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I'm a mild mannered, delightful person. Many people call me a "ray of sunshine" but those are their words, not mine. Having gone through puberty I no longer need to treat my commute as some kind of death match where I need to race everything else on the road. Bimbling along at 16.5mph is fine.
But f*** my old boots if every day there isn't some black-lycra-clad roadie hanging two inches off my right shoulder. With these donkeys slipstreaming me, they're going to go into the back of me if I touch the brakes, and they're blocking my visibility of traffic behind me so I can't do a lifesaver glance before maneuvering.
Gahhhhh!!!!
You should change to my commute. Only other rider I ever see is an old fella with a long white beard, smells like a charity shop. He sometimes cuts off a corner up a one-way section and beats me to the hill, but I grit my teeth and pass him a bit further on 😀
I blame Strava!
Many people call me a "ray of sunshine" but those are their words,
Maybe they are hanging back trying to locate your 'ray of sunshine' exit point . 😉
Anyway, you may need to do the Pro elbow flick to let them know when to come through.
Try it next time. 🙃
Presumably you're on the actual road when this happens? That makes you a.....
Unannounced / uninvited slipstreaming is rude (and a bit creepy) at the best of times but anyone trying that in city traffic deserves everything that happens to them.
Trying to do an over the shoulder glance to check traffic only to find some bloke (it's *always* a bloke) hanging onto your back wheel is really annoying.
This happens to me a couple of times a week - I'm usually plugging along at 28-40kph, so they get a good tow for about 5km between junctions - I find a well timed snot rocket to be a good disincentive to attach themselves too closely to me. If I'm feeling childish - I'll aggressively attack a hill to make some distance and then purposefully slow down just over the summit so they come storming past...99% of the time I CBA, but I do think about it...
I used to have a little local loop that I did during lunch break on the road bike as a way of getting fitter, only 15 minutes long so I went at it flat out.
I came up behind some full lycra kit roadie who was just pootling along slowly. The second I overtook him he sped up and hung right on my back wheel like that ^
Unbelievably humiliating. There was me pedalling away trying to go fast and him sat behind me mostly freewheeling down the hill (I could hear his hub). Carried on alternately pedalling/freewheeling behind me along the flat, then overtook as soon as we started going uphill.
I was unfit and trying to get better. He had been going slowly and only sped up when I got there. Thoughtless maybe, but having a laugh at my expense was very demoralising. It didn't quite stop me riding but it's disproportionately preyed on my mind ever since and tbh is a factor in my current mindset of "can't be bothered starting exercising again, what's the point anyway". ☹️
Shouldn't let it get to me so much.
I got drafted on the road, on my gravel bike, by an old boy on a full sus e-mtb. You can take the bike off the roadie, but you can't take the roadie off the bike. Or something like that. It was more amusing than anything else.
What's that weird icon at the righthand, bottom corner?
Oh brilliant, animated GIFs on tap 🙁
1 - dissuade them via snot rockets, loud wet fart noises, barely evading pot holes without warning.
2 - being annoyed about other people riding not exactly how you want them to is a roadie mentality - so be careful, it's clearly contagious.
Have you tried waving and saying hello to them? I find this upsets them greatly...
I completely understand your frustration. On commutes into central London I have seen the muppets who are clearly trying to achieve a new personal best with a grim determination and a complete disregard for all other road users, including other cyclists.
They should be able to find plenty of opportunities to satisfy their competitive urges at the weekend. There is no need to treat the Vauxhall one-way system with its slow moving traffic like some sort of race course ffs.
I can't comment on That London etiquette, but everywhere else it's fair game to draft another roadie. That's you if you're on the road.
I got rear ended by someone drafting me when I stopped for a traffic light they had thought they wouldn't have time to stop for. I was twitchy about being drafted before and it didn't help my attitude towards it.
I can't comment on That London etiquette, but everywhere else it's fair game to draft another roadie. That's you if you're on the road.
Dunno where you ride sunshine but in my neck of the woods it certainly isn’t.
but everywhere else it's fair game to draft another roadie
Only if you announce your arrival and take a turn (or at least make an excuse for not taking a turn)
I can't comment on That London etiquette, but everywhere else it's fair game to draft another roadie. That's you if you're on the road.
Is it, whenever I've drafted someone they have been quite miffed.
I've given up drafting people
The best thing is to let them go in front. Then follow 10m behind and see how many times they look to see if your still there.
