Wednesday Night Chaingang

[bennyburrito]

Did my first full chaingang last night and although i got to the end in decent enough shape it seemed to me that it all got a bit out of hand.

With the majority of us now racing on Thursdays, i saw the Wednesday night chaingang as the ideal way to keep the legs nice and fresh for the following days race.

However last night seemed to me all about who can go fastest, for longest on the front in an effort to try and break the chain up. Towards the end there were only about 6 of us working as the speed was up in the late 20s early 30 mph. This is to high for a chaingang to work at its most efficient. Those that weren't putting a turn in wasn't just because the speed was to high it was also because they don't want to kill themselves for the next nights race etc.

It would make better sense to all be working through the chain, we would soon be at about 25mph without any of the big surges, for those that have a night off from the following days racing or those that don't race can always put the extra turns in on the front if they want to push themselves a bit.

A well organised chain will benefit all of us more and the speeds will end up more than quick enough if everyone has a turn on the front.

I know it has been suggested before but if it continues as it did last night then i propose a second chaingang is organised for those that want to be in a more disciplined, organised, effective group of riders. This is where we as riders have to over rule the ego amongst us and decide to treat the wednesday night chaingang as part of our training for the race season.

As i said at the beginning it was only my first experience and as such i do not wish to offend anyone, these are only my observations and i think that this forum is the ideal way to start the discussion.

I look forward to seeing what others think regarding this matter.

Just a quick note to say that i am off to the bookies later to put a tenner on Cam in tonights race as he was on fire last night..... you heard it here first.

Ben

[oll]

I totally agree. I would like to work in the chain all the way round and if the chain is smooth, the speed will increase to a good pace. Last night started ok but there were a few going through too fast and others were then having to work harder to keep the chain going.

There are many of us who moan at riders who fail to follow a line in a race, yet where are these riders going to learn how to ride at pace other than on a chain gang?

We all like to test ourselves and I can see the difficulty of riders of differing ability riding in the same group, however I also believe a collective group on a chain gang should be aiming to work together. There is always the sprint at the end and/or I would be happy to work in a second group if a few wanted to push themselves to try and stay away from an efficiently working chain. It may be that a small elite group could set off first and the majority set a couple of minutes later to see if the small elite group could stay away, everybody then gets the workout they want.

[andyr]

How do!

Devils Advocate time...

A chaingang is exactly what you describe, 2 lines, one riding thru' the other falling back to switch & join the accelerating line. But the problem with this is it doesn't replicate the types of racing you're doing...unless we're talking about a team time trial.

If you all stick together that's fine, but everyone(strong/weak/in the middle) is having their training dictated by the slowest & less powerful rider. This is of no benefit to the stronger ones. Infact if 10 riders are in a chaingang to a lesser or greater extent 9 are not doing enough & one (the weakest) is probably doing too much!

Training should be just that...training. It should be specific, hard & tailored to you as an individual. A guy who I know well & is a very respected UK coach has no time at all for the
whole chaingang thing, for reasons stated above.

If half of you are getting battered & hanging on then drop back & ride to yourselfs & leave the front group to it. Even then much of the above still applies. I do them simply because I enjoy it, sometimes I get a kicking & sometimes I'll do the kicking. Truth be told my training could be more effective with a powermeter & riding by myself, but where's the fun in that?

Anyhoo, come out on a Tuesday evening on the Doncaster gang. Much better for those racing on Thursday. Be warned mind...no mercy on this ride!

Andy.

[oll]

A valid view Andy and it just shows the difficulty of pleasing everybody.

A further thought as to why I like the smooth chaingang that allows everyone to work is the feeling of Synergy. This being where the result of the individuals working together is greater than the results of each individual could achieve. It also gives a chance to meet up.

Then I want to spend my race nights where I can attack and maybe take a kicking or make others suffer.