Conquering peloton position: Learn your way around the pack - http://www.active.com/cycling/Articles/Conquering_peloton_position__Learn_your_way_around_the_pack.htm
| 자전거 /Paceline Riding (Group Riding), Peloton 2010. 7. 10. 04:40Conquering peloton position: Learn your way around the pack
Group rides and training criteriums are the best places to practice moving around the peloton. In order to stay near the front of a real race, you have to find and move through passing lanes rapidly and frequently. Credit: Getty Images/Marty Melville You, however, probably don't have eight men committed to keeping you in perfect position, so you better know how to maneuver through the peloton on your own.
Every racer has heard someone yelling, "Move up," or "Get to the front," in the middle of a criterium or road race. Of course, the processes of getting there and staying there aren't as simple as they seem. With 100 riders all trying to be in the top 15, people are passing and being passed constantly. Your ability to move through the peloton efficiently plays a significant role in the amount of energy you use during a race or group ride, and hence influences the power you have left for the finish.
Never sleep
Keeping your head up is the most important key to improving your position in the peloton. You have to be aware of what's going on in the field, and that means keeping an eye on the riders around you as well as the riders far to your front and sides. You need to see the big picture of the peloton so you can react to surges or decelerations from riders near or far away from you.
Field splits often happen because the riders in the front accelerate and someone who's not paying attention doesn't realize he has to speed up until it's too late. He's too slow to react because he was only watching the wheel ahead of him and failed to anticipate the acceleration. Not only do you want to avoid being that guy, you also have to be prepared for someone else to fill that role.
Closing gaps at race pace takes a lot of effort, so it's important to move around struggling riders before they allow a gap to open. If you watch the peloton carefully, you see accelerations and decelerations well before they affect you, giving you time to react with minimal additional effort.
Anticipating changes in weather and road conditions plays a large role in peloton positioning as well. You want to make your move before you turn into a crosswind or before the road narrows.
When you're in the wrong position and the conditions change, someone else may be occupying the space you want and you have to use energy to either take that space or find another. For instance, if you're riding with a tailwind and are about to turn right, you know you're going to be riding in a crosswind from the right as soon as you make the turn.
You want to avoid being stuck in the gutter on the left side of the road, meaning you have to position yourself prior to the turn in order to end up in the middle of an echelon, preferably the first one. Likewise, it's typically easier to move up when the peloton is riding on wider roads, so you don't want to be at the back of the group when the roads get narrow.
Get a move On
Knowing where you need to be and actually getting there are two entirely different things. Moving up through the field is much more efficient than pulling out to the side of the peloton and accelerating in the wind. To efficiently move through the field, you have to develop the ability to see passing lanes opening and closing around you. While you may be able to move up by going straight up in between two riders ahead of you, you're more likely to find diagonal lanes to accelerate through.
The trick to moving up through a diagonal lane is to get your handlebars ahead of the rider beside you. If your bars are ahead of his, you control where the two of you go. As you accelerate forward and to the side, the rider next to you has to move with you in order to avoid hitting your thigh with his handlebar.
Moving up through diagonal lanes doesn't mean cutting people off or riding recklessly. The best riders are so smooth they can move up through the field without being noticed. Once you decide a space is big enough and you're going to accelerate through a lane, commit to the move and go.
When you're uncertain, you make riders around you nervous because you're jerking your bike and head around as you decide whether you can make it through the hole. Keep your eyes on your destination and move steadily into that space; the riders around you won't flinch because you've already made your move by the time they realize what's going on.
In criteriums, the entry into a corner often provides prime opportunities to move up. If you can find a lane that will help you keep more of your speed through the corner, you can move up several places.
You have to have confidence in your handling skills and brakes to pull this off safely. As the corner approaches, some riders will back off the wheel ahead of them slightly in order to float through the turn without having to hit the brakes as hard. This opens up passing lanes, but to take advantage of them you have to come into the corner with more speed and be comfortable passing people in close quarters.
Again, you have to commit to the pass, get your handlebars ahead of the person you're passing, and move confidently into the space. In this case, hesitating will likely mean getting stuck between two riders as the lane closes; not a good situation to be in while leaning into a turn at 30mph.
Practice makes perfect
Group rides and training criteriums are the best places to practice moving around the peloton. In order to stay near the front of a real race, you have to find and move through passing lanes rapidly and frequently.
One of the best ways to simulate those demands in training is to start at the back of a group and move up to the front as quickly as possible without ever going to the outside of the pack or taking your hands off your handlebars. If you can consistently move from the back to the front of a big (50-100 riders) training criterium within one lap, you're doing well.
Knowing how and when to move around the peloton compliments the fitness you've developed through training. All the action is at the front, and you can't take full advantage of your fitness if you're caught in traffic at the back of the field. If you want to win a sprint or get into the winning breakaway, you have to be in the best place at the right time. Don't leave it up to blind luck; develop the skills to get where you need to go, and you'll see a big improvement in your results.
Chris Carmichael is Lance Armstrong's personal coach and founder of Carmichael Training Systems (CTS), and author of "The Ultimate Ride" and "Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness". To learn what CTS can do for you and to sign up for our free newsletters, visit www.trainright.com.
