I nearly always ride by myself, but joined a group of ~8 people last weekend. I overheard (was let in on the conversation by the rider next to me) that the other riders "don't like your draft". And she said- as a regular member of this group- that she definitely has a ranking of best to worst draft of the other riders.

As a group newbie, 2 thoughts came to mind immediately (actually 3- the first was "you can tell a difference?!) I have a rear rack for commuting, perhaps it is disrupting airflow and that's why the complaints. The second is that I am not holding a good line and wander side to side too much.

Input? Have you noticed different draft off other riders in groups? I'll try to pay more attention if I join this weekend.

Thanks.

I don't have a preference as long as I can find the draft.

People like drafting me, but only because at 6'3" 200-ish lbs, I'm a bit broad and they catch little wind. Which means I often catch wind whether or not I'm in the front

Then you have advantage, drop em!

There are two seperate issues here: 1) how big you are (and therefore how much advantage there is to bieng behind you.), and,

2) how smooth, and competent a rider you are.

On the first there is a difference following a 200lb 6 foot guy, and a 5 foot 110lb girl.

On the second issue, it's a question of whether the rider holds their line, yo yo's the paceline, brakes in the paceline, overlaps wheels, allows gaps to develop, accelerates the paceline, allows the speed of the paceline to drop, is a threat to get dropped, etc, or just generally looks like a squirell.

So you want to find the largest, smoothest, strongest rider to slot in behind

this right here.

That's possibly it right there.

And this will help:
Ride smooth, straight, and maintain pace.

I think merlin hit the most important points. I'm one of those smooth 6'3" 200 pound guys, but it took some learning to get there (and I might only be "there" in relation to my regular riding group).

The riders who are more difficult for me to draft off of are small of stature or erratic in path or pace. I can mitigate the smaller riders by going into the drops when drafting them. Erratic path or pace are much more troublesome, especially pace. You want to avoid common beginner mistakes:

- speeding up when it's your turn to pull
- going into a climb too slowly and causing the paceline to compress behind you
- going over the top of a climb too quickly and causing the paceline to break up behind you
- accelerating too hard out of a corner and causing the paceline to break up behind you
- start/stop pedaling instead of a constant, smooth cadence causing yo-yoing in the paceline

I'm sure there are others that I've committed and been coached by the group about. I learned a lot of things by getting behind the really smooth riders and watching how they react to different changes in the terrain and road to keep things moving.

I don't really care about the amount of draft I get. If I get a good draft, then great, if I get a smaller draft, I just work a little harder which is good for you anyway. I'm more concerned about the riding style as merlin aptly described.

Yo-yoing in a paceline is one of the most common newbie mistakes and drives everyone crazy. It actually drives me insane when someone gets their turn on the front and surges ahead by increasing their speed as soon as they get there. That won't really help things and will just tire the entire group. In race situations, we've usually told the person a couple times and if they still fail to do it, we'll just ramp it way up right after they take a pull. They usually get the message if they're able to latch on again.

Yup.

+1

I was in a paceline behind a hulking 6'5" rider recently. Bonus -- he stayed on the hoods the entire time! We were riding along at 28 mph and I still had more to give. Afterwards he commented that it was ME who was driving the pace. Oops. I was guilty of accelerating the paceline on that particular day.

I forgot one other thing -- no one is going to like your draft if it smells like BO. Everyone remember to shower and don't wear previously stanked cycling clothes.

I have only recently started riding in pacelines, and find it to be a frustrating endeavor at times, but I'm working on it. One issue is that some of those goals are mutually exclusive unless the person in front of you is just a piece of perfection, which they never are. So I can hold a steady pace, no surging, no braking, but then that lets gaps open up at times, too. When a group starts down a hill, if the lighter guys in front crank it, I'm coasting; if they're coasting, I'm braking, so that works against the "going over the top too quickly". For some reason, I find that if I'm in the back of a group going 20 mph and having trouble keeping up, that when I wind up in front of the same group going 16 mph, that's then too fast for them...I haven't figured that one out yet.

A suggestion: If you're an experienced rider, and someone you know is doing stuff like this, speak up, don't just fume in silence. Us newer people have to learn somewhere and it's not like they teach that in school. I'll do whatever I can to help other people, but can't do it if I don't know. (I might point out that I ride with several different groups at times, with many faster better and more experienced riders, but there is one person in one group that has ever actually tried to help me on stuff like this.)

Oh, one other lesson- if you're pulling into a quartering wind, leave room at the downwind side for drafters.

"he stayed on the hoods the entire time!"- I'll do this more, if I can hold the pace, when someone's drafting, it may not have been accident.

Oh, and don't wear white bibs. Or bibs that are so old they're a micron thick.

Or just wear bibs. I prefer not to be drafting behind some guy wearing shorts that sit too low, leaving a nice plumbers crack and a gap of hairy back because the jersey isn't long.

And don't wear too much cologne/aftershave. I was racing a couple weeks ago and the guy in front of me had a ton of Old Spice on. I kept moving around him, but every time he was in front of me, I could smell him. I should not be able to identify you in the field by smell.

But other than that, the issues of why not you do not like riding behind someone have been well explained.

As a side note, one of the strongest guys I know is about 5'2" tall. He rides smooth and steady, but I hate being behind him because he offers almost no draft.

Option B...always...eff the draft.

Nailed it. Post of the day.

I'm also 6'2" 200lbs and get told regularly by others that they like drafting me for the reasons above and I create "clean air". My primary tip is be predictable. Everything else is situational but predictability makes others feel more comfortable and relaxed. I know I do. Cheers.

Cheers

Kind of sucks that you have to post on BF about this instead of someone in the group you were riding with giving you tips and pointers. Heck, even if they yelled at you to do things right you would learn more than having them talk about you behind your back like a bunch of to-cool-for-school 5th graders.

In this situation the lead rider has to keep their effort constant, not their speed.

As you go downhill, you pick up speed, and people have a tendency to back off the effort. That results in the paceline having to brake behind you.

So when you go downhill in the lead, you need to keep the power up. A power meter, or just a good sense of perceived effort helps.

Girls have wider hips.

It drives me crazy too. If I'm behind the yahoo, I'll just let him go and keep the group behind me going at our normal pace.

Or wear wool, because it's immune to body odor.

After you've gone on the local group rides for awhile, you'll recognize who the good wheels are to follow: the ones who are steady, the ones who are smooth, the ones who know when it's time to sit in the back and when it's time to move up, the ones who never get dropped.

I'd add that I don't like drafting riders who don't keep a smooth cadence on level ground. Even if its a natural place to "coast", the constant starting and stopping of the legs can throw off the folks behind you.

I guess I'm a very poor person to draft behind.
1) I'm not very tall
2) I don't hold a good line
3) I don't ride with a smooth even pace, I waver anywhere between 12 and 21 mph
4) I tend to accelerate too much/ too long when I get to the front.

This is a very insightful thread though. I now know what I should work on.