Is drafting cheating?

[byegad]

I find people try to draft me.

As I'm on a front faired recumbent trike they get little benefit. One guy near killed himself to catch me near the top of a hill one windy day, then he tried to sit in my draft. He stayed there for 10 yards before my aero advantage took me away from him into the gale.

Very funny!, Well I laughed.

 

[nich]

I just carry on my way..*

If I am faster than someone, I overtake. If I am slower, they overtake. If I am only marginally quicker, I may well draft instead as I'm not all that fit for maintaining speed constantly so better I draft than try to take the lead and fail, getting in the way.

Same here.

I ride at my own speed - it's not often I end up drafting behind someone myself, people are either going past me at speed or I'm going past slower people at speed.

I would be a bit peeved if someone came past me then expected me to do my bit, as I'm just pootling along at my own pace

 

[MacB]

The polite thing to do is to share, but...

Make sure you're up to it. Don't slow the other guy down just because you want to have your turn in front.

Don't expect to be thanked. Some people don't like drafting.

Don't forget to signal out any obstacles - don't just swerve at the last minute to let them hit the dog poo / broken glass / car door

Anyone wants to sit in behind me, unlikely I know, then be my guest but I have no intention of pointing stuff out. Plus, if they happen to run into the back of me be ready with super grovelling apology mode.

If they want to be sociable and have a chat, then different kettle of fish, as long as I've got the breath.

 

[neslon]

I just carry on my way..*

If I am faster than someone, I overtake. If I am slower, they overtake. If I am only marginally quicker, I may well draft instead as I'm not all that fit for maintaining speed constantly so better I draft than try to take the lead and fail, getting in the way.

If someone drafts me, so what? It doesn't make it harder work for me!

*unless you are obviously doing a 2.5 mile trip in £200 worth of top-notch cycling clobber, then you are a poser and as such you are there to be made look silly

Is £200 'top notch'? The recession must be biting down there.

 

[dondare]

On the way home today I found myself behind some guy on a Specialised single-free. He was keeping up a good pace and if I'd passed him I wouldn't have been able to drop him so I didn't bother. However, I don't like to appear to be a a wheel-sucker so I stayed out of his slipstream which also meant that I wasn't picking up spray from his back wheel, either. As the route became progressively hillier I was expecting that I'd eventually get to pass him but he eventually dropped me on Barnet Hill. Well done that man.

 

[fossyant]

Oh, I wasn't trying to suggest I'm fast, more that there isn't much of a hole in the wind behind me.

I wasn't being funny.....

We had a club mate that was the Manchester District TT Winner for a number of years....... he was very fast...

Problem was, he was also tiny........ he was a lean 5 foot and a bit something, so riding behind him on a club run was an ar$e for a 5 - 9 average cyclist...where was the draft..........!!!!!

 

[HJ]

There is a certain cycling etiquette well sort of, if you are into sport cycling, but can you expect people who are just cycling as a means of transport to know about that?

 

[MacB]

There is a certain cycling etiquette well sort of, if you are into sport cycling, but can you expect people who are just cycling as a means of transport to know about that?

Or care about it, if you go out on your bike, on your own, then the expectation is that you'll deal with headwinds etc by yourself. If others wish to latch on behind that's their business but there shouldn't be any expectation of behaviour change from the person they've latched on to.

This isn't about etiquette it's about a certain type of rider wanting others to ride in a way that suits them.

 

[BentMikey]

I wasn't being funny.....

We had a club mate that was the Manchester District TT Winner for a number of years....... he was very fast...

Problem was, he was also tiny........ he was a lean 5 foot and a bit something, so riding behind him on a club run was an ar$e for a 5 - 9 average cyclist...where was the draft..........!!!!!

LOL! I can guarantee that there's *much* less draft behind me.

