Drafting Fairies

always_tyred

And there is hardly any wind in London.

Londoners have been known to confuse the draft from a bus coming the opposite direction for a headwind. The North Sea wind, however, now THAT makes you tough, not the asthmatic wheeze from a travel hairdrier that passes as wind in London. I'm talking about the pan-directional heat sink that is the true North Sea wind, fresh from the Greenland ice sheet.

Call that a river? You want to try cycling up over a bridge that crosses a Firth, not a couple of steps across a canal. (In a pan-directional North Sea wind, obviously)

Yorkshire? That's more than half way to London. Therefore, its in the South.

(registers as another user to return to forum)

jezcc

I live in highgate, the highest part of London. It's not much. But there is an 80m change of elevation on my 3 mile commute, most of which is in the last mile.

Putney is nothing.

Try cycling up Swains lane to Highgate village.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/gb/camde ... 8587415649
my route

sc999cs

Why so much abuse to fairies? First puncture fairies and now drafting fairies! I thought that these creatures, if they existed (which they don't), were friendly and nice. Why not choose some horrid mythological creature like goblin?

Also

And there is hardly any wind in London.

I thought there was more hot air in London, especially around Whitehall, than the rest of the Country combined.

Bassjunkieuk

This is somewhat typical and I think I'm gonna hold Litt responsible for this.
After my first post stating that I "hardly ever get anyone draft me as there aren't that many cyclist on the early part of my route" what happens on my way home this evening, less then 2 1/2 miles from home?????

After taking another route home, the one I usually use to get to work due to the nice DOWN-hill run I get on this road (Knights Hill for anyone familiar with Norwood - 38mph the other day!) I decided it would be fun to see what riding up it is like!

As I was heading around the 1 way system to join it I saw a cyclist a way back and remember thinking "I hope he doesn't catch me on the hill as I don't really want to race UP it"
Got up the hill in one piece and feeling quite good with myself I pulled up at the lights. No sight of the other guy! Lights go green and I carry on up Beulah Hill filtering up the left of the traffic, picking up a nice bit of speed and hitting about 21mph in a comfortable gear when up ahead I see a bus pulled in and a couple of cars waiting to get round. I go to pull round and do a quick shoulder check only to find some guy right on my wheel!!!! Not sure if it was the same guy from earlier but as I was in the lead and got a shock seeing him there I upped the pace a bit and managed to get in front of the bus as it pulled off, leaving him behind!

He was behind the bus until it got to the next stop 1/2 a mile or so up the road and then he was back with me as we turned into the final descent of my commute (the reward for climbing the other roads!) Knowing I probably had better legs then him, and that I have less then a mile left to home I pop it onto the big ring up front and start working towards the tiny one's at the back :twisted:

The gap opens as he can't seem to respond to my gravity assisted acceleration, the top 50 yards being the steepest part of the road, his fate was sealed after I managed to catch and overtake the car at the back of the pack ahead of us, tucking in front of the driver to avoid the car coming the other way (I think the driver tooted me to, don't think they liked being overtaken by a bike!!) Kept the pace up down the road and didn't see him again until I turned off.

Anyhow now I've got that out of the way I've got a suggestion for your next poll Litt:

"What bike would I get if I won the lottery?"

UnworthyPapaLazaru

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

"What bike would I get if I won the lottery?"

Oh thats a good one...! Im away to trawl the net. I do recall an article on the front of this very website about a £10,000 road bike...

biondino

Cori, do you prefer to ride with a helmet or bar t'helmet?

Coriander

biondino wrote:

Cori, do you prefer to ride with a helmet or bar t'helmet?

NorwegianBlue

Drafting (draughting?) isn't just about the wind resistance, it's also a psychological thing. It matters not whether your speed is only 15mph or even less, when you are pushing as hard as you can and you're sure you're on your limit you will find that if you're passed by a slightly faster rider you will be able to pick up a little more speed to stay on his/her wheel if only for a short while.

Anyway in order for it to work by physics or psychology you need to be closer than is safe. If the draftee has to brake hard then there's a very good chance the drafter will hit them. Or better yet...

A few years back (OK a couple of decades) I had a drafter I wasn't even aware of. Anyway I suddenly spotted a nasty pot hole right under my nose and veered right to miss it. I became aware of my invisible passenger when I heard him hit the pothole. The karma police must have been on patrol that day. These days it could well have been a "traffic calming measure" he'd hit.

cjcp

Always Tyred wrote:

And there is hardly any wind in London.

