Falkon 

I want to know who has done it. I've honestly tried. If I can follow a strong rider going 32 mph by staying in his draft, would the same not be true for a nice big truck? Their acceleration gets them away too fast, but I think it's very possible to do.

brunop

dude,
skitch trucks. it's da jam!

moxfyre

I'm reminded of an educational video from a Simpsons episode: "Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly"

Lessee... a truck is really big and heavy, and if you're close enough to draft, you can't see around it. And to boot it blasts diesel right in your face, especially when accelerating from a stop. I tried it once and decided it was a really bad idea after about 5 seconds.

NoRacer

I draft anything I can during one stretch of my commute (attached); trucks, cars, busses, partitioned trucks, other bicycles (if they're going fast enough). The bigger the truck the better, cuz they can't see you, where people in vehicles who can see you tend to freak out and speed up or move over to the left lane if there's another lane to move to. The sprint is done daily and is a little over 500 meters--enough to make one want to puke on a hot, sunny, and humid day.

ryanparrish

why do you sprint? I figure if you want to go fast or need to hide from the wind I would suggest something allong these lines














! mad bike porn !

NoRacer

I'm happy with this one:



I sprint to the next right turn to get out of the flow of traffic, because at that time of the day (4pm) that road is very busy--I feel obligated to get out of the way, asap, though I realize I could be a "butthead" and ride it for 3/4ths of a mile to get to the road I'm wanting to travel on next--the one that I get to through back roads after the sprint.

ryanparrish

Sounds like funn

capejohn

I do it every day I commute. There is a quarry at the back entrance of the industrial park where I work. The trucks enter the park from a dead stop to cross a residential street. That's where I grab one but very seldom am able to keep past 32 or 33 mph.
Occasionally one will keep his speed down to give me a pull. Not very often though. They are "dirt monkeys" who are paid by the trip.



The pickup is too fast, but I always have the chance to catch one of these big boys.

Falkon 

I mean what is it that keeps you from drafting? Is it the acceleration of the car? Yesterday in a jam where acceleration itself was slow but the speed limit was around 40 mph, I was able to draft a truck and I could feel that I was in the draft. If I get stopped at a red, I'll usually try to draft the first car. I should move back and try to snag one of the last ones. I'm not about to do what I've heard some of the NYC messengers do and stick my foot up in the wheel well. I just wanna hang with one at about 35 mph to speed up my commute and save some energy, not to mention be riding with traffic.

rajman

I don't mind drafting the 2-ton trucks. Their brakes generally suck so I've always been able to stop before rear ending them. In city traffic, I rarely draft for more than a block or three because they end up stopping dead for some kind of obstacle like a left turner or something...

tuolumne

I know what you mean. I need to sprint between the red dots if I want to make a left turn at the Y in the road. This is a pretty significant hill as well. There is no sidewalk or crosswalks on the right side of the road due to the highway offramp. Getting to the sidewalk on the left side of the road would involve crossing 3 lanes of oncoming morning traffic. No thanks. If I use a crosswalk 1/4 mile back to get on that sidewalk I would be facing a 1/2 mile total of dodging pedestrians etc. Solution = sprint up hill as fast as I can in the middle of 3 lanes of traffic and make the dodgey left turn. It usually takes quite a bit out of me since this is in the last couple miles of my morning commute. I get nervous following cars; they tend to watch me in the rearview mirror instead of the road.

No_Minkah

I do it. There's a Morton Salt plant on my commute and there are often trucks around the general area. I find that I can stay in the draft and have a safe way out if I stay behind the right rear quarter of the truck.

crtreedude 

One thing that I wish I had gotten a picture of was one person who wasn't exactly drafting a sugarcane truck here. The truck was crawling up the mountain (think 2 to 3 miles an hour) and this section of the mountain is really steep. Anyway - a bunch of people were cycling up the mountain, and behind the truck, some wiseguy grabbed a cane and was just letting the truck haul him to the top.

Is this considered drafting?

Seggybop

It's easy to draft trucks, but it's a silly thing to do because you'll have diesel exhaust in your face the entire time.
Find a natural gas powered bus instead.

catatonic

Not necessarily true.

You can draft a large truck, like a semi or dump truck effectively around 50ft+. Once you factor in their stopping distances, you are well within safe measure so long as you know how to stop at those speeds.

The thing is you need to be able to sprint withint 5mph of the vehicle in question to catch it's draft, then have the sheer power to accelerate along with it, or you will lose the draft.

Pretty much it's candy for sprint demons. For everyone else it's not worth burning yourself out over.

elares

full concrete truck are best. They accelerate slower than most other large trucks so catching the draft is more likely. My all time top speed was attained drafting a dump truck on a downhill freeway on-ramp in Portland, OR. 60MPH!

ryanparrish

are you telling me 60 MPH on a BIKE if so crazy fast that'd be awesome

Bklyn

I think this is one of those cases where local custom prevails. Drafting a truck in NYC is just nuts. The most common species is the anonymous delivery truck, leased by the mattress store (or whatever) and driven probably not by professional haulers. (That's irony. They're maniacs.) They stop and start without warning. And you could probably beat them from light to light anyway. But we've all seen "Breaking Away," and I'd love to hit 50 mph someday.... Just not on First Avenue.

elares

Yep, 60MPH on a bike. It was 20 years ago. Shorts, sunglasses, shoes. I was invincible.

Young and dumb, indeed.

ghettocruiser

This is one of those things I advise against and then do anyways. Big trucks are safer* since they stop slower and the draft extends back quite a ways... 40 or 50 feet sometimes in a straight-on headwind. This lets me sit back quite a ways see more road hazards in time to avoid them and whatnot. Loaded trucks are a better idea than empty ones because they start and stop slower as well.


And if you had the nerve and the gearing, I'm pretty sure you could draft a truck at freeway speeds. It's pretty effortless if there is no crosswinds.

* This is not safe.

tuolumne

Stupid is a better adjective!!! I have a family to go home to.

caloso

I've done it. As the OP points out, once you're comfortable at 30mph + behind a skinny bike rider on the local hammerfest, drafting a truck is a piece of cake. Personally, I like minivans because I can usually see through the windows and anticipate whether they'll be hitting the brakes. City buses are good too, but they tend to stop every couple of blocks (duh).

Flimflam

I have drafted a few cyclists, but not often because I don't like to be the guy on their ass if they don't understand what I'm doing... I've never drafted (that I remember, which I'm sure I would) a vehicle though - wouldn't mind trying it, though - a lot of the bigger trucks here have their exhausts vertically mounted behind the cab, so that's not a concern - only the stopping/rear-ending would be an issue - but reading situations and reading the road ahead usually limit those risks.

crtreedude 

I would be a bit concerned drafting dump trucks, or anything carrying a loose load. You might find rock a bit hard to dodge if it were to fall out.

Drafting a manure truck will be a very bad idea...

fordfasterr

I recently drafted an ambulance for about 1/2 a mile at just under 40 mph sustained... it felt quite good !!!

I also frequently draft busses on the last stretch of my ride home, right where the bus-depot is ... I usually get up to 35 mph sustained for about 5 blocks.. =)

I Love it. I draft whenever possible.