Drafting

In article <[email hidden]>,

Adrian Boliston said:

"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Unless you're in a situation where it's expected -- don't draft riders you
don't know.

It's very difficult to avoid the temptation to draft something like a moped if you
hear one buzzing up on your tail

Hehe. Ride across Europe, we started on that immediately after getting
off the ferry at Ostende. Full touring gear (tents, sleeping bags, etc).

Well, among three of us, two drafted the mopeds. One (not me) thought
that far too slow and shot off ahead.

--
Nick Kew

m-gineering said:

you want something solid at axleheight you can put your frontwheel
against. To high or low a bumper, a rotating wheel or to much overhang
on the truck increases the risks a lot.

Trikes (upright variety) are superb for tucking in behind. A two-up
trike combination can ride very close as the rear rider can touch the
rear axle of the leading rider, as well as being tucked in between their wheels.

Of course it still has to be done with the agreement of both riders.

John B

m-gineering said:

Quoted message said:

Sometimes a touch on the brakes can work wonders ;-) [1]

braking puts you immediately in the clueless category!

Agreed, 'cept braking on a fixed has much the same result as 2 below.
It happens a lot in track racing, but shouldn't be done on the road.

Quoted message said:

'accepted' behaviour consists of
1 blowing your nose (sorry, didn't realise..)
2 throw your bike rearwards when you stand on the pedals
3 (for the really difficult cases) ride on the edge of a deep pothole.

John B

m-gineering <[email hidden]> wrote:

: 2 throw your bike rearwards when you stand on the pedals

Otherwise know as the Fourth Cat special......

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Blogs are neither necessary nor sufficient for evil to triumph.
They're just what we call an enabling technology" - Danny O'Brien

MSeries said:

soup said:

Looking for the definitive answer, we (TINW) all realise
that drafting someone saves alot of energy but does the
person bieng "drafted"(?) have to do extra work or is it
a "please don't invade my space" thing that means people
don't like being drafted by perfect strangers ?
--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

Wheelsucking is advantageous because the leading rider opens the space
in the air for the sucker to ride through. A sole rider still has to do
this so he does not work harder if there is someone wheelsucking. Get
your mate to suck your wheel then arrange for him to drop off, you
won't realise he has gone.

I think people simply consider it rude to take a free (reduced cost)
ride without the other persons knowledge.

Something else to think about is the risk of the drafter getting it
wrong, and clipping wheels. I can imagine that it might be slightly
concerning if someone's glued to your back wheel and you have no idea if
they have much experience doing that.

Works both ways, of course - know knows that the draftee's about to do,
if they don't know you're there..

--

Velvet

"Velvet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Something else to think about is the risk of the drafter getting it
wrong, and clipping wheels. I can imagine that it might be slightly
concerning if someone's glued to your back wheel and you have no idea if
they have much experience doing that.

BTDT. University club ride, all of us young and foolish, especially me. I
wasn't concentrating hard enough and got a couple of inches overlap with the
rider in front. We rubbed wheels for a couple of seconds, but I managed to
stay upright. Unfortunately the lass behind me overlapped me while I was
doing this, and I think I was probably swinging the back of the bike around
a bit trying to keep upright, and she went down.

(In my defence I'm reasonably sure I didn't drop back from the guy in front,
so the overlap behind me wasn't entirely my fault. But this was all some
years ago).

cheers,
clive

"m-gineering" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Marc Brett said:

However, an acquaintance of mine and an Olympic cycling hopeful was

killed

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

trying to draft a dump truck, so be sure your leader knows he's being

followed.

Quoted message said:

you want something solid at axleheight you can put your frontwheel
against. To high or low a bumper, a rotating wheel or to much overhang
on the truck increases the risks a lot.

When I were lad it were buses, no risk of going under. Part of the fun was
leaving a tyre mark in the muck on the bus when it braked.
Not something I'd do now as the buses have got faster while I've got slower,
seriously though had there been a pothole or dodgy manhole cover there
would have been absolutely no warning.

Going back to the original post I'd not wheelsuck a rider I didn't know, if
I'd caught him/her up I'd maybe chat and then go off at my own pace. If
they'd caught me up (more likely) and looked like it was genuine I'd already
know they were better than me and there'd be nothing to prove or gain by
pacing them.
If they looked as if they'd put in a special effort to catch me I'd let them
get a small distance ahead so I could judge their performance and choose my
time to blow them off :-)

Pete

soup said:

Looking for the definitive answer, we (TINW) all realise
that drafting someone saves alot of energy but does the
person bieng "drafted"(?) have to do extra work or is it
a "please don't invade my space" thing that means people
don't like being drafted by perfect strangers ?

If anything, it speeds up the lead rider marginally by preventing large
eddies forming behind him. It's more a "get on the front and do your
fair share" thing.

m-gineering said:

you want something solid at axleheight you can put your frontwheel
against. To high or low a bumper, a rotating wheel or to much overhang
on the truck increases the risks a lot.

Buses are good. But you have to know where all the bus stops are.

Clive George said:

BTDT. University club ride, all of us young and foolish, especially me. I
wasn't concentrating hard enough and got a couple of inches overlap with the
rider in front. We rubbed wheels for a couple of seconds, but I managed to
stay upright. Unfortunately the lass behind me overlapped me while I was
doing this, and I think I was probably swinging the back of the bike around
a bit trying to keep upright, and she went down.

