Bastard roadies on ...
 

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Bastard roadies on the commute - it's not a bloody peleton mate!

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 Haze
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Wouldn’t particularly bother me, but if I was going steady enough for someone to close up then I’d expect them to push past rather than sit on.

Its what I’d do, I wouldn’t sit on a strangers wheel as I prefer to have confidence in the wheels I follow.

I guess I’d sit up a bit which should give them enough incentive to go past.


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 8:41 am
Daffy reacted
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Luckily with the combination of there being  few riders on my routes  around Glasgow and me riding outside commute times it has never being an issue. Being slow helps as well. Anyone catches me they get past without difficulty.  I wouldn't like someone sitting on my wheel for safety reasons. If it happened I would just freewheel until they went past.


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 9:26 am
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No one sits on my wheel on my commute. It's a very short commute and is basically a plummet to work, so no one can keep up with me in that direction. On the way home it's a grind up a steep steep hill and there's never any other cyclists around. That said whilst I am not comfortable being drafted nor do I draft other people. 


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 12:45 pm
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As is the case in the drivers Vs cyclists 'debate', there is no 'bastard roadies', just inconsiderate folk.Your making the mistake of seeing somebody do something annoying, identifying a subgroup that they belong to , which you don't, and latching onto it. It's called 'othering' and usually doesn't end well.


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 2:48 pm
Dickyboy, chambord, ayjaydoubleyou and 4 people reacted
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I have a habit of bunny hopping potholes when I'm on solo rides - cos I'll always be an mtber at heart really 😁

About 3 years ago I was on a ride on Exmoor, properly in my own world, keeping a nice pace and feeling fine. I was unwittingly being drafted, and the first I knew of it was swearing from behind as he dropped his front wheel into a pothole I'd just hopped over.

I did stop to see if he was ok, but rode off when he swore at me, apparently it was my fault 😆


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 7:29 pm
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This used to happen to me *all the time* with my 10km commute to Oxford. Trouble was, I was on a 3-speed Raleigh Hercules, with 16 inch wheels and SPDs, yet somehow being drafted by someone on a road bike in lycra. I literally could not fathom how someone could live with themselves like that - drafting some guy on a shopper bike. 

More so, when I got tired of being drafted, I used to drop them by kicking hard - up and over one of the bridges on the A40, which amazingly worked 99% of the time.

Anyway, it's lovely living somewhere now where this sort of weird UK sh*t doesn't happen. Nobody cycles to work here at all in NZ, so a morning's bike commute is free of strange cycling politics like this. Although, because I don't need to commute to work by bike here, due to loads of parking availability and no traffic jams, I drive to work in the safe, warm comfort of a car most days anyway 🤣 


 
Posted : 16/03/2025 9:44 pm
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Posted by: weeksy

Posted by: Daffy

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 ?

 

If it's also 12" behind me, yeah. 

 


 
Posted : 17/03/2025 8:12 am
Daffy reacted
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Where is this, I need to live there!!

Rural Waterloovilleshire 😛


 
Posted : 17/03/2025 9:15 am
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Posted by: no_eyed_deer

Nobody cycles to work here at all in NZ...I drive to work in the safe, warm comfort of a car most days anyway 🤣 

My condolences.

 


 
Posted : 17/03/2025 10:22 am
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I’ve got Rotorua Forest - one of the world’s top MTB destinations - literally right outside my office, with 160km of purpose-built trails. I'm all good thanks 🤣 


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 12:38 am
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You can draft me if you want, happy to help out, have a chat, whatever. I'm adapt my riding to accommodate. Some right bed wetters on this thread. I bet they don't say anything to anyone drafting in reality they just seeth inside and then come here and post about how tough they are.

 

I won't sit on an erratic riders wheel though


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 6:37 am
bob_summers, supernova, razorrazoo and 1 people reacted
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You can draft me if you want, happy to help out, have a chat, whatever. I'm adapt my riding to accommodate. 

 

You could put a little sign on the back of your bike, so people know. "Awesome guy" or something like that.


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 7:13 am
 mert
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I won't sit on an erratic riders wheel though

How about having an erratic rider sitting on your wheel?


