simonaway427

I had a race yesterday where our category consisted of about 12 racers.

Myself and another were notably stronger than the rest. During the first 1/3rd of the race, the pack stayed together and it became very apparent that there was an individual who refused to pull his weight with leading the pack. As soon as he ended up at the front of the pace line, he'd pull off after only 3 or 4 half-a$$ed pedal strokes. Everyone was noticing this and there was a lot of head shaking in the group.

About half way thru, myself and the other stronger guy attacked off the front and we dropped the rest of the group. Of course, Mr. Wheelsucker tagged along. He was behind me in a pace line sequence. Every time I pulled off the front, he'd stay on my wheel, despite me sitting up, grabbing a bottle. And the odd time he would choose to pull, a quick 5 sec half-a$$ed pace is all he had to offer.

We tried to drop him on a few occasions, but just couldn't pull it off.

We ended up sprinting for the finish where I took the victory....but it was obvious this guy was just riding the draft to save himself for a possible sprint.

How do you deal with a guy like this? It was soooo frustrating.

mkadam68

You already did a couple things. He was playing off the fact that you wouldn't let the other guy go up the road alone. To lose him, you have to be willing to let somebody else win. This is where teammates come in real handy.

Here's some suggestions:

• When alone with you & the other guy, trade attacks. Make him cover them.
• Gap him off the back of the line (he was following your wheel?). Slow down, make him come around.
• Give up on any breakaway with him in it. Sit up, let the pack get back to you.

kindablue

Frame pump

echappist

Do time trials and triathlons only. Problem solved

rbart4506

Just not Olympic Distance tri's...You can draft in those

ijsbrand

You are too nice, if you have to ask.

shovelhd

Gap him off or shake him off.

waterrockets 

Yep and yep.

One caveat: I've been burned because I took care of the sprinter instead of making the known strong guy in the group do it (state TT champ, in my case). I did the work gapping the guy off, but ended up w/out the energy to hang with the break for much longer after I bridged back up to it. I should have just backed off a bit and let the TT guy take care of it.

Andy STi

Sometimes you just have to accept it. Race yesterday had a guy solo then I was in a break of 4. One guy was a teammate of the solo break. He just sat in the back and surfed wheels while the 3 of us got the gap and kept going. He stayed out of the way and we couldn't blame him for what he was doing. He did it the "right" way. Luckily he wasn't able to come around me at the end.

gsteinb

in my case, yesterday, you let him box you in and cost you the race while he and another guy beat you.

shovelhd

Sucks to be marked, eh?

gsteinb

it's fun crossing the line and being asked 1/2 dozen times "how'd you lose that?"

Racer Ex 

Most guys seem to think yelling at people and calling them names is the answer.

I've yet to see this work.

kensuf

Random thoughts..

Attack to see if you can shake him.

While the wheel sucker is in your draft you can let a gap open up between you and the other guy(s) that are working. He then has to work to close the gap, grab his wheel and if he starts to blow jump and finish the bridge back up yourself. If he manages to bridge back up, do it again.

If you can't get rid of him, and you're not happy with the combination of people in the mix, you can let the break get caught and reshuffle to see what happens.

carpediemracing 

Drafting is part of mass start racing. If it weren't for drafting I wouldn't be an effective bike racer.

If you still won the race then the wheel sucker was just doing the best he could under the circumstances. The fact that he didn't win means that he was absolutely and completely redlined, or he had no sprint either, or both. Or he knew he didn't pull so didn't "sprint" (even if he looked like he was sprinting) because he knew it wouldn't be good form. I did the latter when I was in a race long break at the state crit championships, I think in 2004 or so. Big group, maybe 15 riders, and I bridged up with 2 other guys, we were the last three to get on the train. I couldn't pull for a while, guys yelled at me to pull, I tried to pull, didn't pull fast enough (I was going 22 mph), guys yelled at me. In the sprint I decided not to jump until most of the group was already in front of me. I think I was 15th when I jumped about 100m from the line, I got 8th, and 1st was probably 50 feet in front of me. I did the best sprint I could but I intentionally didn't follow any moves in the last lap, didn't surf the front, stayed at the back, and sprinted only when the others were all done launching their sprints. (I got 3rd in the state, basically by accident).

