up. Getting dropped from a group happens to all of us i guess, some more than others but even the best riders in the world get dropped. I did a little research on what you should do when you get dropped… and well to be honest i didn’t really follow any of these rules and rode the rest of the way in alone. Who knows what would have happened if i keep hammering. Anyways here is the low down.
Leading the Pack at The Tour De Bowness
You can fall off the group for all sorts of reasons from reaching down to grab your water bottle for a drink, taking off a layer, getting gaped by another rider, being in the wrong position in the group, avoiding a crash, taking to long in a feed zone, etc. For whatever reason below are some key tips to bridging back to the group.
- First NEVER give up! You never know what will happen up the road. Things change in an instance on the road, the strong riders could flat at any time. Or riders in the lead group could begin to suffer leaving the pulling to only a few riders causing the lead group to slow down. You just never know what is going on up the road so don’t give up.
- Regroup and get help. Looking around either up the road our behind you to regroup forming a paceline and work together. Many times one of the stronger riders in a group will be in the wrong position getting gaped and dropped. Working together with other riders you can have enough engine power to bridge back up to the group. It is a sign of inexperienced rides who have been drooped who don’t work together but ride solo trying to bridge the gap. Don’t make this mistake. If there are other wheels around you there is a way back to the lead pack!
- Respond quickly and close the gap fast! If you do get gaped or dropped close it fast and get back on. Others are suffering just like you. Many times if you can just hold on for a split second longer or get back on the group, the group slows down allowing you to recover. Pushing air by yourself is much harder than suffering for a few seconds to get back on. It is much easier to recover riding in the pack than on your own.
- Put your blinders on and go into time trial mode. If the gap is large don’t panic. First check and see if anyone is around, if your alone relax, breath, and don’t try to bridge the gap in one sprint up to the group. You will blow up. Ease into a steady time trial pace collecting your energy to bridge the gap over time. A group bike ride is like a book of matches. You start will a full book of matches and each time you sprint, take a pull, bridge a gap you burn a match. Eventually you run out of matches and your done. Get into a steady mode where your conserving your matches and keep the pace over a period of time with the chance of getting back on.
- Don’t sit on the back move to the front. Lastly, when you bridge the gap use your speed and the draft of the other cyclist to move into the thick of the pack Getting to the middle of the pack will give you more protection from wind to recover so you don’t get dropped again. It is tempting to sit on the back of the pack but your are risking getting dropped again. It actually takes more energy and is harder sometimes on the back of the pack. Move towards the front and sit in; ideal right behind the rotating paceline.
hey carson, great work on the school proposal, i really liked the lee-chin and the piccadilly pieces. The format was also really fresh. I have not got a unicycle yet but it is on my to-do’s for the summer. hope that all is well in halifax. when you come to calgary, i will give you a wattage test so you can really see where you stack up with the big boys in watts/kg – thats what really counts. I would suspect that you could sustain around 360 watts for your lactate threshold, but really that is just a guess biased on my watts which are slightly lower.
check you on the flip side
So how did it compare in pace to the Wed night jam?
Hurt just as much but i was surprised that there wasn’t more games during the race. I went off the front a few times (maybe thats what killed me in the end) and no one came with me… i just had to sit up and wait for the pack.
Actually, I suspect that Carson’s watts for his lactate threshold will be 5.
July 20th…. any hill you want.
I’ll wait for you at the top.
What’s the deal man – are you living in Halifax now? Oh, I just saw the countdown … what are you doing here? More importantly, when can we get out for a ride.