Cycling compared to Hypermiling

[doviatt]

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

A lot of students at my university, even those who don't ride bikes, shave their legs just for looks.

I would hope at least the girls do....

[GoodOak]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Bob has it right. It"s not for looks. It's for massage and road rash events.

Sure, that's what everyone says, but the truth is that roadies want to save the weight and be more areo for an edge over everyone else.

But point of the original post is taken. I had never thought of pulse and glide like pacelining before. P&G makes a little more sense now that I think of it that way.

[Geebee]

P&G and pacelines are not similar, a paceline has the front rider pulling so that when they drop back for a rest someone else is pulling or doing the aero work for them.
Now if you could arrange for a car to drop in front of you on the glide stage then it would be the same and you mpg would really improve.

[GoodOak]

Right, well and maybe I was thinking about it wrong. I was thinking about how people are more efficient for shorter sprints and then tire, so as a group they go faster if they sprint and rest in succession.

However, thinking about it again, cars don't get tired. OK P&G has gone back to not making any sense. to me.

[Bicycle Bob]

People can put out more power for shorter periods. They are a bit like electric motors with a severe overheating problem that way. Having riders in a pace line rotate to the front averages the overall effort, and puts the best-rested rider at the front to push the air.

P & G works because even though you loose efficiency with the higher peak drag for a given average, you gain even more by not making the engine suck on a tiny hole to get air for just a bit of power. With less restriction, it runs more efficiently, and stores energy as kinetic energy in the whole car for use during the glide.

[doviatt]

Originally Posted by GoodOak

Right, well and maybe I was thinking about it wrong. I was thinking about how people are more efficient for shorter sprints and then tire, so as a group they go faster if they sprint and rest in succession.

However, thinking about it again, cars don't get tired. OK P&G has gone back to not making any sense. to me.

Think of the whole paceline as the car and not of the individual rider. This helps with the big picture a bit.