# I want to be alone (or how to be barred from the fraternity of cyclists)



## yello (16 Jun 2014)

I did a popular local randonée yesterday. There were 5 distances, all 'out and backs', and all shared the same final 20km section. At around 15km from the finish, I approached a bloke moving at a considerably lesser pace them me. As I passed, I said 'hello'*, he nodded back and I trundled on. Then I become that he has taken my rear wheel.

Now, as a rule, I ride alone. I don't take other peoples wheels and I don't like it being done to me. If that makes me a grumpy old sod then I plead guilty. It's not about wheel suckers or not wanting to work with someone (which I do on the odd occasions I might ride a sportive), it's simply that I usually like to ride alone. It can spoil my enjoyment of a ride to have a companion, much less a 'hanger on'.

So I slowed up. He slows... it starts getting tactical like track racing! He eventually passes and carries on, again at his slower pace. I let him go a number of yards before I pass him again. He attaches himself again. I slow up again. He slows. Eventually, the penny drops with him - I don't want to ride with him. 'Ok'* he shouts at me, seemingly quite aggrieved. I carry on and enjoy the rest of my ride - on my own! Guess I'm just not part of the team!

(* this is France, it was actually bonjour and d'accord)


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## Peter Armstrong (16 Jun 2014)

Get out of the saddle and drop him!


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## Cuchilo (16 Jun 2014)

A snot rocket normally does the trick ( if you are vile enough to do one )


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## Joshua Plumtree (16 Jun 2014)

Yep- sprint off up the road before taking the first available left!


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## ianrauk (16 Jun 2014)

Instead of all the games, couldn't you of just said sorry but you like to cycle alone?


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## Archie_tect (16 Jun 2014)

15km isn't that far to put up with it when it happens yello and then when you finish you can enjoy a friendly exchange instead of being embarrassed by the whole thing.


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## Joshua Plumtree (16 Jun 2014)

Or maybe mention all the 'family issues' you're having at the moment. 
How you just had to get out and ride yer bike to relieve the stress, and how great it was to have someone, albeit a complete stranger, to confide in!


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## fossyant (16 Jun 2014)

ianrauk said:


> Instead of all the games, couldn't you of just said sorry but you like to cycle alone?


 
Too obvious.

If someone want's my wheel I don't mind. I'll be careful of snot rockets, and point out potholes. Just ignore them. Ride at your own pace and be done with it. I had a chap that I caught on a long climb that kept coming past me, then slow so I'd drop him, then he would attack me again. I just kept at the same speed, and eventually he blew up and I never saw him again for the next 30 miles (on a sportive).


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

Archie_tect said:


> 15km isn't that far to put up with it when it happens



I thought it was! 

I'm afraid I don't like to make concessions to my enjoyment. I'm selfish, fully admit it and make no excuses. 



Joshua Plumtree said:


> Or maybe mention all the 'family issues' you're having at the moment.



I like that! I'll have to remember it should it happen again  
.


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jun 2014)

You should have stopped for a wee, to see if he followed you behind the bush.


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## Dragonwight (16 Jun 2014)

Been there , i stopped let this guy go for what seemed an age and I still caught up with him, forced to go by him again suddenly he is well fast and all over your back wheel. It does leave you with the desire to punch them.


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## helston90 (16 Jun 2014)

Your initial pass should have been so fast he couldn't have suckered on, failing that as said stop for a w€€


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## Crankarm (16 Jun 2014)

yello said:


> I did a popular local randonée yesterday. There were 5 distances, all 'out and backs', and all shared the same final 20km section. At around 15km from the finish, I approached a bloke moving at a considerably lesser pace them me. As I passed, I said 'hello'*, he nodded back and I trundled on. Then I become that he has taken my rear wheel.
> 
> Now, as a rule, I ride alone. I don't take other peoples wheels and I don't like it being done to me. If that makes me a grumpy old sod then I plead guilty. It's not about wheel suckers or not wanting to work with someone (which I do on the odd occasions I might ride a sportive), it's simply that I usually like to ride alone. It can spoil my enjoyment of a ride to have a companion, much less a 'hanger on'.
> 
> ...




