After our little bingle on the transition ride this weekend while attempting a roll through, I though it might be a good idea to post this video for new riders to explain what a roll through is and how it should work.
Although I’m putting this up for the newer riders in the club there are certainly people riding in other groups that could also do with a refresher.
After riding main 1.5 yesterday there was some issues with the way in which people were rolling that need to be addressed. First and foremost – when pulling your turn on the front make sure you keep in formation and don’t wonder out into the middle of the road. A number of times I saw riders get to the front and drift out to the centre line before realising and then zigging back to the left to finish their turn. Of course the issue here is that the next rider, and the next rider, and the next rider have all just been moved out to the centre line too.
Here is a simple video to show how a roll through should work. Note the proximity of the two moving lines to each other. Maintain a safe distance apart, but keep it as tight as possible. Of course in a cross wind this changes a bit as you may need to echolon accross the road – but lets get this right first 🙂
Just a quick question on this topic;
Main 1 was doing this at stages during Saturdays ride, and at one point when i was at the back of the lines it seemed like the inside (left) line was going faster. The strong wind was coming from the right side and I was wondering if the front guys had called for the left line to be the quick line? Does that happen or was it just a momentary bit of mayhem?
stu,
the point of a roll through is to reduce the amount of work that people need to do to achieve a certain speed and share that work load amongst the whole group. of the two lines, the side that needs the most protection is the one that is going the fastest. if the wind is coming from the right, then the right hand side must be the slower side to protect the other side. this is where it is important to understand why we roll through and how it should be done. on saturday, we started rolling through the wrong way and it wasn’t till i got to the front that i could actually reverse the direction. on a twisty road, or where the wind direction changes, it is possible that the rolling direction needs to change a few times.
Thanks Peter,
That’s what I figured.
There was confusion at the back though. Obviously we didn’t see or hear the change and it wasn’t relayed through to the back end. Guys were lining up on the right to go fast when suddenly the left side started working through.
That wind was fun 😉
brill bit of film. describes the purpose of a roll through and how it should happen really well.