Riding the Paceline

So you have been thinking about riding in a paceline or are just curious as to why those fast guys are always riding one-after-another in a straight line like some anomalous serpent.

What is a paceline anyway?

Riding in a paceline is about riding in a group. A happy, social, gabbing, shleping along the road (hauling –ass) group. I believe a paceline is the essence of group cycling. It allows a cyclist to travel fast with less effort than if traveling alone, due to the decrease in wind resistance. When I’ve been in a well-organized paceline I’ve had the feeling that my bike and body were one and we were functioning as part of a smoothly operating unit, doing more than we ever could individually. The feeling is hard to explain but wonderful to experience. However, pacelines are inherently dangerous and the need for communication is heightened since a small miscommunication can cause a multiple crash, normally at a pretty high speed.
    Pacelines operate simply; cyclists are arranged closely behind one another to take maximum advantage of the "drag" effect of the cyclists to the front. The cyclist in the front travels at the group pace, when no longer able to do so, pulls off to the left and drifts back to the end of the paceline. The new lead cyclist increases effort SLIGHTLY to maintain the group pace. The hallmark of a good paceline is smoothness. A good paceline is built on trust. All the riders have to be confident that the others in the group will communicate well and ride safely. Not slowly, safely. 
    Two cyclists can function as a mini-paceline, taking turns at the lead. This is a great technique to use if you are dropped by a larger group and trying to get back. If you find yourself in this situation, ask the other cyclist(s) if they want to take turns pulling up to the group. If they do, take the lead and allow the other cyclist(s) to draft for a short time, then let them know you are going to pull off to the left. Drift back to the end of your group, pull in to the right and increase your effort to stay with them. Above all, communicate with them, by working together you can almost always get back to the main group. 

Four types of pacelines. The two at the left are relatively easy, but the two at the right require a well-coordinated group of expert riders.  Image taken from: http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/chapter7a.htm
    A person who won’t take a turn at the front is not so affectionately known as a "wheel sucker. While this may be a valid team tactic among competitive cyclists, it s not the thing to do on your local group ride. If you start riding with a group doing pacelines, you’ll learn the protocol. Take your turn at the front and maintain the group pace, then "peel off" to the left. If you’re not as strong as other cyclists, your turn may be much shorter than the norm. Two mistakes to avoid are: 1) staying in front so long you slowly decrease the group speed ( they ll tell you) or 2) staying at the front so long you re cooked by the time you pull over and as a result can’t keep up when you get to the back of the group.

A few tips for riding in the paceline

1. Riding a Straight Line

Start by learning to ride like you’re on a rail. Practice by holding your line during solo rides. Put your wheel on the road’s white edge line and keep it there. Relax your upper body, keep a light grip on the handlebar, and fix your peripheral vision on the line. Keep your actual focus 20 or 30 feet in front of the bike. Remember, the bike will go where your eyes go.

2. Following a Wheel

Drafting another rider saves you at least 15 percent in energy output. It’s foolish to be bucking the wind all the time when you’re with other riders. Share the work by drafting them and letting them draft you.
Position your front wheel 1 to 3 feet behind the rear wheel you’re following. The closer the better, in terms of the draft, but closer also requires a lot more attention. When necessary, turn the cranks without putting pressure on the pedals (“soft pedal”) to maintain correct spacing.
Use the brakes sparingly. Jerky braking creates chain reaction problems for riders behind you. If you need to brake, feather the levers lightly instead of clutching at them.
If a gap opens, don’t make things worse by accelerating too hard, overrunning the wheel in front, then grabbing the brakes. Instead, ease back up to the rider in front. If you don’t become proficient at following a wheel, you can waste more energy than you save by constant yo-yoing.
Look past the rider directly in front. Don’t stare down at his rear wheel or you won’t see things that may cause him to brake or swerve.

3. Paceline Pointers

First rule: Be predictable. Close riding demands that everyone be on the same wavelength. There must be a basic understanding of what is and is not expected behavior in a given circumstance. Experience helps.
Don’t accelerate when it’s your turn at the front. Note your cyclecomputer’s mph and maintain the group’s speed when the lead rider pulls off. If you accelerate too quickly you will leave the group and not be doing your part on the front. Don’t show off! It is not about  how fast or hard you can pull on the front; it’s about working together.
After your own bout against the wind, pull off to the side agreed upon and stay close to the others as you soft pedal and slide back to the rear of the paceline. This enhances the drafting effect for the whole group. It also keeps everyone as far out of the traffic flow as possible, making paceline riding possible even on busier roads.
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. Once in the caboose position you can take a drink or stand to stretch without disrupting the paceline’s smoothness.
Protect your front wheel. If your rear wheel is struck a fall is unlikely because it has nothing to do with steering the bike. However, if your front wheel is contacted it will often be twisted off line faster than you can react. You’ll almost certainly go down. Help prevent this by never overlapping someone’s rear wheel.