Your mistake was to say Hello. You should have just ridden past him. It was an invitation for him to join you.

Yesterday I had a numptee on 29er hybrid busting a gut to catch me who I saw in my mirrors a long way back. He just drifted by me then eased off about 10m in front of me. Suffice to say I continued at my same cadence and easily caught him as he faded. He was wearing Sports Direct football clothing and trainers on flat pedals and plugged into a phone/i-pod. Anyway not wanting to wheel suck I slowed a bit and moved right so I was out of his air stream and not wheel sucking, expecting him to see me and ride off into the distance having passed me in the first place. Just trying to be courteous to him. But no the nobber just sits in front of me gradually slowing and making me slower and pissing me off. So after about a mile I had had enough of this and went by him. As I did so he tried to jump on my rear wheel, I slowed and he slowed. I rode for a bit at a low cadence of about 80-85 and 15-16mph hoping he'd come by but no he was sucking my rear wheel hoping to get an easy ride behind me and my heavy panniers. I wasn't having this so I rode away from him, him struggling to keep up even though he didn't have any panniers, watching him in my mirrors. Unfortunately we were riding into a strongish headwind. The nobber wasn't quite drafting me but was a little too close for my liking. As we approached Over I slowed about 100m before the end which allowed him to close the gap right up close to my rear wheel. We road across the junction and onto the next section to Oakington and he tried to stay with me again as I rode up to about 28-30mph, but becoming more annoyed with his close proximity behind I slowed to let him pass but he didn't, preferring to suck my wheel instead, so I gestured him to come by and told him if he wanted to ride faster than me I wasn't stopping him, but that he wasn't going to sit on my rear wheel when I was riding with heavy panniers doing all the work into a head wind and he carrying and doing nothing. He told me he was only out for a pleasant bike and I was so rude that he didn't know what I was talking about. I told him I was riding to work and didn't want him sucking my rear wheel and go to fnck off find some one else to annoy and get a free to fromw. Now f**k off! He then continued to try to draft me even after he could clearly see I had rumbled him and pretty annoyed to he was still trying to do it. Seeking confrontation ……. So again I slowed, again and he did so I told him to get lost in no uncertain terms. F****g nobber. Then I almost came to a stop letting him ride on a head letting him get about 100m ahead before I turned on the gas again. Though it was clear I was slowly catching him riding at my usual pace. Anyway just before we came to the Oakington junction he pulled to the side got off his bike and started fiddling with something or himself and I passed by, I not saying anything and he shouted something which I didn't quite get or nor care. I hoped this wasn't a pretext to trying to get behind me and suck my wheel again as I would have seriously lumped him one. I rode on to Cambridge, I couldn't see him in my mirrors. I hate riding at weekends on the GBW so many weekend nobber cyclists.


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## MikeG (16 Jun 2014)

Crankarm said:


> ........ I hate riding at weekends on the GBW.........



GBW?


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## Crankarm (16 Jun 2014)

Correct


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## KneesUp (16 Jun 2014)

Crankarm said:


> Your mistake was to say Hello. You should have just ridden past him. It was an invitation for him to join you.
> 
> Yesterday I had a numptee on 29er hybrid busting a gut to catch me who I saw in my mirrors a long way back. He just drifted by me then eased off about 10m in front of me. Suffice to say I continued at my same cadence and easily caught him as he faded..



According to dictionary.com, 'suffice it to say' means "it is enough to say this and no more" - if only you had


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jun 2014)

I don't have any stories like this.  I must be doing something wrong, or wearing the wrong clothes or something.

Although .... come to think of it ... some woman kept riding up behind me shouting "all up!" the other night.


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## Crankarm (16 Jun 2014)

The forum mafia is out trolling ……….


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## Poacher (16 Jun 2014)

Dogtrousers said:


> You should have stopped for a wee, to see if he followed you *behind the bush*.



Eh? This was in France - they p!ss in the street!


