Etiquette on drafting

Pigeon Reaper

I was once drafted by a dog that seemed rather keen on making me pick up the pace.

Caroline_ie

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/aug/25/cycling-commuter-drafting-etiquette

It's standard practice in a race, but is hanging on to a commuter's slipstream a presumptuous liberty?


This is a blog post which is unapologetically slimline in scope. I want to canvass views on a relatively minor point of cycling etiquette which nonetheless fascinates me: where do you stand on drafting?
By drafting, I mean the practice of riding in the slipstream close behind someone's rear wheel, thus greatly reducing the effort you need to expend keeping at their speed. If you're riding in the middle of a big group this can, supposedly, save you up to 40% in energy. Even behind one other cyclist it makes a very noticeable difference.
It's all pretty standard and uncontroversial if you're participating in an organised road race or sportive, assuming of course you take your turn at the front. Where it gets more contentious is commuting.
My position's pretty clear: I'm happy to either draft or be drafted. With the former I don't go ludicrously close to another bike's rear wheel and I'm vigilant in case my temporary helper has to brake or swerve to avoid something. And if we reach a red light I'll often try to set off quickly so as to offer a reciprocal helping hand. When in front I indicate well in advance, and point a helpful finger towards upcoming potholes and the like.
But I'm having to reconsider whether it's worth the bother. I'm not sure about your home cycling patch but in London a reasonable minority of fellow commuters seem to view being drafted in much the same way as if you'd walked into their home and helped yourself from their fridge.
These malcontents react in different ways: some turn round and scowl; others begin weaving round the lane, slowing down or speeding up. One young man's facial expression was so laughably aggrieved – you'd have thought I'd propositioned his mother – that when we stopped at a red traffic light I felt obliged to ask him, politely, why he so objected to being drafted. "Look," he hissed, "we're individuals, we're not in this together. We're cycling alone. Don't you get that?" Even by London's famously misanthropic standards this was strong stuff.
There is, of course, an obvious answer: if someone clearly doesn't like being drafted then don't do it. That's all very well but doesn't help much with that annoying breed of urban cyclist who, having been overtaken on the open road then edge in front at a red light and/or set off before the signal changes.
If you're a light jumper, I reckon, then being drafted is the comeback. I'm damned if I'm going to expend effort overtaking a rider of broadly similar speed so they can enjoy my slipstream, even less so hang back a designated few metres. This is commuting, not a triathlon.
I'll admit that there have been times when I've grimly hung on to the back wheel of a speedy traffic light ignorer who is trying hard to shake me off, pushing myself far harder than I'd intended, more or less purely to irritate them.
There is a spin-off minefield of protocol connected to drafting: as a male rider is it a bit ungentlemanly to do so to a female commuter given that the basic technique involves staying as close to their buttocks as possible? A friend of mine was once drafting a Lycra-clad road cyclist round Richmond Park's cycling track when she turned round to accuse him of "having a gawp". He backed off.
I've gone on long enough. It's your turn. Commuter drafting: sensible, mutualistic effort-pooling or presumptious and potentially intimidating?

Hungrycol

What's the deal: You discover another lycra-clad enthusiast in the distance and push it to catch him imagining you're at the front of the peloton catching that lone brake away rider. You catch him a little pooped by your exertion and hang on his wheel for a few 100 meters. You recover quickly and notice that he ain't going as lickiddysplit as you would on your normal commute. Do you:
A) overtake but ease up so he can enjoy a pull for a while or
overtake and go your own pace and it's up to him to keep up?

answers on postcards....

Lumen

Hungrycol wrote: »

What's the deal: You discover another lycra-clad enthuiast in the distance and push it to catch him imagining you're at the front of the peleton catching that lone brake away rider. You catch him a little pooped by your exertion and hang on his wheel for a few 100 meters. You recover quickly and notice that he ain't going as lickiddysplit as you would on your normal commute. Do you:
A) overtake but ease up so he can enjoy a pull for a while or
overtake and go your own pace and it's up to him to keep up?

answers on postcards....

C) Don't draft, nail it until he's out of sight behind you.

Raam

Hungrycol wrote: »

What's the deal: You discover another lycra-clad enthusiast in the distance and push it to catch him imagining you're at the front of the peloton catching that lone brake away rider. You catch him a little pooped by your exertion and hang on his wheel for a few 100 meters. You recover quickly and notice that he ain't going as lickiddysplit as you would on your normal commute. Do you:
A) overtake but ease up so he can enjoy a pull for a while or
overtake and go your own pace and it's up to him to keep up?

answers on postcards....