Paceline Rules

1. Stay Close
The purpose of a paceline is to conserve energy by drafting. Riders in the draft will expend around 15-20% less energy than the rider at the front.
But to make use of this benefit, you have to ride close to the wheel in front of you! Ideally you want to stay within 12″ of the wheel in front of you. (Experienced riders may even ride about 4″ off the wheel in front of them!)
The goal is to consistently stay close to the wheel in front of you for the whole ride. Whatever you do, don’t let gaps open up. If there is a paceline where everyone is 6″ from each other, and you are only comfortable sitting about 24″ behind someone, you are bound to let gaps open and screw up the rhythm.
At best, you’ll get yelled at. At worst, you’ll cause a crash as riders try to pass you.
So make sure you are ready to ‘stay close’ if you are entering a paceline.
Stay close, but remember: If your wheel touches the wheel in front of you - you will go down! Pay attention!
2. Hold Your Line
The second thing to do to ride consistently and predictably is to hold your line. Not only do you have to worry about the distance between you and the rider in front of you, you need to follow the same line.
You can’t just weave side to side and have a jolly good time. You need to pick a line and stick to it. Typically the paceline will ride parallel to the white line on the shoulder of the road, keeping perhaps 6″ to the left of it at all times.
Of course, during turns and when avoiding obstacles, that line will change. The key is to take the same line as the rest of the group.
Where this can really cause problems is in a turn. See, even if you have a single paceline, chances are you have some riders riding side-by-side at any given time. (And if it’s a race situation, there will be riders completely surrounding you.)
Obviously, if there is a rider to your left or right, you can’t use an outside-inside-outside line around a turn. You need to stick to your outside, middle, or inside curve or you’ll take someone down and probably get run over.
3. Don’t Overlap Wheels
If you’re following the first two rules, overlapping wheels should be a non-issue, but it’s so dangerous I have to mention it. Never overlap wheels!
Here’s what happens: You start riding a few inches to the left of the person in front of you to get a better view of the action up ahead. Your mind gets sidetracked, and next thing you know, your front wheel is overlapping the wheel ahead of you.
Everything is fine until the rider in front of you swerves just slightly to avoid a piece of gravel. In doing so, his rear wheel nicked your front wheel, twisting your handlebars and sending you to the pavement.
While the rider in front of you is partially to blame for his erratic riding, you could have avoided the spill had you not overlapped wheels!
4. No Sudden Movements
Another thing you never want to do in a paceline is make a sudden movement. With riders so close, it doesn’t take much of a movement to wreak havoc.
For example, don’t swerve at the last second. If you didn’t see the pot hole until it was too late, your safest option is to ride through it. Swerving around it is bound to take you or the other riders down.
Also, hard braking would be considered a sudden movement. If you need to slow down, slow down gradually. In most cases, sitting upright to catch more wind and feathering the brakes slightly is enough to slow down.
Even standing up is a sudden movement if you don’t think it through. When standing, you need to stand at the same time as you are powering through the front of a pedal stroke. Otherwise your bike will actually drift back underneath you a few inches, possibly hitting the rider behind you.
5. Communicate
Communicate.  Even if everyone in the paceline follows the other rules and rides excellently, if you don’t communicate, you’ll have problems!
You need to use your voice and hand signals to relay information to all the riders in the paceline. If there are obstacles ahead, cars behind you, it’s time to slow down, etc., you need to communicate that to everyone else.
6. Never, ever ride on your areo bars in a paceline!
Finally, never ride on your areo bars in a paceline! Why? Because pacelines are close and fast and you need to be able to maneuver quickly and break quickly neither of which you can do on your aero bars. Many groups will kick you out if you try to ride on your areo bars in a paceline because it is stupid and dangerous for you and everyone around you. Some groups will not even let you ride with them if you have areo bars on your bike. If you ride a time trial bike just don’t ride in the areo position in paceline or group ride. If you have clip-on areo bars take them off before riding in a group or in the paceline.

 Riding in a well-functioning paceline is one of the joys of cycling. It takes extra care and effort but is well worth both. Enjoy! (Signals vary between groups so check on that before joining a new group ride.)
Now go practice, and when you’re ready, get in a paceline!