Hypothetical Ride Question

You’re riding through the park. It’s windy out, but your workout just calls for an easy to moderately paced ride. You pretty much could care less what your average speed ends up being. You’re out there minding your own business through the two-lane trail and hear some strange noises coming from your drive train. You look down and everything seems to be in order. You look behind you and see that someone is camped on your rear wheel. “Yup. I’m right behind you on your wheel,” he says politely. “Oh… OK.” you reply. What would you do next?

Keep riding at your current pace. Who cares what’s happening behind you? It’s not affecting your ride or you from going your own pace.
Slow down, hope that the pace is too slow for him and that he passes you. I hate people that come up behind you all stealth like and suck your wheel without even mentioning that they’re there and drafting.
Suck this! I hate people that come up behind you all stealth like and suck your wheel without even mentioning that they’re there and drafting. If they want to try and suck wheel, push the pace and see if they can keep up.

As you might imagine, this is what happened on my ride yesterday. And while I should have done the smart thing and chose option #1, I chose option #3. It wasn’t planned that way initially and I thought I had chosen option #1, but I soon looked down at my HRM and saw it climbing. First five beats and then ten. It’s like Ego took over the reigns even when I thought I was in full control. I kept on riding and I let up on my pedals for a second just to see if he was still there. He was. Now I’m just annoyed that Ego’s subconscious attempt failed and I retake control and push the pace. I turn the screw a little more and now, I’m riding through the park at basically my race pace from the day before, only the route is more hilly and it’s quite a technical ride through the trails. I push for another ten minutes or so at this pace without letting up or stopping to look back or anything. It works and Mr. Stealth Drafter got dropped somewhere back there. Except now, my legs are more tired than they should be and tired enough when I get home that I decide to skip my 3-4 mile run that I was otherwise going to do after my ride. :( Stupid Ego picking fights for me!

So… what would you have done?

2005/07/19 | General | Comments [RSS 2.0]

13 Responses to Hypothetical Ride Question »»

Comments

You know something like this happened to me a couple of months ago. My friend and I were riding loops around the rose bowl and this guy comes up behind us and starts sucking our wheel. We ignored him and kept our pace. After a lap he just left. We were both pissed and decided if it ever happened again we were going to work together and drop the guy.

I think you made the right choice.

Comment by mike | 2005/07/19 at 08:51:05
That’s a hard call when you’re out by yourself and don’t have anyone to work with to help drop the guy. I usually opt for #3 as well, which is never all that smart because I end up working way harder than I set out to.

I just wonder if the best option is to be honest and say, “if you’re going to draft, you need to take turns pulling as well.”

I dunno. It’s a tough call.

What kills me is that I never have the guts to starting drafting off a stranger in the first place. Who are these people?

Comment by Heather | 2005/07/19 at 09:05:04
I would have done ( and have done) EXACTLY the same thing, except I would have probably blown myself try to pop him off the back, if he was in good shape. You can’t just back down from this sort of thing…it’s in our nature to race! You will be fine, just call it a harder training day and go easy today.

I wouldn’t worry about it.

Comment by Flatman | 2005/07/19 at 09:45:11
#3 without a doubt. If I didn’t at least try I would have spent the entire run saying, “man, I should have dropped him! Next time…” And then, wouldn’t you hate it if you never got a Next Time? Like flatman says, sometimes you have to.

Comment by tarheeltri | 2005/07/19 at 10:10:14
See, this would in no way be a problem for me…he’d get sick of sitting on my wheel and would just pass me before I could even try to make a decision ;) One of these days maybe I’ll be able to have such a dilemma!

Comment by wil | 2005/07/19 at 13:59:25
I would have done the same thing. First, option 3, then, if that fails, option 1. :)

Brett

Comment by Brett | 2005/07/19 at 15:32:29
you have to go to the classics for the answer to this one… of course i’m talking about the movie ‘Breaking Away’… you need to distract the wheelsucker… then deftly take your ’70s style bicycle pump — you know the long one you keep clamped under your top tube for this type of occasion — and then stick it in his rear spokes.

least that’s what the pro italians did to the ‘cutter’, and it sent him home crying for his mommy…

if you are not into the classics, or don’t have a ’70s style pump, here’s a more modern move from the ‘poser’ files that i like to do… you can only do this when you have a right hand turn coming off of you current straight ahead route… turn around and give him ‘The Look’… you know the Lance Armstrong-Jan Ulrich look… then stomp on your pedals at a rate you know he can’t keep up with, when you have a sizeable lead and you are closing in on the right hand turn, reach for your water bottle and take a slug out of it, throw the bottle onto the side of the road pro-style, turn around and give him ‘The Look’ again now that he’s off your wheel, and make the quick right hand turn and keep stomping… soon as he passes through the intersection and is out of your sight, immediately dismount your bike and lie on the road gasping for air like a goldfish out of the proverbial bowl — it’s the only way to go.

Comment by Bolder | 2005/07/19 at 17:26:38
Hmm. Perhaps try the direct approach? “Get off my ass, assw!pe.”

If that doesn’t work, you could always leave a snot rocket in your wake…. :-)

Comment by Nancy Toby | 2005/07/19 at 20:43:50
That’s great Nancy - a Snot Rocket! And what’s with the potty-mouth :-) ? Remind me not to draft you.

What would I do = What I normally do = Do what you did.

But then again, I’m a guy. And, we’re all programmed the same!

Comment by Phil | 2005/07/20 at 08:28:03
Well, it seems that everyone opted for choice #3 so that makes me feel a little better. Although Boulder man… remind me never to try riding behind you! You’re down right evil! ;)

Comment by Chris | 2005/07/20 at 12:17:05
this very thing happened to me two years ago. i was riding my steel monster when a guy on a mountain bike began sucking on my wheel. when i turned around to give him “the look” he complemented me on my cadence and speed. we began talking, he was on his sons bike, he usually rides a road bike, he trained with the british naional champion and could he ride with me tomorrow. we’ve been riding together now for 2 years. yes he’s strong and i’m glad he sucked my wheel. btw he just bought a beautiful trek madone like lance’s.

Comment by Oldman | 2005/07/20 at 13:21:52
Of course, what do I know? I’m WAY to slow for anyone to consider drafting off me!!

Comment by Nancy Toby | 2005/07/21 at 19:33:33
#3. if that didn’t work then maybe a water bottle to his front wheel where he would do an endo and I would cackle hysterically while lazily weaving my bike across the path. haha

Comment by commodore | 2005/07/26 at 19:05:50