Drafting during group rides....Am I wrong? (Page 3)

x2. What is the big deal here?  Why would anyone care if someone drafted for 95% of a training ride and then got their jolllies by pushing hard for the last few miles?  If it's a workout then the only issue is whether you achieved your goal for the workout.  If it's a race, then your tactics were poor.

I don't have any problem with your riding style with that group - if you were pulling strong and within the ability of the group to hang readily, that's all good. If you're strong enough to pull most of the way at a slightly faster pace, that's ok too, but don't expect the drafters to pull beyond you just to give you a rest.

Even though they could pass you on the hill, they were probably working harder than they wanted too, and I'm betting nobody in the group was willing to pull into the wind like you did at that speed. They were waiting for you to drop off the front, and when you didn't, they just didn't pass. All's fair.

When you hit the hill, and the draft effect is reduced, of course they'll have more energy at that point. And now it's their turn to pull out in front up and over the backside of the hill. That's bike riding in a group.

You know this, but if you're at all bothered by getting dropped on the hill after your monster pull, well, go slower on your pull and rotate off the front like the others. Then you can drop them all on the hill if you want.

I've been "sucked" into pacelines on the flat portions of the Pac Coast Highway while riding solo. I wasn't fast enough to do the 24+mph of the 7-man paceline that caught up to me, but on every roller (there are few good ones), I'd catch up and then put a big gap on the group as a solo rider. But then they'd just catch up to me a few miles later as the pack. Rather then keep getting in their way, I just dropped onto the back, smiled with a few folks, and enjoyed the ride on the flats, and volunteered to take some pulls in front. Lots of fun, and much more interesting than going solo. 

Reading through the thread, I am confused.  At the beginning, you said you pulled and didn't draft because that is not how we ride in tri's.  Now you are saying it is because the group pace is slower than what you can do solo. 

It seems to me that if you were trying to mimic race conditions for yourself then it really doesn't matter what the group did. Pulling takes nothing from you, and if you got dropped on the hills, well, maybe you need to work on hills (and I am terrible on hills - my riding buddy always drops me on them since he lives at the bottom of a hill and gets a lot more practice than I do, although I can smoke him on the flats/downhills). If you wanted to stay fresh for the hill attacks, then take your turn in the paceline and save your legs. But you can't eat your cake and have it too. 

I find it interesting that people who do bike races often seem to have better paceline ettiquette - sharing pulls versus taking monster pulls, not charging ahead when it is their turn to pull, etc.

It is the club cyclists who take unusually long pulls or make every sign and hill a race for points.

In my group, since I am, er, full bodied, I fly downhill.  So I wind it up on the downhill and I know people are sitting on my wheel just waiting to blow by when it turns up.  It is just part of the fun for us.  They get a kick out of the slingshot and I get a bonus workout chasing them up the hill.

My point is, unless you're getting paid to do this, it is a hobby - lighten up and have fun with it.

I ride with a local bike club and I may pull a group for the majority of the ride before they decide to drop me.  I found it kinda rude at first but now I know it just makes me a better rider, plus they aren't doing it specifically to show me up.  I was confused by this whole cycling thing until I watched the Tour last year.  That helped me understand cycling strategy much more.