+1, my ass is pretty spectacular...

My wife says mine is quite something too, she's proud of her hubby's butt, makes me laugh when she tells her friends to grab my ass and see.

In a Senior Olympics road race break-away had 2 guys sitting on my wheel; slowed a bit and pulled tio the side and they would not take the hint to pull. Stepped on it and they stuck to my wheel.
Yelled "Braking" . . . hit both brakes and they split around me. Jumped on their wheel. Works fine!

That takes some brass ones.

A Crazy Ivan ...... nice one.

Actually if the aerodynamics I just learned in sailing class mean anything... the drafters are actually helping the puller by keeping the collapsing vortex further back...

Pretty minimal help, if it even applies at these wind pressures and speeds... (should, as we were talking about 4-7 knot boat speeds)


Ultimately however, your solution should work just fine and dandy... unless every one gets into the track stand mode.

What if you just yelled "Braking" or "Oh Sh&^%t!"? Maybe they'd hit the brakes and you could take off?

Maverick: I'm gonna hit the brakes and they'll shoot right on by.

Sounds to me like they were unable to keep your pace except by drafting you. You were the stronger rider and they were incapable of pulling you at a pace you would like. Let them draft, or don't, as you wish, but I think there's nothing they could do about the fact that you wanted to draft somebody.

+1

When you pass, crank it up so they can't suck a wheel, and if they do suck a wheel, gradually bring it up to 28-30, most upright guys drop off in quick order. I bring my own draft on my Corsa. 25mph cruise.

fart. HARD!

I still laugh when few years back when not fully aware to drafting *rules* wouldn't let pass the drafter to take his pulling turn.

Now sometimes we play speed train with the regulars, at one time we drafted a speedy girl for a good half a mile before she freak out to see 4 guys behind her. I am pretty sure she though she had an awesome rear but the truth was that she was imposing a great tempo.

Also there's the “snicky drafter”, competitive in nature but with the obscure intentions to ride in your shade until you show signs of weakness to shot forward in an attempt to drop you, very annoying also.

OP: Time to join a club ... you are dropping club people.

One trick that worked for me was:

over inflating my tyres,
riding too fast on a wet path,
riding too fast over the wet, rubberised cover on one corner of the bike path,
going down,
bike behind me panics and goes down,
the three riders behind him all crash in a big mess of arms, legs and spokes
it took them so long to get up, there was no more drafting

BTW no major injuries, just lost bark

This thread just reminded me that a couple of years ago I was on an organized metric and I fell in with a group that was doing a nice pace. I guess I thought it would be rude to pull ahead so I just sat in the whole time. Nobody ever said anything and now I realize I was probably ticking everyone off. I wish someone had mentioned something at the break stops.

agree that sitting in without helping out can be bothersome...

but, you weren't racing.
nor were you on an organized group ride.
and
if you didn't encounter the cyclists you would have been riding yourself anyway.
buck up and just know you were the stronger cyclist that day...
or turn up the wattage for 1/4 mile, put some distance between you and them, and ride on.

Yeah, dial-up the powermeter to 500 watts!

That's my understanding as well. Everyone benefits from a drafting line, though of course the guy in the front least of all.

lol wouldnt this belong in the road forum or something I came here expecting to see drafting off of a bus or some large object moving object that makes sudden stops .

With a 42x16 singlespeed there isn't much headroom to turn up the wattage without spinning out.

I *think* a guy was drafting me this morning. Or maybe he was just following really closely. I'm not a road cyclist, and I'm not aware of the etiquette when such a thing happens. He looked like a commuter too, so perhaps it was all in my head.

I was huffing and puffing, probably going slower than he would have preferred. He caught up to me pretty quickly, then rode behind me for a mile or so. So I moved over to the far right and waved him on. He went, and turned right at the next light.

Was that rude of me? Seriously, I don't ride with groups and I'd hate to piss off a fellow commuter (he had a backpack and no spandex but his calves were RIPPED -- leading to the conclusion that he knew what he was doing as a cyclist. Or maybe he's a basketball player ...).

I'm doing the Houston to Austin MS150 this weekend. The images - 1 ice cold beer in La Grange,then 1 ice cold beer and a big juicy steak in Austin. This thread has replaced those with the images and sounds of people drafting with no return, and their gasp and grunts when I finally lose them in the hills (hopefully).

42x16 you got the answer even in your ID. Next time, just look back and ask, and they don't take lead, there are two choices, Just say
a) You sure you want to ride behind someone without brakes?
or
b) When you get onto your bike related forum of choice, mention that you were slower than someone on a fixed gear bike. <<<playing at how some think us fixed geared riders are lesser forms of cyclist.
or
c) Wink at them and ask for their number. EDIT: no wait that might backfire on you.

I've had 2 fun draft experiences in two days.

Yesterday coming down a hill on the MUP a lady mt biker tucked in behind me and hung out for a quarter mile or so -- she says "hey you make for a pretty good draft, I bet you get that a lot eh?" at a loss for a good bon mot I just said "Yeah but I'm usually out on the expressway". She took a left pretty quickly after that but I thought it was cool.

Today two roadies fell in behind me. One got up front and I tried to tuck in but they got split at a light and the lead guy psyched me out by sorta slowing and looking behind him to see if his friend was gonna keep up, putting me first. I tucked my head and hauled ass for 2 quick miles till I got short of breath and moved right, waving them up. The rear guy said "Hey nice pull man! Do you ride this everyday?" He pointed at my HHCMF shirt. "Yup, here or the next road down, every day" sez I. We got separated in traffic (they went up on the sidewalk!) soon after so that was the end of that.

Its a definite psychological boost to have people behind you in addition to whatever aerodynamic benefit the leader gets. Good fun!

F it, just keep pulling, its good training. It is why you added the extra miles anyway. Any typing of nice buts should come with proof. ;p