I’d feel much more of a team player and get more satisfaction from doing something like that and watching the remainder of the team do well whilst I ITT to the end than be the last man holding the team back
I think its easy to overlook how much “not being a team player” actually does help the group.
It would be different at the pointy pointy end where everyone is knocking out 5w/kg average but we’re in a mixed group and a category of mixed groups. (admittedly on a course like today the dropping riders thing would work less badly where its flat then a climb to the finish, though I think it’s <6% so draftable?).
Every extra person in that train means the stronger riders can recover better, which means they can pull harder on the front. Having someone who can make consistent of pulls at say 280 in third wheel then rest at 200 in 5th or 6th means front man can do 450w + pulls and rest in the back at 150. That means the whole group goes faster. Take that 280 max effort rider out and rear wheel has to find another 50w, which means they’re losing 50w on their pulls at front. At our level every rider you drop slows the group and, in a mixed group, the slower riders you’re forced to have simply can’t put out the numbers on the front to make it worth burying them – in a proper 1hr ish race for myself race with no recovery, (when I’m on form) my normal 5minute power is about 370w, my 1 minute is 400+, and I’m not the strongest rider in our group. The TTT usually sees me with a lower avg power than normal but it also sees my highest 30sec power consistently 500+) and I’m usually aiming for 400 on the front, repeatedly, and it needs to be for at least 1min at a time to pull forward take front and stay there for a 30 second stint. I simply can’t produce those numbers time and again without folks in the middle.
For the weaker riders to be serving the group better on the front wheel doing a big pull then being burnt instead of in the middle you’d need to be doing a big chunk over that & for a lump of time. Using my numbers if it costs 1 pull at 400 dropping to 350, you’d have to do 450 for a pull to make up for that, 1 pull each for me and 1 other and you need to be doing 450w for a minute and a half to make up for it and so on, if we’re looking for 30sec on the front if you drop in the last 1.5 minutes it’s not a huge loss as everyone should be rested ish fit their final pull, otherwise you’d need to add 50w to “my” effort for every 30 seconds above that, so 5 minutes from the line you’d be looking for 450w for 4 minutes+, (or 750w for a minute if that’s your poison 😉 but then everyone else has to keep up with that too.) and those numbers are to keep the same pace, not go quicker.
I get it might feel a bit less like you’re contributing in the middle of the group but it’s absolutely important to the team.