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## jefmcg (16 Jun 2014)

wait, wait, wait ... @yello, you did a group ride and are now complaining you weren't riding alone???? Can I suggest if you want to ride on your own, you should go for a ride - on your own?


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

jefmcg said:


> wait, wait, wait ... @yello, you did a group ride and are now complaining you weren't riding alone???? Can I suggest if you want to ride on your own, you should go for a ride on your own?



...and vegetarians shouldn't wear leather shoes. I was expecting someone to make that comment and you win first prize. You ought be proud 

No, obviously it's a consideration isn't it? That is, if I really want to avoid all human contact then I might just become a jungle living recluse or something. But, no, there's no contradiction in wanting to ride an organised event but wanting to ride by myself. Many people do it. In fact, I was passed by some.

You see, you've twisted meanings to make it sound like you've said something quite profound, something that's escaped everyone's attention, but you present a false picture in doing that. A desire to ride by myself doesn't equate to me wanting nobody else on the road. But I think you knew that. 

Edit: indeed User30090, point well made.


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## Basil.B (16 Jun 2014)

Start to fart loudly!


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## HLaB (16 Jun 2014)

Not quite alone but you could do what my brother done on Saturday, to get rid of somebody who was dafting us and doing no work. He let me go off the front a bit and used me as a spring board to drop the unwanted drafter


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## jefmcg (16 Jun 2014)

Audaxing in my experience is a strange mixture of solo and group riding. You ride along with someone for a while, then you ride alone for a long long time on your own, then you ride with someone else. 

If you really object to sticking with someone for 1/2 hour and you are both doing an audax, then you must use your words. There is an unstated companionship on these rides, and if you want something else, you must state it.


yello said:


> ...and vegetarians shouldn't wear leather shoes. I was expecting someone to make that comment and you win first prize. You ought be proud .


Ah, so when I thought you were trolling, I was right?

(I had to separate from someone I'd spent a day riding with on LEL. It was actually quite horrible to do, afterwards I felt like Joe Simpon's mate. Neither of us finished ,so that makes it even worse. But I can't see the problem of blowing off a complete stranger, or putting up with someone for 15km. )


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

jefmcg said:


> Ah, so when I thought you were trolling, I was right?



No but you are again demonstrating the point I was making; a willingness to twist words to fabricate criticism.

Re audaxes, I don't think I see your point. Is it that you must state your riding preference, solo or in group, to others?? I have ridden many so I am aware of what happens. I've ridden them with others (either in full or in part) and I've ridden them solo. At no time has anyone ever stated anything, it all has happened naturally. You realise pretty quickly if someone doesn't want to talk!


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## Cubist (16 Jun 2014)

Why not get a jersey printed with the words "I don't want company" written on it?


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## JoeyB (16 Jun 2014)

I'm confused by all of this. You like to ride alone, yet you attended a popular local ride knowing that the odds of finding yourself in company would be greatly increased...what else were you expecting?


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## jefmcg (16 Jun 2014)

Cubist said:


> Why not get a jersey printed with the words "I don't want company" written on it?


Just don't use google translate to put that into french, you would seem like a slightly eccentric anti-capitalism protester _"Je ne veux pas l'entreprise"_


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

JoeyB said:


> I'm confused by all of this. You like to ride alone, yet you attended a popular local ride knowing that the odds of finding yourself in company would be greatly increased...what else were you expecting?



Don't be confused JoeyB, just read the reply I gave earlier.


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## jefmcg (16 Jun 2014)

yello said:


> No but you are again demonstrating the point I was making; a willingness to twist words to fabricate criticism.
> 
> Re audaxes, I don't think I see your point. Is it that you must state your riding preference, solo or in group, to others?? I have ridden many so I am aware of what happens. I've ridden them with others (either in full or in part) and I've ridden them solo. At no time has anyone ever stated anything, it all has happened naturally. You realise pretty quickly if someone doesn't want to talk!


