News Tribune Adventure writer and novice cyclist Craig Hill is training to ride the 202-mile Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic in one day and discovering the local riding scene and the sport’s nuances along the way. In his blog, he explores ideal riding routes, events, relays tips from the experts and helps you figure out if you’ll need to shave your legs for your next big ride.
Guest blogger: Rick Beitelspacher teaches junior high English in the Puyallup School District. You can contact him at tshirtguys@comcast.net.
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Too much pride is a bad thing when you are riding in a pace line.
During our 50-mile ride Saturday morning, I had trouble for about 15 minutes during the final hour of the 3-hour ride. Russ Meyers was at the front of the pace line trying to pull us along at about 21 mph. At some point I fell back a few feet and while I was keeping the same pace, I couldn’t pull back close enough to draft off Meyers.
What I should have done was holler at Russ to ease off for a second and the problem would have been solved. Instead, I kept pushing along for several minutes trying to no avail to hook back on.
Finally, Rick Beitelspacher pulled along side of me to tell me what I already knew.
“You are wasting Russ’ pull and your’s,” he said.
What this meant was Russ was working his butt off in the front of the pace line for no reason, because none of us were drafting off him. And I was so far back, I might as well have been at the front of the line. So, when it was finally my turn to take the lead, I’d wasted my energy trying to catch up to Russ.
“Basically, you’re taking two turns at the front,” Scott Wagar said.
Lesson learned.
Check out this website for the basics on riding in a pace line.
