If you’ve ridden in a group before, chances are you’ve been dropped at least once. It can happen to the best of us. Every cyclist has their own strengths and weaknesses, and even if you work on them, sometimes, your weaknesses can get the better of you.
If you’re a climber, you may fly up the hills but have a hard time when the crosswinds hit. And inversely, if you can power into a headwind, you may not like it when the road heads upwards.
Staying in the draft means being aware of your surroundings and being ready when things go sideways. If you’re paying attention, you won’t be caught off-guard when things get tough and it will be easier to stay in the pack, whether it’s a race or your local weekend hammer fest.
1. Milk those hills
Climbs are tough, there’s no doubt. If you want to work on a way to survive some of those hills you’ll face in races or group rides, there’s a little life hack for you.
If you’re doing a course that has a climb each lap, then you need to make sure you’re at the front when it hits. When you start riding up the hill, you can spin at a comfortable cadence and save your legs. If you time it properly, you can gradually drift to the back, and hopefully, by the time the hill is done, you’ll still be in the pack, even if it means you’ve gone from the front to the back. It’s called “milking” the hill, or “sagging the climb,” and it’s a technique many pros use in races when they know they aren’t as fast as the top climbers.
By the end of the climb, you might find yourself in last position, but you’ll have used less energy than if you had stayed in the same spot the entire climb.
2. Stay at the front by always being in motion
One of the quickest ways to get dropped is to find yourself at the back of the pack when the pace picks up. Some riders find it hard to maintain a position at the front of the group, and that’s because your position in the peloton should always be changing. If you try to stick at the front in the same spot, you could very well find yourself swarmed, and when things speed up, you could end up at the back behind riders who will gap you. Instead, think of the pack as an ever-moving beast, meaning you should be in constant flow.
Starting at the front, you can move back, and then reposition yourself to the side of the pack, and move up again. It’s a little mini circle to follow so you go from the lead to mid-pack and back to the lead. You don’t necessarily need to…
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