Etiquettes of group riding...

[black'n'yellow]

However, as an infrequent guest participant in club rides I am more concerned with dangerous habits such as overlapping wheels in mid-peloton and that was in my mind when I wrote "no halfwheeling". If that is a misnomer please comment.

As Rob3rt says - half wheeling is the act of putting your front wheel slightly ahead of the rider next to you. Overlapping wheels mid-pack is exactly that, and that is something else to be avoided. I've been caught a few times this year 'on the wrong side of someone's wheel' in a race where a break has just gone. It delays your ability to respond, as you will have to drop back to clear the wheel in front before you can safely sprint away.

 

[Rob3rt]

@Rob, thanks for and adding the "it all depends" qualifier (your first para) to my simple bullet points . As for the clarifying comment re halfwheeling: your definition is new to me and strikes me as dealing with group destructive behaviour and applies only to the leading pair in a chaingang/training ride where precision and discipline are perhaps the essence of the activity. Your point obviously has its place on this thread. However, as an infrequent guest participant in club rides I am more concerned with dangerous habits such as overlapping wheels in mid-peloton and that was in my mind when I wrote "no halfwheeling". If that is a misnomer please comment.

That is why I commented, people often assume that the term half-wheeling is referring to overlapping wheel's (which funnily enough is usually called overlapping wheels, heh) and it can lead to a misunderstanding if someone uses the term half wheeling and you think it means one thing while someone else thinks it means otherwise, eg, someone says "stop half wheeling me", you being sat on the front next to them would be utterly confused, thinking how can you be overlapping wheels you are side by side on the front, when what they are actually saying is, stop creeping forward to be slightly ahead of me, tempting me to up my pace.

It's not a big deal, just can lead to confusion.

 

[Globalti]

I don't have much club experience but I've ridden in some massive groups in South Africa and I can tell you that the most important thing in a group or even just a twosome is to hold your line around corners - watch the helicopter footage of a big race and you'll see how riders flow around bends keeping the overall width of the group.

From the little club riding I've done in groups of around 15 - 18 I would say that the back is not a great place to be; you are constantly braking and accelerating and are vulnerable if there's a crash.

My regular buddy is a terrible half wheeler, he is incapabe of holding a consistent cruising speed. I suspect ego has something to do with it.

 

[Ian H]

My regular buddy is a terrible half wheeler, he is incapabe of holding a consistent cruising speed. I suspect ego has something to do with it.

Put a hand on his shoulder, pull him back, and suggest he learns to ride in position.

 

[paulw1969]

That is why I commented, people often assume that the term half-wheeling is referring to overlapping wheel's (which funnily enough is usually called overlapping wheels, heh) and it can lead to a misunderstanding if uses the term half wheeling, if you think it means one thing and someone else thinks it means otherwise, eg, someone says "stop half wheeling me", you being sat on the front next to them would be utterly confused, thinking how can you be overlapping wheels you are side by side on the front, when what they are actually saying is, stop creeping forward to be slightly ahead of me, tempting me to up my pace.

It's not a big deal, just can lead to confusion.

thanks for clearing that up....i had misunderstood and thought halfwheeling was overlapping.....not rode in a club context yet but i will no doubt NOT embarass myself on this point when i do

 

[gbs]

That is why I commented, people often assume that the term half-wheeling is referring to overlapping wheel's (which funnily enough is usually called overlapping wheels, heh) and it can lead to a misunderstanding if someone uses the term half wheeling and you think it means one thing while someone else thinks it means otherwise, eg, someone says "stop half wheeling me", you being sat on the front next to them would be utterly confused, thinking how can you be overlapping wheels you are side by side on the front, when what they are actually saying is, stop creeping forward to be slightly ahead of me, tempting me to up my pace.

It's not a big deal, just can lead to confusion.

Clarity is next to conciseness in my book of virtues. Thanks.

 

[e-rider]

Clarity is next to conciseness in my book of virtues. Thanks.

half-wheeling; always refers to a situation when one guy at the front rides half a wheel further up the road than the guy next to him, tempting the other rider to increase their pace.....................