So I’m on vacation in San Diego riding a well known road for cyclists. I’m cruising along about 3/4 of the way into my ride when I pass some guy. I didn’t say anything to him, but I gave him plenty of room when I passed. About 2 more miles down the road, I realize that this guy is sucking my wheel. I figure, okay, no problem. About 6 more miles I realize he’s still there, so I slow down a couple mph. I’m just trying to figure out what this guy’s plans are. We reach a long climb and it’s easy time for me, so I take it easy up the hill. The guy just stays there. Finally, he passes me because I guess I really am going pretty slow at this point. So, my question is should I have been irritated, should I have said something to him, or should I have dropped back and let him pull me for the rest of my ride? I tell myself that I’m the one getting faster, not him, but I just wanted to ask the guy for a reach around when he passed me up the hill. Any thoughts.
Ignore, you shouldn’t care. Don’t be irritated, take it as a compliment that he finds your wheel worthy.
That bothers some folks, but if they don’t act friendly I just don’t point out road hazards. Or if someone sneaks up on me I may point something out to let them know I know. If they want to ride behind me I really don’t care. No harm no foul.
I wouldn’t care if he was wheel sucking. I would swerve left though, then slow and ride 2 abrest to talk. Much more fun getting to know someone for your 2+6 miles than to just crank, slow down, or wonder why he is there.
I would not have done that, I would have caught you and pulled up alongside to chat - if the other rider was not up to talking (or on a serious training ride), then I would offer to pull, follow or just let him go.
This is pretty annoying, and dangerous, IMO.
When I know there is someone behind I ride differently to how I do when it is just me. Subtle differences, sure, things like keeping a steady pace, signalling my intentions, riding super straight etc.
On my own, it’s just a crap shoot out there. Anything can (and does) happen…
Thanks for the opinions. My concern was that I didn’t know he was there for the first couple of miles and I had been riding around other cyclists and avoiding cars, potholes, etc. I’m in an area with not nearly as many cyclists and I’m usually the one getting passed.
I’m still new to the scene, but if somebody were to be sucking my wheel unannounced that I don’t know, I’d be irritated. The last thing I want is some ghost rider to take me down. If you’re going to get on somebody’s wheel, tell them you are there, and take a pull every now and again. Otherwise, stay well off the back, pass, or ride along side them. Lucky for me I’m in pretty good shape, so if said ghost rider was on my wheel I’d just throttle it when we hit a decent hill, and they are all over the place where I ride. I figure if somebody is good enough to stay with me going uphill they can probably handle their bike just fne.
when I pass some guy. I didn’t say anything to him, but I gave him plenty of room when I passed. About 2 more miles down the road, I realize that this guy is sucking my wheel. I figure, okay, no problem. Any thoughts.
HHHmmmmm, your heading is about cycling etiquette yet you ignored a fellow cyclist ???
See the irony here?
I consider acknowledging other riders a big etiquette point when cycling.
xswimguy,
This question always amazes me.
Would you walk into a stranger’s house unannounced? Wouldn’t common etiquette and courtesy require one to knock/ring the doorbell (say hello and acknowledge that you are there)? Wouldn’t it be polite to ask if it was okay to join them for a few miles? Do you make a practice of joining others on their trips unannounced while trying to be undetected?
I like and also practice rroof’s method of riding with strangers. Its much more fun and interesting to talk and get to know someone a little if they are willing to converse. If they are training and prefer not to be distracted, that’s okay, at least I made the effort to be socialble and take an interest in them.
Another thing that annoys me to no end are the people who just jump into the middle of your group ride. It would seem to me, if they had any manners, they would ask if it was okay to join you and then go to the back of the paceline and work their way up to the front as the paceline revolved all the while saying hi to the people who were rolling off the front.
I wonder if this practice of jumping into the middle of the paceline is driven by the newcomer’s “fear?” that if the paceline gaps during the period they are working their way up to the front, they won’t have the strength to bridge the gap? If that is the case, do they have any business jumping in the middle in the first place?
The other thing that I find paprticularly rude are the people who join your group ride and then just start rotating through the group univited. When I ride up on a group I think I want to ride with, I ask them if it is okay to join their ride for a while. If they say yes, I stay at the back until they invite me to rotate through and take pulls with them. Hey, its their ride in the first place. If for some reason I can’t hang on when and if they kick up the pace, then I cause those behind me to have to bridge a gap I created. This could mean that some of their group might get separated from their group ride and it would be my fault. Now in my book, that would be rude, especially so, if I was univited to participate in their ride.