My experience is when i catch up with (or more likely) am passed by another audax rider, we tend to engage in conversation and stick together until one of us needs to move away. This is unstated, cause it seems to be what everyone does. My feeling is that is you don't want to do that, you have to say.

Anyway, I am still (genuinely) mystified why you rode that route that day. What is the appeal of a popular ride, if you like to ride alone? Why not ride the same route a different day?


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

jefmcg said:


> Just don't use google translate to put that into french, you would seem like a slightly eccentric anti-capitalism protester _"Je ne veux pas l'entreprise"_




 I think I prefer the Google version !


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## yello (16 Jun 2014)

jefmcg said:


> Anyway, I am still (genuinely) mystified why you rode that route that day.



And I've answered that as best I could. As I said, it's not black and white as you seem to be seeing it.


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## swansonj (16 Jun 2014)

How much, if at all, does a rider slipstreaming you and thereby getting a considerably easier ride, slow you down? I've heard it said that with cars, two cars, closely drafting, more closely than would be safe on roads, actually have lower wind resistance than either one on their own.


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## threebikesmcginty (16 Jun 2014)

When you passed him the second time couldn't you have pushed him into the ditch?


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## User6179 (16 Jun 2014)

Try eating beans or a Vindaloo the night before a ride then you will not be long getting rid of any followers next day.
Nobody drafts me on a Sunday after my Saturday nite curry


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## wiggydiggy (16 Jun 2014)

jefmcg said:


> Audaxing in my experience is a strange mixture of solo and group riding. You ride along with someone for a while, then you ride alone for a long long time on your own, then you ride with someone else.
> 
> If you really object to sticking with someone for 1/2 hour and you are both doing an audax, then you must use your words. There is an unstated companionship on these rides, and if you want something else, you must state it.
> 
> ...



I can!


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## Dogtrousers (16 Jun 2014)

swansonj said:


> How much, if at all, does a rider slipstreaming you and thereby getting a considerably easier ride, slow you down? I've heard it said that with cars, two cars, closely drafting, more closely than would be safe on roads, actually have lower wind resistance than either one on their own.


 According to a piece by Chris Boardman on telly last year this is true for cyclists. The rider behind affects the air flow in some way to make it easier for the leading rider by some infinitesimal amount. They are effectively pushing. A teeny bit.


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## NorvernRob (16 Jun 2014)

yello said:


> I did a popular local randonée yesterday. There were 5 distances, all 'out and backs', and all shared the same final 20km section. At around 15km from the finish, I approached a bloke moving at a considerably lesser pace them me. As I passed, I said 'hello'*, he nodded back and I trundled on. Then I become that he has taken my rear wheel.
> 
> Now, as a rule, I ride alone. I don't take other peoples wheels and I don't like it being done to me. If that makes me a grumpy old sod then I plead guilty. It's not about wheel suckers or not wanting to work with someone (which I do on the odd occasions I might ride a sportive), it's simply that I usually like to ride alone. It can spoil my enjoyment of a ride to have a companion, much less a 'hanger on'.
> 
> ...



We did a sportive a few weeks ago, and around the 75/80 mile mark passed another rider. I realised just after that he'd latched onto my back wheel and we towed him along for over 10 miles without him saying a word, I was getting mightily annoyed then he shouted 'thanks for the tow lads, I was struggling' and proceeded to take a turn on the the front - but he was hitting 22-23mph and seemingly trying to drop us!

My mate turned to me and said 'no chance' so I groaned, put my head down and followed. We got to the last hill 3 miles from the end and the guys legs went again and we dropped him


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## Shut Up Legs (17 Jun 2014)

Dogtrousers said:


> According to a piece by Chris Boardman on telly last year this is true for cyclists. The rider behind affects the air flow in some way to make it easier for the leading rider by some infinitesimal amount. They are effectively pushing. A teeny bit.


Plus there's the "peer pressure" effect. Although I try not to let someone cycling behind me affect my performance, I find it hard to resist pedaling a bit harder when I'm being followed. It's not always an easy thing to resist.


