Check out the following youtube video for an animation which illustrates the effects of drafting. in the video they refer to it as slip-streaming.
Every bicyclist has to overcome wind resistance. Most recreational bicycles in which the rider sits up have very poor aerodynamics. While newer bicycles are being designed with better aerodynamics in mind, the human body is simply not well designed to slice through the air.
What is aerodynamics? The word comes from two Greek words: aerios, concerning the air, and dynamis, which means force. Aerodynamics is the study of forces and the resulting motion of objects through the air. Judging from the story of Daedalus and Icarus, humans have been interested in aerodynamics and flying for thousands of years, although flying in a heavier-than-air machine has been possible only in the last hundred years. Aerodynamics affects the motion of a large airliner,a model rocket, a beach ball thrown near the shore, or a kite flying high overhead. The curveball thrown by big league baseball pitchers gets its curve from aerodynamics.
Aerodynamics have preoccupied bicycle designers since the early part of this century.

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