Cycling UK Forum

mjr wrote:http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/separate-to-liberate/ made me think it was.

It's not something I've been aware of over many weeks of cycling there, although friends are often seen cycling close together for social reasons, ie to chat, rather than to gain any speed advantage, The average speed tends to be quite low and I'm not sure if there would be any advantage in drafting.

We've had a couple of posts making the point that you wouldn't do this behind a motor vehicle. I'm not so sure. I suspect the main reason that that doesn't happen more often is that few motor vehicles are going at just the right speed. As a shift worker, most of my riding to work was done off-peak, but whenever I was working normal office hours, I really used to like being able to tuck in behind a JCB digger. Although JCB's being driven to a job are a real pita for other drivers, I found them the perfect pace vehicle. You do have to watch the back hoe if it's waving about a bit. I always used to say that if I came into big money, I'd have somebody drive a JCB along in front of me for all my riding. SMIDSY cured at a stroke.

Actually, I wouldn't do this behind a motor vehicle on a bike... the most common time I catch up behind motor vehicles is in town at junctions and the blasted things accelerate too slowly, then reach a cruising speed that's too fast for me. It's better for me to reach an Advanced Stop Box, be able to accelerate unobstructed and then have them change lanes to overtake me as they head towards their higher cruising speed until they have to stop at the next junction.

It's theoretically possible that I could draft motor vehicles in the 20mph zone, but the widespread speeding (the police don't seem to care) and the bike-bashing traffic calming measures (mostly rough cobbles and speed tables) nearly always prevent it. They also make sudden movements like braking to look up side roads or into parking bays. They're a blasted nuisance, clogging up the town and preventing the free flow of bicycles - can't we ban them when there's a parallel road open to cars?

Forgot to mention: I've never had the hairy-armed driver of a JCB complaining about the invasion of his space. Thinks: there must be some female digger drivers out there but I've never seen one.

I've never had the chance to draft a digger, but I'm sure that there is more aerodynamic benefit in it than drafting me.

Must admit on the motorway on the way to work I sometimes do draft lorries if I'm not in a hurry - does wonders for the MPG.

Drafting,,, saves energy.

I'd have a hard job drafting trucks and cars on my commute. Its along a 50 mph limit country B road.
Compensation is I get a thump and a tug from the bow wave of the 40 tonners.

It isn't just drafting.

I repeatedly encounter the racer types on the local railway path thinking it's OK to ride down the centre-line at speed to get around slower riders.

I won't even overtake another rider as close as this at barely more than their speed.



So I'm expected to ride as close to the edge as the cyclist he's overtaking, or have his ignorant grinning visage inches from my face at over 15MPH.

gentlegreen wrote:It isn't just drafting.

Yes, it is. See the topic title?

And no, the Bristol and Bath Railway Path isn't 3 lanes wide and the pictured chap is a twit.

Vorpal wrote:I've never had the chance to draft a digger, but I'm sure that there is more aerodynamic benefit in it than drafting me.

Imagine McEwan on Cipolini's wheel at the World's (Can't remember the year.) He was looking like a winner till he tried to come off his wheel. That's when he realised how much shelter he'd been getting.

Incidentally "drafting" is up there for me with Campy and fixie. I don't remember ever hearing the word in that context (draft avoiding being something Americans of my generation were accused of doing to avoid Vietnam) until the arrival of the triathlon where drafting was originally banned. Obviously, I'm not suggesting we'd not heard of the benefits of a nice wheel to follow. Having said that, as I hinted at above, I don't remember this ever being something that your typical commuting cyclist would have known about. Some posts on here suggest it's happening all the time. If there are some riders lurking down side roads waiting for a passing rider to shelter behind, that's sad, and if they are only taking pace from a woman who regularly rides that route it's creepy.

Somebody needs to start selling cycling tops with a sign on the back like they have on some lorries around here "Cyclists stay back."

Merry_Wanderer wrote:I'm glad I read this post, I hadn't stopped to consider how the people I drafted on the three occasions might feel. Come to think of I wouldn't feel comfortable as a bloke if some unknown cyclist hung on my rear wheel for a mile or more. Having considered it, If I was a woman I would feel very uncomfortable and to be honest, quite scared.

Tony - I don't think it's fair or reasonable to insist how other people SHOULD feel or to describe people you don't know as 'victims'.

I think it is logical to put into context strange thoughts that some people have about anyone whom happens to come within a few feet of their bike for more than a few seconds, whether that be male or female. The disaster scenario some are describing is ludicrously infintessimal, unless youre in a city that has a large % of cyclists commuting at the same time along the same route the chances of being 'drafted' or slipstreamed are remote in extremis.
That another section of cyclists can see this slipstreaming as a threat to them in some sinister way again IMO is just ludicrous, it is totally & utterly illogical in every way shape or form..
If that is the way some people think about this then clearly they are making themselves a victim worrying about something that is just not going to happen (I'm sure someone will come up with a reference of being 'drafted' then attacked if they dig hard enough)

Is this sufficiently easy to understand ?
I'm a big hairy ex-biker and I don't like it.

Tonyf33 wrote:I think it is logical to put into context strange thoughts that some people have about anyone whom happens to come within a few feet of their bike for more than a few seconds, whether that be male or female. The disaster scenario some are describing is ludicrously infintessimal, unless youre in a city that has a large % of cyclists commuting at the same time along the same route the chances of being 'drafted' or slipstreamed are remote in extremis.
That another section of cyclists can see this slipstreaming as a threat to them in some sinister way again IMO is just ludicrous, it is totally & utterly illogical in every way shape or form..
If that is the way some people think about this then clearly they are making themselves a victim worrying about something that is just not going to happen (I'm sure someone will come up with a reference of being 'drafted' then attacked if they dig hard enough)

Irrational fear is just that, irrational. I get the fear cycling by myself along very dark country lanes, probably because I've read to many fantasy novels but still. There's no reason for it, its irrational.

To write off an irrational fear does not stop people from having it, and is not the productive way of dealing with these things.

Thats without getting into the argument of whether females fear of attack is rational or not...

meic wrote:

Si wrote:Drafting* someone that you don't know can be pretty stupid. When I'm on my fast bike I tend to ride in straight lines - if there is a pot hole I'll hop over it...will the person on my wheel see it in time? Doubtful. Will it be my fault when they ride straight into it and mangle their front wheel....no, it'll be their stupidity: blindly trusting their well being to a stranger rather than making the easy choice of riding where they can see the road ahead of them.


*I'm talking proper drafting rather than following a few lengths back.

A bit like cycling without a helmet then. You would think that with all these riders doing Sportives and Audaxes that the hospitals would be bulging at the seams by now.

I cant think how on earth I survived to be old, as this cycling game is so perilous for those of us who habitually draft, even with strangers.

Nope nothing at all like wearing a helmet. Few people draught strangers properly - most that I know who draft do so with the consent of the person in front, and there by know that the person in front will be thinking about them - shouting warnings, etc. Or ae you suggesting that on club rides we don't need to shout 'pothole', 'car up', 'stopping' , etc?

Or ae you suggesting that on club rides we don't need to shout 'pothole', 'car up', 'stopping' , etc?

Nobody needs to for my benefit and I certainly dont rely on it.