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## MikeG (17 Jun 2014)

NorvernRob said:


> We did a sportive a few weeks ago, and around the 75/80 mile mark passed another rider. I realised just after that he'd latched onto my back wheel and we towed him along for over 10 miles without him saying a word, I was getting mightily annoyed then he shouted 'thanks for the tow lads, I was struggling' and proceeded to take a turn on the the front - but he was hitting 22-23mph and seemingly trying to drop us!
> 
> My mate turned to me and said 'no chance' so I groaned, put my head down and followed. We got to the last hill 3 miles from the end and the guys legs went again and we dropped him


That sounds a classic how-not-to-ride story. The guy you towed was riding in bursts..........fast/ slow/ fast/ slow...... I watched a really interesting interview with Andy Wilkinson, who was a 47 year old amateur when he broke his own world record for 24 hours (541 miles!!!!!!), and he was saying that the secret was to put in exactly even effort all the time. The same effort up hills as down. Let the bike speed vary, considerably, but the riding effort should be exactly the same, constant, all the time. No coasting, no big effort to get up a hill.


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## yello (17 Jun 2014)

MikeG said:


> the secret was to put in exactly even effort all the time. The same effort up hills as down. Let the bike speed vary, considerably, but the riding effort should be exactly the same, constant, all the time. No coasting, no big effort to get up a hill.



I could buy into that.

I suspect we've all had that feeling of ease when we've been chugging away at a constant effort. For me, that's invariably on the flat but I have experienced it when settling into a steady climb too. Now if I could only combine the two!


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## MarkF (17 Jun 2014)

I agree with the OP and far prefer to ride alone too. Maybe once a month a pal would ride to Skipton & back with me, via Ilkley on the return, maybe 45 miles. He'd sit on my wheel all the way to Skipton, usually into a headwind, then he'd sit on my wheel all the way back to Ilkley, close to home, where he'd pass me and climb like he was king of the mountains.


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## Joshua Plumtree (17 Jun 2014)

MikeG said:


> That sounds a classic how-not-to-ride story. The guy you towed was riding in bursts..........fast/ slow/ fast/ slow...... I watched a really interesting interview with Andy Wilkinson, who was a 47 year old amateur when he broke his own world record for 24 hours (541 miles!!!!!!), and he was saying that the secret was to put in exactly even effort all the time. The same effort up hills as down. Let the bike speed vary, considerably, but the riding effort should be exactly the same, constant, all the time. No coasting, no big effort to get up a hill.



That's where a power meter would prove very useful (although I can't afford one at present!)


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## yello (17 Jun 2014)

Would you be able to measure effort with an HRM?


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## Joshua Plumtree (17 Jun 2014)

yello said:


> Would you be able to measure effort with an HRM?



Yes, but not as accurately, I suspect.


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## DWiggy (17 Jun 2014)

I caught a fella up the other day and passed him gave him a hello and carried on in a world of my own, about 5mins later I took a quick glance behind me only to find the guy right on top on my wheel it crapped the life out of me!


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## Profpointy (17 Jun 2014)

DWiggy said:


> I caught a fella up the other day and passed him gave him a hello and carried on in a world of my own, about 5mins later I took a quick glance behind me only to find the guy right on top on my wheel it crapped the life out of me!



If someone passes me, then for the same amount of effort I can quite likely go slightly faster than I was if I slipstream. I don't really see why the passee should be obliged to deliberately slow down and not slipstream


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## DWiggy (17 Jun 2014)

Profpointy said:


> If someone passes me, then for the same amount of effort I can quite likely go slightly faster than I was if I slipstream. I don't really see why the passee should be obliged to deliberately slow down and not slipstream


I don't have a problem with people tagging along at all, it just startled me as I was expecting to see road but instead there was a fella 30mm off my rear....I wobbled a bit lol


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## Profpointy (17 Jun 2014)

DWiggy said:


> I don't have a problem with people tagging along at all, it just startled me as I was expecting to see road but instead there was a fella 30mm off my rear....I wobbled a bit lol



Was more a dig at the grumpy lot above, rather than yourself by the way


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## yello (17 Jun 2014)

Profpointy said:


> I don't really see why the passee should be obliged to deliberately slow down and not slipstream



How would you feel if the passee deliberately speeds up to take your wheel?

