Just eat lots of hot spicy mexican food, you'll be farting mace at them! :p

Nope, ya just take a whizz in their direction :D

Just in case my posting suggesting these things totally shattered your faith in humanity, I should say I've never actually done either, seen others do it, or even hear about it as a technique. I just threw that in to mess around a bit.

I'm not against informal pacelines, but I think riding someone's rear wheel is bad form unless you have reason to believe it's OK because it's dangerous and forces them to modify their riding style. Commuting is not the best time to draft because the distances are shorter, you have to vary speed more than when you're on open road for miles and miles, and many riders are weighed down by stuff they don't normally haul.

Re Op's post, A similar stich happened to me last month. I spanked that guy's hide but good. He kept catching up at the light, he'd suck off my wheel as long as he could and then fall back frustrated, When the light changed, he'd finally catch up exhausted and woobling ...I kept a steady pace of 19-20... finally after 4.5 miles he turned off.

Gads, get a clue. Either pass or follow. Wanna race? Go to the velo dome.

Sometimes you try not to appear like you are racing (since your not) just to keep good vibes. I caught up to a cyclist, stayed well back as I knew there would be a red light ahead. As we approached the red light the guy just started coasting, much much sooner and far slower than I would. I could have blown past him and rode fast into the red light as I always do when alone (to better fit in flow of traffic, to have more time at stop to drink/relax,) but instead rolled up next to him and we chatted.

I know if I'd done my normal solo routine I would have looked like a total jerk to him.

Al

Agreeing with noisebeam, courtesy counts esp. when you see the same commuters.

There's one stretch of road where riders just stay in line. If a guy is doing a HRM/recovery/or just slow, people pass at a reasonable pace, but hail in a friendly manner.

You need to up your pace to about 25, then they just leave you alone. :) 19-20 effort on my road bike is 23-25 on my recumbent. Makes a great commuter, and cruises great at 25+/- on the flats. They don't try sucking a wheel at that speed, and if they do, you just ramp it up for a few blocks to 30. :)

So, would there be a market then for a button or badge that says: "Back off or pass, but GET OFF MY ASS"

Or something less abrasive, even?

As far as I'm concerned, when another commuter passes me, it is an invitation to take his wheel. If he really doesn't want me on his/her wheel, then all they have to do is crank up the volume and drop me. If they can't drop me, then, well, they should slow down, let me pass and attempt to stay on my wheel. If you really don't want them on your wheel, simply slow down and wave them by. No biggie.

If they insist on playing games by slowing down and then retaking your wheel, slam on the brakes and watch them ride into your crankset . . . just kidding there, hehe.

. . . careful, the Feds are listening. They're everywhere, I tellya.

Sounds like you get some real morons out there Cyclo, can't say i've ever had that happen on my route. 6 hours to Friday beers... :D

If I were on the bike trail, training or whatever (especially on a weekend), I'd probably agree. But during commute hours when dealing with traffic? I think not-- it's akin to tailgating. In unpredictable traffic, everybody needs room to dodge and brake. I don't want anybody drafting me on my way to or from work on city streets. And likewise, if somebody ahead of me needs to hit the brakes because of a stupid cager, I don't want to be eating his rear wheel.

If you want to permanently fix this "overlapping" problem, all it takes is a slight unannounced nudge from your back wheel to their front wheel. This happened to me once, and I'm cured of ever drafting like that again. Mind you, it was totally by accident, and I was with a friend, but since then he's learned to signal before a turn, and I've learned to back off in case he forgets. :D It took a couple of weeks for my a$$ to recover from the road rash.

(Note: I'm not recommending intentional injury to another cyclist. I'm just saying, if you did that, you'd only have to do it once.)

Yeh, you get 'em everywhere if you look hard enough :rolleyes: It wasn't my usual route, I had to go into the city and I picked him up on the way home around Silverwater just after Silverwater Rd. I was on my way back to Parramatta via Homebush Bay.

5 hours to beer o'clock yaaay :D :beer:

Sometimes, it's fun to jump on someone's wheel and coast for a bit, especially if they don't know I'm there. <flame suit on> If they do see me, I'll either back off or pass them for good. I would never do this on a road ride, but slotting in behind somebody on the ride home for a block or two isn't the worst thing in the world. If somebody does it to me, well, that's okay too, as I'm fine just ignoring them.

Silverwater explains it all... City - Homebush - Parra, sounds like a nice ride. How far does that work out as?

4 hours till Beer o'clock for me - xmas party goodness :D

But going down in heavy high speed traffic could very well be death, not road rash.

Al

Robert Hurst wrote that road rash is a gift. Why? Because it could have been much worse and you get a lesson that what you did was stupid.

I was on my way to band practice (with my pedalboard on my back no less) tonight and some dude decided to blow by me getting on the trail. He was pretty easy to catch and ended up pacing me (8 or so bike lengths back) most of the rest of the way there. I was happy to tag along. I'm not sure how happy he was with me doing so, but he seemed to give up trying to drop me after a while. I think in the daylight he could have no problem, but there's only so fast you can go on a dark trail. As it was he was good for a free pull :)