Everyone wants to find the 6'4" bloke with massive shoulders to draft behind. It's a bit harder racing on skates mind, as giants like these usually have a matching giant sized skating stride. If you don't match cadence and clack skates, it'll be you who's most likely to go down. You get a lot closer drafting on speed skates, the right distance is just about close enough to take a bite out of the arse of the bloke in front.

 

[mgarl10024]

There is a certain cycling etiquette well sort of, if you are into sport cycling, but can you expect people who are just cycling as a means of transport to know about that?

Hi all,

As a new cyclist, I must admit that I was blissfully unaware of this issue. I had considered that slipstreaming might be possible, but ruled it out as having little effect.

Personally, I doubt that I am going at a speed where anyone would want to slipstream/draft me. I also find that I will only overtake somebody if I am confident of being able to keep in front of them (rather than face the humiliation of being re-overtaken a few minutes later), so I often find myself stuck behind someone going just a little slower than I'd like but not so slow that I'm confident of a successful overtake. This happened earlier this week where I ended up cycling a good few miles behind a lady to work (who probably thought I was stalking her) when really I just didn't have the legs to get past!

So now I'm paranoid - would be good if someone could define the drafting etiquette so I don't unintentionally fall foul of any faux pas.

Thanks,

MG

 

[TheJollyJimLad]

I live on the South Coast and on many occasions the ride home from Brighton to Worthing is a bit of an 11 mile grind into a stiff headwind straight off the sea.

Some people are a little bit uncomfortable and can feel pressured with others cycling close behind them. I don't mind as long as said person at least tries to share the load if they've been trailing your back wheel for a few miles otherwise its very poor form.

Like other people have said on here, if nothing is to be gained from overtaking then I tend to drop a few cycle lengths back out of the slipstream.

 

[nasserblue]

Pah get right on top of their back wheel and maximise the effect I say. The chances are you'll lose them at the next set of lights as you'll stop at the red light and they will not. Or, like me, you'll swerve around them and just avoid the pedestrian on the zebra crossing, because they had slowed down for no apparent reason, but I was so preoccupied with staying on their wheel that I forgot to look at the road ahead of them.

 

[Amanda P]

I was on an audax a couple of months ago. On a steady climb out of town, I caught up with a bunch of five club riders, tightly packed There was a continuous stream of traffic passing, going faster than us by just enough to make it impossible to pass them. So I had little choice but to tuck in behind and wait.

When a gap in the traffic finally arrive, I swung out and past them as I'd been dying to do for five minutes, to be greeted with a chorus of sarcastic comments from them: they thought I'd been wheel-sucking.

Well, I had been, but not from choice. And they'd have been quite welcome to suck my wheel once I'd passed them: only one of them had been leading their bunch, but they clearly didn't have the legs for it. Tough!

 

[mark i]

Hmmm... struggling with this concept...
In my mind all commuting is a race...

Leave house as late as possible.
Arrive on platform as train pulls in.
Walk down train and stand with nose against door that opens nearest the exit from the platform
Walk quickly (no running that's cheating)...
Walk up the left of the escalator, grunt at anyone standing there...
Pick gate with shortest queue, tut loudly at anyone that causes a delay...
Walk quickly to office
Only take the lift if it's faster
Sit down at desk note time...
Feel disappointed it's exactly the same time as yesterday...

I seem to have taken this philosphy into my cycling...

I thought that this was just me. I actually left the house a whole three minutes earlier than normal today!?! The 4 mile ride to the train station was boring today, what with not having to work out how much energy I have left to spend to ensure that I make the train, then arriving on the platform as the train pulls up.

 

[jimboalee]

I was on a charity ride recently. I was with four other riders in a spread out procession.

The route turned into the wind and as they were relative newbies, I overtook and told the lead rider to get in behind. I slowed to the cruising speed.

They all backed off....

When we got to the next stop, they admitted they didn't know how to follow another rider closely like the TdF.

'Better safe than sorry'.... At least they knew their limitations. I admired their humility.