Struggle to believe it was deliberate in Richmond Park tbh. Quite usual to draft or get drafted in there.

Surely that’s the whole point , you have to be really close or you don’t get any benefit .

That’s the point of drafting, but it’s a bit nobbish to just do it without asking.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbei5JGiT8[/video]

Few weeks ago on a road section of the strawberry line I had two roadies pass me inches from my bars on a clear stretch of road. if that had been a car pass anywhere near that closely I am sure they would be fuming but it seems they don’t feel that they need to give other cyclists space.

Had the same last weekend. A sportive event was on and one rider passed me into an oncoming car on narrow road. He then had to swerve across in front of me and I had to slow down to stop hitting him – for once the person cutting me up could actually hear me swearing at them.
Wouldn’t like to come across him if he was driving….

and you were following him at that speed? Both naughty boys then 😉

Personally I’m not at all bothered about other people drafting me (nor about roadies passing me close – I’ve done enough racing and riding in packs) – I figure that if they touch wheels it’s them going down and I should be fine (because that’s what generally happens when you touch somebody’s back wheel with your front wheel). Though it’s not something which happens often and I live out in the sticks rather than in that there London, so not only few traffic lights on the routes I do for them to run into me, but also probably rather less knobbish cyclists.

Hmm, I need to consider my own behaviour then. I “often” sit on someone’s wheel on my commute if it’s into the wind and I’m a bit knackered. Usually I’ve caught them at the lights and they look a bit handy/younger than me. If they take off and I can stay with them, make progress and have a bit of a rest I just do it. Feels like it’d be a bit weird to introduce myself……..

Don’t think it’d bother me the other way round. Not that they’d be getting much of a drat at my average speed.

No issue with it here , will do hand signals too if I know they are there . Similarly will attatch myself to someone if I catch them up over time , say ‘ Hi just going to sit on for a min’ , grab a breather then push on past
Brake checking isnt on though. I mean , Have you seen the price of DI2 rear mechs?

Problem is there are just too many idiots on the road, some of then extremely fit/fast but absolutely no road sense or skill. The state of the club I’m a member of shows this.

Anyone who tucks in behind you isn’t guaranteed to know how to do it, other than having seen it on telly. Same for tucking in behind someone motoring along.
At a guess I’d say that in the last 20 years it’s dropped from a 50:50 to a 75% chance that at least one of the pair has no idea what’s going on. Keeps you on your toes.

Personally I’m not at all bothered about other people drafting me (nor about roadies passing me close – I’ve done enough racing and riding in packs) – I figure that if they touch wheels it’s them going down and I should be fine (because that’s what generally happens when you touch somebody’s back wheel with your front wheel).

+1

Person behind will normally off far worse.

But if someone is behind you and annoying you just stop pedalling and tell them to come through.

Happy Birthday!

I cycle around Richmond Park a lot so I’m quite used to t*ts, particularly the ones that overtake on the wrong side of the roundabouts as you’re waiting your turn but hey ho.

I also don’t like people drafting me around there most of the time, I go there to not have to concentrate on things trying to kill me all the time ( like when outside the parks perimeter), not babysit someone who’s on my rear wheel. But brake testing is stupid, I normally power off or just slow down until they get bored and overtake.

Had this twice on my road ride today, strangers trying to draft me.

Soon dropped the lazy ****.

Just don’t do it.

Why not the risk is on the person drafting, not the other way around.

Yeah, somebody might brake check you 😈

Why not the risk is on the person drafting, not the other way around.

Stupid response.

Why should I put all the effort in.

Do you have to put more effort in when somebody is drafting you?

Lucky he didn’t havbe discs, could have been fatal.

TBH, I’d find it a bit weird to draft a stranger. I mean, i wouldn’t deliberately walk behind a strangerdown the street, carefully maintaining a three foot distance behind them, would you?

Roadie didn’t like me drafting so slammed on brakes

Maybe you didn’t do your turn when he flicked his elbow.

Drafting literally just off the back wheel of someone without consent is a very bad idea, on a bike or a motor vehicle.

At some point, that stranger in front will need to brake very hard for a turning.

Thanks for the thought – next time I’m walking into a 20mph+ headwind I might consider the idea

i wouldn’t deliberately walk behind a strangerdown the street

But there is no benifit so why would you? You do it in cycling because it makes noticeable difference.

At some point, that stranger in front will need to brake very hard for a turning.

You both have eyes, if the front person can see the corner, so can the drafter. Drafting well isn’t just about blindly following, but involves reading the road, and understanding the environment and reacting correspondingly.

aracer – Member
Do you have to put more effort in when somebody is drafting you?

Nice try.

The specials are coming out on this thread.

Are you saving your logical arguments for later Larry, or do you just plan to keep firing off the insults?

But there is no benifit so why would you?

No benefit unless it’s a nice arse, which is why I assume people want to get so close to my rear.
Weirdos.

I presume you’re on benefits too when you don’t need to be, you seem to like sponging off others.

baaaa!

If anyone sits on my wheel I very slowly drop the pace to see how slow I can get them to go before they overtake 🙂 the other day I was practically trackstanding on my cargo bike with some bloke sitting on !

It’s just not polite, why are some people struggling to get that.

You both have eyes, if the front person can see the corner, so can the drafter. Drafting well isn’t just about blindly following, but involves reading the road, and understanding the environment and reacting correspondingly.

