Regrouping after breakaway

whats the best way one can go back to the peloton without getting dropped after having a breakaway in front? seem to always be dropped after having a breekaway cant seem to stay in the peloton when they come past .. suckss

 

Thats easy dont get caught

na seriously if it looks like the break is futile eg, no one working pack closing in, and its far from the finish just start to spin the legs and recover as you drift towards the pack. as they close in get back to a decent speed so you dont have to accelerate and wast energy when they come by.

 

the problem is i was already at a high effort when the main pack comes by me ...i didnt have the strength to keep up with them... so i guess i should have rested long b4 they come and acclerate as they go past me so i can draft behind them?

 

exactly if you saw you where just about to be caught you should not bang your head against the brick wall (futily wasting your energy) the idea is to spin the legs a bit then smoothly get back to a similar speed to the pack so when the then go by you can just slip back and recover without having to sprint back into the pack

 

As an add on to the save yourself a little look for the wind. If wind is comming from the left make sure you are in the gutter on the right so the guys overtaking you are forced to shield you from the wind, they may not like it but it helps.

 

I think you need to develop your anaerobic power capacity. Going off the front (OTF) will require a tremendous amount of anaerobic power. You also have to be able to tolerate lactic acid buildup which is the byproduct of short, high intensity anaerobic efforts like gapping OTF. Lactic acid lowers blood and intramuscular PH(power/potential of hydrogen).

Most people hear about PH in shampoos and stuff like that. The scale goes from 0-14, 7 is neutral. Lower values inicate higher acidity. Normal stomach acid has a 1.5-3.5 PH.

Blood is normally around a PH of 7. Excessive lactate buildup will lower this value.

Even blood PH in the high 6's will start to impair performance. The muscle cells contact optimally under a very narrow PH range. When the PH gets too low, the cells don't contract as forcefully. Less force = less power. If you really blow yourself up, you won't be able to get back on someone's wheel even at the back of the pack. This sounds like what happened.

You could do 30-60 second intervals at the hardest pace to complete the time, with an equal recovery period (1-1). 60 seconds hard, 60 seconds easy, etc. Typical goals for workouts of this type are 10-15 minutes of "work." Start off with only 3-5 minutes of "work" to start. If you are attempting 60 seconds efforts and can only hold 40 seconds, you are going too hard. This workout will develop your anaerobic power capacity, and generate tons of lactate.

You could also do 20 seconds hard, 20 seconds easy. Repeat for 20 minutes or so. There are many variations.

You may feel physically sick in your stomach or liver from a hard interval workout like this. After a while, you will be more powerful and be able to tolerate high lactic-acid environments. The next time you attack OTF, you may have to drop back, but this time you will be able to get back on without any problems. A well-trained rider can go OTF several times after recovering in the pack. Sometimes, the 5th time you attack to establish a break is the one that finally works!!!

Interval workouts are very taxing mentally as well. I think it's almost harder to get your head into them rather than your legs. For this reason, I recomend finding a few very fast training rides per week and blow yourself up on them. Attack, blow up, recover in the pack, attack, recover, blow up, and so on. You will get better quickly without burning yourself out mentally.

If you are really strong mentally, you can do them with great success indoors on a trainer. Be sure to use a VERY powerful fan to cool you if you choose this method!!!

It is mandatory to recover well between these workouts do no more than 2 a week and with at least 48 hrs of recovery in between.

Good Luck!!!