Riding in the commuter peleton

jonny_trousers

So what's it like? It looks nuts. I am fortunate in that I tend to work afternoons and evenings so I am often going in the opposite direction to the rush-hour cyclist. There are a few spots on my route where I see groups of at least fifteen riders, all tightly bunched up together and I find myself wondering what it must feel like. Is it fun? Is it frustrating? Is it dangerous? It looks like a bit of a nightmare to me.

Cafewanda

All of the above

itboffin

Stay away if you value your safety

iPete

as above, I tend to make a break away!

spen666

iPete wrote:

as above, I tend to make a break away!

Most people try that, but they always try to break away from the front and get chased down.

i'm more subtle, I break away from the rear - they never slow down to get back with me :twisted:

The Rookie

I don't see enough cyclists in a day to make a peloton.....and as at least 70% are going the other way anyway.....

Simon

iPete

spen666 wrote:

iPete wrote:

as above, I tend to make a break away!

Most people try that, but they always try to break away from the front and get chased down.

i'm more subtle, I break away from the rear - they never slow down to get back with me :twisted:

Ah, see I do the same, sit behind the group at the lights, make sure I'm far to the right and keep myself in the primary to stop any silly car overtakes, give people a few second to pull off and wobble, assess who might be quick and go for it.

Aidy

Sometimes I see groups like that.

Then I overtake them.

MadammeMarie

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

So what's it like? It looks nuts. I am fortunate in that I tend to work afternoons and evenings so I am often going in the opposite direction to the rush-hour cyclist. There are a few spots on my route where I see groups of at least fifteen riders, all tightly bunched up together and I find myself wondering what it must feel like. Is it fun? Is it frustrating? Is it dangerous? It looks like a bit of a nightmare to me.

I love it!

il_principe

Aidy wrote:

Sometimes I see groups like that.

Then I overtake them.

+1

There's no scarier place than a commuter peloton. Unless it's made up of people actually capable of riding in a bunch... which is basically never.

Clever Pun

Il Principe wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Sometimes I see groups like that.

Then I overtake them.

+1

There's no scarier place than a commuter peloton. Unless it's made up of people actually capable of riding in a bunch... which is basically never.

very occasionally I've been in a group of 3-5 who can actually ride, it's great

Very occasionally

Headhuunter

Il Principe wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Sometimes I see groups like that.

Then I overtake them.

+1

There's no scarier place than a commuter peloton. Unless it's made up of people actually capable of riding in a bunch... which is basically never.

Yep, me too. This morning with the warm weather there were huge gaggles of cyclists, even on the Old Kent Rd. Often they swerve round traffic without even the slightest check over the shoulder... Burn past the lot of them.

cjcp

Clever Pun wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Sometimes I see groups like that.

Then I overtake them.

+1

There's no scarier place than a commuter peloton. Unless it's made up of people actually capable of riding in a bunch... which is basically never.

very occasionally I've been in a group of 3-5 who can actually ride, it's great

Very occasionally

+1. I've ridden with JG and G66 on the commute, but only because I've ridden with them socially and know they can ride. Three's enough for me. So to speak...

Otherwise, it's hammer down and get the hell away from the bunch.

If there's a rider who's quicker than me, I don't sit on his wheel; I just drop back and give him space.

pangolin

It's worst for me along Kings Road. You find they get into big bunces at the lights and stay in a bunch, I think I passed 4 big groups of hi-vis this morning. Quite good fun really, you occasionally get 1 in the group who notices you pass and tries to up their game for a bit.

DonDaddyD

I'm not a experienced peloton rider, but even I try to avoid them.

There has been on occasion when groups of 3, rarely as many as 5 have formed. However, traffic breaks us up.

gaz545

stay away is my outlook on them.
The people in them are often not experienced, they break up as soon as you get too 20mph. and no one points out pot holes!

daccordimark

There's London....

and then there's the other universe.

Going the same way as me I saw another commuter yesterday. I saw one the day before as well - a racing snake on a flash Cannondale who left me for dead.
Going the other way I saw four altogether.
That's a 21 mile ride and hardly another cyclist to be seen. My commuting peleton is like yesterday's Giro stage! Huge gaps everywhere.

It's a lonely commute these days but I don't miss the London chaos. There were never any commuting peletons in my day - I blew them all away. (I wish).

Mark.

mtb-idle

mostly avoid them by going past them although at mile 14 of my 18 mile commute on Monday evening four of us of a similar speed and experience hooked up and worked together for the last four miles. Made it much easier on what was quite a blustery evening.

westenddee

well here in weegieville, we dream of commuter peletons.

I think we would count two cylists as a crowd.....three is unimaginable... ;-)

andy83

lucky if i see one person to ride with, let alone a group, although if i saw a group id try my best to avoid it, scares the life out of me

watching TOC as we speak and not summin id like to do

kurako

I normally suffer from sleepy legs in the morning. There's pretty much nothing that'll get me out of big lazy gear pootle mode. The ONLY thing I can find that works reliably is a big group with flapping over-sized hi-viz. Its such an affront to the eyes I just have to pass as quickly as possible

Headhuunter

Quite a few packs of cyclists out this morning coming in from SE London. Peleton groups of 10+ taking up the road in places. Over in West London and on Embankment I think the pelotons are even larger