Yes, but on a clubrun I wouldn’t suddenly brake and turn into my drive or a shop. I’d probably call out and or give hand signals for any movements on a club run, on my own I’d not, and someone behind me wouldn’t have a clue which house I was about to turn into. In the same way it’s safe for F1 cars to follow each other at 200mph with distances between them that would make even an Audi drive wince at normal speeds.

I don’t think I’d really mind some stranger sitting on my wheel but they’d better keep their eyes open; I don’t have any group riding skillz so I’ll not be pointing out holes etc – it’s just not a habit I’ve developed

I say I don’t think so as it’s only really happened 3 times. First time I overtook picked up 2 guys on a flat road into the wind. I knew they’d tried to get on so I slowed a bit then, after about a hundred yards one dropped off and I told his mate who said “sod him, he can catch up later” so I sped up and dumped tha bastard !
Second was an older couple, again into the wind. I had no idea they were there until I stopped at the T junction and they thanked me for the tow.
Third, turned into a road just ahead of some guy who then wheelsucked for a mile and a half and then burst past me much faster. I sped up to get onto his wheel and he stopped pretty much dead in the road within 50 yards of passing me and naerly had a biggish crash. When I asked WTF he was up to he said “this is where I live so I’m stopping”. ****

You should be switched on, on a club run also, so I don’t but the arguement about people doing odd things. Even if someone did turn sharply how would that impact me if I was behind drafting, as they key bit is you are behind them.

Perfectly happy for people to wheels like my wheel. In fact I as in the park at 8am, and as you say, given the number of riders,it is almost inevitable.

Most people don’t ride in groups, and many riders on the front won’t realise that there is very little risk of beng taken out. It is always the following rider who will go down in a touch of front to back wheel.

Brake checking on any bike is just ridiculous. Straight out of Top Gun!

Happy Birthday

I’ve encountered d*ckhead riding bikes of all flavours, not just on the road. I sometimes get an interesting reaction from some MTB riders – they don’t like being passed by fatbikes, particularly lycra’d-up XC riders 😈 If I’m on my roadbike and someone fancies a draft, as long as they’re prepared to have a chat and take-turns, no worries otherwise I’ll just give in beans on the next hill.

Why not the risk is on the person drafting, not the other way around.

Correct, they are introducing the risk. However if you have to slow down quickly (i.e. pheasant appearing out of bushes) they you are both down on the floor as the person behind hits into you. Damage to bike or worse, damage to you – happy they are taking the risk now?

Same as people who tailgate in cars – my screwed car, whiplash and whatever else so not really their choice to take the risk is it….

Managed to piss off a roadie a couple of weeks ago

Narrow bridge that only allows one car width so it has lights either side.

He’s waiting at the lights. Me and my mate pull up behind him. A car pulls up behind us.

The lights go green and he just starts pootling off at maybe 3mph.

Conscious that the time between the lights changing isnt long and there’s a car behind us I speed up and overtake him.

He takes this as a massive insult and suddenly cranks past me giving me a dirty look as he goes past. 😆

However if you have to slow down quickly (i.e. pheasant appearing out of bushes) they you are both down on the floor as the person behind hits into you.

They won’t knock you off if you are in front. Damage your bike, possibly, but fairly unlikley. Am I happy to take the risk, in the majority of cases yep, no worries.

Maybe you didn’t do your turn when he flicked his elbow

Is being a roadie a bit like being in the masons with special handshakes and all that sort of thing, how many other funny little signals do they have 😆

If wearing lycra and shaving their legs wasn’t bad enough this sort of thing definitely makes your average person look at roadies as being a bit strange!

Cannot stand a stranger cycling behind me. Thankfully it rarely happens since I do 20mph averages.

But it’s always a worry when I catch someone up; thankfully most of the (few) cyclists round here must ease off a bit when I overtake them (or maybe I’m a stronger rider than I think 😉

Sadly, you’ll always get the odd MAMIL who wants to race though. THe last one tried to undertake me on a roundabout after I’d overtaken him coming into town. Just no need.

OP – you appear to be making a massive assumption that the guy in front was braking to annoy you rather than braking because something else was going on e.g. driver coming close in the other direction, other riders, wildlife running towards the road, litter blowing into the road etc etc. There’s plenty of hazards in Richmond Park…

You may want to check out the facts before judging him!

Either way – you put yourself in this situation – so if you don’t want to upset people by drafting them unannounced (which is generally frowned upon for all the reasons expressed elsewhere in this thread), then don’t do it!

You might find all the roadie rules and codes of behaviour a bit odd, but they’re mainly there for reasons of safety – try and spend some time learning them rather than doing your own sweet thing and then judging others when they do something you dont like or understand…

I can’t fathom why anyone would look to cause a crash, but if I turned around and saw an mtb on my wheel I would die of shame.

I’m curious whether the reaction to being drafted depends on your experience? Anybody prepared to answer these questions?
Have you done club runs?
Have you done sportives or audaxes or similar?
Have you done road races and at least finished in the bunch?
Have you had somebody run into you from behind?
Do you get upset at other people drafting you?

Yes, yes, yes, no and no

A lot of roadie hand signals are there for safety or because it just isn’t possible to communicate any other way. If you are flat out on the front of a group you can’t just turn around and ask them to do their turn. Its not that odd plenty of team sports use some kind of hand signals.

Yes, yes, yes, yes and no.