Your opinion on a road situation.
 

I came out of the office last night on ready to ride home and I'm just pumping along. I turn the corner and start my climb up the 59th street bridge. Some messenger or something passes me on my left and gets up in front of me. There's a slight head wind so I keep up with him and take the draft (about 10ft). A few seconds later, he says. "Hey man, I've had a long day I don't have anything left in me!" and let's me pass. I say " Sorry man, I just go out of the office" and took off.

I ride a single speed dawes sst and he had some trek with lots of gears. I have a few questions.

1. If he didn't have the gas to charge up the hill why would he pass me?
2. Does drafting require the rider in front to do more work or is it the same as if you are riding by yourself?
3. Can following a guy by 10ft even be called drafting?


Thanks!

1. If he is on a fixed gear we like to charge up hills to get our momentum up. At least I do.
2. More work for the puller. Less for the person behind.
3. No. You should be closer for drafting. Like within a foot or two (roughly).

i had the impression the puller has less work, as the low pressure air behind him is filled by the drafter instead of pulling him back. Won't be nearly as dramatic an advantage for the puller, obviously.

Thanks DJ. He had a bunch of gears he was cycling through to climb the hill. I think he was just tired but thought he was going to smoke me.

2. I get that it's more work for the person infront than the person behind but is it just as much work if there is no one behind you?

I'm not trying to be a ****** here. Just wanted to keep my pace and pass him.

I have yet to encounter a situation where it was less work for the puller.

I believe degnaw is correct. If you have someone drafting you very close it will be slightly easier for you. It's doubtful it'd be noticeable though. It's probably like 99% of the work of riding alone.

Gears or no gears I sometimes hit a hill hard hoping that momentum will help carry me over. Sometimes you bonk. Sounds like he bonked.

Often it's better to go slow and steady and let the gears work for you.

Anywho, he may have been trying to race you and didn't have the legs for it. Who knows? He let you pass. You went on your way. Does it matter?

I don't think being the draftee makes a lot of difference one way or the other though I've heard having someone draft you helps a tiny bit.

I seem to remember being told that you need to be within a bike's length for drafting to help. In my limited experience, I need to be no more than a few feet away to get much benefit.

Hey Tj. It doesn't really matter to me if he was trying to race me or not, at all. I just didn't want to be a d-bag to the guy.

Some people just don't like to be drafted period. Sort of like tail gating. But he was cool about it. He could have just snot rocketed you or lifted a leg and let you smell his breakfast burrito.

I think he may have been asking for a pull.

+1 That was my first impression. I never ride in groups, and generally hate doing so, but I don't have any problem with someone grabbing my back tire for a while. I ride the pace that I ride, and if someone wants to ride with me for a while, thats cool. Seems to happen quite a bit on the weekends on the more popular routes.

You know what? I didn't even think of that!

This is the queensboro bridge i'm talking about so there are alway a lot of people crossing.

1. Because he can.
2. No.
3. No.

Some clown roadie drafted me in a head wind the other day while I was riding my SS mountain bike on a long gradual upslope then proceeds to slam it in gear and blast by me at the crest. I thought it was funny.

Maybe he just had a long day and didn't want to deal with the whole issue. Sometimes its nicer to just ride alone and not have to worry about etiquette or physics or whatever.

Sometimes??

That's about the distance I try to keep when passing so it's clear I'm Not Drafting. That's about two bike lengths, so unless you're following a pair of clydes acting as pullers, it really should keep you out of the draft.

Some clydes are large enough that you can catch a draft about 3 feet back, and the draft zone is pretty wide (so a side by side pair would have an... impressive draft zone). My partner is one of 'em, so if I'm trying not to draft him, I really do need to allow space. For a skinny cyclist, you might need to be less than 12" from their rear wheel... really much closer than I'd like in city traffic. A lot of novice riders don't know about drafting tho, and will pass close so that you can accidentally catch a draft.

And yeah, if you're comfortable in a drafting pair, I'd have given the guy a pull.