Drafting Practices

I'm a casual rider. I enjoy going at my own pace, stopping to smell the roses once in a while as the saying goes. This past weekend, however, I practised drafting or riding in a peloton with a few friends. I learned a few things that I didn't know before.

Before starting, Yingbiao and Yang explained the hand signals. I knew most of the signals but always signalled with my left hand. It was awkward to signal with my right hand since I am most comfortable with right hand on my rear brake just in case. I am also not used to my vision being blocked.

Trusting the riders before you is definitely the 1st thing to learn. Without trust, fear takes over and that makes riding half-a-wheel behind riders before you impossible. I had chances to draft behind others before so this wasn't so tough for me. What's new was passing the signals back to riders behind me. I don't respond fast enough, especially the "obstacle ahead" signal.

A peloton moves so much faster than a single rider. I tried leading the pack for a bit but it was tough. I also felt uneasiness when peeling off from the lead since I couldn't be sure if there were cars coming from behind. Yiming suggested a rear-view mirror and I will definitely look into that. A couple of times, I missed the end of the peloton by just a few feet after peeling off from the lead. I couldn't catch up no matter how hard I tried. That shows the power of drafting. Yang explained that the new lead should keep pace instead of accelerating. With more practices, I am sure the transition will be smooth and seamless.

At times we were flying down the newly paved 6th line road at 40+ km/h. I've never ridden that fast before and enjoyed the speed. Most of all, I enjoyed the camaraderie of the group. It was such a beautiful morning.