Slipstream etiquette?

I’ve never worried about
I’ve never worried about people drafting me. Sometimes I’ll draft others and take a turn when I can.

I’m used to drafting from riding with a club so I don’t see it as dangerous.

A couple of years ago I was

A couple of years ago I was riding on the cycle path next to the Alderley Edge bypass.   It was a downhill section so I was going fairly fast (for me), when I saw an exit to my left.

I thought I’d take a look at where this path led, so I braked ready to turn on to it which unleased a torrent of abuse from behind me.   Then I was then passed by a fist shaking rider.   

I had no idea he was there and had no seen any other cyclist when I joined the cycle path  a couple of miles back.  I was on the left of the path and turning left, so I assume he was on my wheel and not to my right and overtaking.

I’ve often thought about this since and wondered who was at fault.   One lesson I’ve taken from the incident is always to signal my intentions, even if I can’t detect anyone behind me.

 

 

 

 

@kempston – this happens all

@kempston – this happens all the time, in a group or riding solo. 

In a group people are more inclined to join in, peer pressure or just showing off, I’ve slowed a group to let said new person or persons just pop off the front on their own if they aren’t quite in sync with a group.

Solo, 1) you should know your surroundings, I can only think that if you ‘didn’t know’ someone was on your wheel you must have been wearing headphones, if that’s the case you are not spacially aware and probably wouldn’t have heard any hello’s from them anyway. If you weren’t wearnig headphones and can hear properly, you would have probably found that the accused wheelsucker had probably only just reached your wheel, nobody’s bike is that quiet.

2) Don’t get annoyed at this, if I feel someone has been there a bit too long (it’s nice to let them recover for a bit imo) then I simply purposefully flick the elbow and move over to let them through. It’s also nice at that point to say hi to your guest on the way past, ask them where they are going..  It’s my/your choice whether to sit there and get annoyed or not. (Although there has been a couple of incidents where I’ve done that, let them through and the pace has dropped significantly, which is rude, on those occasions it’s usually clear that they’ve buried themselves to reach you so I’ve just powered away with a cheery see you later.

I think a lot of people are

I think a lot of people are missing the point here. The OP said he didn’t know the wheelsucker was there, just a feeling, confirmed when he pulled off and the bloke managed to say something (shame he hadn’t managed to announce his joining rather than his leaving the draft!).

It really irritates me as, firstly the rider behind must have been going quicker than the OP to join his back wheel, so either carry on past, say hello and ask if you can sit in for a bit, or stay back.

I really don’t want to hit the brakes for whatever reason I see fit, assuming I’m alone, only to have some secret squirrel bell-end plough into the back of me.

Show a bit of class and announce yourself and join in the effort, or piss off as far as I’m concerned.

Podc wrote:

Podc wrote:

I joined a road behind another rider last week. He was going slightly slower than me and I had seen him going the other way about 25k earlier so I knew he was on a longish ride in cold, windy conditions. I had choices – overtake or hold a comfortable pace behind. The road was busy, with upcoming roundabouts and traffic light controlled junctions ahead so I decided to just sit behind him. No point being a MGIFer. I wasn’t slipstreaming him – just the next bike in traffic. After about a mile he turned and I shouted a ‘cheers mate’, not as a thank you for any ‘slipstream’ as I’d hung back what I thought was a reasonable distance, but just as a friendly comment to another cyclist.

I hope all this was not misconstrued and that the chap didnt think I’d used him to get a slipstream and had thanked him for his efforts, but I am now worried that  he might have actually been annoyed and wanted to blow snot all over me.

Life is so complicated.

Lol. Doesn’t anyone kiss their buddies anymore.. Not like you can see tread on a road bike anyway.
(Slide in behind a flatbar, they seem rather high and should block well)

don simon wrote:

Stay quiet and don’t blame me if the snot rocket hits target.

Where I am from the sheer number of cyclists (especially in summer) make taking a wheel / being drafted inevitable. Folks like you wouldnt last long…

If you dont like it you can swing out and let them through, or you can offer to cooperate if they look a bit tasty. 

As others have said, the slow guy might be you one day…

He really didn’t steal

He really didn’t steal anything from you. If they’re capable of slipstreaming I generally reckon they’re mostly capable of not crashing into the back of you, esepcially if you behave like any decent person and signal issues. Like others have said, if I want them to take a turn, a flick of the elbow normally helps. I  don’t take it as any kind of threat to my masculinity or some such, or a challenge to race, if someone picks up my slipstream. Normally if I’m going to drop in behind someone I let them know, though occasionally I get overtaken by some serious races, and I’ll just sit on the last wheel and be sure to keep out of their way. 

This is not so bad, though he

This is not so bad, though he could have taken a turn if he was able to overtake you (though he might not have had the extra puff to do so.) Meanwhile I was going along a canal towpath recently and overtook another chap going much slower than me, after about thirty seconds I too got that sense and looked around to see he had sped up and was now drafting me. I shouted at him ‘Why have you sped up… Why are you drafting me, it’s not a race…’  and he mysteriously went back to his previous speed. There were pedestrians with dogs down there and I might have to slow or brake, I didn’t want him right up my arse. I don’t know why some people think being overtaken is an invitation to a race, just make your own pace.