hangers-on (grrrrrrrrr)

[the_bing]

myself and my biking buddy have recently completed a distance ride for charity. All well and good, we even knocked 20 minutes off our time from last year. On the whole it was a good day, easy ride through nice countryside, all good.

however (and my reason for posting), after about 30-40 miles we picked up a tail.

now, me and my mate ride well together, taking turns at the front, we're both evenly paced and both enthusiastic. really, it's a great partnership.

but on this ride, we ended up with 2 guys on my tail slip-streaming. i know on these rides there's plenty of people so we all get stuck behind someone to begin with but after 30-40 miles everyone was spread out. we swapped positions and they stuck on my mates tail. all in all, they tailed us for a good 6-7 miles.

by which time i was getting the hump. we tried to lose them by overtaking other cyclists to put some people between us but no, they just overtook them and sat back on our tail. we lost them on the hills (we eat hills for breakfast) only for them to rejoin us. i was nearly gonna turn round and give 'em a piece of my mind but after one last push we lost 'em. it was a charity ride, after all, but it is annoying.

now, i'm not the worlds authority on cycling etiquette but this isn't the done thing, is it? even if it's unspoken, the least they could do is pop in front to take some strain for a bit or else back off or overtake and keep going?

 

[ianrauk]

Why didn't you just ask if they minded taking the lead for a bit rather then sitting there stewing about it?

 

[gaz]

If you don't ask, you don't get.

 

[adds21]

Why did you find it annoying?

The reason I ask is that I'm not sure it matters does it? I can see that it might be annoying if they didn't take their turn at the front, but did you ask them to? Maybe they just weren't aware you wanted them to? Maybe they just didn't have the legs to overtake you, and feel confident they wouldn't hold you up.

I rather suspect your fellow had no idea he was causing annoyance, especially if you didn’t take the time to have a chat to him.

 

[Beebo]

It sounds like they were selfish, but maybe they werent as strong as you guys?

It would have been nice if they'd taken their turn to lead, but you would have shared the work with your mate anyway so you lost nothing by giving them a tow.

All they achieved was to make you angry. Next time take the moral high ground, you're doing the work and getting the benefit of the extra effort, they are free loading off you.

Of course, if it was a race then you have a right to be angry.

 

[mickle]

Your anger is misplaced, by tailing you they were reducing the vacuum generated by your passage through the air - reducing the amount of energy required to maintain your speed or making you go faster.

You ungrateful wretch.

 

[monnet]

I completely empathise with the OP. I've had people drafting me when I'm out on my own, with mates etc and whilst I probably shouldn't mind, I do. I think it's much the same as someone squeezing onto the end of the table you've got at a pub. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but it just feels socially intrusive. I acknowledge it's a difficult thing to judge, if I catch someone but can't really go past them I'll try to have a chat with them. If they're forthcoming, I'll ride with them for a bit. If not, I'll just drop off and do my own thing.

I had one guy who seemed to think that sitting behind me and my mate as we were chatting was perfectly fine, yet he didn't want to get involved with working or talking at all. It was awkward as I'd rather not have someone listening into my conversation. In the end we just worked him over, in the name of training - riding in single file I held second spot and slowed down a little while my mate at the front put the power down once a sizeable gap had opened up, I sprinted across it. Once I was back on, I went to the front and opened the gap whil my mate soft tapped and then sprinted across. A couple of miles of that and he dropped off. Not nice but then when I go to the pub I'd find it irritating if someone just came and stood next to me while I was chatting to mates.

 

[endoman]

other side of the coin, I'm doing York 100 in a few weeks, all mates now dropped out, so will be on my own.

Would much prefer to ride chunks of it as part of a group, happy to do my bit and take turns at the front etc. Do I just play it by ear as I ride along? First time I've done any type of event

 

[HLaB]

I must admit that on a few rides I've been on I've been too busy concentrating on what is in front of me to notice folk tailing on , its not till I've started to tire and they've came past and told me to tag on I've noticed. Other times when folk don't have the decency to come through I've upped the pace and dropped them.

 

[2Loose]

I have never really thought about this, sometimes I have slowly caught people up and doubted if I could pass and stay in front, so have stayed behind...out of politeness.

I now realise how rude I must have seemed.

 

[lulubel]

I don't have a problem with people who stay behind, as long as they stay at least 5-10 metres behind. But if they get right on my wheel, it affects the way I ride. As others have pointed out on this forum recently, you have to be careful when someone is drafting you that you don't do anything that could make you slow down quickly enough that they can't avoid hitting you. I can be a bit erratic at times, especially when I'm getting tired, and I don't particularly want to be involved in a crash, so I tend to slow down if someone just turns up and gets on my wheel, wait for them to go past and open a gap, and then carry on as I was.

 

[400bhp]

Get a grip.

Use your mouth to communicate.

 

[NormanD]

Eat large amounts of baked beans mixed with brussel sprouts the night before, you'll be amazed that no one will hang behind you for too long, just pre warn your mate though

I've never had a problem with anyone hanging on behind me, I've done a number of charity events where someone has latched on, I work at my own pace, so whether someone is behind me or in front of me, I'm still going to go at that pace, I'd rather be out front than hanging on to someones wheel

 

[Rob3rt]

Either tell them to **** off or drop them! Simple!

 

[chillyuk]

I sometimes come up behind people but lack the strength to go past. In these circumstances I generally drop back 50 yards as I think it rude to hitch a lift.