(In my defence I'm reasonably sure I didn't drop back from the guy in front,
so the overlap behind me wasn't entirely my fault. But this was all some
years ago).

cheers,
clive

AFAIK it's the rear person's lookout to avoid going down, you shouldn't feel bad about this at all. Of course you do your best to stay predictable, but it's the drafter's lookout.

Ewoud Dronkert said:

The "[censored]" bit was the executive summary of my feeling towards you
for making jokes about causing bodily harm where a polite word ("Would
you please keep a little distance, I don't like being being drafted, I'd
rather ride alone"😉 would be appropriate and sufficient.

Ewoud, I think you may have failed to understand the British sense of
humour. It made me laugh, anyway.

BTW, in a uk group the default language is English, rather than
American, meaning that people are "[censored]", not "[censored]" ;-)

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Danny Colyer said:

Ewoud Dronkert said:

The "[censored]" bit was the executive summary of my feeling towards you
for making jokes about causing bodily harm where a polite word ("Would
you please keep a little distance, I don't like being being drafted, I'd
rather ride alone"😉 would be appropriate and sufficient.

Ewoud, I think you may have failed to understand the British sense of
humour. It made me laugh, anyway.

BTW, in a uk group the default language is English, rather than
American, meaning that people are "[censored]", not "[censored]" ;-)

Thank you Danny.

John B

Danny Colyer said:

BTW, in a uk group the default language is English, rather than
American, meaning that people are "[censored]", not "[censored]" ;-)

I assumed he was doing something relating to an underground
donkey-storage facility.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Danny Colyer said:

Ewoud, I think you may have failed to understand the British sense
of humour. It made me laugh, anyway.

The evidence is overwhelming; he's British and thought it was funny,
you're British and find it funny, and I am not and do not.

Look, maybe I overreacted. I just get angry when people are
inconsiderate, especially cars towards me on bike (because that's where
I encounter it most frequently). Then a fellow cyclist jokes about the
second dirtiest trick in the book! (after frame pump in wheel). A joke
that I wouldn't have given a second look if it were not for the fact
that it needed a smilie *and* a disclaimer. Including both just seemed a
little over the top, like he actually *did* mean it. And I hate
disclaimers, especially in semi-formal format in mail/posts.

Sigh. What a fuss. I'm really not that worked up. I love you all, it's
true! I'm relaxed now, hommmmmmmm.

Oh, and isn't donkeypit friendlier than anal cavity?

--
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Zog The Undeniable said:

m-gineering said:

you want something solid at axleheight you can put your
frontwheel against. To high or low a bumper, a rotating wheel
or to much overhang on the truck increases the risks a lot.

Buses are good. But you have to know where all the bus stops
are.

The ones in Edinburgh are quite good, a Bus Stopping sign lights up inside
when someone wants off. I can remember a time when I used to try to draw
lines along the back of buses with my front wheel.
--
Mark

1x1 wheel, 3x2 wheels & 1x3 wheels.

Ewoud Dronkert said:

Danny Colyer said:

Ewoud, I think you may have failed to understand the British sense
of humour. It made me laugh, anyway.

The evidence is overwhelming; he's British and thought it was funny,
you're British and find it funny, and I am not and do not.

Ewoud, I can categorically assure you that it was _not_ serious.

Quoted message said:

Look, maybe I overreacted.

We all do sometimes. Move on eh?

John B

m-gineering said:

3 (for the really difficult cases) ride on the edge of a deep pothole.

Surely this is as bad as braking? If you are aware there is a rider on
your tail and you fail to warn them of such dangers you are showing
little regard for their safety.

My answer to unwanted drafters is to just ride faster so they can't keep
up. I got into a bit of an impromptu race the other day with such a
situation - great fun. I won of course - at least, I was ahead of him
coming round Hyde Park Corner (admittedly due to superior traffic
negotiating skills rather than pure speed) and then he went off in a
different direction.

d.

"davek" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

My answer to unwanted drafters is to just ride faster so they can't keep
up....

The trouble is that the drafter will be freewheeling most of the time while
you are expending energy cutting through the air.

I guess you would need to be able to sprint and accelerate *fast* to catch
the drafter "off guard" to shake them off.

davek said:

m-gineering said:

3 (for the really difficult cases) ride on the edge of a deep pothole.

Surely this is as bad as braking? If you are aware there is a rider on
your tail and you fail to warn them of such dangers you are showing
little regard for their safety.

Shouldn't the rider behind always be able to see where they are riding
and to be able to pull up in the distance they can see to be clear?
Some 'friendly' advice on this _may_ be possible, but if they choose to
ignore it then it is hardly your fault if they come a cropper.

John B

On 19/10/04 10:23 pm, in article [email hidden], "Adrian

Boliston said:

"davek" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My answer to unwanted drafters is to just ride faster so they can't keep
up....

The trouble is that the drafter will be freewheeling most of the time while
you are expending energy cutting through the air.

I guess you would need to be able to sprint and accelerate *fast* to catch
the drafter "off guard" to shake them off.

Just freewheel till they pass you. Easily done. You just stop pedalling for
a bit.

...d