Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.comics.strips
Subject: Re: xkcd: Drafting
Date: Tue, 27 May 2025 20:28:51 -0400
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On Fri, 23 May 2025 15:07:00 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

> xkcd: Drafting
>     https://www.xkcd.com/3093/
> 
> No, no, no, that will not work.  But it is cute.
> 
> Explained at:
>     https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3093

None of the discussions mention that the pulling vehicle
also gets a boost, because the second one fills in the
low-pressure volume he leaves behind.

But not as big a boost as the wheel suckers, which is why
the front rider occasionally drifts off to the side, allows
the pace line to pass him, and tucks in at the back.

I have seen a peloton of racers in which the guys in the
middle of the pack weren't pedalling.

When the wind is from the side, the pace line becomes an
echelon, slanting across the road so that each rider is in
the wind shadow of the rider ahead.

-- 
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

Hah!  Only four days for a sending time to come up in my
schedule.

But only because I thought to check the drafts folder before
reading.