Whenever I’ve been out on roadie rides, I’m sure the line/ riders nearest the kerb is/are quickest. When at the front, quick look over the right shoulder to check its clear and pull out right, you drop back, the rider behind moves up.

Right hand riders/line is the chill out zone, left hand nearer the kerb is pushing the pace and moving up.

Is this correct?
Is wind direction a factor?
Is it different in races?

London Dyna-rod’s note on through and off wants the outside line moving fatser, which feels right to me.

Sort of correct.

Wind direction is a factor and you change sides based upon the prevailing wind.

Really you should not drop back, the riders should be coming through and a rider will pull over and shelter you and then slow down a tad (as they were going faster to come through), your shelter then increases as more riders come in front of you. The last man going past you should call “Last man” and then you follow him back up the chain to take your turn.

In races it is totally different. The above is co-operative through and off. In races you may do this, but may also try to gap riders by accelerating off the front, or dropping back and then bridging. Breakaways may work co-operatively as may chasing bunches. My coach told me to never do through and off in a race but just hang in and rest until the finish!

My coach told me to never do through and off in a race but just hang in and rest until the finish!

Thats what all 2/3/4 cat races are like DavidB

109km warm up for a 1km sprint 😆

Right-hand side faster is the way it has always been done on rides I’ve been on

My coach told me to never do through and off in a race but just hang in and rest until the finish!

Thats what all 2/3/4 cat races are like DavidB

109km warm up for a 1km sprint

Ride the Elizabethan road race…hills kill that strategy

I’ve always tended towards the left hand line moving up, and the outside dropping back, but having gone both ways (as it were). It does cause enormous confusion when you go into a corner, into single line then come out of the corner and rotate the other way. When I used to be in Black Country Wheelers you’d have Andy and Isla ruling the run with an iron hammer making it very clear where everyone was supposed to be – right up until pizza boy came past when there’d be a mad scramble to get on the back.
Actually one of my favourite ever mornings of road riding was on the Gent-Wevelgem tourist with strong side winds riding along in echelons across the whole road, you’d hear the echelon in front shouting and everyone would pull back in and a madly driven Belgian car would hurtle past then we’d all swing back out again. Oh, it was so cool.

Most of the time we ride chaingangs (through and off) with the quicker line on the outside, however if there is some factor(usually wind) dictating then we can change it to passing line to the left.
You shouldnt really think of it as two lines but more of an elongated rotating circle in a sort of perpetual motion.
Basic rule of thumb is that
when moving onto the front a slight relaxing of the pace rather than a sharp slowing should allow those coming onto the front reach there without having to accelerate.
Never surge through from the back you wont impress anyone and you will be the one that blows first as you will be on the front longer and dont continue hammering when you hit the front you will get bollocked 🙂 Its more of a minute relaxing of the pace from the inside line that allows the outer line to move through as opposed to any hard accelerating from the passing group. Which in theory never really speeds up.
Always make it verbally obvious if you are going to miss a turn, and having missed any turns never rejoin the group going forward without letting them know, it makes everyone nervous.
The quickest chaingangs are the ones where everyone trusts each other totally and no-one surges. Its quite a feeling when its going right.
Oh and dont be afraid to let an erratic rider know, I have had a few bollockings early in my chaingang “career” its not personal and the better you get taught the more people start trusting you, and everyone benefits.

I hate it when people don’t say ‘last man’, or accelerate up the line and off the front, I always just let them go. Lots of riders just can’t get it and won’t understand that its faster (over a period- say an hour) to be really smooth rather than up’n’down.

I love riding my road bike, but this whole crap here is what puts me off roadie clubs and races…

this whole crap here

What you really mean is “I don’t understand why some of this stuff is important”

Here here aP.
Rode in France last weekend with some ‘proper’old roadies ex GB, Peace Race etc.
Even though I’d not met some of the guys before the whole riding experience was soooo smooth, no spoken instructions or signals, as if we had been riding all our lives together.
On the other hand riding with my very good Mtb mates on the road was pure chaos. When they came through they shot off as if there was something to prove leaving the previous frontman in their wake. Hills just the same, hoon up tearing the group apart then come to a virtual standstill at the top.
At the end of a 70 mile ride our group was spread over Beds, Bucks and Herts?
Perhaps you have to be a Jedi to get it 😉

What you really mean is “I don’t understand why some of this stuff is important”

I understand it will make riding the distance easier and faster. I also understand that “I hate it when people don’t say ‘last man’, or accelerate up the line and off the front” is roughly translated as How dare they not help me go as fast as possible when I am out riding my bike.

