Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Situational.
I'm a solo rider, so I'm going to go whatever speed I would normally go at and if someone wants to tuck in front of me and go as fast as I normally would or better, I'm going to stay behind them until I want to do otherwise. They know I'm there because they put me there so the awareness and etiquette are all fair game.
I have no idea how I'd handle this in a place as windy as where you ride, however. We get high winds where I ride from time to time, but nothing systematic like that. I'd think you might be somewhere where there's some unspoken rules that wouldn't apply elsewhere. From
SapInMyBlood 's post, I suspect that might be the case.
The winds aren't THAT bad.
The cycle paths in Perth are just wide, with good visibility down the track, and few pedestrians along some of the main stretches by the River side.
On my 5-6am morning commutes it's easy to have little drafting games with other skilled riders. When i show up to a group ride with a new club, I don't know any of them or their skills either but it's generally fair to say that in strong group rides (35-40kph avg) you can safely expect skilled riders. Similarly, those who can hold onto you for a 40kph avg are probably not your average Joe on a hybrid cruiser (sorry Larry)