Londoners have been known to confuse the draft from a bus coming the opposite direction for a headwind. The North Sea wind, however, now THAT makes you tough, not the asthmatic wheeze from a travel hairdrier that passes as wind in London. I'm talking about the pan-directional heat sink that is the true North Sea wind, fresh from the Greenland ice sheet.

Call that a river? You want to try cycling up over a bridge that crosses a Firth, not a couple of steps across a canal. (In a pan-directional North Sea wind, obviously)

Yorkshire? That's more than half way to London. Therefore, its in the South.

(registers as another user to return to forum)

<having gone outside to scream obscenities and kick lumps out of the kids' wendy house>

Now, I really must object!

Many of us on Embankment and those much, much further north (sort of Oxford Street way) are battered by gale force winds every day on the commute home. Ok, sure, the wind doesn't carry lumps of coal or haggis which you no doubt face morning, noon and night, but it's a fierce wind all the same.

the_tub

For me drafting is a necessity of the road i ride on - i would LOVE to drop some of the puffing slow coaches ahead, however the decision by aggrevated drivers to double up on a single lane road means that even with a cycle lane i barely have room to avoid the winf mirrors, let alone get up alongside another cyclist!

DonDaddyD

I have a few issues:

What if the girl in front is astonishingly stunning, all 'lycra'd up' and sweaty...... Why on Earth, if she can maintain 15mph and above, would I want to overtake her or drop way back? Especially if she's on a Bianchi....

The wind is horrendous, I'm tired on the way back from work and there is a person in front. If I'm not right up against there wheel , my road position is slightly offset from theirs so I can stop without crashing into them and I'm not intimidating but close enough not to be overly affected by the wind, why shouldn't I take shelter behind them?

I've been drafted, my reaction depends on who is drafting me and if it appears that they know what they are doing. If they do they normally make eye contact or actually speak to me. If they don't they tend to ignore me. If its the latter then I tend to slow to an impossibly low speed so that the draftee has no choice but to overtake then I draft them....

Drafting its a skill! So don't hate the player hate the game!

dafruk

DonDaddyD wrote:

What if the girl in front is astonishingly stunning, all 'lycra'd up' and sweaty...... Why on Earth, if she can maintain 15mph and above, would I want to overtake her or drop way back? Especially if she's on a Bianchi....

I'm sure everyone here is happy to have the exception to prove the rule. But you eyes probably work just as well from a distance of more than 1-2 feet away that drafters require.

Hmm, trying to think of any other weather/terrain etc conditions you don't get in london. I suppose your rain is not proper rain after all you only get 11 wet days a year (from another post) and your sun is proper sun with heat and everything. Get you and your la di dah pleasant conditions.

always_tyred

cjcp wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

And there is hardly any wind in London.

Londoners have been known to confuse the draft from a bus coming the opposite direction for a headwind. The North Sea wind, however, now THAT makes you tough, not the asthmatic wheeze from a travel hairdrier that passes as wind in London. I'm talking about the pan-directional heat sink that is the true North Sea wind, fresh from the Greenland ice sheet.

Call that a river? You want to try cycling up over a bridge that crosses a Firth, not a couple of steps across a canal. (In a pan-directional North Sea wind, obviously)

Yorkshire? That's more than half way to London. Therefore, its in the South.

(registers as another user to return to forum)

<having gone outside to scream obscenities and kick lumps out of the kids' wendy house>

Now, I really must object!

Many of us on Embankment and those much, much further north (sort of Oxford Street way) are battered by gale force winds every day on the commute home. Ok, sure, the wind doesn't carry lumps of coal or haggis which you no doubt face morning, noon and night, but it's a fierce wind all the same.

No it isn't. You are confusing it with the gentle breeze from a car exhaust.

singlespeedexplosif

Drafting its a skill! So don't hate the player hate the game!

that's the point though - I have no problem with people drafting if they play the game. Not if they don't know what they're doing and endanger me, or just sit on for 5km without even attempting to do a pull. So it's the individual, and not the concept itself..

andrewc3142

Fine if it's mutually agreed and you take turns, and can be very welcome if there's a headwind. Otherwise, he/she's just a wheelsucker.

