It’s happened to everyone. You’re just out for a morning ride and after a while you hear someone else’s breathing/drivetrain/brakes behind you, peer over your shoulder and there’s a total stranger on your wheel. Or worse, you overtake someone who seems to think it’s an open invitation to sit on for the next few miles and get a free ride. This is not something that should happen.

If you want to hang onto someone else’s wheel, at least have the courtesy to say hello and ask. It’s just a bit rude to take advantage of someone else’s hard work without asking first. Plus, drafting for mile after mile never made anyone stronger. Unless they’re motor pacing. But if you get passed by a rider doing 60km/h and manage to sit on for more than a few hundred metres, then you probably deserve that free ride.

It applies to group riding as well, but in a different way. Chances are the people in the group won’t be strangers, but don’t be the rider that sits in for the whole ride – do you turn on the front, unless you need a breather (say so). And especially don’t be the rider who sits on the whole time and still contests the sprints. Beating a bunch that have been doing turns on the front on fresh legs is nothing to brag about.

Similarly, don’t play leapfrog. If you’re going past someone make sure that you’ve got the legs to make it stick. Don’t sprint past and then have to recover, letting them catch you up again. And if they do come past again, for goodness sake, don’t start the whole scenario over again. Learn to accept when someone else is stronger/on a better day than you. It’s part of the riding experience.

As an add-on, gents, don’t play leapfrog just because you get passed by a woman. There are a lot of very good female cyclists out there that would probably ride you off their wheels even on your best day. Just suck it up.