Driving along the Nicasio Valley Road I overtook a bicyclist hot on the tail of a motorscooter, a sight I had never seen before. I drove ahead, then stopped the car, and got out to take a picture, the Tour de France having rekindled my interest in bicycle racing.
When I got home I rushed to my trusty Google and found the following, rather cute account of motorpacing ~
I have this one fantasy where I am fabulously wealthy, live in an architecturally elegant yet not too big house, and have a live-in housekeeper who motorpaces me on the weekends. She'd wear a French maid outfit even while driving the scooter and she'd have the French accent too. Well, Herriott Performance Sports doesn't have the more fantastical elements, but they do have the motorscooter tricked out with a Kreitler roller. The roller is a safety device in case the front wheel of your bike should get too close to the scooter. Why would you want to motorpace, as in ride in the draft of a motorized vehicle? Because a bike handles far differently at 30 mph than 20 mph, and to really be competitive at the upper levels of cyclesport, you need to be able to handle a bike properly at that speed. Plus the effort of turning a big gear at high speed can't quite be replicated at a slower speed. To become skilled and strong at speed, one needs to ride at that speed.
Unfortunately, a close look at my picture reveals no French maid, but you can clearly see a roller in the back of the scooter.
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