Afraid of drafting or group riding? Share with me why.

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Originally Posted by Sky King

Ditto, being predictable!!! Communication. Another thing I would point out, regardless of if you are riding in a group or by yourself and you are overcoming another biker USE YOUR WORDS, let them know you are behind and intending to pass. I will be riding along, minding my own business and enjoying the wind in my ears and suddenly a biker goes zooming by me in an all out sprint - not only do they not say on your left, most of the time they don't even say hello. The other day the guy who passed me was really lucky I didn't smack him, was a very pot hole type road where riding in a straight line is not an option and he was damn lucky I wasn't swerving - I had no idea he was coming up behind me.

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Yes, definitely an issue. Even if it's a nice smooth road, I hate being surprised by someone suddenly going past without warning me and I'm sure nobody else likes it either.

I don't like riding that close to others. I really don't like riding with others at all. I tried group rides and I would rather be by myself or with my partner. I am much more interested in the scenery and the silence.

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Originally Posted by Wahine

For example, better confidence with controlled braking, where you should be in a group, how to move against another rider if they move into your space...

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All of the above. Plus turning, how not to be those unreliable people, if you're riding in a more social ride, how do you have discussions with others about it? Ive almost gotten thrown from my bike because the chick in front of me didnt give any pot hole warning ... she was on a mountain bike andI was on a road bike.

Also, how domI find out more of this type of information?

I was thinking about this thread the other day during a big club ride. Reading a cue sheet is much harder while riding in close proximity to others -- you can't afford to look down to see what the next cue is when you have to keep a close eye on the wheel in front of you. I really don't know how you do this in a paceline. I guess you have to rely on the lead rider to know when and where to turn, but if people are taking short pulls, the lead rider is changing often, right?

I don't ride in organized pacelines, but fairly often will ride at the back of a group of riders. Some of the faster folks who are at usually the front either don't look at the cue sheet or just have a bad sense of direction, and they often miss turns, and then folks who are blindly following them will also miss the turn. Missing a turn is certainly preferable to touching wheels and crashing, but it sucks when I'm off the back and have to burn a lot of matches trying to catch up with the errant fast riders while screaming "Come back! You missed the turn!" (And yes after screaming "Come back!" several times I will add "Shane!!!" but no one ever gets it. ;) I guess they're not Alan Ladd fans...)

have a nice ride" and then muttering " *******" to people who pass me on the left without warning. I also happen to ride with a rear view mirror so can usually see them coming and will warn others ahead of me. I have had several "hammer heads" even try to pass on the right which only puts them in danger as I tend to ride to the right being a slower rider. Sometimes there is just excsuing stupidity excedpt to hope they take themselves out of the gene pool.

On the other hand two of my best biking buddies were met when I passed them and rode beside them briefly while introducing myself so there's alesson there as well.

A little late to the thread with my 2 cents... Pace lines take a lot of practice! I remember when I first tried, I'd focus on the wheel in front of me. It took quite a bit of practice to start looking at the bum in front of me to judge distance to the bike in front and to look past the person in front to scan the road ahead. At any rate, it demands a lot of concentration. Now I have moved to DC and the groups I have joined don't pace line at all, it's just group riding.

Learning how to be smooth also takes time: not only communication, but smooth pedaling. I learned to sometimes touch the brakes while I continue to pedal. There's nothing worse then being behind a person that pedals and coasts, pedals, coasts... That's a bad wheel.