What is meant by "half wheeling"?
- Thread starter Globalti
- Start date
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Rob3rt
Man or Moose!
- Location
- Manchester
Riding slightly ahead of the cyclist to your side.
I think it also extends to having your wheel overlap another riders by half a wheel such that if they moved sideways for any reason your wheels would collide and a crash is imminent.
I think it also extends to having your wheel overlap another riders by half a wheel such that if they moved sideways for any reason your wheels would collide and a crash is imminent.
it's competitive cycling on a club run. What happens is that the person on the right hand side gets slightly ahead, and the person on the left hand side feels obliged to up the speed a little bit. Before you know it the entire club is rushing forward and then the slower riders get dropped. It's really what a club is not about.
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
dell is spot on. when i first joined the club i went out for the gentle sunday ride with the elder statesmen who were brilliant people to learn the etiquette of group riding and the ethos of the club run. the half wheeling no-no was pretty much the first thing i was taught not to do…
OP
OP
Globalti
Legendary Member
Thanks. My cycling buddy does this all the time; he is incapable of keeping a steady pace and he speeds up when we're going hard and he takes a turn on the front. We want to join a club but the timings of our two local clubs' runs seldom fit with our family obligations. (North Lancs RC and Clitheroe)
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
Yep. I used to do it all the time, unconsciously, when I first joined a club. It's a lot about insecurity and trying to make an impression, but also just about lack of experience riding in pairs.
Brahan
Über Member
- Location
- West Sussex
I can't agree 100% with that. Sometimes a few hard miles really brings out the best in the group. Agreed, you shouldn't ditch your club mates, wait for them at the next junction if you have to.
I can't agree 100% with that. Sometimes a few hard miles really brings out the best in the group. Agreed, you shouldn't ditch your club mates, wait for them at the next junction if you have to.
A club run is not a training run!
Half wheeling on a club run and breaking the group is very bad form. Different thing on a training run where everyone knows the deal (and how to find their own way home!)
totallyfixed
Veteran
- Location
- The only county without a McDonalds
Absolutely agree, half wheeling in my estimation is a huge taboo.
Smokin Joe
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
And bloody irritating too.
If somebody did it to me I used to just drop behind and sit on their wheel.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
I do ^^that^^ 
oldroadman
Veteran
- Location
- Ubique
No, that's not it, that's overlapping and it's daft in a group, and in a race for that matter, unless you all now what you are doing and it's an echelon. A common mistake by people who start "racing" without the background of a club to help them learn not just etiquette but sound practice and sense. Personally I don't worry about someone doing it to me, I just don't want them to crash and bring someone following down as well.
While we are at it, getting out of the saddle without presure on the pedals makes the bike "jump" back a little, and is another excellent way of causing a crash. Something else riding with some experienced people in a proper club will help you with. It's all simple really!
Christopher
Über Member
Gawd a bloke I trained with once used to do that! Nearly had me off the first time, but I was too much of a wuss to say anything, I just stayed further back after that.
& half-wheeling on a club run is a chaingang, not a club run.
as PK99 says training runs are different. I've been out with a club that made it clear - if you were dropped you were on your own. I remember somebody going off the edge of the road, into a grass ditch. Soyanara!
There are exceptions. The Cheam and Morden has a lot of ex-racing cyclists (I've been out with a pair of brothers who were tandem champs in the 50s). There's sometimes a bit of sprintfoolery at the front, and on hills for an imaginary jersey - and there's usually a sprint for the cakes at Capel. And if you've seen those cakes, you'll know that they are worth sprinting for. When I went out with them I usually had the fastest bike and I was usually the youngest (sometimes by quite a way) so I'd always win the sprint for the cakes. Form dictates that one takes extra time parking one's bike to allow the more senior members first crack at the tea.
There are exceptions. The Cheam and Morden has a lot of ex-racing cyclists (I've been out with a pair of brothers who were tandem champs in the 50s). There's sometimes a bit of sprintfoolery at the front, and on hills for an imaginary jersey - and there's usually a sprint for the cakes at Capel. And if you've seen those cakes, you'll know that they are worth sprinting for. When I went out with them I usually had the fastest bike and I was usually the youngest (sometimes by quite a way) so I'd always win the sprint for the cakes. Form dictates that one takes extra time parking one's bike to allow the more senior members first crack at the tea.
oldroadman
Veteran
- Location
- Ubique
[QUOTE 1533270"]
From what I understand as well as the above, half wheeling equals to taking the piss of the lead rider.
It's like you are saying 'I'm quicker then you if I want to be, but I'll just ride here by your side slightly in front of you and be annoying instead.'
[/quote]
Spot on. Just plain bad manners.
From what I understand as well as the above, half wheeling equals to taking the piss of the lead rider.
It's like you are saying 'I'm quicker then you if I want to be, but I'll just ride here by your side slightly in front of you and be annoying instead.'
[/quote]
Spot on. Just plain bad manners.
