What on earth does that mean?
See it used all the time.

something roadies do I think. Ride through quiet villages three abreast, shouting at villagers and motorists. Then go and toss each other off in the public toilets.

They probably use a helmet cam aswell.

It’s short for riding through the red light and then getting knocked off.

saves energy …increases speed

it’s basically a road group riding in a line, to maintain a high pace. The front rider will ride for a length of time then swing off and roll to the back of the group to recover whilst the guy who was behind him takes over on the front, when he’s done, he peels of the front to the back etc. etc.

When doing shorter ‘turns’ the group is basically rolling over the top of the guy in front continually, so you ride ‘through’ the line then peel ‘off’

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3Gfh_Qsrc[/video]

American but explains it pretty well.
In the UK it’s more common to have the slower group on the outside but it varies group to group depending on wind direction/speed and how that group has learnt.

On the track you always have the faster group on the inside and swing outwards to the right to slow down and go to the back of the line.

As above, it’s a way of riding quickly in a group.

Through and off is what you would do in a team time trial or a breakaway with only a few riders; you go through onto the front and immediately get taken over by the rider behind, as opposed to ‘doing a turn’ on the front where you would spend longer riding until you ask someone to come through.

So its a way for roadies to get the ride over quickly without having to talk to each other. That figures.

it’s so you don’t have to look at the same man’s bum for too long.

it’s so you don’t have to look at the same man’s bum for too long.

I thought it was so they could sniff as many different bums as possible

it’s so you don’t have to look at the same man’s bum for too long.

you need to change your group if you only have men to look at.

Done well at speed ,with people you know and trust,it is a thing of beauty 😉

It does confuse baggy knuckle draggers, for sure.

it’s so you don’t have to look at the same man’s bum for too long.

Except you’re always behind the same person? (Except the time on the front, obviously).

Used mainly by pro riders in 100km breakaways to stay away from a chasing peloton in order to win races and make a living.
Though it seems to have become very popular in the last year or so on the Sunday bun run. Seems to be the preserve of the 4th cat who thinks it’ll help in their next 40 minute crit, like any ones going to help.

Except you’re always behind the same person?

haha! good point.
actually you’re behind one of two people. one when you’re going forward, another when you’re going backward.

Through and off is about momentum, sadly the average bloke seems to think he should show everyone what he has when he gets on the front. In the olden days we called that attacking.

Should be a question in the written part of the driving test so the numbskull that passes for the average fat British driver can get it drilled into their tiny minds that two abreast is LEGAL and DONE FOR A REASON… and we’ve been riding this way since BEFORE YOU WERE BORN!
It does NOT mean ‘this is now the opportunity to do a dangerous overtake, lean on the horn whilst moaning and muttering about ‘bloody cyclists’ 😀

(it was such bliss going mountain biking instead of road yesterday)…

Does it happen that quickly that it’s a continuous rotation so effectively there is two lines or is there one line with one rider peeling off and getting to the back before the next one does? I’ve never seen the former.

Does it happen that quickly that it’s a continuous rotation so effectively there is two lines or is there one line with one rider peeling off and getting to the back before the next one does? I’ve never seen the former.

my experience is you tend to have two lines, one coming up one going back, the changeover might be short or long depending on how fast your going. The faster you go the less time you can be on the front before you fatigue.

Through and off….riding in a group..
You tap through, nothing more nothing less.
Through and off should really be…
Through, across, ease.
You tap through, you move across, and ease a little.

When you are in a fast moving break there is nothing quite like it. 5 -> 8 riding as one. You’ll never be caught.

If you don’t have two lines there is no point doing it…

if you dont road ride in a training group or race situation then you’ll never understand how exciting it is. If your training or racing then apart from a few pieces of convo then their aint much talk, mainly its a focussed time of the ride. You do keep an extremely high speed going. There is a few types of ‘through and off’, 1: the video above where you will go past the rider, move straight over, ‘soft pedal’ and head to the back of the group. Alot of riders, mainly beginners of ego guys still dont get this and keep riding at the pace they were going at even when moving over. These people generally get a swift telling to ( if they didnt slightly slow down the group would just go faster and faster and faster). 2/ You might do a certain time on the front, i.e. 20 seconds. This basically means only 1 line is happening, the lead rider will ride for 20-30 seconds on the front then move over and head straight to the back of the group to recover ASAP. This type of riding works well over longer distances where certain riders may be stronger than others so do longer turns on the front

During less intense training rides there’s a full day of talking where you’ll be in two lines, the front 2 riders will generally do a long stint on the front, from between 5 minutes to whenever they want or until the 2 riders directly behind them tell them to ‘spell up’, meaning move over and head to the back of the group. These training workouts are more for base mileage, 3-6 hours with a low – medium intensity and happen more so often in the winter months

2 lines is great to protect the fast line making the effort from the wind.

Speeds will be relative to ability and situation, but 40kph is easily sustainable over fairly long distances, and above 50kph might be your homeward bound leg or heading towards a sprint point.