Through the center of Woodinville, and through the slight downhill section of 202 into the center of Redmond, if I can catch a draft off a bus or large delivery truck I'll take advantage of it. There's little better than a 40mph draft for a couple miles, where you're expending almost no energy.
I only do this on sections of the road I know very well. No potholes, no manhole covers. Yes, it's a bit scary to think that if there's a big tree branch or something on the roadway, I've got a 5' heads-up to deal with it; and at 40mph that equates to enough time to think "Oh crap!" before slamming the pavement.
Vehicles not to draft:
- School busses
- FedEx, UPS, DHL delivery trucks
- USPS delivery trucks
- City busses (in the city)
They all stop randomly, and don't always pull out of the roadway when stopping (so you don't have a clean "out" to get around them.) Drafting is fun, but you don't want to become a bumper thumper when one of those big vehicles puts on the brakes unexpectedly.
__________________
"I feel like my world was classier before I found cyclocross."
- Mandi M.