I like road cycling, but lets face it, unless you are on a road with no traffic at all, its not the most social of past times, so its for having a nice solo ride,training or competing – and with any of those as the goal to your ride, I dont understand why you would want a dozen other lads to help you along.

I love riding my road bike, but this whole crap here is what puts me off roadie clubs and races…

I appreciate what you are saying in one way, i.e too structured, unwritted etiquette etc But the whole chain gang through and off etiquette, is 90% a safety issue. To get any fun or benefit from a chaingang as oppossed to a general group ride it is neccessery to ride at 30 mph or so with your front wheel between 3-12 inches away from the back wheel of the guy in front, when people do anything erratic or dont understand the flow and leave the person in front or behing guessing what they are going to do the it could potentially bring everyone down in a chain reaction crash, not pretty. SO its not in any way road elitism or snobbish rules its there almost solely to keep everyone out of A & E !

I can also see why some might see it as a pointless pastime, but being a part of a chaingang when its working really well with guys who trust each others riding and rotating the work perfectly and not surging or doing erratic is actually a really great feeling

Perhaps you have to be a Jedi to get it

I’m far from a Jedi but i got it Oldgit!

I also understand that “I hate it when people don’t say ‘last man’, or accelerate up the line and off the front” is roughly translated as How dare they not help me go as fast as possible when I am out riding my bike.

Actually, you couldn’t be more wrong. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t ride like that.
Riding in a group can at times achieve an almost effortless, smooth, elgant progression where riders come though and off in a clean unfussed way. Riding off the front of the group does nobody any good, and neither do sudden accelerations as they tire everyone out quicker and run the risk of causing people to clip wheels and worse.
I’d suggest that you don’t even entertain the notion of riding track as the “rules” for that are very strict – or maybe its just because I’ve only ridden track with quite good track riders who take it very seriously (serious meaning they don’t like being a rider with one and half metres of splintered timber sticking through their chest).

its not the most social of past (sic) times

Uh? How’s nice group ride unsociable?

I suspect you’re missing the point of club riding….

i love club rides – five hour training rides on the road, on your own, are terribly dull.

a five hour banter session OTOH, much more engaging, and you go further too, and get the same training benefit.

if a little discipline is required to make it so, then i for one am happy to know/learn the ropes and follow the conventions.

to compare: you wouldn’t want people pushing back up in the middle of the track would you?

Years ago when I indulged in this sort of thing we usually ran outside line dropping off. the reason was safety just like when 2 of you ride side by side. It’s the person on the outside who needs to move over and its easier slow and to drop in behind someone than pull ahead.

Maybe I just prefer solo riding.
I’m sure its very satisfying going smooth and fast with a good working group, but I prefer to worry less about upsetting the rest of the group

I completely understand the track cycling thing, yes, but i am fairly sure i will never be track cycling in my life

I hate it when people don’t say ‘last man’

You should be looking for the wheel you will be following as you reach the back on the group so you can move onto it smoothly, you will know where you are in the group! Only reason to shout is if you are missing a turn.

I used to go out for a club ride every sunday with some very good riders, that included a few ‘ex-pros’ it was deadly serious, and you’d get a bollocking for screwing up, so i tried not to, also if someone new turned up it would make it a bit nervous.

I don’t bother now (and now i’m probably not fit enough to keep up anyway) so i tend to go out with a few mates, where we do a lot more casual through and off, miss turns, try and kick each others butts on the hills and sprint for the cafe stop. Also i go out on my own and day dream about being in the alps or such.

Now, i enjoy my rides. 😛

I did a crit race once that was basically an hour of through and off, I’d got into a break of about 8 and, unlike most times that happened, everyone knew what to do and got on with it. We lapped the bunch, it was smooth and well-drilled, almost like a team-time trial. Felt GREAT, we were all on such a high by the end of the race. Of course it all fell to bits in the final 3 laps as people started missing turns and jumping around but that was to be expected.

In the UK, through and off generally done with LH line faster, RH line slower, on the continent it’s the other way. In a race situation, you do it as the wind direction dicttaes, there’s a specific hand signal for “swap directions now” and (so long as you know what you’re doing), it’s almost instant, it looks SO smooth.