So, in scenario #1, I have a rider that I want to move closer to the front of the peleton (he's currently near the back). Is it better to use the effort cursor to move him up or the relay?
The effort cursor seems pretty straight forward, set to amount of effort you want rider to exert and if it results in a speed faster than the peleton is moving, then he'll move up. However, there seems to be some mystery (at least to me) regarding the relay option. Setting the effort amount and turning on relay, typically takes a much lower effort (number) to move a rider up thru the peleton; it seems to ignore the set effort number at times and its goal is to move the rider to the front of the peleton. The relay option seems straight forward when actually "relaying", I'm not sure how it functions when you are in the middle of the peleton and you turn it on. Any enlightment would be appreciated.
In scenario #2, I have a sprinter who would love to take place in the final flat sprint of the stage; however, I need to get him thru several hills and small mountains with some energy (yellow) left before that sprint, so my strategy has been this... Before I approach a hill/mountain, I make sure he's toward the front of the peleton and as his heartbeat reaches 165, I put him on the effort cursor and his effort between 50 - 60 (depending on incline), he will then start to drop back into the peleton very slowly, but keeping his heartbeat between 160 - 170. The goal is to get to the top of the hill/mountain before the rider reaches the back of the peleton. Again, I've been experimenting with effort cursor and relay, depending on which one I use, the effort amount is drastically different, so just not sure how the relay actually works in this case. Regardless with this approach, I can often get a rider with a mountain/hill rating in the mid 60's over a hill/small moutain without losing any yellow, sometimes even less than riders with moutain/hill ratings in the mid 70's (when they are just "keeping up with the peleton".
Any thoughts, advice, guidance would be appreciatd. Now that I've written these out, I guess what I'm really looking for is how does the "relay" option really function when you are in the middle of the peleton and is it dependent on effort amount?
I always use the dot, sometimes if I set my rider on relay, he moves backwards without any reason.
With the dot I can control perfectly my riders position.
To come back to your question: The relay button lets your rider move to the end of the relay train, but only if the effort is set high enough (depends on the tempo of the peloton).
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