mind if I draft you?

I saw a thread like this in another part of the forums and it wasn't getting much response. I thought I'd try it here and see what kind of response it would get.

Lets say your out on a ride by yourself or with one or so other riders. You look behind you and there is a stranger hanging on your wheel. He seems to be just hanging on and maybe even unable to ask you if you mind his being there.

A. Do you get mad and try to shake him.
B. Ask him to help pull.
C. Smile to yourself knowing that you may be helping another rider get stronger or even get back to his destination.

I got onto someone elses wheel last week
when I was running out of energy and it helped me to get back to my truck. I had hoped he didn't mind but I was also concerned that he might take offence.

I would put this in poll form but I'm not sure how to do that.

Thaks for your feedback.
Bryan

 

I actually just had this happen today... I wasn't feeling great this AM, had a very long/hard ride yesterday. I was just out for a recovery ride... ended up riding into a fairly stiff headwind, with a slight uphill. I saw a rider up ahead who looked like he was riding pretty strong... I put in the extra effort, caught up to him and sucked his wheel for a moment. After about 10 seconds I felt guilty and pulled up along side him...

Not sure why, I personally wouldn't have an issue if someone did it to me, but I just felt like I was infringing on his personal space.... if someone is out for a solo ride, maybe they have a good reason for it.

Dunno what the answer is here, I guess I don't have a problem with someone sucking my wheel, but I don't feel right doing it myself.

 

I've only recently started cycling again and until I decide on what bike to get, I'm building my fitness up in the garage. Quite unlikely the situation will arise there.

But I do remember someone tailing me when I used to ride and I didn't like it. I felt he was using me. If you're gonna ride close at least take your turn or say hello at the very least. I remember trying to lose him without success, I just tired myself out. Serves me right for being so mean-spirited I suppose.

 

me personally, i dont like it. it puts pressure on you to go at a respectable pace, which can tire you out if into wind.

also if your out with a companion and someone appears on your wheel, it kinda closes down conversation and makes the ride drag.

as to the wheel sucker, i do not see the point in sitting on someones wheel. what kind of fitness are you going to develop in sucking a wheel all the time? i couldnt see Eddy Merckx doing this on his rides.

 

I get that a few times, but they dont even ask.

Last time I joked with the guy and told him "2nd mile I will start charging you!"

It was sort of a compliment that someone in a road bike would draft with someone in a hybrid.

 

I was guilty of this a while back and have been wondering about the proper etiquette in these types of situations. In my situation, I caught up to a rider and was hesitant to overtake him because he seemed to be the stronger rider and I was going as hard as my legs would allow on that particular day. So passing this rider, at least as i saw it, would've been a futile and showy effort.

 

Agree with the courtesy thing: pull up and say hello - give a rider insight on your gameplan. Definitely don't window shop on another rider's pace -

Today was a heavy gear day for me and I seem to go faster on the big chainring. I'm circling my usual 2 mile lap when a guy pulls up on me kinda out of nowhere on a TT frame - he says nothing and just leads out. I figure I'll take his wheel and we'll trade, maybe exchange greetings/plan on the next pull. Not even 30 seconds later, he just drops brutally and never recovers ...

That's the kind of stuff I just don't understand at all ...

 

^^ "showy effort"

Know thy pace

 

There are spots on the lap that aren't conducive to evasive manuevering - of course, this all took place there ... Lucky for me, I didn't jump right on his wheel without knowing his riding characteristics ...

(Argh! These crazy PA cyclists!! Right huhenio? ...just kidding!)

 

I usually ride solo because I can't find a partner.

-André in Fredericton

 

This happens to me too, sometimes. People will pass me on an uphill and I'll catch up on the downhill (I'm a brick), knowing that the next time the road turns up they'll to away again.

I hang a few bikelengths back, so that I'm not unsafely close nor am I really gaining any aero advantage. It still feels awkward when it's a woman - I'm always afraid she'll think I'm only hanging out for the view!

