competitive commuting

[Becs]

I would have said something to someone that kept on doing that!!

I did . . . politely of course

 

[deckertim]

Pride comes before a fall!! Two days ago, just before getting knocked off my bike I had overtaken someone on a fixie going down a steep hill, so not even an impressive overtake anyway. He was a nice guy clearly as he stopped and offered to be a witness.

 

[pshore]

& the results in from an early morning blast (not quite the full length but fairly close) 8.31 miles in 19min 7s or 26.08mph. My feeling is that the Giro is a little faster than my TT bike.

Given that this is in the commuting section, can I just check the standard rules:

• you did this in either your work clothes or you were carrying a spare set of clothes.
• you had a laptop or a days worth of groceries.
• you said a cheerie hello to everybody you passed without appearing to be out of breath.

 

[Becs]

Pride comes before a fall!! Two days ago, just before getting knocked off my bike I had overtaken someone on a fixie going down a steep hill, so not even an impressive overtake anyway. He was a nice guy clearly as he stopped and offered to be a witness.

Are you ok Tim?

 

[BSRU]

Some competitive commuting is good for commuters like me who's main exercise is the ride to and from work.
It can be so easy to slip into a nice lazy cruising speed, a little competitive commuting is good for shaking you out of the comfort zone.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Is it wrong to draft other commuters? Just wondering...

Always. I find it rude and a little dangerous in a commuting environment if I have someone sitting a few feet (or less in some cases) from my back wheel. In a race/event fine its no problem I expect it and take part in that situation, but I dont want to be worrying about someone that wants to save x/y/z time/effort by drafting whilst I'm just trying to go to work.

 

[ianrauk]

Some competitive commuting is good for commuters like me who's main exercise is the ride to and from work.
It can be so easy to slip into a nice lazy cruising speed, a little competitive commuting is good for shaking you out of the comfort zone.

Indeed.. that and to whip the arse of some poor unfortunate slowey

 

[Asprilla]

Always. I find it rude and a little dangerous in a commuting environment if I have someone sitting a few feet (or less in some cases) from my back wheel. In a race/event fine its no problem I expect it and take part in that situation, but I dont want to be worrying about someone that wants to save x/y/z time/effort by drafting whilst I'm just trying to go to work.

Yup.

Drafting ok if you go out on club runs with cyclists you know, you trust their bikes to be in good condition, they communicate and roads are relatively clear. Drafting on the commute is not a very clever idea.

I've been hit from behind by drafters who didn't expect me to slow / stop when I did. I didn't signal because I wasn't expecting anyone to be dumb enough to draft. I should have known better, but so should they.

 

[BentMikey]

I can't agree with that. If you didn't see a drafter behind you, it's because you're not looking back enough. The person behind is the one at risk - it's very rare that in a collision anything bad happens to the one in front.

 

[clarion]

I'll always stop behind someone I even suspect of being faster than me. Sometimes, I'll hold back a bit as we set off to give someone a chance to dart off. Mind you, if they don't, I will. I do get bored of having to pass the same slow riders again and again after they wobble to the front of a group at the lights.

I'm not keen on drafting/being drafted on a commute. I'll do it with Butterfly sometimes, but we know each other very well, of course. For a lot of my commute, it just isn't safe.

This morning, there was a chap on my wheel on the way into Stockwell. I was touching 40kph, and he was very close indeed. As soon as I got a chance, I pulled over to the side to let him past, but he had nothing, so I pulled out again and carried on, with him a little further back.

 

[Friz]

You guys are aware this is a proper sport with scoring and everything, right?



http://www.itsnotarace.org/

 

[ianrauk]

You guys are aware this is a proper sport with scoring and everything, right?



http://www.itsnotarace.org/

Yes we are well aware of FCN and all that nonsense

 

[wiggydiggy]

You guys are aware this is a proper sport with scoring and everything, right?



http://www.itsnotarace.org/

Its not a race - if your not taking part

I'm not anti scalping or SCR and I couldnt care less if you want to award yourself points etc for passing me, just dont put me at risk by tailgating me in heavy commuting traffic. Thats all

 

[BentMikey]

I'm far too weak a rider to have the FCN my bike has, so the result is I rarely get to scalp anything, and it has to have an engine before I can get any points:

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXTac9fnqP0[/media]

 

[Tynan]

I draft when I can find someone suitable, I suspect nothing like as close as club riders given the circumstances

People do have brains and experience to judge this sort of thing, anyone is welcome to draft me, if they can follow me zigzaging in and out of pot holes, manholes, rubbish, peds, park cars etc etc