“Pull
of the Day”—Say What?
I asked a student of mine to check
out Pull of the Day. He looked
baffled. It was then that I realized that non-cyclists might have no idea what
“pull of the day” means. “No, it’s not that!” I exclaimed. “It’s about bikes!”
Pull
of the Day is a
springboard for reflections on bicycling culture. So, non-cyclists, please
don’t let the title of this blog scare you away. It has nothing to do with …
well, you know. Let me explain.
A “pull” occurs when riders pedal
down the road in a paceline—ten to twenty bicycles in single file. The lead
rider is said to be “pulling” the other cyclists. Since the rider in front is
going directly into the wind, he or she has to work harder than the other
cyclists, who benefit from the resulting draft, the gain increasing with each
successive rider.
Experienced riders set up pacelines
for the common good. Riders stay close to the wheel in front of them, gradually
moving up the line, maintaining a steady pace until it’s their turn to pull.
Duration of the pull depends on factors such as familiarity with others in the
paceline, the number of riders, their skill-level and their training needs that
day, wind direction and force, the length and terrain of the route, weather,
time of day, and so on.
Riding in a paceline is one of the
most satisfying—when the pace is fast, most exhilarating— aspects of group
riding. It takes practice, caution, and a willingness to share the duty of
pulling. Pulling is where a rider shows character—in a non-racing environment,
a trait more important than power or speed. Except for novices, visitors, or
riders who wish to hang back for some reason (say, recovering from an injury),
everyone in a group should pull, if only for thirty seconds, at some point. We
ask cars to share the road; we expect each other to share the load.
Even when new to paceline riding, I
was afraid I wasn’t pulling often enough or hard enough. To improve my stamina
and speed, I focused on the better riders, watching them over the course of
hundreds of hours and thousands of miles in all kinds of conditions. I asked
them questions and studied their form, trying to apply everything I learned
from the masters in the “A” group, whom I wanted to emulate—not with the
intention of competing with them, an impossibility, but of achieving a level of
fitness that no aerobic activity had ever repaid my efforts. Of course I fell
short, but not for lack of trying. Top riders inspire you to step up your game,
to see if you can hang with them for an hour or two as they bomb down the road,
the paceline streaming alongside traffic, inches from the gutter, each rider
pulling in turn.
One of the best things about pulling
is that when you come off your turn, drift left, and slowly recede to the back
of the line, one or two riders, now to your right, will say something nice to
you—“way to go” or “good job.” This doesn’t happen in all-out “A” rides because
it’s expected that each pull will be done well. But in mixed groups it means a
lot when an “A” rider, alert to an “A-” or “B+” rider’s attempt to hold his
own, says something supportive to him.
During a two-year period I developed
the habit of naming a “pull of the day” in my mind. Soon I found myself saying
as much to the rider who had just achieved that distinction. “Girl, that was
the pull of the day,” I might say as she appeared on my left. I tried to make
every one of my own pulls “the pull of the day.”
Soon the phrase evolved into an
“issue-related-to-bicycling of the day.” With that, this blog and its title
were conceived. Before publishing my first post (21 October 2014), it would
take another year or two for me to tackle the requisite technology.
But since I’m on the subject of
pulling, let me finish with a few more thoughts—albeit those of an amateur—on
it.
Needless to say, stronger riders pull
a disproportionate amount of time. They like to keep that lead-spot, usually, I
imagine, to get a better workout. This is more likely to happen when the
stronger riders are riding below their level—that is, when racers commingle,
for whatever reason, with “B” or “C” riders. It also happens when the group is
smaller or visitors are in town. Then the group leader and the strong regulars
usually sacrifice their rest periods, which they don’t need as much as the rest
of us do anyway, by staying at the front more than would be thought fair in a
less disparate group.
An exemplar of the group leader who
puts everyone at ease while establishing a sensible pace is TV, who’s sensitive
to the habits, quirks, limits, and needs of each rider (including visitors,
whose style he quickly “reads” and accommodates) on all of the four rides he
leads per week. I like to position myself behind TV, not merely because he’s
tall and thus creates a big screen, but because he’s a lesson in superb form.
(A bonus is getting to look at the stays and dropouts on his steel Colnago.)
Cordiality, common sense, and a quick but never frantic pace come together in
TV.
FO and RG have also taught me an
immense amount about drafting. Their form, like that of TV, is an object lesson
in efficiency—arms set just so, torso at ease, no swaying, acceleration
natural, speed adapted to the group whether comprised of racers or novices. FO
and RG are to be commended for containing ambitious riders, whom they could
easily match at higher speeds, who seem more intent on rushing through the ride
than maintaining a democratic tempo where even the slowest rider can
participate.
Exemplifying another pull-method is
DE. Aside from being blessed with the ideal physique for bicycling, this racer
has the knack, not often evident in the “A” group, for pulling at a smart speed
without, however, dropping the “B+” cyclist. In other words, DE, known for his
long pulls, micro-adjusts the pace so that the racers in the paceline,
compelled by the competitive urge to ratchet up, remain content with the speed,
from which DE imperceptibly shaves 1½ mph, just enough to push the “B+” rider
without causing him to despair of keeping up, simultaneously encouraging him,
without saying a word, to maintain that speed, if only for thirty to sixty
seconds, when his turn to pull comes. In this way DE helps the “B+” rider
improve, which contributes to the welfare of the local bicycling community.
I’ve limited these thoughts to single
paceline pulling. Circular and double pacelines double the challenge and, I might add, the
joy of group riding. When executed well, there’s nothing more thrilling than
participating in a circular paceline streaming down the road, traversing miles in
the collective integration of forward, side-left, rearward, side-right, and
forward-again movement, all at a cruising speed of 23-26 mph, wheels whistling,
tires humming, jerseys almost touching, riders concentrating on keeping the
gaps equal and true.
Images courtesy Macon Baselayer: http://maconbaselayer.blogspot.com/2011/09/pacelines.html
For uninitiated readers who have
stumbled upon this site, I’ve offered these basics of the “pull.” As for any
risqué associations the phrase “pull of the day” conjures, I must concede that
“bike porn” does exist—typically referring not to anything naughty but to a
cyclist’s infatuation, innocent enough, with expensive handbuilt frames or the
latest super-parts from Campy or Shimano. But not always. I’ve seen Web-images
of ride-naked festivals and selfies, where the conjunction of private body
parts and leather saddles, etc., does, to be frank, lend itself to viewing
pleasure. A beautiful woman, naked, on a beautiful bike is an image hard for this male pedal-pumper to resist. In light of the public nature of Pull of the Day, however, I won’t supply the link to this gallery
of in-the-buff bicyclists, for some reason titled “Girls on Bikes.” Yes, they
sure are on bikes, tubes in hand, saddles tilted, but there are plenty of men
pictured too! To conclude before this topic gets out of hand, or into the wrong
hands, I hope this brief analysis of pulling has been “handy” for everyone who
joined me on today’s paceline. ;-)
Roadysseus
12.03.14
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