Bassjunkieuk

DonDaddyD wrote:

I have a few issues:

What if the girl in front is astonishingly stunning, all 'lycra'd up' and sweaty...... Why on Earth, if she can maintain 15mph and above, would I want to overtake her or drop way back? Especially if she's on a Bianchi....

That is a valid point, but what are the chances of a Bianchi rider doing 15MPH? I'd expect someone on equipment like that to be maybe averaging 15 over the whole commute and attaining close to 20Mph on the flat - in which case I would draft

This is the exception to the rule of course!

always_tyred

Okay, just for clarity;

I take "drafting fairies" to mean those people who draft (a) who have just been caught and passed (b) without permission (c) without notification (d) without saying thanks at the end because they are completely unaware that drafting has saved them about 25% of their energy.

I do not regard persons behaving in a cooperative manner on a group ride or on a commute against some fearfully strong wind along the Embankment (for god's sake) as a "drafting fairy".

Furthermore, one might even be exempt from the title "drafting fairy" if you are passed, say hello and somehow convey that you are hanging on for dear life and that you are grateful for the service provided (and preferably that you are otherwise not worthy). At the very least, this excludes (c) and (d) above.

biondino

Always Tyred wrote:

Furthermore, one might even be exempt from the title "drafting fairy" if you are passed, say hello and somehow convey that you are hanging on for dear life and that you are grateful for the service provided (and preferably that you are otherwise not worthy). At the very least, this excludes (c) and (d) above.

I have, once or twice, massaged the draftee's ego by telling him there's no way I could keep up such a speed if I was pulling - seems to do the trick!

DonDaddyD

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I have a few issues:

What if the girl in front is astonishingly stunning, all 'lycra'd up' and sweaty...... Why on Earth, if she can maintain 15mph and above, would I want to overtake her or drop way back? Especially if she's on a Bianchi....

That is a valid point, but what are the chances of a Bianchi rider doing 15MPH? I'd expect someone on equipment like that to be maybe averaging 15 over the whole commute and attaining close to 20Mph on the flat - in which case I would draft

This is the exception to the rule of course!

Funny you should say this becaus today I ended up cycling with a guy who fell over on London road, he was on a beautiful white and Celeste Bianchi C2C via nirone Alu/Carbon with Veloce groupset the exact Bianchi I want (except I want celeste as the main colour)!!!

He seemed like a nice guy but when I complemented his bike he kinda looked at mine (my new SCR 3) and said nothing.

Anyway he was managing about 15 - 20mph but nothing my SCR3 couldn't handle! we seemed to be in exactly the same gear. That said he was knocked over by a car less than 10mins prior....

Wierdly a Focus Cayo came zooming by, first time I saw one in the flesh, I kept up with that as well!

Fact that I saw the two bikes I plan on buying over the next few years was an omen if ever I've seen one!

What is astonishing is that when it's a bike I love I tend not to draft, I either try to race or pull alongside and study the details...

Bassjunkieuk

I know what you men DDD, I do enjoy the bike spotting on my commute! See the ocasional head turner, like the gent on the Kuota who headed toward Albert Embankment from Vauxhal yesterday morning. I had to look the brand up online once I got to work but could just tell it was something special!

The best bike spotting I did tho was on the charity ride tho, I just kept an eye out for the guys in full lycra or club kit, as they had the best bikes!

Also nice choice of bikes to hanker after, I think if I ever get the chance to get on the B2W scheme I'd consider either of those!

DonDaddyD

dafruk wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

What if the girl in front is astonishingly stunning, all 'lycra'd up' and sweaty...... Why on Earth, if she can maintain 15mph and above, would I want to overtake her or drop way back? Especially if she's on a Bianchi....

I'm sure everyone here is happy to have the exception to prove the rule. But you eyes probably work just as well from a distance of more than 1-2 feet away that drafters require.

Hmm, trying to think of any other weather/terrain etc conditions you don't get in london. I suppose your rain is not proper rain after all you only get 11 wet days a year (from another post) and your sun is proper sun with heat and everything. Get you and your la di dah pleasant conditions.

My eyes's do work from a distance, however, drafting distance puts eveything into high definition!!!

As for rain in England, I love it, especially when its unexpected! If lycra wearing women cycling in the rain were a cause of death, it would be spontaneous combustion! Because that is the only way you can account for such a thing....

