Biking/Drafting etiquette question

agree with bear... He was rude not to ask if he could draft(imho)  but if he couldn't pull at the speed you wanted, then doing what you did was the right thing. 

I had this happen to me this week end.  I passed a guy and he drafted me for a few miles.  I was trying to drop him since I thought he was a little rude for not asking me if he could draft.  I couldn't drop him.  when I finally let him pull, he pulled a few mph less than me.  I rested for a little in his draft and then tried to drop him again.  Again, I could drop him.  He was just strong enough to hang on my wheel.  I did this several times but I never could drop him.  I did have a great work-out however so it didn't bother me too much!

I'm not that experienced of a road cyclist (but decades on a commuter and mountain biking), but it's happened to me a few times just since I've started road biking, at a local army base where lots of people ride (so the density of wheel suckers is maybe higher than it is in the great wide world), and once I felt it was a bit scary because the guy didn't seem like he really knew what he was doing, and last thing I wanted was to go down because this clown touched my wheel. Anyway, I find it to be annoying and rude.

Anyway, I generally can't lose them on the flats (after all, they are drafting me!), so my strategy is to head for a long hill and drop them there. They lose their drafting advantage somewhat, and that seems to be enough to get the job done. But it's annoying when I didn't really intend to work that hard.

On last weekend's ride (two Saturdays ago) I passed a guy who dropped his chain on a hill shifting from his big ring to the small and I tried to tell him how to get it back on by pedaling and not stopping to no avail.  I stop at the 7-11 about 2 miles later to refill my bottles as usual on this route.

When I come out and get on the road again there is the guy riding with a lady at a leisurely pace and I give them a friendly wave as I pass them.

Fast forward about a mile.  Suddenly the guy is on my wheel hard.  I'm thinking, "Great!  I'm 35 miles into a century and get a little help to pull me along.  Cool!"  I do not accelerate hardly at all and continue to give him a nice pull.  After a few miles he finally pulls through and I get a little bit of a draft.  He starts to slow some so I pull through again.  He's obviously not as strong as me, but as long as he pulls some I'll be happy.  I wasn't going to break the routine of my long ride just to play.

So I pull him up a gradual him and as we crest BOOM he frickin' jumps!  What the hell????  I've been pulling you along for miles now and never complained or had any hard accelerations.  Game on you little f-ck ....... I jam it into the big ring and take a few hundred meters to get back on him.  And I'm like white on rice almost overlapping wheels just like the old days.  I can tell he's trying to shake me but i'm having none of it.  On the next long hill he's standing up and I can hear a little panting.  So I just keep my normal cadence, in the saddle and roll right by him never even looking at him and just kept that going for the entire hill (about 3/4 of a mile or so).  Didn't see him again .......

The guy obviously knew how to ride and seemed to understand group riding at first.  But his actions were just testosterone kicking in big time and were uncalled for.  Lesson for him???  Never attack someone who you know absolutely nothing about when it comes to ability.  I've learned that years ago in some of my early group rides ........

I do it because it helps my bike handling skills.  If I'm not comfortable behind someone I'll just do all the pulling or fall off and let them go ahead.

Unless I'm in a specific group where I don't want to get dropped I'll ride my own pace and if the person can hang or if I can hang with them at that pace, then I'll work with anyone on the road.  Guess that is just the roadie in me.

Bike noob questions:

Does "pulling" require extra effort?

As noted I am a bike noob, and not a physicist, but does having a rider behind me make me work harder? Seems to me what happens behind would have no affect on the wind resistance in front of me.

How far back can you be and not be drafting?

I was on a ride the other night and approached two riders who were going just a little slower than me but I was willing to slow down since I was turning of that road soon and did not feel like mashing hard to pass them. I stayed at least 1-2 bike lengths behind the rear rider (they switched once). They did speed up a bit when (I think) they realized a rider in aero was behind them. I sped up too, but never got what I consider real close. I turned off the road less than 2 miles after I fell in behind them. Was I in the wrong?

If you are in the front and continue at your same effort, then no, there is no downside/benefit to having someone behind you.  One could argue that the overall aerodynamics of the group may make the person in front a hair faster, but that would be marginal increase at best (unless it is a huge pack very close together).  However, the psychological affect is that you will tend to push a little harder if you know that you can fall off and get a draft after your pull.

An effective draft will be in the less than a bike length range with the closer the better.  That being said, there is still some residual draft as far back as 5 or 6 lengths behind another rider but the usefullness of it decreases at a much higher rate the farther back you are.

It also depends on the aero profile of the rider ahead of you as to how much of a draft you get.  Someone like me who is 6'-1" is going to offer a much better draft then a 120 lb. 5'-3" climber .....

Pulling doesn't require extra effort if you remain at the same effort, but typically when you get in  a draft line, the person up front is pushing harder than normal, and drops back to the draft to recover until it is their turn again to push it. 

You will feel it when your drafting, if your a bike length back, there is probably some benifit, but within a foot of the tire, you should feel like things just got easier.

Roadies work with "anyone"?  Not in L.A., and especially not if you have a tri bike (unless it's a mixed group of friends/acquaintances, which we usually have)

That has to be the most concise post you've ever made.

Not to mention the one that probably makes the most sense.......

In this thread the drafting benefit is said to extend 90 feet behind the front cyclist.

Not all roadies are arrogant pr-cks, just like all tri geeks aren't poor bike handlers.

I'll work with anyone that can hang, doesn't matter what they're riding!

Actually, I didn't understand it..... 

Go fast enough so they don't pass you in the first place.