“Without adventure, civilization is in full decay.”
- Alfred North Whitehead
Let's say your 3-person team is composed as follows:
- Person A is the fastest rider
- Person B is the 2nd fastest rider
- Person C is the slowest rider
If your team can be disciplined about your
biking and form a pace line (assuming the riding isn't too technical),
put Person B in front, Person A in the middle, and Person C in the
rear. Person A, the strongest rider, can give a tow to Person C
while Person B, the second strongest, can save A and C energy by
leading through the wind for the team. Drafting is illegal in
triathlons for a reason -- it's an advantage! You travel faster
with less effort! You should put it to use as much as possible.
I've seen stats saying riders who are drafting use 25% less energy than
the lead rider. In this proposed configuration, I should add,
Person A doesn't have to tow Person C the entire time, but it's an option and the rationale for why A is in the second slot.
Now, having said all that, Team HRAdventure can certainly improve their pace line biking. Thinking back on the 24-hour race in New Hampshire
we just finished, we weren't very discliplined about a pace line
because of the constant hills or the technical and steep terrain.
Still, there were opportunities where we could have been more
disciplined about it. You just get tired and become less disciplined. There's so many elements to racing that
staying focussed through every section is a significant
challenge. It's something for us to improve on going forward!
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Training Today: 1 hour singletrack Mountain Biking and weight training