To Draft Or Not To Draft

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?