Thursday, March 28, 2024

Siskiyou Velo

Southern Oregon's Premier Cycling Club

Cycling Secrets

by Gary Shaff on Mar, 18 2016

Don’t you love when a Club ride lends itself to a chat and catching-up with friends as you ride along. Too often it seems we’re too busy forming a single paceline to talk, that is, until we reach the coffee shop. It doesn’t have to be that way. “Cycling Secrets,” a website, is chock full of helpful insights and videos one of which reviews group riding paceline methods. One called “Social/Sociable turns – as the name suggests, is to be used when you want to be able to have a chat, recover and when speed is not a high priority. In a Social/Social turns, the group forms two lines and the leaders work for as long as they feel comfortable.” Riding side-by-side in a double paceline allows everyone in the group to talk with the person beside them. Pretty cool idea.

A few individuals on our local Club rides will sometimes ride side-by-side but rarely (or maybe never) do we organize the entire group to form a double paceline. Clearly, a double paceline has its place and not every route will lend itself to that organizing approach. But on rural roads with low traffic volumes and good sight distance, or urban or rural roads where there isn’t enough room to share the lane with an auto seem like good candidates. Check-out the latest addition in the Club’s education and training webpage under the heading “group riding” or follow these links to learn more; Bike/Walk or Cycling Secrets.

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