Herne Hill Saturday Training

I never listen to them yell as it's pointless, surely looking behind a lots sufficient?

In a nutshell, no.

If you are getting the most out of your own training in an appropriately paced group for yourself and there are other groups circulating, you need to listen to your own group, the groups you pass and the groups that are passing you.

Of course you should always look and flick the elbow, and being highly aware of whats around you at all times is important, but a combination of looking listening and signalling is the best thing.

In simple terms, we run our club sessions on the following basis:

If you are being passed and you hear 'Stay up', 'Stay Down' or 'Hold your line' do just that. If you are not sure what you heard, check by looking and carry on doing what you are doing until it becomes clear what is going on.

If you are passing another group and you are on the front, go as high as is appropriate and let the group know you are coming when you feel is appropriate (too early or too late can cause issues!) and tell them what you want them to do. when you clear the first rider, don't chop their nose off as you drop down in front of them, as again, its training.

in either situation its everyone in both groups responsibility to communicate whats happening.

it keeps it safe and fun and it eases you into the best part of racing. The mid race 'advice' :)

As @pdlouche says, groups passing others do so at their own speed when they come up to a group, they wont and shouldn't regulate their pace to let you change. if you are on the front of the group that is being passed, hold your pace and line and change either when its safe to do so after the quicker group has passed, or just do a full lap turn, its training after all.

Its prob worth saying that it might be tempting to get a bit of speed on and go after the group that's just passed, but that will probably just detonate your group and limit your own training. Better to carry on turning it up slowly imo.

This isn't gospel btw, its just what works for me/us/Brixton Cycles Club.

@edscoble there is a really good guide that Tom Simpson (no joke) wrote on the BCC forum as the first post on the Winter Chaingang page if you want an 'in depth' read

Cheers

Rob