I've had it twice recently from e-bikes on my commute - I'm on a meatmachine just to be clear. The first one I didn't realise, until he blasted past on an overpass upslope. The second bloke was somewhat nonplussed about my, er, assertive objection to his drafting. You're on a ****ing e-bike mate, and a chipped one at that as I'll be doing over 15.5. Just **** off and utilise your battery!
I'm a mild mannered, delightful person. Many people call me a "ray of sunshine" but those are their words, not mine. Having gone through puberty I no longer need to treat my commute as some kind of death match where I need to race everything else on the road. Bimbling along at 16.5mph is fine.
But f*** my old boots if every day there isn't some black-lycra-clad roadie hanging two inches off my right shoulder. With these donkeys slipstreaming me, they're going to go into the back of me if I touch the brakes, and they're blocking my visibility of traffic behind me so I can't do a lifesaver glance before maneuvering.
Gahhhhh!!!!
Slip streaming without permission, or even knowing the person on an open road not in a race is highly inappropriate. I had someone do it to me on early morning ride last year. As I was on my gravel bike, I just turned straight off down into the biggest muddy puddle to see whether he would take his bike down there.... He turned with me and then realised how much of a mistake it was going to be
Why would you care if someone drafts you ? it doesn't make you slower. Apart from the remote possibility they may tag you if something happened at lights etc, i can't see why it would make the slightest difference ?
Because I don't go out to ride my bike with the intention of having another person IN my personal space.
I've often wondered what is the acceptable distance to follow someone? If it's windy and you set off from the same point it can happen that you can keep up with someone from 2m back but don't have the beans to go past them.
Because I don't go out to ride my bike with the intention of having another person IN my personal space.
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
I don’t group ride with people I don’t know. If you don’t think there is risk riding 12” behind someone who is unaware you are there then I think I have a good idea how you drive.
Would you object if someone walked closely behind you & followed you wherever you went? It’s like that.
Wheelsucking is only acceptable if both parties are aware of it & both agree. If not, it’s massively rude and potentially dangerous.
If it's windy and you set off from the same point it can happen that you can keep up with someone from 2m back but don't have the beans to go past them.
In which case you tell them that you don't have it in you to come past.
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
If they are inches from the boot lid, then yes.
Just freewheel a bit to slow down, let them pass, then speed back up and draft them.
Forum glitch
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
You're not really understanding the original post are you?
I also really wonder about the roadcraft of people who draft unannounced. I don’t know about you but I ride in a different way if there is someone behind me, signalling potholes & other hazards, braking gently and generally ensuring the person close behind me knows what am about to do. The idea of drafting someone who might, quite reasonably do something suddenly unpredictable is enough to stop me doing it, no matter what the etiquette.
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
If you are "drafting" in a car then the chances are you are tailgating which is an traffic offence.
I also really wonder about the roadcraft of people who draft unannounced.
It is odd. I would want to have an idea of the riders skill and habits before drafting them. For example if they just say **** it when they see a pothole and have the bike built up to handle it or if they are in the habit, like a few people i know, of going "**** thats the turning i wanted and slamming the brakes on".
Why would you care if someone drafts you ?
Because, worst case, they'll run into the back of me, potentially bringing me down and/or damaging my bike but drafting is a 2-way thing.
It's tacitly understood that the person in front communicates things like potholes, slowing, hazards etc and, more than that, the front person is responsible for the wellbeing of those behind; they don't suddenly slam the brakes on or swerve for example.
If someone jumps on unannounced and uninvited, they're effectively *demanding* that I suddenly take some responsibility for them.
It's selfish and rude.
Out on a leisure ride, I'd someone asks, no problems. On a commute where sudden braking, swerving, quick turns etc are part and parcel of the ride, no chance. Especially not if they don't ask!
Why would you care if someone drafts you ? it doesn't make you slower. Apart from the remote possibility they may tag you if something happened at lights etc, i can't see why it would make the slightest difference ?
Because just as with a car or motorbike, you have to built their stopping distance into your own calculations because reaction times, or, more simply, if you stop hard they will smack into your rear wheel and probably take you down. It's not dissimilar to being tail-gated on a motorway.
If they're particularly useless, they may ride into your rear wheel regardless of what you do.
With people you know and/or trust it's fine, but not some random. It's basically a risk that's at least partly outside your control.
