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Group Riding & Drafting

Cycling / Popular

Ride safely in a paceline and draft efficiently.

What coaches agree on

  • Tuck in close behind the wheel in front of you — as close as roughly 20 to 50 centimetres once you're confident — since a tight draft can cut your effort by around 30 percent or more; build up to that distance gradually as your confidence grows.
  • Position yourself using the wind direction: sit directly behind the wheel in front in a headwind, and shelter diagonally near the hip of the rider ahead when the wind is coming from the side.
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  • Call out and hand-signal hazards like potholes, debris, or upcoming turns to the riders behind you, since they can't see the road ahead the way you can from the front of the group.
  • Share the workload by rotating through the front in short turns — roughly 10 to 30 seconds in a fast single-file paceline — then peel off to the back and recover before your next turn.

Common mistakes

  • Overlapping your front wheel with the wheel in front of you is the leading cause of pack crashes — the slightest touch when the lead rider swerves or slows can take down you and the riders behind you.
  • Half-wheeling — riding just ahead of your partner's wheel when riding two abreast, which unconsciously ramps up the pace — frustrates your partner and can fracture the group.
  • Surging or sprinting when you take your pull at the front, or stabbing at the pedals to close a gap that's opened ahead of you, whips into a much bigger gap for the riders further back in the line.