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 7:44 am
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Posted by: mert

I won't sit on an erratic riders wheel though

How about having an erratic rider sitting on your wheel?

From my experience, you can usually ride away when they crash touching you wheel.

 


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 8:08 am
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Posted by: anagallis_arvensis

You can draft me if you want, happy to help out, have a chat, whatever. I'm adapt my riding to accommodate. Some right bed wetters on this thread. I bet they don't say anything to anyone drafting in reality they just seeth inside and then come here and post about how tough they are.

after adding the imaginary part where they snotted all over the rider or dropped them with a mighty sprint despite being clearly underbiked...


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 8:46 am
supernova reacted
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How about having an erratic rider sitting on your wheel?

Much easier to manage tbh. I will only get annoyed at those who overlap wheels.


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 8:51 am
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Posted by: anagallis_arvensis

You can draft me if you want, happy to help out, have a chat, whatever. I'm adapt my riding to accommodate. Some right bed wetters on this thread. I bet they don't say anything to anyone drafting in reality they just seeth inside and then come here and post about how tough they are.

 

 

 

 

Oh i tell them in no uncertain impolite ways.

I amnothaving someone compromise my safety

 


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 9:20 am
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Think we've got to the circular argument stage here, some of us don't mind, some of us hate it, we all have different experiences and concerns,  no ones view is likely to be changed.


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 10:13 am
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Roadies utterly baffle me. The unwritten rules/etiquette are worse than bloody golf. If someone's behind you and you don't want them to be, just slow down, they'll go past, and carry on with your day. 

I've been committing via road for several years and it's not even crossed my mind. I'm probably just not in the right 'cat' or don't present the right image with my rucksack, discs, and peak *shrugs*


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 10:53 am
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Posted by: anagallis_arvensis

 Some right bed wetters on this thread... they just seeth inside and then come here and post about how tough they are.

The (situational) irony, Matron! It's too much to bear!

 


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 10:56 am
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Posted by: anagallis_arvensis

You can draft me if you want, happy to help out, have a chat, whatever. I'm adapt my riding to accommodate. Some right bed wetters on this thread. I bet they don't say anything to anyone drafting in reality they just seeth inside and then come here and post about how tough they are.

 

Some right sneery, wannabe alpha male tough guys on this thread  😉 If someone doesn't feel comfortable with someone on their wheel, then that's their call, not yours. You might be happy soloing hard rock routes or whatever, or not, again, it's just personal preference.

As per my previous post, I don't like uninvited drafters, it makes me uncomfortable, though clearly in your book it also makes me a 'bed-wetter' because you're so brave and fierce and confident. If I rode more in chain-gangs or raced on the road, I might feel differently. But hey, everyone's experience and take is different. 

I just slow down and wave them past. I don't try to tow them into pot-holes or make snarky comments or owt like that, I just let them ride away. It seems fair enough. 

Sneering at people for being 'bed-wetters' maybe says more about you than them. Can you not just live and let live?

[Sorry, I'm being unnecessarily snarky myself,  but honestly, why the sneery 'bed-wetters' stuff? Why not just accept that some people have different views to your own, probably founded on different experiences and takes. As above, you can come and sit on my wheel anytime, I'll simply slow down and wave you past. No drama necessary.]


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 10:58 am
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If someone's behind you and you don't want them to be, just slow down, they'll go past, and carry on with your day. 

This thread is outing the real roadies, we all know the correct etiquette is to pull to the right, then slow to let them pass and rejoin behind them. 

No committed roadie is going to sacrifice their average speed to let someone overtake 😉


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 11:27 am
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The (situational) irony, Matron! It's too much to bear!

I'm certainly not tough.

 

I just slow down and wave them past

Which is a perfectly valid response


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 11:35 am
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Posted by: MoreCashThanDash

Think we've got to the circular argument stage here, some of us don't mind, some of us hate it, we all have different experiences and concerns,  no ones view is likely to be changed.

We got there at post 2!

It was always inevitable.


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 12:22 pm
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I'd quite like to see another cyclist on my commute.  It's just me and the voices in my head to keep me company.


 
Posted : 18/03/2025 12:26 pm
supernova reacted
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