Roadies – am I overreacting?

I’d write a letter to my MP about this.*

*No I wouldn’t. who gives a ****.

genuine question. I understand the benefit of drafting either in a race situation, drafting other cyclists, or as per fourbanger above where you get the benefit when you’re on your uppers or needing to get somewhere fast.

But as training? What benefit do you get by going fast tucked in behind a bus? Why not just get a mate in a car to tow you along?

But as training? What benefit do you get by going fast tucked in behind a bus? Why not just get a mate in a car to tow you along

Behind a bus commuting to work probably not a lot, but you may (and being old I often do) find youself struggling to stay on the back and making more of an effort to stay there. Proper motor paced, again fighting to stay on a wheel, the ability to be led out for a high intensity effort, etc.

Roadies – am I overreacting?

Yes you are. Not your business what others do. Stop rubber necking you will cause an accident.

So how is this different to tailgating in a car? What if the driver in front suddenly brakes?

But as training? What benefit do you get by going fast tucked in behind a bus? Why not just get a mate in a car to tow you along

Not much, it’s just a hoot doing 30mph with no effort.
Most of the road roaund here are rural roads with very few junctions so not much stopping, usually nice steady speeds.
Love racing mopeds too, great fun chasing them down when riding with a bunch, bit of a struggle on my own.

in netherlands on the rural parts you can draft scooters as they are allowed on the bikes paths.. not sure that you should though..

But as training? What benefit do you get by going fast tucked in behind a bus? Why not just get a mate in a car to tow you along

I do the Derny paced sessions on the velodrome. It’s a way of getting in some high intensity work but at a practiced pace. Out on the open road, it’s great to be able to sit there practicing sprint efforts or high speed race run ins without actually being in a race or having 100 other idiots around you all sprinting for the line. Means you cut out the one massive variable of wind and just concentrate on technique, heart rate, power under replicable conditions.

In real life situations…
I used to work at Heysham and would ride home down the connecting road between Heysham and Lancaster, a 3-mile long almost flat, dead straight road with no junctions or lights. If you could get behind one of the fully laden lorries coming out of the port as it slowly crested the incline, you’d get a tow right down this road. 50mph limit which the trucks mostly stuck to so it was great sitting in right behind them. Fastest I had down there was 56mph and that was spinning out a 53×12.

The only dodgy moments were when the trucks out accelerated you (that’s why you need a fully laden truck, they accelerate much more slowly!) and you got the full blast of a sudden 40+ mph headwind. That caused a few scary moments. Wouldn’t do it in traffic though.

Also, the stopping distance of a bus full of passengers or alorry fully laden is quite long.

I’ve seen passengers ejected form their seats on a bus. They can stop a lot quicker than you can.

some times buses on my old commute route (straight road with no junctions), awesome fun.
imagine a triangle behind the bus where the sides are the width of the bus, anywhere in that and you get a pretty good draft. just watch the lights, listen to the engine tone and accept the fact that what you are doing is dangerous.

Plenty of car drivers do exactly the same, i.e. draft lorries/can/buses that give them no forward visibility whatsoever.

As someone said earlier, Darwinism.

I’ve seen passengers ejected form their seats on a bus. They can stop a lot quicker than you can.

“I have seen” does not equal “common occurrence”. Buses have accidents… does that make buses inherently dangerous? Emphatically not.

Keeping your eyes and ears peeled and being aware of external conditions, it’s quite easy to draft on certain stretches of road. Just ’cause you don’t want to do, it doesn’t make anyone who does more likely to get hurt.

“I have seen” does not equal “common occurrence”. Buses have accidents… does that make buses inherently dangerous? Emphatically not.

Accidents are not a common occurrence in general. But that doesn’t make them any less unpleasant when your face is smashing into the back of one.

My worry is the pothole you hit that there is no possibility of seeing.

some sobering replies.cutting down on variables is key.
having said that,I’d like to try to get to 100kmh.
done 68 without too many probls,but the lorry driver didn’t know.
if my dad’s old van can reach 100 it should work.I’ll weld some support to keep the back doors open,and get someone on a videoc. inside.
I’ll do some testing when I go back hone,so if you never hear from me again that’s why.