Something about cycling etiquette all riders should know, is not to draft any random person who cycles past you. If you’re not part of that cycling group or have no relation to the person who just whizzed past you, please, don’t suck his/her/their wheel(s).
Because it’s just not right. Would you attend a party uninvited? At a restaurant, would you sit yourself down with a table of strangers for dinner? Would you like it if someone entered your house unwelcomed?
I suppose, for most people, the answer would be no. So don’t suck any random wheel!
If I’m passing you and your cycling partner on a hill as though you’re standing still, don’t tell me after 2km when I turn left and you turn right (with cycling partner struggling waaaay behind nowhere in sight) that you weren’t drafting me. Why can’t you just cycle on your own, battle the headwind with your own strength, have the balls to suffer??? I’m not your domestique.
But if you really must wheel suck, then ask the group or the rider if it’s okay to follow. If they say no, get lost! The key thing I’m not comfortable with is the ability of these leechers… their close proximity to me on the road is an added risk for me. As it is two cars horned at us along the way today, when usually by myself it’s pretty damn peaceful.
Uninvited drafters are in the same realm of idiocy as tailgaters. I wish I had one of those on-demand rear brake lights on both my bicycle and my car. With one press of a button, the light comes on, the sucker jam-brakes and drops off.
Get off my back!