Last week, I wrote a post about drafting while swimming. This week, let’s talk about drafting on a bike.
Unlike in swimming, drafting on a bike is illegal in Ironman competitions and many other cycling races, although not all.
What is drafting and how to optimize it?
Drafting is taking advantage of lower air pressure when biking behind another rider (here is full explanation on Wikipedia, as applicable to variety of sports). This means you are dealing with less air resistance and you are doing up to 30% less work (although I’ve seen this number listed as high as 50% in some articles).
Effectiveness of your drafting will depend on several factors:
- How far away from the cyclist in front of you are you – generally the closer the better, but some articles say that you get some benefit at up to one bike length
- How large cyclist in front of you is – the bigger they are, the more wind they block!
- Position relative to wind – yes, it means checking which direction the wind is blowing from and hiding before the leader
- Your position in the line – in general, benefit increases with number of cyclists in front of you, with optimal position being between 5th and 8th (but not last). The leader gets a small boots though, too
Majority of drafting happens on flats and downhills – after all, as you are going faster, the benefit increases. But what about uphills? Well, there is no much benefit in there for us ‘mere mortals’ in terms of air resistance. We tend to go slower. There are, however, some benefits to have buddies on an ascent. For one thing, you are not alone trying to push through the pain and general unpleasantness. It can also help you keep up the speed. I know that I need all the help I can get when trying to climb…
Etiquette while drafting on a bike
I should probably preface this section with the following: I DESPISE drafting on a bike and it’s a fast way to get me to never ride anywhere near you again.
I have only one friend I actually ever ride with, Eric (pictured below):
He LOVES to draft. We’ve had a few fights over the issue… First of all, your drafting buddies should ride at similar pace as you do. Eric is way faster than me. But let’s leave poor Eric alone. He is a great guy and he does try to help me get stronger and faster at cycling.
So first things first: don’t be a freeloader, take your turn as the group leader. It is customary to rotate person up front every half mile to a mile. This way everybody does their share and all get to benefit.
Don’t stare at the wheel of guy/gal in front of you. You should learn how to judge the distance by looking at their back.
Ride consistently – try not to suddenly break or turn if avoidable. Point out road hazards. You know, the usual. This is actually the part where I struggle the most with drafting. First of all, I am small, so I can’t see over people in front of me. And that makes me uncomfortable (I still don’t get that on a tandem, the larger person goes in front – so you watch somebody’s back/ butt the whole time???). Trails by my house are filled with people, plenty of them behaving erratically, which makes consistent, smooth riding almost impossible.
I was told before that you need to use hand signals when you are up front while drafting. I am all for it. Except… Well, if something comes up suddenly, I am focusing on breaking/ turning/ saving myself. I don’t have mental space to make sure you don’t run into me. So back off!
Oh, and here is my last reason not to be getting into drafting: cycling is not my favorite, so I only do it during triathlons. Drafting during those is illegal, so why bother getting used to that?
Stay safe, have fun and I’ll see you on the road!