Cycling etiquette: Can someone join your ride unannounced?

Your "workout" pace is that guy's commute pace

Yes it’s weird. No I don’t believe you that that really happened

Yes, it’s normal in cycling to stick your front wheel into random people’s rears. Just apply some Vaseline to reduce the friction if necessary.

I've had this same thing happen to me before. It was fun, we both took turns up front and ended up riding pretty fast.

But I would say that is against etiquette. Sitting on someone's wheel is actually pretty dangerous - you don't want some bozo back there who is going cause a wreck.

Wrecking is one thing, but the real crime here is he didn't bother to take a turn at the front. Its a busch league move to just mooch along like that while you did all the work.

It depends.

I ride a lot but my group rides are usually an “all comers” thing. Whoever shows up, shows up. Some rides are “no drop” rides where nobody gets dropped. We specify the pace though, and if we say at the outset we’re riding 50 miles at 20 mph we’ll drop you if you said you could do that and can’t. Before dropping a rider we will be sure that they’re OK and not keeping up due to an issue they’re having - mechanical or physical.

In other instances, if I’m out by myself or with a few others, and someone wants to join us, they’ll usually ask if we’re good with it. If they can hang or aren’t riding dangerously or doing stupid stuff, I’m fine with it. Often we might know who is asking anyway. If someone just latches on without asking, then it’s a bit weird and not good etiquette and I’ll intentionally drop them.

I'm a long time bike commuter and it happens all the time. Someone passes me at a light and i jump on their wheel. The same happens when I pass someone at a light. No big deal.

It’s dangerous if they don’t know you are doing that. When you’re behind them it’s harder to see any hazards on/in the road unless they warn you, for example. Also dangerous if you don’t know them and their ability.

The road belongs to everybody. You need to be able to think on the fly. If you don't like someone riding on your wheel, slow down and get on his/her wheel. Problem solved.

Don't know why you're getting downvotes. It's a good question This would be very rare running, but is much more common in cycling. I think it comes down to the fact that drafting provides such a big effect in cycling, so riding near someone else can sometimes be more of a "physics" thing than a "social" thing.

Still, it can be rude depending on how close the person was, how long they were there etc. There are a lot of rude/oblivious riders.

Very common in the New York area, I find it makes the ride a little more fun. I'm not sure how i would feel about it if I was out on some lonely country road and someone started drafting off me.

What makes you think it's no big deal? If you did that with me without asking if it was OK if you sucked on my wheel, I would be dropping you.

Do you think it's OK when you're running down the street or in the park and someone gets up behind you and starts running with you without asking? Are you good with drivers tailgating you? Cycling is no different.

Not completely weird, as already has been stated, much more common in cycling where the advantages of drafting are quite significant. Would it have been nice to get some kind of acknowledgement or heads up? Well, yes. A couple miles in cycles would be 6 minutes if you were riding 20 mph, so it is not a lot of time. Still, if it were me, I would give an indication I was going to 'hitch on' for a coupe miles, and thank for the draft when I peeled off.

It's also more difficult to pull up along side someone and have a conversation on a bike at speed. One should at least make sure everyone knows you're there, and, as several have noted above, don't be so close rider's you don't know as to present a hazard.

I've been on both side of this and it's an uncommon thing.

I do the running equivalent of this all the time. Basically, I think that training plans are beyond boring and don't care for them at all, so I run easy miles most days until I run into some dude running faster than me and just do his workout with him, no matter what it is. It's a foolproof plan if you live in a busy area. Every run is a potential adventure. My fitness has shot through the roof since I started doing this.

If people do it to me, and I don't care, why would i think others would? This is really common on my route probably because it is all commuters. The person drafting is the one who is at risk since if they hit my wheel, they go down, not me.

Absolutely. The person drafting is the one who is at risk since if they hit the wheel, they go down. the guy in front does not. But since it all starts at stop lights and the guy behind who isn't stopped gets in the lead, you know the guy sitting at the light is going to try and hang on. It also depends on what is being ridden. If i'm on my commuter and i jump on a kitted out roadie or an e-bike, i know it's going to be damn hard to stick. but hey, it adds some spice to the ride in.

This take^

etiquette wise he should’ve announced himself and offered to work if it was for longer than a few minutes.

These encounters are, in my opinion, the weirdest part of cycling culture. Along side e-bikers racing normal cyclists and feeling proud of themselves.