It's why sportives are basically terrifying 🙄
If I'm feeling childish - I'll aggressively attack a hill to make some distance and then purposefully slow down just over the summit so they come storming past...99% of the time I CBA, but I do think about it...
Don't attack aggressively, just slowly and consistently ramp up the power until you drop them or have them blowing out their arse. I've got no problem with anyone drafting but if they going to do it they'll have to work for it rather than getting a free ride.
Drafting helps the rider in front aerodynamically. The rider drafting cleans up the dirty/turbulent air coming off the lead rider and reduces the drag of the lead rider. Try to remember that when you get annoyed when someone drafts you. You may be making it easier for them but they are making it easier for you.
No one ever drafts me these days. Probably because I’m too slow and not many people ride the tracks I normally pootle along.
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
Not the best analogy. No one likes a tailgater.
Brake-check them.
(Don't do this.)
I rarely road-ride, but the way I'd deal with tailgaters in the car is to distance myself. Either ease off to let them past or boot it and leave them for dust. It's actively dangerous and I want my space back, if something suddenly goes wrong there isn't space in the boot of my Seat for an X5.
The number of people who want to drive slower than you but in front of you is astounding and I want to be as far away from them as possible.
Maybe it's a commuting thing, or a British etiquette thing (neither of which I partake in), but I really don't see the problem. It's never "unannounced"*, you know they're there. If it's an issue for you, sit up and wave them past. The suggestions of blowing snot at them or guiding them into potholes are a bit weird tbh.
*As a bastard roadie, I slipstream strangers fairly regularly, and vice versa. It's never for long, though, is it? I was thankful of a wheel for a while last Sunday, which ended up being a 2500m day. Took a couple of pulls, brief chat, gracias when turning off. Zero problem with someone doing the same.
It's why sportives are basically terrifying 🙄
Inexperienced riders trying to copy what they used to see on eurosport (before it went to 30 quid a month).
but everywhere else it's fair game to draft another roadie.
Um, i've ridden/raced/lived in a few countries (and many places in a couple) and it's *never* been fair game outside of a race/event/organized ride. You announce your prescence and ask if it's ok (and maybe do a turn). Though, there's always a handful of dicks who decide they know better.
Though i found going as hard as you can on the ups and soft pedalling on the downs soon destroys their rhythm. Though, as a slow fat knacker, no one drafts me these days!
I never get drafted. I was out on my road bike for the first time this year at the weekend. A rather panicked guy asked me if I'd been overtaken by an old bloke on a mountain e-bike, as he went past me on his road bike. My reply was that I'd been overtaken by everyone.
Poor guy had been trying to catch up with his riding mate for ages and was gutted when I told him that I'd watched the old fella take the turning for Stirling miles back. We were damn near in Fintry at this point.
I dream of being able to go fast enough that someone might want to draft behind me. I bet my fat arse would make a terrific wind break. Although with my dodgy tummy, wind breakage is quite a frequent occurrence when I'm out on a bike. Maybe that's why no-one sits behind me?
They're welcome to draft me (ok, I can't stop 'em). I'm welcome to find a pothole bunnyhop it and see how they cope... (ok, they can't stop me)
That said I used to quite enjoy the Tour d'Embankment which I occasionally got caught up in, back when I lived in London, which was all about drafting and being drafted by complete unknowns, in heavy traffic.
Why would you care if someone drafts you ? it doesn't make you slower. Apart from the remote possibility they may tag you if something happened at lights etc, i can't see why it would make the slightest difference ?
Because even in the absence of any other points, it's creepy as f***.
Would you jog to catch up with a stranger on the towpath, then stop behind them and just walk in step with them breathing down their neck?
I have no problems either working together for a break and to pass by some miles quicker, or if they ask if I mind them sitting on my wheel for a few minutes as they're knackered. Or if it's an Audax and there's a whole stream of people heading in the same direction. The only (not getting attacked by a creepy stranger) danger is to the rider behind if they're stupid enough to half wheel, or to both if the rider in front can't pedal smoothly but you soon spot if they're a competent roadie or a lost MTBer and can drop back / pull out a bit / just let them ride off.
But people who just sit there silently are just plain creeps.
Bin Dun, (at least once every 4 months since the dawn of time) someone not really accustomed to riding on the road gets wound up by them wot wears the lycra and has to tell the internetz.
If you're really that spooked by someone travelling in the same direction as you in closer proximity, give 'em the old elbow flick to pass and then coast so they can believe they've Dropped you like a real pro 😉
Personally it doesn't bother me, normally people will pass if you're going too slowly for them and/or the passing traffic leaves sufficient space for them to do so.