The guy I passed was trundling along at his own much lesser pace. Maybe he was struggling, I don't know. He wasn't at death's door, that much I do know. He just wanted a ride home, fair enough. No probs there either. The poor bloke just chose the wrong grumpy sod to hitch on to. Others wouldn't have minded. He would have hitched as far his legs could have managed, I doubt he could have 'taken a turn'.

Not that that any of that was my issue at all. As I said in the OP, it's not about the wheel sucking. It's simply my preference to do my own thing. If that's not what cyclists are supposed to do then I'm not a cyclist - hence my thread title; I'm barred from the fraternity!


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## Profpointy (17 Jun 2014)

yello said:


> How would you feel if the passee deliberately speeds up to take your wheel?
> 
> The guy I passed was trundling along at his own much lesser pace. Maybe he was struggling, I don't know. He wasn't at death's door, that much I do know. He just wanted a ride home, fair enough. No probs there either. The poor bloke just chose the wrong grumpy sod to hitch on to. Others wouldn't have minded. He would have hitched as far his legs could have managed, I doubt he could have 'taken a turn'.
> 
> Not that that any of that was my issue at all. As I said in the OP, it's not about the wheel sucking. It's simply my preference to do my own thing. If that's not what cyclists are supposed to do then I'm not a cyclist - hence my thread title; I'm barred from the fraternity!



Yebbut, although the passee speeds up, they could well be using the same effort if slipstreaming - that's the whole point after all


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## yello (17 Jun 2014)

Profpointy said:


> Yebbut, although the passee speeds up, they could well be using the same effort if slipstreaming - that's the whole point after all



I realise that. Wasn't my question though


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## NorvernRob (17 Jun 2014)

MikeG said:


> That sounds a classic how-not-to-ride story. The guy you towed was riding in bursts..........fast/ slow/ fast/ slow...... I watched a really interesting interview with Andy Wilkinson, who was a 47 year old amateur when he broke his own world record for 24 hours (541 miles!!!!!!), and he was saying that the secret was to put in exactly even effort all the time. The same effort up hills as down. Let the bike speed vary, considerably, but the riding effort should be exactly the same, constant, all the time. No coasting, no big effort to get up a hill.



I reckon that's why I didn't find the 100 miles massively difficult. There were a lot of false flats where you'd be at 14-15mph if slightly up and 21-22mph if slightly down, but we tried to put in a sustainable even power for the whole ride. On the 20 mile dead flat fen section I don't think our speed altered by more than 1mph, staying between 17.5-18.5. We only hammered it towards the end as we knew we'd cracked it by then.


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## HLaB (19 Jun 2014)

Just had a thought you could only go out in the wet without mud guards, that might get the message across ;-)


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## sheffgirl (19 Jun 2014)

I don't like people riding behind me because I can't tell when they're going to overtake. And most people do overtake me, I'm not that fast haha.
Although I did overtake a cyclist with panniers on going up a hill recently, only to be overtaken by him later downhill. He said 'sorry but I'm faster down hills' as he passed. That made me laugh, I'm terrible at hills, but obviously not the worst person


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## Rouge79 (23 Jun 2014)

ianrauk said:


> Instead of all the games, couldn't you of just said sorry but you like to cycle alone?



or fart like a trouper


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## Mugshot (23 Jun 2014)

MarkF said:


> I agree th the OP and far prefer to ride alone too. Maybe once a month a pal would ride to Skipton & back with me, via Ilkley on the return, maybe 45 miles. He'd sit on my wheel all the way to Skipton, usually into a headwind, then he'd sit on my wheel all the way back to Ilkley, close to home, where he'd pass me and climb like he was king of the mountains.


My regular ride partner does that, never ever takes the lead then nips through to take the segment or whatever , i dont really mind he knows as well as I do that Im a bit quicker so I usually pop back at a later date on my own just to prove it


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