Holding a wheel
Holding a wheel
If you can’t hold a wheel then the chances are that you will be left behind in your first race.
The key to riding a wheel is sitting behind the rider in front without having to think about how close or far away they are from your front wheel. It might sound counter-intuitive, but to do this, don’t look at the wheel in front as you’ll never get your head up and see what is actually going on in the race.
Learn to judge the distance to the rider in front by looking at their saddle or lower back at first. After a while you can progress to simply using your peripheral vision to judge the distance between you and the rider in front.
This is a skill that needs to be learnt in a group, so start off on your local club ride or chaingang. The best place to practice is behind one of the more experienced members of the group. Chances are they will be among the smoothest in the group and, therefore, you can ride close behind them knowing that their rear wheel won’t come flying back towards you as they get out of the saddle.