Switch him.

Raam

buffalo wrote: »

Depends where the wind is coming from - you should try to fall back on the leeward side of the pace line, so you're sheltered while recovering.

Nah, you go up on the sheltered side. Or have I not understood you correctly.

Hungrycol

Raam wrote: »

Switch him.

What like over to Bord Gas? What does "Switch him" mean?

Raam

Hungrycol wrote: »

What like over to Bord Gas? What does "Switch him" mean?

Cut across his line.

Hungrycol

Like cut in front of him too quickly aka long socking??

Raam

Pretty much.

Lusk Doyle

Drafting is for pussies. That is all. :cool:

Edit: I still do it though from time to time / all the time.

Murph100

+1 fresh rider stays sheltered until they hit the front.

Raam wrote: »

Nah, you go up on the sheltered side. Or have I not understood you correctly.

Chips Lovell

Threads merged

fat bloke

If you're not drafting vehicles on your commute, then you're doing it wrong.

60kph up the keys, sucking Dublin Bus exhaust, that's where it's at ladies

Hmmzis

fat bloke wrote: »

If you're not drafting vehicles on your commute, then you're doing it wrong.

60kph up the keys, sucking Dublin Bus exhaust, that's where it's at ladies

Lucky you, the buses on my commute are waaaay too slow. They might be going 40km/h at best and then they stop at every conceivable and inconceivable street corner. Better off trying to draft a quick scooter or taxi (they absolutely hate that ).

Irish_Army01

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Drafting is for pussies. That is all. :cool:

Edit: I still do it though from time to time / all the time.

hahahah I was just going to post this as I was scrolling down and read your post! lol..

when involved in a single commuter race, I endeavor to catch, take over and out pace the cyclist I've just taken over.

Irish_Army01

fat bloke wrote: »

If you're not drafting vehicles on your commute, then you're doing it wrong.

60kph up the keys, sucking Dublin Bus exhaust, that's where it's at ladies

Until you become part of the advertisement on the back of the bus that is..:D

robinph

studiorat wrote: »

I had the humiliation of being drafted by a jogger on my final hill last night. He was running along the double yellow when I passed him, fcuker then used me to pace himself on the last couple of hundred meters.

I'm biting the handlebars and all I can hear is the pat pat pat of his runners behind me, spitting and doing that nose blowing thing they do. I nearly burst a blood vessel trying to loose him, which I did eventually. When I turn off the main road I've a really steep climb so I usually try and ease off before taking the right turn. Not this time, b@stard...

Have had a cyclist "drafting" behind me whilst out running before. Didn't even know he was there until the top of the incline, at which point he just had to free wheel past me.

He did say thanks though.

tomasrojo

I hadn't looked at bikesnobnyc in a while, but he has read the Guardian article and delivered his opinion:

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/08/from-suck-to-blow-storm-before-calm.html

How is this even the subject of debate? Of course it is not acceptable, for the same reasons you shouldn't draft people when you're driving to work in your car.

You are not automatically at someone's disposal just because you are both on bikes--the normal rules of society apply. Is it OK to follow someone at a distance of two inches when you're walking just because you're both wearing sneakers? No it isn't.

EDIT: Incidentally, he was on Loose Ends on BBC Radio 4 this week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014f394

kennyb3

While stopped in traffic last night i noticed the guy (farmer) in front of me had a garden (read pitch) fork attached to his bike. Might have to get one myself - would defo come in handy for proding someone on your wheel

kenmc

kennyb3 wrote: »

While stopped in traffic last night i noticed the guy (farmer) in front of me had a garden (read pitch) fork attached to his bike. Might have to get one myself - would defo come in handy for proding someone on your wheelyou're drafting to get them to up the pace a bit

Now. That's better.

cyclopath2001

Raam wrote: »

No, it actually helps the person in front.

If someone sits on my wheel, I regard it as a compliment, nearly a mark of respect. It's most important to pretend you don't know they are there. So, that rules out telling people to get lost.

Other possible thing to do is to invite the wheelsucker up for a chat and then half-wheel him (or her.....), while showing no signs of stress yourself.

rp

Kind of related: what is the silly commuter racing etiquette on passing someone out, refusing to make eye contact yet then pulling in front and slowing down to below the passee's original speed? what's that all about? What are you supposed to do?

kenmc

rp wrote: »

Kind of related: what is the silly commuter racing etiquette on passing someone out, refusing to make eye contact yet then pulling in front and slowing down to below the passee's original speed? what's that all about? What are you supposed to do?