But honestly riding in close proximity to another person on a bike isn't actually that hard, unless one of you chooses to make it difficult.
I guess this isn't happening to you as you say they are blocking your line of sight but I thought I was being drafted through the city centre the other day due to loud freewheel behind me but when I did the shoulder check to move around a parked vehicle I saw they were actually a bike length or two behind.
If I catch up to someone marginally slower or at an inopportune time to overtake then that's generally what I do, just stay a few lengths behind. I find it a bit awkward to pass someone when there's only a marginal difference in speed and then have to smash it to make it not look like a "must get in front" billy big balls move. That is extra conflicting when overtaking a female who is similar speed, I don't like to be the creepy lurk over their shoulder guy but I also don't want to be the bloke who must pass the woman just because.
A while ago I was riding to work in a pretty strong side wind. Just had my head down trying not to get blown about. It was also raining so I had my hood up. I was in a cycle lane that was about to end and did a shoulder check before moving into the road proper.
I was very surprised to see someone sitting with their front wheel about 30cm away from my back wheel. As in, his front wheel was level with my back wheel and 30cm to the side.
Just as well I did a shoulder check instead of just moving over.
Bin Dun, (at least once every 4 months since the dawn of time) someone not really accustomed to riding on the road gets wound up by them wot wears the lycra and has to tell the internetz.
If you're really that spooked by someone travelling in the same direction as you in closer proximity, give 'em the old elbow flick to pass and then coast so they can believe they've Dropped you like a real pro
Personally it doesn't bother me, normally people will pass if you're going too slowly for them and/or the passing traffic leaves sufficient space for them to do so.
But honestly riding in close proximity to another person on a bike isn't actually that hard, unless one of you chooses to make it difficult.
Thats fine if they are paying attention and nothing exciting happens, on my commute I had two people sat on my wheel, a chap in the road on an mtb hopped up the curb into the cycle lane in front of me. I braked very gently to check my speed and not run into the guy in front. The two people behind both ran into me and ended sat in the cycle lane.
They were then shouting abuse at the guy on the mountain bike.
Life is not a peleton go and play roadies if you want just not near me.
If someone annoying starts drafting me without permission I very very steadily start to slow down. And then they either don’t notice or bugger off.
or I become erratic
Anyway, sensible solution is a cycling version of one of these
[img] 
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I agree it's kind of creepy and certainly feels dangerous.
I'm not sure this works in every conceivbale situation, but on the rare occasion it happens to me I just slow down a bit until they pass rather than let it stress me out. I'd be surprsed if it impacts my journey time by as much as a minute.
Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with this term, what's "half wheel"?
I’m afraid it’s a misuse of the term. What is meant is “overlapping”. Half wheeling is when you ride alongside someone and keep pushing the pace. IE You move half a wheel ahead, they accelerate to stay level with you, you accelerate again to stay half a wheel ahead and the process repeats itself as the speed gradually ramps up.
HTH
Ah, thank you.
A mate and I do this on foot. We both walk quickly, we often end up where I'm trying to keep up with him, he's trying to keep up with me, increasingly faster until one of us goes "FFS slow down a bit will you!"
Drafting strangers/being drafted by strangers is situationally ok, in my book:
Narrow road, lots of traffic, lots of junctions, lots of predictability, non-roadies, shitty weather, poor road surface. Nope
Wide, open, country roads, low traffic levels, fellow roadie(s), good weather and road surface. Sure
For sure, it's nice to ask/be asked and get a good tow and rhythm...
The most disturbing thing about this thread is no-one seems to be able to spell peloton.
I'd never draft a stranger without asking, outside of an organised event where most people tend to expect it. If someone drafts me without asking I'll stare back at them while veering wildly left and right until they give up or I fall off, taking them with me.
someone not really accustomed to riding on the road
ooooOOOoooooOOOooohhhh
How many more decades of riding in London do you reckon I'll need before I "become accustomed" to it, oh cycling guru? 😂
I got rear ended by someone drafting me when I stopped for a traffic light they had thought they wouldn't have time to stop for
Same here. In my case a zebra crossing. I was unsympathetic as they lay there in the road.
Anyway, this thread seems to have a fair number of people keen to tell us how fast they cycle on their commute. I'll duck out now for a good swoon.