Now when I am in a group and discover I am riding at my limit and am having trouble hanging on, I let the person behind me know that this is going on. Typically, before a gap opens up, I motion them up as I pull off to the side or up beside the rider ahead of me to join those behind me with the rest of the group. Then I float to the back and try to hang on without breaking up their group. When another rider comes to the back, I open up a gap and wave them in. If they decline, I make sure they know I am in danger of letting go of the group at any moment and that they may have to bridge the gap to stay with their group.
Now I recognize that manners don’t seem to count for anything these days. Manners just seem slow down people who are on the move up. For that matter, who teaches manners anymore? Where does one learn manners today? Seems this is one social grace that has been kicked to the side of the road by far too many people.
I suppose I’m just too self absorbed to deal with the realities of life in today’s world.
Okay, flame me!
I am always rather flattered when someone stays in my wheel (except in races, of course). And while this may make him/her faster, it sure does not slows me… indeed, I tend to feverishly hammer to get him off my wheel, but this is the stupid “cycling ego” thing. The thing is of course to try and look relaxed. I know this is plain stupid but I cannot help but getting in full fledged time trial mode 
…kinda messes up LSD rides ;-).
Of course I would be rather irritated if his/her front wheel ever touched my rear one… Never happened so far.
Somewhere out there a guy is talking to other cycling buddies, or posting on a forum that he rode behind some guy this weekend and the dude never said two words to him, never really acknowledged he was there, tried to blow his doors off, but tired out, started slowing down, and so “I dropped him like a bad habit on a long climb.” He wonders where these sorts of assholes come from.
Its all in the perspective, xswimguy.
I’d say you BOTH missed an opportunity.
I had the same thing two years ago…Pass a guy and say hi. He doesn’t answer and jump in my wheel. I am thinking wow…no hi but you jump in my wheel, forget it…I push the pace and on the first climb, push hard for 200m to drop him, and he drops. Wait at the top, ride easy and tell him that I don’t mind being a taxi but I expect at least a hello back…he says, well, no time and I am just warming up that’s why you dropped me…
Ok whatever. split ways
The very next day, coming back from the pool on a big fat mountain bike with huge tires…up a 2km climb, I see the same dude…too tempting…push a little bit and catch him, pass him and throw a ‘huh, still warming up?’…he passed me on the flat just after, but it was funny, for me anyway
Fact is, that is going to bother most folks. Why? Who knows, maybe it is for a valid reason, maybe not, but it still bothers most folks to be followed.
When you don’t know that person following you, it provokes, in my opinion, the same exact responses that you’d experience walking down a poorly lit street with a stranger following you. It would make you uncomfortable. Heck, even on a bright day - someone follows you around a shopping store - you get agitated, nervous, and cautious. Same thing happens behind the wheel of a car. How many of us like to have someone we don’t know suddenly tailgaiting us?
It is rude to behave like that - and has nothing to do with cycling etiquette, it is simply rude behavior.
Just think of how dramatically different your mindset would have been if he’d simply rode up alongside, introduced himself, and said “mind if I hang on your wheel for a while?”
I’m with frenchi. When I go to pass somebody I try to do it in style and blow their doors off. I always let them know that I am coming, but I like to clear them as fast as possible. once by I hammer to open the gap - you can’t see me breathing hard from 25 yrds back. Other than that I say leave all the drafting for the water.
Last spring I go out for a ride on the local bike path, it’s about 38 degrees with a nice little wind to make it interesting. At some point I pass some dude on a road bike, and didn’t realize he jumped on my wheel. I was in the aerobars the entire time so I really didn’t know he was right behind me. So as it’s cold out I need to clear my nose. I sit up blow a snot rocket and I hear this guy start yelling at me. I was trying very hard not to laugh and said I was sorry but didn’t know he was back there, and that he should have either not been sitting on my wheel or announced himself.
You pass a guy going slower and he drafts you. He wouldn’t announce his tagging along as it’s not normal to announce. Just check after passing next time so you know you have a tag along. He’s on for the free ride and happy to draft. You could ask if he wants to trade taking pulls or if he’s just on for the ride. I know when I used to suck, It was so fun to get passed and try to hang on. I certainly felt too sheepish to announce, Hey I suck and want to follow you.
“I just wanted to ask the guy for a reach around when he passed me up the hill.”
That’s the best line of the day. No free rides…
ECE,
LOL! Classic justice. That may just break his “stealth” habit. But what if it had been some knock-out drop dead gorgeous, stop you dead in your tracks biker chick. Then how would you have felt?
sc3826,
Pardon my ignorance, but what’s a “reach around?” I’m unfamiliar with that term.
Thanks in advance for the education/help.
Like I said it wasn’t intentional but if it happened to be a someone I would have cared to continue some relationship with I would have offered to clean her up a bit.