Cycling UK Forum

Until last Friday, I had been confident that a slow tumble would always be of no consequence as I'm fairly ruggedly built - and indeed I wear gloves and the grazed knee and elbow healed in no time at all, but it's very easy to accidentally put all your weight through your wrist.

In my case the idiot behind me just kept ploughing on until our bikes were enmeshed and there was no where to go but down - though in retrospect perhaps I could have steered right - I'm not sure if I touched the brakes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x2WWfj7jVs

(CONTAINS SWEARING)

mjr wrote:Wheel sucking is popular in Holland isn't it?

No.

Ron wrote:

mjr wrote:Wheel sucking is popular in Holland isn't it?

No.

http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.co ... -liberate/ made me think it was.

gentlegreen, that seemed like an idiot undertaker. So you changed your line, but it was a fairly common overtake of a jogger which doesn't merit signalling at every step... and if they were someone who signals everything, they would have called out "on your left" as they started to pass. Seems like an utter nutter, not massively relevant to drafting.

eileithyia wrote:

Claireysmurf wrote:

Tonyf33 wrote: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...

exactly. i don't like people on my wheel for this reason - my safety is down to their skills of stopping in time when i stop. with me in front then their view up the road is limited anyway. dependent on the situation i either slow right down to give them the opportunity to pass or ,more simply, drop them.

I completed by first sportive at the weekend, and i really wanted the gold time for the 100 miles, after 90 miles i knew it was going to be a very close thing so when a faster rider overtook i jumped on his back wheel and followed till the end.

I felt a little bad and before i went for a sprint finish i apologised and he laughed and said no problem and wished me luck. at no point until the very end was I able to overtake and leave him,

to be fair I did hop on the backwheel of a lot of people when the overtook just for those couple of minutes of easy riding as i normaly do my rides on my own. What im saying is i did it and felt quite guilty.

Whilst commuting i allways draft behind busses and vans with care of course.

mjr wrote:

Ron wrote:

mjr wrote:Wheel sucking is popular in Holland isn't it?

No.

http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.co ... -liberate/ made me think it was.

gentlegreen, that seemed like an idiot undertaker. So you changed your line, but it was a fairly common overtake of a jogger which doesn't merit signalling at every step... and if they were someone who signals everything, they would have called out "on your left" as they started to pass. Seems like an utter nutter, not massively relevant to drafting.

Indeed - doubtless the sort who would undertake a moving bus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqTGxYa ... WTe5z2S7SA

And as I've said more than once around these parts, I really expected it to be a double overtaking boy racer who would eventually get me ..

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... p1tgVGcBUI

To be honest, I can't say how many of these were glued to my wheel in preparation for cutting me up - clearly some of them were very annoyed by my generosity in overtaking pedestrians and (even) slower riders. (If approaching from behind, I use the whole width of the path or I don't overtake - I consider the path to be suitable for only two flows of traffic - no lane-splitting.)

I've drafted on 3 occasions on different commutes. It's been a man on 2 occasions and a couple on the other (wouldn't draft a lone woman as I would perceive that as an invasion of their space / the actions of a nutter). The three occasions have all been riding my Brompton and have been;

1. Overtaken by mouthy man on drop bar road bike who told me to 'get a proper bike' so I bust a gut on my Brompton and hung a safe distance behind him to make a point.

2. Caught up with a lone bloke on his touring bike but couldn't quite get past due to very busy A road traffic so stayed behind (and noticed how much easier it was) and

3. Cycling up country lane on a slight incline when couple on 'racing' bikes overtook and then slowed down to just below my pace. I caught up with them and said hello but couldn't quite overtake so I drafted at a safe distance for around 1.5 miles until a downhill part whereupon they sped off

Hi,

Vorpal wrote:I've been drafted by people I didn't know while commuting a few times/..................../ 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.

If I catch someone I normally draw alongside and say a few a words, even if it is "You must have your brakes on mate!"
That normally brings out the "what the $£*&" Race............ Or complete silence, two occasions a sarcastic retort due to embarisment
Seriously if they say zilch I move on, if their communicative I stay a while, then when its too slow I move on.
Never would I stay silent,. Imagine a walker doing that
Years ago way home from Tech on my 5 speed drop hand painted all steel rims an all, there was a guy who would hover and then overtake 20 yrds from brow of hill, did that for months, I must inform you that I only used 2nd and top on that bike
And it was top this time, so one day I selected a lower gear 4th, when he pounched I turned on the gas he drew along side and ran out of puff There then proceded a balls out race for about a mile and half.
We swapped places frequently but a draw He never overtook me again.......................
My only other race planned or not was with a guy who took second place behind a pro on Haytor hillclimb in the late seventies,
this was over 5 miles I never got out of the saddle he could,nt stay in it and another draw, I peeled off to get my tea
On niether occasion did we speak but thats different....................happy days.

southamptonadi wrote:I completed by first sportive at the weekend, and i really wanted the gold time for the 100 miles, after 90 miles i knew it was going to be a very close thing so when a faster rider overtook i jumped on his back wheel and followed till the end.
.

I would say on a sportive it's different, you are all doing the same route and for similar reasons, so I would say drafting is expected.

Happens a lot, and I hate it.
Particularly when I need to make a right turn, and my view to the rear is full of some idiot who thinks I'm being friendly.

Define drafting?

You come up behind a slower rider, but don't want to or can't overtake - how far back should you stay - a few feet, a few yards. Surely, the rider in front will still be aware that you are following them and may still find this disconcerting, especially if it's a woman. So what do you do?

What do you do?

-stay far enough back that if the cyclist makes a sudden maneuover, you won't crash
-draughting for few minutes isn't usually a problem, but
-a cheery hello doesn't go amiss
-if you want to benefit from the aerodynamics of draughting, ask or offer to take a turn after a couple of miles

While commuting and there is another cyclist behind me, I ignore that other cyclist and just get on with riding to where I want to get to.

When I see another cyclist ahead, I assess their speed and make the necessary rearward observations, signals and manoeuvres to overtake.

Wow, just wow...So if you're a women and another cyclist comes within a few feet of your back wheel you automatically think they are a nutter/stalker/rapist/murderer

you're on a commute ride for one thing, for the most part there are loads of other people about, generally during daylight hours for much of the year. Additionally one cannot always tell the sex of a cyclist as the garb can hide lumps & bumps/hair etc and we all come in different shapes and sizes anyhow. During the darker months it's almost impossible to tell.

Seriously how do you extrapalate from that that you would feel unsafe if another came from behind you (if you even could tell they were there in the first place), really? Haven't you got better things to be thinking of like the road itself, the next set of lights, pedestrians stepping out in froint of you, the lorry coming up on your shoulder etc..Nope, this herbert who has been on my back wheel for 30 seconds is going to debauche me in a back alley....get a grip, you may as well not leave the house ever, better still lock yourselves in a cell secluded from the outside world full stop.
STOP BEING A VICTIM

Tonyf33 wrote:Wow, just wow...So if you're a women and another cyclist comes within a few feet of your back wheel you automatically think they are a nutter/stalker/rapist/murderer

STOP BEING A VICTIM

I fell off my bike recently and my knee and one hand are still not right. My main fear of draughting is being shunted off.

As someone who has been raped, I do not spend every moment thinking of the likelihood of it nor do I think someone who is draughting me will be a mugger or a rapist. But seriously astonishing? A few of my friends have been raped too. It is more common than you might think.