I'm the only regular daily cyclist I see on my daily commutes. There's a couple of other cyclists I might see once or twice a week, a third once or twice a month. I'm well jel, it's so lonely being the only one. A month or so back I was nearly rear ended by a e-scooter-ist - I'd decided to practice my track stand skills on a traffic island as there was a car coming - I probably could have got across haha. Didn't even know they were behind me until I heard a sudden skid close behind. Informed him I nearly defecated my panties.
10 years ago when commuting by bike in Switzerland 9/10 you'd get someone behind you. They see you as a Windschatten (wind shadow). I used to see it as a challenge and try and lose them..I usually did except the ebikes. Similarly I'd sometimes do the same.
Got very fit.
They’re making you more aero. Just flick your elbow and ease slightly, then get on their wheel. Happy for anyone to draft, they won’t knock you off if you cross wheels. You will however take them down if you do.
Erm...since when is 16.5mph "bimbling"??? #humblebrag
Since I bought an ebike!
Most people drafting are getting something for nothing, hence cheating , which is a lot of what seems to be upsetting people. But it you're on an ebike, you're already cheating so just share those volts with a smile 😎
Some w@nker on a pristine xc hardtail that's clearly never seen off road let alone the sdw mud, wearing full on roadie gear and white(!) disco slippers, and likely on a 5 mile loop, who comes past a very muddy me, 30 miles down, - and doesn't say good morning, clearly trying to burn me off, then yeah I'm going to draft him until my turnoff, no matter how hard he tries.
If your not knocking out 5 watts per kg are you even a roadie?
pristine xc hardtail that's clearly never seen off road let alone the sdw mud, wearing full on roadie gear and white(!) disco slippers
Errr, that was me for 10+ years.
Except it was usually the beginnings of a 30-40 mile offroad ride... And what's wrong with keeping your kit and bike clean and wearing clothes suitable for the job at hand, rather than riding around on a filthy, knackered bike in baggy shit that holds mud and lets drafts in?
At college back in the late eighties, I had a quite low powered moped. I got drafted by a roadie on one occasion 🙁
People seem to be making this unnecessarily complicated. The thing with people properly drafting you - as in sitting just off your rear wheel for maximum benefit - is that it introduces an element of risk to you, over which you have only a little control. If you don't know and trust the draftee, then you have no idea if they are vaguely competent and likely to clip your wheel etc.
You also need to take their reduced stopping distance into account when braking yourself. If you brake hard and unexpectedly then they cannot react in time. That's reaction times for you.
If you're fine with that, then fine, but it's as well to at least understand that that's the case rather than doing the whole 'what's the problem?' thing, which suggests that maybe you haven't thought it through.
I don't personally get really cross about it, I just ease off and wave them past. And I wouldn't draft a stranger, because similarly, I don't know if they're competent or, like some of the posters on this thread, random enough to deliberately - or otherwise - tow me at speed into a pothole that could leave my front teeth all over the road.
My hot tip, for the Whitton and the like, is that people in well worn club kit are generally reasonably competent in close proximity. Personally I don't ride in big groups a lot, so I'm aware of my own, and other people's, limitations in that situation.
You should change to my commute. Only other rider I ever see is an old fella with a long white beard, smells like a charity shop. He sometimes cuts off a corner up a one-way section and beats me to the hill, but I grit my teeth and pass him a bit further on 😀
Where is this, I need to live there!!
I met the guy with the white beard. Rural Argyll. I was most impressed with his triple Ever Ready twin D cell front lights.
I never let folk draft me. it puts me in danger. They will be told to go away and procreate focefully
I've often wondered what is the acceptable distance to follow someone? If it's windy and you set off from the same point it can happen that you can keep up with someone from 2m back but don't have the beans to go past them.
2 second gap as the highway code states
But if you're in a car, would you care another car is behind you ?
Not the best analogy. No one likes a tailgater.
This is true but oddly there are plenty who don't mind being the tailgaters.
Back on topic. . . Some people ride road bikes, they don't "roadie".
I've been riding road bikes for 35+ years but I'm not a roadie. On road I'm generally just me or me + sons. My group riding was more CTC club run in my youth and that has a totally different dynamic. All these implied responsibilities etc. are news to me as someone who doesn't group ride.
That said I still wouldn't do what the antagonist(s) in the OP did because despite knowing none of the unwritten rules of chain-gangs it seems just manners/common sense not to.
Common sense is not really so common.