“Getting dropped” is one of those things that cyclists have nightmares about. The phrase is not, as it might suggest, a barely disguised euphemism for falling off or crashing your bike. Instead it is suffering the ignominy of not being able to keep up with your fellow riders, thus suggesting a complete lack of fitness and/ or riding ability.
There are varying degrees of getting dropped, each of which has its own level of shame and embarrassment (much of it self-directed) attached. Whatever the situation most riders will have experienced the “snapping of the elastic” when they finally go off the back of their fellow riders.
The fact that there are so many idioms and synonyms for the phenomena suggests that it is an all too common occurrence among cyclists. Perhaps one of the problems is that, as a friend once told me: “If you have two cyclists riding together then you have a race”. They are always egging each other on and the pace slowly creeps up.
It is never as simple as just not being able to keep up. The analogy of elastic snapping paints the picture perfectly. A “dropped” rider will go through many stretches and contractions of the elastic before it finally goes.
It might be a hill that initially sees them losing ground to their fellow riders. They get to the top and fight back to gain lost ground, and a few minutes’ respite behind the wheel in front of them, before the next rise appears.
The timescale will vary tremendously from rider to rider, but eventually there will be one gradient too many and the effort of chasing to get back to the riders in front will be too much and “ping”, the elastic pops and the ignominy of getting dropped occurs.
The benefit of a rest, sitting on the back of a group, can never be overestimated.
The sanctuary from the wind offered behind even just one rider can be enough to allow recuperation and may be the difference between hanging on for one more hill, or a lonesome ride home. One of the problems of sitting at the back of a group for too long though is that it can be a very tiring place to be too.
On a straight and flat road there generally aren’t too many problems, but throw in a few corners and suddenly the back of a group becomes a hanging-on-by-your-finger-nails place to be. I remember one of my first ever road races, a high speed mid-week event around Tullybaccart and Lundie at the back of Dundee.
In the group I was doing fine, but I slowly found myself jostling for and losing position and finding myself at the back of the group. The error of this became apparent as we started to hit junctions and corners.
At the front the speed going round a corner dipped only a few miles an hour, but at the back an accordion effect was taking place and the speed would drop from 25mph to 13mph as the riders braked and bunched up from riding so closely together, then would shoot dramatically back up to 25mph again. Sprint, brake, accelerate, repeat was the order of the day and it wasn’t long before my lack of experience and ability became apparent and I found myself making my lonesome way back to the race HQ.
It can happen and has happened to the best of us, spurring us into a self-flagellating regime of more training and promises it will never happen again. But then even that sometimes isn’t enough to avoid being dropped. A lot of it depends on who you are riding with and the terrain you are riding on. Jens Voigt, the colourful German rider with a droll sense of humour, had written on the top-tube of his bike when he broke the World Hour Record in 2014: “I go so fast I even lap myself”. Now that would be a tough wheel to hang on to.
Where to ride?
Pedal for Scotland – September 10 2017
Suitable for? Cyclists of all abilities
Distance: 45 miles and 110 miles
Find out More at: PedalForScotland.org
Description: Although many of the big road cyclo-sportives are now sold out for 2017, there are still many other events still with entries available. Although Pedal for Scotland may seem a long way off, entering just now and giving yourself a target may be the motivation you need to kick-start your riding in 2017.