Which one are you?

rp

kenmc wrote: »

Which one are you?

It's happened to me a few times in the last couple of weeks, I wouldn't mind if they'd dropped in to be socialable, or if they disappeared over the horizon, leaving me looking for excuses, but to pull in front a slow down seems impolite...

Money Shot

I'm hearing you, I hate it when some 'sack of ..' breaks his neck to catch yo and get past you, and then can't hack it, so you have no choice but to pass him, freewheeling by obviously, only for him to shoot off again at the traffic lights. This basically goes on until you get lucky with the lights. G@bsh'te.

Sometimes to punish him, I will draft in behind him, everytime he looks back all he sees is someone freewheeling with one hand on the bar. He tries harder and harder to get away, he never will, eventually he breaks, either pulls over feigning a mechanical fault, or is so shagged out that you have to pass him "see ya"....

I despise people like that on the roads, and there is so many of them, and they are always aged 40-50, slightly overweight, and very ugly.:D

Beasty

Money Shot wrote: »

and they are always aged 40-50, slightly overweight, and very ugly.:D

Are you tarring all ugly, slightly overweight 40-50 year old cyclists with this brush?

Money Shot

Of course not, that would be a crass generalisation . Besides, I've seen loads of ugly, overweight 50 year olds who don't even cycle. I've also seen some of them fly past me and stay past me. And they aren't all ugly - there was this one guy...

My theory asserts that some men of a certain age, who take up exercies later in life, find it hard to accept that they have limitations, and will go just short of a coronary to try and prove it.

rp

Money Shot wrote: »

and they are always aged 40-50, slightly overweight, and very ugly.:D

I resemble that remark!

Lusk Doyle

rp wrote: »

Kind of related: what is the silly commuter racing etiquette on passing someone out, refusing to make eye contact yet then pulling in front and slowing down to below the passee's original speed? what's that all about? What are you supposed to do?

Super annoying - like car drivers on the motorway passing you (not me) out and then pulling in and slowing down in front of you to have some clear road. THIS REALLY WRECKS MY HEAD :mad::mad::mad::mad:

You are supposed to FCUK them up!

Lusk Doyle

Beasty wrote: »

Are you tarring all ugly, slightly overweight 40-50 year old cyclists with this brush?

Just you. BOOM!

Lusk Doyle

Money Shot wrote: »

My theory asserts that some men of a certain age, who take up exercies later in life, find it hard to accept that they have limitations, and will go just short of a coronary to try and prove it.

I know one rider who is like this. I swear that his heart and lungs are about to explode when going up hills with the strain he is under trying to keep up with younger, stronger lads. It's not nice to look at or listen to.

rp

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

car drivers on the motorway passing you (not me) out and then pulling in and slowing down in front of you to have some clear road.

One of the many reasons I don;t cycle on the motorway anymore

CramCycle

rp wrote: »

One of the many reasons I don;t cycle on the motorway anymore

Video of rp on holidays in Germany:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrIh_XhGPxY

Satanta

Raam wrote: »

No, it actually helps the person in front.

Is this true? I was reading the Lance Armstrong book and he refers to sitting on someones wheel as a means of slowing a rider down.

...Kevin's job was to get behind Zulle and stay right behind his wheel, making it harder for Zulle to pull up the hill. It's called 'sitting on him.' While Kevin 'sat' on Zulle's wheel and slowed him down, the rest of my Postal teammates pulled me, riding in front of me, allowing me to draft and catch up...

Beasty

Money Shot wrote: »

My theory asserts that some men of a certain age, who take up exercies later in life, find it hard to accept that they have limitations, and will go just short of a coronary to try and prove it.

... funnily enough I hit a PB 188 beats per minute this morning - not sure if it's the Garmin playing up yet though

anyway I was only 49 when I started taking this exercise lark seriously so you can't be referring to me ...

Wishbone Ash

rp wrote: »

Kind of related: what is the silly commuter racing etiquette on passing someone out, refusing to make eye contact yet then pulling in front and slowing down to below the passee's original speed? what's that all about? What are you supposed to do?

And on a similar vein I find that I seem to accelerate faster than most but my average journey speed is only 29kph. When I'm waiting at the lights with a fellow commuter who has a higher travelling speed but slower acceleration, I feel I have to unnaturally hold back to allow him to get ahead as I don't want to get out in front only to be passed each time.