You could always just turn round and tell them to **** off.

A well aimed snot rocket should do the trick 🙂

You been practising for Sunday then Swadey ?

I was hoping to draft for most of the ride to be honest ……..

thought i’d get a bit cocky and zip past him, but he turned off at the next lights

I hate when that happens. I don’t see many riders on my commute but when I do there is nothing better than reeling them in, and then a couple of hundred metres from them they turn down a side street. I think they probably see me coming and duck down a side street so they don’t look slow 😉

Andyfla – My jersey says “Draft Me”, so you’ll look just fine coasting along behind in that Team Poseur Charlatan top and the Rapha arm warmers…..

I have Rapha knee warmers now as well, changed the bike frame as well so the colours match !

I do like looking the part ……

Told someone to get lost the other day for drafting. Roadie just catching a free ride. If they want to do some work then fine.

Don’t mind cycling close when everyone is experienced. Sitting on someones tail in busy London traffic is a bit silly.

Am I the only one who doesnt care ? If someone wants to sit behind me well good on em, it does make me raise my game and try and lose them, but then again why not ?

When did this become a roady forum anyway ?

13thfloormonk – Member

Where is all this happening? I don’t get to race anyone on my way to Bruntsfield from Leith in Edinburgh [:(] I saw someone on a Willier and thought i’d get a bit cocky and zip past him, but he turned off at the next lights, boo.

Although i do suspect i’m a bit of a ‘target’ for others, fully lycra’d up with a racer… I would try to overtake me.

Noted. Do you go up Bruntsfield Place? If so, I’ll be waiting at the Morrison Street lights for you. 😉

When did this become a roady forum anyway ? It’s ‘ie’ in ‘roadie’.

Drop them (or weave like I do) or better still if they are still right on your wheel- clear both nostrils over your shoulder

Gary_M:
Point taken, my deepest apologies for any offence caused

I wasn’t offended, I was just pointing it out. Although why someone who rides on the road complains about discussing ‘roadie’ subjects is beyond me.

Not complaining, just commenting,
I guess it is the ageing factor – once commitments kick in, kids, work, etc it is easier to sneak a road ride than a mtb ride

fair enough, it’s all bikes to me.

to true, to true

Mr Fla – stop picking fights on my threads!

I’ll bring me Rapha cap on Sunday so as not to lower the tone

I am not picking fights !
Just making some observations ….. 😀

It will be our own little Rapha possie

I once had a great race with a guy on the commute. Busy traffic and high speeds we were actually getting quite dangerous with him on the outside of two lanes of cars and me down the middle. Middle proved faster due to on coming cars but when they opened up we were switching positions for a couple of miles. As we neared some traffic light at the top of a hill we had just sprinted up. we stopped for a chat. He congratulated me saying that he was in training for a Triathlon at the weekend and I had provided him some challenging entertainment. I was knackered!lol. Friendly races are fun.

My commute isn’t long enough and has too many traffic lights to care about drafters but I can imagine getting a bit p’d off on a longer ride.

But if you normally ride on your own as I do (no mates me !) does it make a diff if someone decides to slack behind you ?

Weird, its never bothered me. I tend to set out at my own pace and then ride at it, should someone wish to pass, fine, should someone wish to draft, fine. Its always preferable if the person pulls alongside and says hello.

Years ago when I was a roady, I had someone do this to me.

If any of you know the area around St Helens, I was travelling up the Rainford by-pass on my normal training run out to Formby and Southport. Passed a guy, said hello and without a word he jumped on my back wheel. Towed him for the next 10 miles to Ormskirk and he never said a single word for the whole 10 miles.

Got to Ormskirk and he pulls up along side me with a big smile on his face. He then proceeds to thank me for the tow and said he was absolutely shattered. I ask him where he has come from, he tells me he’s a student at Sheffield Uni and thought it might be a good idea to ride home to Ormskirk.