If I was more fit than I am now then that wheel sucker you described would be me. As it is I can't even hold on, even if I don't pull. Not everyone is racing with the same strength you have. For me a 450 watt minute will end my race (and it did yesterday). I have a hard time sustaining 250 watts for any length of time. That translates to 25 mph in a tailwind and about 20 mph into a headwind, gradually decreasing as the race went on.

I can't average above about 202 watts for a race, and most races, including those where I win, I'm averaging 160-170 watts. The races where I do 190-202 watts I can't sprint because I'm absolutely cooked with half a lap to go.

Here, try this to get a feel for what's going on:

1. Go to a crit (with a hill up to 200m long), reset your power meter at the start, and keep an eye on your average.
2. There's only one rule: If your average wattage goes over 202 then you have to sit up and drop out.
3. You are not allowed to sprint unless you keep your average below 180 watts until the end.
4. You are not allowed to do a good sprint unless you hit the bell averaging 160-170 watts, otherwise you have to sprint staying seated or some other such nonsense (i.e. no high peak power numbers).

With those rules in mind, try to pull. See what happens to your average wattage.

It's really easy to push your average wattage up. It's really hard to keep it down. I carefully sat in the whole M45 race but still had to sit up with one turn to go because I was cramping.

If you can't race following those three rules above then you're not racing as effectively as you might be able to race.

An early power meter adapter (probably Greg Lemond since he'd have been protected, but the pro remained unnamed) averaged 100w for a transition Tour de France stage. Granted it was back in the days where they went easier on the transition stages, but there's still a lot of fast riding at the end of the stage. 100w! Imagine that? I average more than that on almost all my rides (not all of them, most of them). Try doing a group ride, "easy pace" and average just 100w. Oh and do it with no aero wheels etc.

ericm979

When guys yell at me it just makes me more determined to do whatever I'm doing that they don't like.

You need more than one guy in the group who is willing to work to get rid of the passenger. If it's just you and him, you're both doing the same efforts. I've done that and then dropped myself from the group. But if a couple guys keep gapping him off the group the effort is spread out. So instead of yelling at the passenger, talk to your breakmates.

MDcatV

you won the race, you must have done it right.

nothing wrong with what the guy you describe as the wheelsucker did. if he didnt win, he must have been pulling his weight. had he won, i'd say he was the smarter racer.

i've gotten myself dropped from breakaways or not had anything left for the finish because i pulled through or did my work when i shouldnt have because it's the "right thing to do". after, people would say good try man, but honestly, it was just stupid racing on my part.

mollusk

Should have kept trying until you succeeded if you really wanted to get rid of him.

botto 

corrected.

rkwaki

My wife went up to a team manager one time and said good job, he asked for what, she said for keeping rkwaki boxed in the entire race. We have a picture and I think there were 4 guys around me...

rkwaki

Correct grammatical use...

gsteinb

kinda confusing

Brian Ratliff

That's racing; it's called tactics. You'll find yourself using those same tactics one day once you get into a field where you are overmatched. Others in that race were undoubtedly btching about how much stronger you and the other guy were and why you hadn't upgraded yet.

To counter that particular tactic, you either find a way to drop him, or you refuse to work for him.

bostongarden

May I quote you in my next book "Winning Leadership"?

AzTallRider

In my limited breakaway experience, pulling when you really can't is a great way to lose a race. Ideally, everyone does the most work they can do without blowing up, which is seldom 'equal work'. Equal work is not what maximizes the chances of the breakaway. I've been lectured in team practices for pulling through and blowing up, when I should have skipped the pull, and also for pulling on a break in a practice race and falling off. If I had gone the wheelsucker route I would have gotten my team a podium spot, and also kept them from having to work, thus protecting our sprinter for the pack finish. For me, it is really hard to not 'do my share', even when I know it will be too much. It isn't the most fun way to race, but it's sometimes the most prudent.