 

For my two cents worth, I dont mind at all someone jumping on my wheel but at the same time I am used to riding in groups also. Likewise, I wont hesitate to draft someone else, assuming I can tell they know what they are doing. But I always, after a bit pull up alongside and say "hi" and comment on the weather or something. If we are closely matched, I'll take pulls also and sometimes we get to working together. Then, you've made a new riding buddy.

I've never found anyone who wont chat if I break the ice. I think lotsa people assume you're a snob till you prove otherwise.

 

The only time that it's remotely polite to hang onto someone's wheel is if you're really close to your next turn, or if there's too much traffic to safely get up next to them and talk. If someone's on my wheel for more than a mile without saying anything I'll start waving them up to take a pull. I know it doesn't really affect me much if someone's behind me, but I don't like the idea of them thinking that I exist only to get them home more quickly. When I come up behind someone who's going at about my pace, I usually try to pass them right away and take the first pull. I usually ride alone because it fits my schedule, but trading drafts with someone can make for good interval training. As an additional point of ettiquite, it's generally bad form to drop someone on a climb or descent after you've been drafting them.

 

I don't mind it provided the person says hello and lets me know what they are planning. There's been times I'll end up riding with some stranger, and someone else will join, and then someone else, and we will end up with a paceline. It can be kinda fun. But if they draft behind me for a while and then drop me on a hill, I'd be irritated. If you say hello and are friendly, I'm more than happy to do it.

-Matt

 

This happens to me quite frequently. Personally, if I'm going out on a solo ride, I am planning on being out in the wind with no help. If someone silently latches on, I really don't know their skill level and if they even know how to draft without overlapping or touching wheels. I will usually speed up to lose them and I certainly won't call out any potholes for them. I just find it to be rude. If someone says hello and asks if it's ok, I have no problem whatsoever.

 

Exactly...most of the time, I find that it is somebody who is just starting out, or has been riding a while but doesn't know any better because they always ride solo. If I chat with them for a minute we usually agree pretty quickly upon safely working together or parting ways. The main thing that I always point out is that blinding and silently hanging on someone's wheel is the quickest way that there is to crash. The first unexpected thing that they do will more times than not put you on the ground.

If the guy is truly so gassed that they can't really talk and are just looking for a way to get in from the ride in one piece I just let them know what I am doing and let them hang on from there until I turn. If they follow me all the way in, so be it.

I have made a couple of really good friends this way.

 

I had a good rider catch me recently on one of my rides. I was going about 25 miles, and was almost 20 miles into it. Was getting a bit tired because I was riding hard the first half. I decided to drop to my aero bars and crank hard for a half mile or so and see if he could keep up. He did, and ended up passing me in some traffic while I slowed to be safe... He wasn't very friendly. Ended up picking up his pace and I couldn't stay with him.

oh well. Usually I don't mind as long as the person drafting says hello or something. I never draft other people without greeting them, and I don't stick around long unless if we start chatting or something.

 

i have had several people do this to me but i'm fairly new to cycling and i don't ride with other people so i'm not particularly skilled at riding like this so i don't like having people drop in on me like that. I however, did do this to some guy racing (i probably should have lead just to allow him a better time) but when he passed me i just stayed with him adn figured i had to learn some time. but i don't remember talking to him until i knew his ride was over and i was still going. even then i just let him know where i was so he wouldn't pull into me and said thanks. though i did feel kind of bad.

 

I'd let them hang there. I don't think I could shake them anyways!

 

Drafting-I was totally against drafting somebody if they/you didn't let them know you were there. That all changed yesterday. A couple weeks ago, I had a bad tear in my quad and have had to take it easy. I was riding a flat course when I noticed two hot girls in front of me. I passed them and then noticed that they were pulling in right behind me. They rode with me for about ten miles never saying anything to me. They were talking to each other, though. When we got to the end of the ten mile loop, they flanked me and thanked me for the pull. Then, they asked if I rode there often and asked if I would be interested in pacing them for the next couple weeks. They are training for a metric century and liked my pace. Being the gentleman that I am, I said that I wouldn't mind helping them by pacing them. Even though I'm a married man, "dog will hunt!"