After that day, I don’t mind giving people a tow, it is more likely to be me hopping on his back wheel these days.

absolutely not bothered at all…isn’t it just part of the biker camaradarie…

it’s happened a few times in london, I’ve done it a few times – especially in the “friendly race” situation…

and usually it’s the more experienced riders that do it anyway so i don’t think it is dangerous.

McChillPill….

aw…sorry…just killed the thread by being sensible…

(see “is anyone offended by this” thread)…reverts to type…

McChillPill…. Please tell me you never, ever say that ‘word’ out loud.

um…no…it kinda fell out…come on half three on a friday afternoon…and i’ve spent most of the day on this So99ing forum!!

Hey Swadey,
Less of this saddo solo riding! Come and ride with us ‘old uns’.
All the drafters have beggered off to Sicilly for the weekend.

I wish drafters would ask first. They really annoy me.

you could drop a silent but deadly one…

(yes it is childish, no i don’t care…)

good topic!
so what is the etiquette on the whole commute/overtake thing? i often hold back till i get an oppertunity to overtake in a non condesending way.
im not exactly time trial boy,but a fast commuter on a good 700c slick tyred bike who rides the same roads everyday at pace.
BUT this dude i overtake everyday chases me on his somewhat antiquated mtb with knobblys at 20psi and the sound of his worn transmission crunching and his heart trying to escape thru his chest haunts me in a disturbing way.
one day i should stop and explain “this isnt a race,im sure your a nice person,im not trying to undermine your masculinity.so please dont make me the reason your going to have a heart attack or get hit by a van due to your lack of consentration on the road”.otherwize i might just take a longer route to work…..

There is no point getting worried by the etiquette, as you then just get narked by all the hundreds of people who have never worried about what the etiquette is. My personal London aggravation is people who sit waaay in front of the stop line at junctions, can’t see the lights and set off late so I pass them, stop at the next line, they drift in front again and so on. But hey.

A bloke went into my back wheel under Admiralty Arch t’other day when I slammed on the anchors to (I thought) avoid being clotrheslined by a van’s mirror. Sorry if that were you.

🙂

Never minded if anyone drafts me (though more often other way round!).
Surely its just part of being a cyclist, and makes you a bit more visible than one bike to traffic.
If you are fast enough to catch-up and overtake then you really ought to be fast enough to pull away and drop any tailgaters, or at the very least make them work hard for their draft!

I can imagine in central london the above might not apply, as I wouldn;t want to think of the rider 6inches behind me if I needed to brake suddenly due to a taxi or bendy bus.

i suppose this conversation is superbly reliant on the people,pace,traffic,geography and not yet mentioned…ego.
i ride my bike,fast,slow,and sometimes in anger.
jeez it just occurred to me..we are all talking the same language.BIKE RIDING
we are the same breed.

I will not let anyone I don’t know and trust to draft me. I have no idea what their skills are and given the daily “near miss” that requires an hard stop I don’t want them running into the back of me. Its only happened a few times but they get told to “go away and procreate”

have you tried ringing your bell in an angry manner?

MrNutt – Member

have you tried ringing your bell in an angry manner?

pmsl

I don;t dislike drafting for the drafting aspect,i just like the sense of comuting alone as it were,i sometimes stop and have a drink from my water bottle and let anybody go past,it seems the most chlled way of not having people right behiend you.

Big effort comuting probably makes you breath fumes in more deeply i think,so i’m chilled about being slower than othe riders or stopping for a drink.

Coleman – I’m not saddo solo riding – I’m off to get beasted round the Peak District by the nice Mr AndyFla of this parish

Saturday was saddo solo riding after the curry night!

I’ve been mountain biking for 2 years. This thread has made me feel like I never want to be considered a cyclist. You’re a peculiar bunch. If someone sees me as a target to be hung on too I’d take it as a compliment. Probably because it’s unlikely. That it would become a major issue just baffles me.