Derny DriverI dont shout at anyone sogood : )) My riders tell me what they want from the session, and we do it. Its hard to communicate during the session apart from occasional words or signals. Motorpacing on the road can be quite tricky. Undulations, hills, wind direction all mean that the effort behind the bike is never constant. The rider may be freewheeling down hill but struggling to hold the bike on a false flat. Getting it right takes a lot of practise. For the rider, he knows that the moto waits for no-one, it is relentless, and if you slip a metre out of the sweet draft spot, you will go from 50kph to 30 in seconds. so that is motivational. Getting dropped wastes times as the moto must slow dow, then recover the rider, and build the speed back up. It interrupts the effort and lessens the benefits. So thats the motivator. Its like in a race when you know that if you get dropped, it is race over and so you have to make a massive effort to hold on. In training, psychologically its difficult to replicate race type efforts. this is where the moto helps. Thats your 2nd point.
Track sessions are different. A track bike has just one gear, a big gear, and if you went to the velodrome on your own you would do 5 laps and be buggered. Rest for 10 minutes and do another 5 laps .... A moto brings you up to that good speed, 40, 45, 50kph or whatever and you can do an hour, 2 hours, and get some decent training done. Its not a cakewalk riding at that speed even if you are in a draft. Its a good hard session. You could replicate it with a paceline of 6 other blokes but there are some great drills you can do with a moto.
Some of my favourite drills for the velodrome include:
On-offs. Off speed may be, say 40kph, on speed 55-60. At off speed the rider does a number of laps behind the scooter at 40kph and then the derny accelerates to 60kph for the "on" laps. At the end of the on laps the rider sprints past the derny at the finish line, swings up and decelerates, huffing and puffing. The derny slows and he immediately gets back behind it. It could be something like 17 laps "off" and 3 on, or 10 off and 5 on, of 5 off and 5 on ... depending on the riders fitness and how close to the event he is.
Take a lap. Riders sit behind the moto doing 40kph mid-high on track. Front rider drops to the black line and accelerates to 45-49kph, makes an effort for 2-3 minutes until he laps the field and tags back on to the group. The next rider (front one, behind the moto) goes and takes his lap while the others 'rest' at 40kph behind the derny. If there are lots of riders they can lap in pairs. Or riders can start to take their lap when the previous rider gets halfway around.
4 lap builds. Rider or a pair of riders sit behind derny at 35kph for lap 1, speed builds to 40kph on 2nd lap, 45kph on 3rd lap, 50kph on last lap. In back straight the riders come off the derny at 50kph and accelerate/sprint past and try to beat the moto to the finish line. They then sit up and circulate high resting as next rider does his 4 lap drill.
Chases. Rider cruises high on the track at 35kph. Derny circulates behind, then accelerates to 45kph and times his pass when the rider is high on the banking. When the rider sees the derny below him he swoops down and chases it. The derny will have a decent gap but the rider is doing 50kph+ and the derny 45 so after 8-10 seconds of massive effort the rider will be in the draft. Derny driver has gradually accelerated to about 52kph as the rider tags on to the back and they do 3 laps at 52-55kph before the rider swings off on lap 3 (no sprint required on this one). This is the drill I was doing with Danny in the youtube clip at DGV.
So much of the derny work is race simulation, both road and track. These are high intensity efforts which form a part of a riders preparation for a specific event. The above examples I hope help you to see that motorpacing is not just twiddling along behind a motorbike in the draft. Its a bit more complex than that, even on the road. Im not sure that it would be correct to say that motorpacing means that you are riding at higher speed without additional power. The power outputs would be higher than any training ride you could do on your own or with a mate.
Great summary of what happens, and most should be grateful for your effort.
But it will truly leave most realising, the level required to perform in Cycling.
Personally had used most methods available with pacing, on the Track (84/87")
and on the Road (with fixed, usually 76-81" depending)
When I spoke of "Sprinting off the motorcycle pacer" much like what your doing
with your on/offs. Most of the stuff we did was, one rider (maybe two)
People must understand that the moment you move off the pacer, you are
exposed (as you would be coming off another rider) and that is at high speed.
Simulating race finishes. Pure pacing, gives speed, stamina and resolution to stay.
In solo (or two riders) methods, on the track, we did sprints every 5/6 laps.
On the Road, very straight, very quiet, section... with a couple of kilos to windup.
You know your stuff, and must enjoy it. True, good pacers are like Gold.
Cheers
Edit:to add Derny driver's quote... worth a re-read.