Flipping Wheelsuckers...

[Twizit]

Yes I know at 90kg and being "reasonably" quick on a bike I make rather a good moving windbreak...

... but travelling 2 inches off my backwheel not paying attention to the fact that we're approaching a zebra crossing along CS8 is only going to end in tears, and despite the aforementioned 90kg bulk my disc brakes will haul me to a stop in good measure, even when it's damp.

... your initial shout of "oh S*** wet brakes not working" wasn't the most helpful as you ran into the back of me and several others ...

... equally your next immediate quip of "I was reading earlier how most cycle accidents are caused by other cyclists" didn't do much to enamor yourself to me ...

... and when I was examining my rear wheel for damage, you pointing out that you thought you'd hit me more around the saddlebag area didn't help either, given the throbbing pain I could already feel in my left butt cheek from the impact of your handlebars

Sigh . Thankfully no lasting damage done, but it's done nothing to stop my chuntering at anyone cycling vaguely near my back wheel. Would be nice if people realised that the London commute isn't a chain gang, and doing a bit of effort into a headwind now and then might improve their own fitness . I live in hope...


... grumpy middleage bloke available for lead out duties East-West along CS8 most evenings....

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Snot rocket

 

[Oldfentiger]

That's the most accomplished chunter I've read for ages, and it made me laugh

 

[ianrauk]

Top rant... and rightly so!

 

[snorri]

Good rant, and justified!
Perhaps a sign like this on your saddle bag would stir the grey matter of wheelsuckers?

 

[Twizit]

Top rant... and rightly so!

I do my best.... rants best served cold the next morning

 

[e-rider]

anyone who I don't know or is not part of the group I'm cycling with is not welcome to suck my wheel - it is actually unbelievable when people do this and I tell them to piss off. If you spotted a jogger running down the street you wouldn't tuck in right behind them like Mo Farah would you! It's an invasion of personal space.

 

[mjr]

... but travelling 2 inches off my backwheel not paying attention to the fact that we're approaching a zebra crossing along CS8 is only going to end in tears, and despite the aforementioned 90kg bulk my disc brakes will haul me to a stop in good measure, even when it's damp.

The other rider was in the wrong, but if you knew he/she was dangerously close, you should have dealt with him like one does with tailgating motorists. Whoop-de-doo you've got disc brakes and can outbrake them but you know the nobber behind hadn't noticed that or realised the implications, else they wouldn't have been so close.

But in general, all my sympathies - it bugs me a bit when someone with a lightweight with short-pad caliper brakes is wheelsucking my hub+long-V Dutchie but I do wonder if I'll even feel it as their wheel buckles into my considerable steel mudguard stays and passenger-ready thick rear rack.

 

[jonny jeez]

I like being drafted.

Its a good thing.

J

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I am a wheelsucker and I am proud of it. However, you need some skills (and telepathy) to keep it safe.

 

[jefmcg]

I was hoping "flipping" was literal

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

[Racing roadkill]

I never wheel suck someone I don't know, it's fine on an organised / club ride, when everyone is in agreement. But wheel sucking randomly, especially on a commute routeit's only going to end badly.

 

[Sittingduck]

Bad form on commutes. Unless the other rider looks 'the type' and you share the work but that's pretty rare... too many other things to worry about than some other numpty.

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I am a wheelsucker and I am proud of it. However, you need some skills (and telepathy) to keep it safe.

OK, I lied. I did Wheelsuck during the 2014 Dragon Ride, it was a about 60% round and I was tiring. I took a tow for a mile or so until the rider got annoyed with me and pulled over. I usually either hang back or overtake (and get overtaken further along). I don't really like wheel suckers either.

 

[Twizit]

The other rider was in the wrong, but if you knew he/she was dangerously close, you should have dealt with him like one does with tailgating motorists. Whoop-de-doo you've got disc brakes and can outbrake them but you know the nobber behind hadn't noticed that or realised the implications, else they wouldn't have been so close.

Ok, there might have been a little poetic license in the "2 inches" comment, but I'm not trying to show off about disc brakes - more the point that you'd hope someone sat close behind would have a bit more common sense.

I could tell every sod that sits on my wheel along the embankment to bugger off, but I'd never make it along there - it happens without fail every single journey, hence my rather resigned conclusion to the whole thing - I just felt like a bit of a rant this time around