[greglepore]

Great post, Look...

Two things that will piss me off-a guy who pulls through after I pull and immediately jumps the pace 3 mph before I'm back on. If you're going to ramp it up, fine, but do so smoothly and gradually. The other is a guy who doesn't realize that he's smoking the dude on 2nd wheel with his monster pull-the aero benefit is 2-3 wheels back, second wheel is going pretty damn hard if the guy on the front is.

The thing to remember is that a paceline ride is not a race where the goal is to drop everyone.There are rides like that if you want, so go find one. A good paceline is like a team effort, everyone pretty much on the same page, and you need to communicate-ie a well placed comment-"short pull" or "don't surge" is appropriate. The pulls should be reasonable so as not to smoke wheel 2-the aforementioned 30-60 seconds, length shorter as speeds get higher. It is perfectly cool to skip rotations or even just sit in the smoking car, with one exception-if there's a sprint somewhere, don't contest it if you've been just sitting in.

Damn, I wish we had rides like that...most guys today either want to prove how strong they are without the risk of racing or are simply too inexperienced or arrogant to pull off a smooth group.