Only thing hotter than a girl on a Bianchi all clipless, lycra'd up, looking like a cross between Emma Frost (Super hero) and Victoria Pendleton is if she's soaking wet.

:shock: Yeah I said it! :shock:

Sometimes I don't even realise I'm drafting when its a women I kinda just do it, I dunno, behind a female cyclist... the World feels so much safer from that perspective.

I wonder if women do this to men? I'd like to think so.

Coriander

DonDaddyD wrote:

I wonder if women do this to men? I'd like to think so.

Nah, you all go too slowly for us.

STEFANOS4784

You could slow down let the drafter past then draft him? If he/she is to slow then have a bit of community spirit :shock: 8)

Bassjunkieuk

Coriander wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I wonder if women do this to men? I'd like to think so.

Nah, you all go too slowly for us.

OOH fighting talk :-) I've always dreamed of meeting a girl who could put up a good chase, on a bike you understand :-D

Coriander

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Coriander wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I wonder if women do this to men? I'd like to think so.

Nah, you all go too slowly for us.

OOH fighting talk :-) I've always dreamed of meeting a girl who could put up a good chase, on a bike you understand :-D

Thank God you all go Putney/SW way and not down the Old Kent Road and I won't have to step up to the challenge.

DonDaddyD

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I know what you men DDD, I do enjoy the bike spotting on my commute! See the ocasional head turner, like the gent on the Kuota who headed toward Albert Embankment from Vauxhal yesterday morning. I had to look the brand up online once I got to work but could just tell it was something special!

The best bike spotting I did tho was on the charity ride tho, I just kept an eye out for the guys in full lycra or club kit, as they had the best bikes!

Also nice choice of bikes to hanker after, I think if I ever get the chance to get on the B2W scheme I'd consider either of those!

Wow I don't know what got into me with my previous post... but the two women I saw in Clapham and the one on the Embankment should be considered blessings to Mankind.

ANYWAY!!!!!

Yeah drafting is a great way in general to help decide, from a material perspective, what bikes/wheels/groupset to purchase or to simply admire.

Heading towards Holborn I was left firmly in the past by a Pinarello Prince, it was mostly silent on the approach and as it arrived at a destination I would eventually reach sometime later... it was beautiful. This happened a few weeks back the guy, all thighs and calf, was in full war Pinarello Gear... (i'm not naming names) I tried to give chase but it was never going to happen. Now if I could afford that kind of money I would consider it, something I couldn't say without seeing it in the flesh.

I can say now that having drafted a Focus Cayo, the Cayo Expert is at the top of my list! I loved how it sounded when the guy went freewheel. Though I don't know if its fast enough seeing that I was able to chase it down and keep up with it on my SCR3 - it also looks like the geometry is too relaxed. However, despite my doubts having drafted the Cayo and studied the Planet X equivilent (I was torn about the Planet X and the Cayo) also through drafting I prefer the Cayo on looks. Obviously this is purely aesthetic but I want my bike to look and sound sexy....

If I get a new job (don't want to suffer another 12 montths) that supports a cyclescheme I'm definately getting a Bianchi C2C alu/carbon with a Veloce groupset, on the road they are simply heart poundingly stunning. Its not fair that I don't own one.

Sometimes drafting is like window shopping.

DonDaddyD

Coriander wrote:

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

Coriander wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I wonder if women do this to men? I'd like to think so.

Nah, you all go too slowly for us.

OOH fighting talk :-) I've always dreamed of meeting a girl who could put up a good chase, on a bike you understand :-D

Thank God you all go Putney/SW way and not down the Old Kent Road and I won't have to step up to the challenge.

Don't speak too soon! I may one day encounter you and suddenly forget my way home and end up drafting you.....

Bassjunkieuk

DDD, I wouldn't judge a bike by just how easy it is to keep up with em. Although a nice bike helps it doesn't make you a cycling god who crushes all those beneath you or on lesser bikes.

When I did the bikeathon last year I rode round most of the 26 mile course with 3/4 other road bike riders. Most of them fully lycra'd up with one being on £1.4K of carbon - I can't remember brand but it was black and look sexy!
All this whilst on my old Raleigh road bike that was easily 10 years old that I got of Freecycle!

