downhillmaster

A lot of solo superstars complaining about their petty issues with people getting too close to them but not one case of an actual incident or accident.
Funny stuff.

MyTi

MoAlpha

noglider 

I prefer the more ghetto one! Pretty darned clever!

surak

If wheelsucking weren't incredibly rude, then why do wheelsuckers who pass me when I dog it to get rid of them then start pedaling like mad to try and make sure that I can't draft them (not that I try, I also do what Dr. Isotope wrote unless I'm closing in to pass)? Pretty much an acknowledgment that they're being annoying when they dish but don't want to take it.

The wheelsucking I've encountered usually happens on my commute, usually after I pass them when they're going much slower than my preferred pace, and I pretty much always keep pace with their attempt to shake me until a short but steep climb where they're out of gas and I blow by and never see them again.

Colnago Mixte

I could be convinced to support common sense, anti-wheelsucking legislation in my state, and maybe ban certain types of racing bikes. Think of the children.

igosolo

Typical reply... Let's wait for an accident and THEN decide to do something about it. It is not petty to take issue with someone on a bike invading your safety space, especially in "stealth" mode. I just want to ride by myself and don't really care if another rider needs a pull. It's not my problem.

DrIsotope

You're damn right I'm mocking 19mph. Let me paint a picture: the prototypical dude I'm referring to is either on a full-TT bike (complete with bottle rockets and super-deep carbon wheels) or at the very least an aero-frame road bike with clip-on aerobars... and super-deep carbon wheels. He's in the TT position. His legs are whirling around at an impressive velocity. But I'm 5 bike lengths back on a steel CX bike with 12º flare bars and 700x35 knobbies. Nineteen miles an hour is doable, for long periods, on a hybrid. This is the Santa Ana River Trail. We're on an unbroken stretch about 10 miles long, with little elevation change. Tri-guy is on his TT bike to go 19mph? Why? If he's training for his next TT or Tri, should he not be training at the speeds he hopes to achieve in that event? Nineteen on a TT bike is fully mockable. The aero of the frame and wheels isn't even being used at 19mph. He's just riding a heavy bike that's vulnerable to cross-winds.

I put in 75 miles this morning at an average of 17.6mph. On that CX bike. About 62 of those miles on surface streets. But the only place I'm hitting 30mph, on any bike, is going downhill.

Voodoo76

Do this all the time. Tempo or cadence work at low power on the TT bike, or perhaps working on settling into a position change. Was doing 3x20 last Saturday at < race pace and intentionally put on the Disc. Precisely because I would be battling cross winds and had struggled a bit with wind the last time I raced that wheel combination.

noglider 

So there's no point in riding a fast TT bike unless you're going all out?

DrIsotope

There's no advantage to a fast TT bike unless you're going above ~23mph. Aero frames, wheels, bars, etc. have basically no benefit unless the rider can maintain higher speeds for extended periods of time. As our local pro bike fitter says, "If you can't hold +20mph for an hour, the aero stuff is just weight."

The local TT course is a 7 mile out-and-back, with about 400ft of climbing in it. The average speeds are 27-28mph. If you had the legs, and wanted to do it at 19mph, you could ride most anything.

I don't buy the intervals notion on the local river trail-- their speeds never change. They go that velocity until they hit the turnaround, then going slightly slower on the "uphill" leg. What I'm saying is most of these guys bought bikes in an effort to make them faster.

toast3d

Story time. haha

I was on a cheap alloy department store road bike. It probably weighed about 30 pounds. I couldn't afford anything much better at the time, so it's what I rode, usually in a t-shirt and shorts. I had a clamp-on seatpost rack hanging off the back. Dorky mirror clipped onto my cheap sunglasses. It was all very Fred. I did my shopping on that bike. I rode it every day, up some pretty steep climbs as well, hauling groceries or whatever else on the way back. That seatpost rack got a lot of use.

So one day I'm at the bottom of a climb and this guy dressed in full lycra kit on a carbon bike rides up next to me with a smirk on his face. He obviously found me very funny. And he just starts talking to me. More like questioning me. With a bemused kind of chuckle in his voice. I didn't like his tone. So I burned his ass up the climb. Hard.

See, that particular climb was one I had been doing every day. I never saw that guy before. So I figured I had the advantage. Turns out that I did. In my dorky mirror I saw him standing on the pedals trying to catch up. But he couldn't close the gap.

Of course, he smoked me on the descent. But there was nothing I could do about that. I didn't have a big enough chain ring or the aero skinsuit (I have the skin suit now, by the way).

Yeah. I am weird I guess.

I agree that it's rude, which is why I ask permission to sit on someone's wheel before I do it. I haven't had anyone say no yet. It's nice to have a break.

rubiksoval

That's all wrong. And your local pro bike fitter is clueless about the topic.

The slower you go, the more absolute benefit (time savings) you get from aero equipment. Someone going 17 mph saves more time with aero equipment than someone going 30 mph simply because they're out there so much longer.

noglider 

But what if the owner just likes it? Is he doing something wrong?

toast3d

I suppose it depends on what the goal is or isn't. There are wrong ways to achieve specific goals.

noglider 

A fun ride out on a favorite bike is a worthy goal. Whatever bike you choose to take isn't wrong if you "achieve" fun.

MyTi

I think that is untrue. Cycling weekly actually did a test with regular mavics versus Enve 50mm aero wheels, and the test result shows a 1.2mph difference at 200 watts. This was on a track which is probably the most controlled environment as you are gonna get. 1.2mph faster for just throwing on a set of aero wheels seems like a significant gain where in this case, you would be going from 19.1 to 20.3mph with the same power output.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos..._medium=Social

toast3d

You're not wrong.

catgita

colnago62

kbarch

About the only time I'll ever be in anything like a race with strangers is on hills, so I think the dynamic is a little different than what most folks have been talking about here. There are a few stretches on well-traveled routes that are often race-like - big dips or bowls that naturally encourage a bit of hammering, but I can't think of any time I've seen anything really race-like on flat or extended segments.

On open roads, I can't imagine a situation where the squirreliness of a single stranger would ever be an issue (I've found that encountering squirrely riders CAN be an issue on bike paths and crowded roads). Some jockeying on rolling bits where I'll pass folks on the uphill bits and they'll catch up and maybe pass later, and sometimes that can have a competitive feel to it. I may instigate, I may play along, but nobody is forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to do.


If I find myself in an impromptu "race," and change my route, it's not because the other rider is annoying me or because I think he's a hazard, it's because I'm not only lazy, but stingy, too - I don't want to admit the other rider had a chance of beating me.

rosefarts

Sometimes on my solo rides I think I see another rider. When I get closer, it usually turns out to be a mailbox.

kbarch

Too bad roads are open to the public, huh?

jitteringjr

I think you are looking at this from a too narrow point of view. It takes time to get used to bike position especially if you are training for a longer iron man distance tri. Even if I fall off the wagon and don't ride my road bike for a few months, my neck is hurting like crazy when I start riding again until I get back into the swing of things. Plus you have to keep the easy days easy and can't train all out every day if you want to make gains. So why not ride the tri bike on those easy days to help get used to the position even if you are only going 15 mph much less 19?

kbarch

Oh man.... I got some clip on aero bars and it's taking me a while to get comfortable on them - the positioning is OK, I just get nervous. I'm sure my average speed with them is slower than my average speed on the fixed gear. The one time I took that bike out for practice on the weekend I was SO embarrassed.