Drafting when commuting

[Vorpal]

I've been drafted by people I didn't know while commuting a few times. TBH, I haven't felt that someone was being aggressive even though it has, in every instance been a man following me. Actually, I just thought it was plain rude. A couple of times, he was closer than I'd like from someone I don't know, but mostly, it was just sitting on my back wheel and not either saying anything nor taking a turn.

[Tonyf33]

I would think it's pretty rare for one thing as usually we all go at a comfy pace that differs, so what if someone tags in behind you, on a commute the liklihood of this being for more than a handful of minutes is going to be the exception. Clearly if you're in one of the busy cities that have loads of cycle commuters (London, Cambridge, Oxford, York et al) you're going to have people swarming all over you...
Some really oversensative types here, it's person on a bike not a fraudster trying to steal your bank account or a mad axman..jesus wept some of you really need to start to interact with society/people more often..
Personal invasion of space my booty..., Rude because they didn't take a turn..oh dear whatever next!!!!

[Claireysmurf]

Some really oversensative types here, it's person on a bike not a fraudster trying to steal your bank account or a mad axman..jesus wept some of you really need to start to interact with society/people more often..
Personal invasion of space my booty..., Rude because they didn't take a turn..oh dear whatever next!!!!

Calm down dear, it's just a nice chat on a forum. I bet it was you bl**dy drafting me

[gentlegreen]

I'm a fat bloke in a flappy coat on a mountain bike with panniers, so I doubt I could ever get any benefit.
I am aware however of getting too close to pedestrians and slower riders (I do actually encounter those sometimes) - much as I'm skilled at low speed riding and always move right over to the other side of the path when overtaking, I really need to improve my timing.

Every morning I watch the city types nose to tail on a shared path at excessive speeds and wonder if they know each another.
I like my space not only when I'm cycling.

I'm very sensitive about people risking others' safety without prior agreement.

[eileithyia]

Some really oversensative types here, it's person on a bike not a fraudster trying to steal your bank account or a mad axman..jesus wept some of you really need to start to interact with society/people more often..
Personal invasion of space my booty..., Rude because they didn't take a turn..oh dear whatever next!!!!

Calm down dear, it's just a nice chat on a forum. I bet it was you bl**dy drafting me

well said Claire, Tony you are not a woman and cannot appreciate how disconcerting it is to have some strange bloke sat on your wheel.


Also you do not know the skill of the tailgater, earlier this year I slowed for lights and my son failed to do so bringing us both off and leaving me with a broken elbow, bad enough when it is someone you know well, but what come back would you have on some random idiot who decided to sit on your wheel and lacks the skills and knowledge to do so...

[gentlegreen]

I was knocked off my bike on Friday on a shared path for the first time in 26 years - not consciously drafting per se, but a gutter-hugging numpty who tried to undertake me as I was completing a careful overtake of a jogger.
I had a very anxious wait till I could get to casualty and confirm that I hadn't broken my left scaphoid with a potential 8 weeks off the bike.

I have had so many close calls with play racers over recent years, I had expected it would have been one of them who finally "got me".

I was planning fitting a "back off!" flashing sign for tailgating car drivers, but perhaps I need it for other cyclists.

[reohn2]

I perceive it to be an aggressive act from an unknown man if I am on my own. Maybe it's different for boys.

IMO that's the thing,you being a woman makes all the difference,it's equivalent to someone pinching your bottom,an invasion of the person.

[thirdcrank]

I've never been slow to sit on anybody's wheel and I don't mind who sits on mine, although these days, I'm too slow to keep up or to provide worthwhile shelter. I'd say it's something of a compliment to another rider to indicate that they are so strong you cannot share the pace with them. If they are that strong, they'll be able to burn you off on the first hill if they don't like company. The only people who annoy me in this regard are those who overtake to show how strong they are but have no mudguards in the rain. I don't like a shower from somebody who's just showing off.

I can appreciate the lone female rider thing but I don't remember any opportunities to sit on a woman's wheel like this. I suspect the number of occasions when a rider who is a savvy enough to know about the benefits of being behind rather than showing off in front, has the opportunity to shelter behind a lone female rider who is strong enough to set a worthwhile pace must be relatively small. It seems obvious to me that working together will provide the best outcome, even between strangers.

[Mark1978]

The general rule of the road is that if you run into the back of someone -- it's your fault. So you should follow at a safe distance such that you can stop if the rider were to suddenly hit a pothole and fall off - for example.

[honesty]

Every now and again when commuting I come up behind another rider. Usually I don't bother passing them if I'm nearing a junction or a place where I can turn off and take a different route or I'm just not in much of a rush (like cycling home...) I don't overtake, but I don't draft either, sometimes its better just to go slowly behind them until I get to a place where it is safe to overtake. I think the bit that makes all the difference is how close you do this to the person you are approaching. I stop at least a full bike length back, if not more.

[gentlegreen]

I don't get this assumption that it's OK if you're male to have some other male invade your space.

Just recently I've found myself getting flashbacks to the hell that was the locker room at school - where I was the scrawny, socially-challenged nerd who hated sports.

[rand]

I perceive it to be an aggressive act from an unknown man if I am on my own. Maybe it's different for boys.

I agree entirely.

I suspect that in certain circumstances you might describe it as stalking!

Rand.

[mjr]

I dont mind people drafting me.

I guess country folk are just a bit more sociable and friendly than city dwellers.

Yeah, I think meic may have hit it on the head. So now I've got to add "no draughting" to "no hellos/talking" when I get into town. Grumpy townies

As for the stopping distance thing: most people I've seen don't ride dead in line behind anyway, but prefer to hang back and slightly to the side, to peer round the rider in front. Then unless it's a fairly abrupt catastrophic crash, you're more likely to overshoot than collide - and if it is a catastrophic, all bets are off and bits could go anywhere anyway, even into nearby hedges. Bikes are narrower than cars, with less horizontal overlap even in a line - in thirty years riding, I've seen two nose-tail bike shunts and I suspect one of them was so far gone that he would have crashed into anything put in front of him.

[meic]

I have seen more than one shunt and recently I rode over a bike that I was drafting.

The rider who had fallen off in front actually apologised to me for causing the accident!!!!

However the sum of the damage caused in all these encounters is a few tail-lights and a few drops of blood in the more extreme case (though the blood may have been from the fall rather than the collision afterwards).

I would have happily paid for the tail-light that I broke but wasnt asked. When I was tailended the guy who did it denied that he had broken the light. He has since done far worse things than that.

I can see that people may not want to be "put on" by a stranger and risk even these minor troubles, personally I am happy enough with the company of strangers and the benefits of the drafting. My views are possibly flavoured by the fact that I am much better as a drafter than a draftee.

What would be really bad form is if the drafter just abandoned the person they had been drafting in the case of an accident, puncture etc.

[Vorpal]

I don't mind someone drafting for a short while. I probably wouldn't even mind it for a long while if either I knew him/her, or s/he at least said something. But on the few of occasions where it's happened that someone rode my back wheel for more then a few minutes, it has bothered me.

I don't think it's a lack of friendliness. In fact, I'd rather they pulled up alongside for a chat. It's a lack of *trust*. It bothers me when people tailgate my car for miles at a time, as well.