The way I see it is if I'm doing this well on a bike like the SCR3, just imagine what I could do on something much nicer! The first time I went on the SCR after the road bike it felt much quicker, climbed faster etc so I look forward to the next step up!

DonDaddyD

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

DDD, I wouldn't judge a bike by just how easy it is to keep up with em. Although a nice bike helps it doesn't make you a cycling god who crushes all those beneath you or on lesser bikes.

When I did the bikeathon last year I rode round most of the 26 mile course with 3/4 other road bike riders. Most of them fully lycra'd up with one being on £1.4K of carbon - I can't remember brand but it was black and look sexy!
All this whilst on my old Raleigh road bike that was easily 10 years old that I got of Freecycle!

The way I see it is if I'm doing this well on a bike like the SCR3, just imagine what I could do on something much nicer! The first time I went on the SCR after the road bike it felt much quicker, climbed faster etc so I look forward to the next step up!

At my most sensible I completely agree with you.

BUT when bikes are invovled and when I'm not spending money I am not at my most sensible. It is one of those rare moments when I can indulge my inner child and gladly apply the logic of a ten year old to how I assess a bikes beauty and supposed performance.

So the child in me who loves bikes disagrees with this:

Although a nice bike helps it doesn't make you a cycling god who crushes all those beneath you or on lesser bikes.

Because it does.

Honestly, as a 20something a mint green bike (Bianchi) is not pretty, would you buy a mint green car, house or underwear? However, the kid in me loves the flair, loves the audaiciousness and loves the sheer arogance of the thing! This is exactly the same as the kid in me loving ridiculous supercars with spoilers, neon lights, dumpvalves and stereos that could wage war.

A Bianchi is beautiful because it is and I love it not because its a masterpiece in technology, stiffness or offers great value for money or any of the crap that means something to my 20something year old mind but because it appeals to the outright innocence of my childhood.

At my most wildest and in the depths of my imagination I want to ride it all day in nothing but sweet sexy lycra, never stopping, never ending. In my mind I would become a superb on a Bianchi. I would sing to myself 'Who's that guy' from Grease 2 while on a Bianchi. I draft Bianchi (and other sweet sexy bikes) because I love them, because during that time I'm dreaming, wishing, wanting for it to be me!

Sheltering from the wind is an excuse, most average commuters - who haven't club ridden or raced - do not have the clarity of mind or the guts to tuck into a slipstream on a main road with buses, lorries, cars, vans, cabs or whatever else. The real reason a person on a lesser bike drafts is because:

(i) They want to know that they can keep up.

(ii) They are daydreaming about being on your bike.

(unless I'm drafting a girl.... or attracted to the person infront. Drafting is the new smirting = smoking + flirting..... :roll: )

The only reason why anyone on a Bianchi is faster than me is because I subconciously let them. I love the bikes and wouldn't dare overtake as it would mean I have broken my inner childs dreams and aspirations of 'one day being that guy I couldn't keep up with because his bike was so awesome'.

Owning an awesome bike does make one a cycling god in ones imagination.

Its childish passion.

Bassjunkieuk

A well tuned inner child there DDD, last year when the TDF was on I do remember standing at the window of the Evans in Spitalfields, creating a rather large pool or drool, as I gazed lovely at the £4500 Trek TT bike in the window.
Although it was well beyond what I could afford, it didn't stop me wondering just how fast it would be. The beauty of it was that as it was standing still you could appreciate all the design details that make it just appear to be travelling at a million miles and hour despite the fact that it's anchored to the floor!

I think the analogy of high end bikes with sport's cars is quite good as it is one of those things that you undertand better once you get into the "scene", for example every Tom, Dick and Harry will know that the red Ferrari that just pulled up at the light's is a pocket rocket, but only a proper petrol head would recognize the some of the rarer models that don't look that fast (a Morgan Aero 8 or the Aerial Atom for example). For most members of the public a bike is a bike, the only difference being the handlebars and maybe something obvious with the frame, but us cyclist's can spot the details that make a bike stand out - be it the subtle carbon weave showing through the paint, "that" freewheel noise that signify's a high quality drivetrain or just by the brand!

Thankfully I now have enough kids to keep my inner child alive and kicking for the next 10 years or so as I have excuses to by RC cars, lego, water guns etc all on the pre tense that it's for them :-D As for the new bikes, I might have to wait until I can pass mine on to the eldest!