I rode with coco yesterday, it’s been a bit since I’ve ridden with the pace partners, but I noticed way fewer folks were hanging out behind coco compared to before. I used to hang out right behind coco but with so many folks in front of coco I found that to be more likely to result in fluctuations in power so I am now trying to stay with the middle of the pack which is ahead of coco on certain parts of the route (I forget if it was more pronounced on hills or not, probably). That might be interpreted by an observer to indicate I’d like coco to go faster, or that I’m trying to push the pace, but it’s actually just to try to maintain a more even power rather than get surprised on an increase in power and fall off the back requiring a push to catch back up.
So I guess… If you see more folks ahead of cadence now, not all of them are trying to push the pace, some are just trying to avoid unnecessary power fluctuations, or trying to avoid falling off the back.
I think we need to determine what lightweight is categorised as everyone has a different opinion of what constitutes lightweight, I’m around 70kg those who are heavier call me lightweight but I don’t consider myself lightweight as there are plenty of male riders under 55kg which to me is lightweight
Completely agree with this. PP was very nice earlier with balanced «dynamic» pacing. Anquetil used to be 3.3 on flats and 4+ in hills, which was already very «dynamic». Now it’s hopeless to stay in the correct zone on hilly routes if going for medium to high z2.
This was the impression I got when I last rode with Coco on Tick Tock (14th July). I shadowed the PP for the entire ride and remember thinking that the well-formed blob was intent on staying ahead of Coco, come what may. It was sort of like a safety-in-numbers strategy.
When Coco dropped-off the back and subsequently surged, I found myself having to go well above the advertised pace because there were so few riders to draft off until I managed to merge with the group again. Personally, I’m a big fan of the PP changes and the dynamic pacing.
For what it’s worth my stats for this ride were; 91’27" duration, 37.36 miles = 24.5 mph, 147 W (2.56 W/kg @ 126.4 lbs / 57.33 kg), 138 bpm, 85 RPM.
That’s what I do sometimes, but that’s low z2 on the flats. End up with ~3.2 on average vs. 3.6 with Anquetil pre dynamic pacing with both being in z2 for the whole ride.
Think higher speed in faster groups might make them more «dynamic» due to increased draft effect for higher speeds. With dynamic pacing for Anquetil I’m probably ~240W on flats vs. ~320W on climbs due to drafting on flats. In my opinion a smaller difference would be better. Previously that was 240W/295W, which was a lot better.
Wouldn’t be surprised if those riding with Anquetil are less positive towards these changes compared to those riding with slower bots.
I’ll be changing all the Pace Partners to 75kg (1m75 height). I think the Brevet equivalent will probably be pretty perfect for you then. If not, there’ll be a 3.7 PP aswell.
