Riding in a group can be a lot of fun. When riders work together, especially into the wind, a group is able to keep its speed consistently higher than any single member of the group could maintain on his or her own. The group is able to be more efficient - because it's as much as 30% easier to ride behind someone where there's less wind resistance. In other words, the riders in the paceline are taking a bit of a break while the person up front is doing most of the work. When each rider takes short, frequent "pulls" up front, the group keeps a nice pace without any one rider tiring out. It works. So long as everyone knows what they're doing and uses proper paceline etiquette.
So here are some pointers about paceline etiquette:
Don't overlap wheels! Unless you're an exceptional bike handler riding behind a perfectly steady and predictable rider (who you obviously must know and have ridden with often), it is best to never overlap wheels. Keep at least a foot distance between you and the rider in front of you. Even a couple of feet back you'll get the benefit of being in the paceline.
When on the front, keep your head up, call out debris or other hazards, and watch the lights. You're responsible for the safety of everyone in the paceline. Don't let them down. Stay steady, hold your line, be focused. Don't just point at stuff - call it out! Say "stopping" or "slowing" as you come to a traffic control. Say "right turn" or "left turn" in advance of making the turn. Call out bumps, junk in the road, open car doors - anything you feel is important for the folks behind you to know. Don't accelerate too quickly after slowing or turning. Give everyone in the paceline time to get going again so the group can stay together.
When pulling off the front of a single-wide paceline, signal the riders behind you that you're exiting the line (by either flicking your right elbow, or calling out), then safely pull off to the right of the paceline so that you are away from traffic.
If you're chit-chatting in the paceline, keep looking ahead. Speak without making eye contact. When on the front, don't talk: you have too much responsibility. You need to always be aware of what is in front of you, to the side of you and, without looking back, behind you.
Ride in a straight line at a consistent pace. The key to a good paceline is to ride a steady speed. If there are accelerations within the paceline, it hurts everybody. If one rider is stronger than the others, instead of riding faster, that rider should pull longer. The weaker riders should maintain the speed but take shorter pulls, or simply rotate immediately off the front.
If you find that you can't hold
with the paceline that you're in, signal, then pull out of the pace line and
back off.
All that said, if you've never ridden in a paceline before, it's a good idea to practice with people you know and trust. Generally speaking, it's a really bad idea to jump in with a group of riders you don't know. They could have no idea what they're doing; and they don't know you - so they might not have your best interests on their mind.
We don't want to scare you - but we want you to know that bad paceline etiquette can and does end up like this:
Sadly, the riders that get injured usually aren't the ones who cause the accident. In this case, the dork up front got cocky and increased the speed of the line for a few minutes before he ran out of steam. Without signaling or calling out, he just stopped pedaling. He instantly slowed down so much that he overlapped the wheel of the rider behind him. Then he jerked to the left to exit the line, crashing into the front wheel of the second in line. That rider went right down. The third in line had nowhere to go... So he ran over the man down and also crashed. Result: Broken bones, lacerations, road rash, and lots of medical bills.
Bottom line: Practice. Be steady. Be focused. Take responsibilty for the other riders in the paceline. Or don't ride in one.
-Deb & Brian
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