[Turkle]

Originally Posted by callmeishmael

I haven't raced on the road (aside from a club 10) in a decade, but our Tuesday night chaingangs are pretty spirited, and can pull in a national standard junior, a couple of ex pros, and a current semi-pro female.

The route is lumpy, but when I get dropped - and I always do! - it's not usually on one of the two main risers: it's when people kick hard out of the corners for the nth time, establish a gap, and I just don't have the legs for another acceleration and can't get back on. Yes, positioning plays a part, but it's continually going from 35-45kph that kills me.

I also notice that if the group is pulling hard down the long, false flat downhill section, if you're careless/lazy/tired when you pull off the front and ease off too much, you get spat out the back pretty quickly, and at those speeds your odds of getting back on again (at least with my watts - ymmv) are zero, at least not without absolutely burying yourself.

To my mind, it's those surges at already fairly high speed that create splits in most fast rides, be they races or not, and that's also where aero gains most come into play.

I endorse all of this!!