Surrey Cycling

[wobert]

I was down in Surrey earlier this week, so planning ahead for having the evening free yesterday, I put my road bike in the boot so I could escape the rigours of work and get some miles in.

As I was staying in Crawley, I thought I'd take a loop in that covers both Leith and Box Hill, c40 miles.

Have to say I was flabbergasted at the standard of driving on the leafy back lanes heading towards Leith and Box Hill.

Aggressive drivers hell bent on getting to their destination at any cost. Overtaking on blind bends, passing way too close and generally being impatient and pushy.

Is this normal driver behaviour in this area of the country, or a general resentment of bike riders?

I live in north Wales and don't see this behaviour on the routes I do.

Btw Box Hill was a bit of a disappointment, not very steep nor long :-), but Leith south to north was quite enjoyable, a bit like my local hill :-)

[Carrot]

I think there is a growing general resentment because of how some cyclists behave. And I agree, and say this as a cyclist before anyone starts getting arsey...

[okgo]

Surrey (wealthy Surrey) is full of NIMBY types

[Black can man]

The little Swiss hill right opposite box is a much nicer climb.

[darth_pies]

Mixture of the driving incompetence you see everywhere (not knowing how much space to leave or knowing how to overtake) magnified by narrow lanes, general aggression from people in a hurry who hate ANYTHING that slows them by 1mph .....and a growing resentment in the area from motorists about the volume of cyclists on the roads around the Surrey Hills since 2012.

Expect the latter to peak next week when most of surrey hasn't been able to go to the shops in the car on Sunday 31st July due to RideLondon....

[CoolC]

I stay down at Windsor now and again with work. If the weather's nice I take my bike.

But as you found out, riding on the roads around there is not as nice as other parts of the country (read as further north) so I tend to go and ride around the great park and spend as little time on the roads as I can.

A close aggressive pass up here in Lincolnshire is an exception in a ride, down there it is almost the norm

[neenaw]

CoolC said:

I stay down at Windsor now and again with work. If the weather's nice I take my bike.

But as you found out, riding on the roads around there is not as nice as other parts of the country (read as further north) so I tend to go and ride around the great park and spend as little time on the roads as I can.

A close aggressive pass up here in Lincolnshire is an exception in a ride, down there it is almost the norm

If you're in Windsor, try heading out the back of Windsor and you can do a nice loop out to Twyford and back.
Once you're away from Windsor and onto the back roads there's much less traffic and it's not a bad ride.

[p1stonhead]

wobert said:

I was down in Surrey earlier this week, so planning ahead for having the evening free yesterday, I put my road bike in the boot so I could escape the rigours of work and get some miles in.

As I was staying in Crawley, I thought I'd take a loop in that covers both Leith and Box Hill, c40 miles.

Have to say I was flabbergasted at the standard of driving on the leafy back lanes heading towards Leith and Box Hill.

Aggressive drivers hell bent on getting to their destination at any cost. Overtaking on blind bends, passing way too close and generally being impatient and pushy.

Is this normal driver behaviour in this area of the country, or a general resentment of bike riders?

I live in north Wales and don't see this behaviour on the routes I do.

Btw Box Hill was a bit of a disappointment, not very steep nor long :-), but Leith south to north was quite enjoyable, a bit like my local hill :-)

I live in this area.

Whilst I like to think im patient, the sheer number of cyclists around can make it frustrating sometimes.

After the olympics when the route came down here, the whole area seemed to get cycling fever. Now every weekend there 'teams' of 20-30 cyclists on nearly every route around here in their team colours etc - i guess a lot are semi-pros training for events? To be honest it causes huge amounts of congestion sometimes and they often ride as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

I think its just down to sheer quantity of cyclists which annoy people. No excuse for how some people drive around them though.

I personally like the organised events they do and am looking forward to Sunday

[wobert]

Thanks for the feedback guys, looks like it's the norm rather than the exception then!

I'll still put the bike in the car, regardless of where I'm heading, an evening out on the lanes is better than sitting in a bar or hotel room.

Makes me appreciate the local roads around where I live, as another has posted, a close pass is a "once every ten ride" occurrence. :-)

[Gren]

I don't think it's anything specifically aimed at cyclists. The roads are just too crammed full which creates frustration which certain drivers respond badly to. The M25 journey to and from work every day shows me that the incompetence and aggression is there when there are no cyclists around.

That said, I ride those roads often at the weekend and have never noticed any bad reactions from drivers. Maybe I'm just used to it...

[okgo]

p1stonhead said:

I live in this area.

Whilst I like to think im patient, the sheer number of cyclists around can make it frustrating sometimes.

After the olympics when the route came down here, the whole area seemed to get cycling fever. Now every weekend there 'teams' of 20-30 cyclists on nearly every route around here in their team colours etc - i guess a lot are semi-pros training for events? To be honest it causes huge amounts of congestion sometimes and they often ride as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

I think its just down to sheer quantity of cyclists which annoy people. No excuse for how some people drive around them though.

I personally like the organised events they do and am looking forward to Sunday

I like to think I'm patient but the sheer number of cars is frustrating all the time.

[944fan]

Its the same where I am and there aren't huge numbers of cyclists. Some tt nearly knocked me off at the weekend. It was a 30 mph road through Woburn grounds. I was doing 20mph+ (30mph limit) and he decided to overtake me on a blind corner, of course a car was coming the other way and he swerved back and nearly hit me. He gained about 5 seconds on his journey and nearly wiped me out in the process.

I was so angry I chased after him but was delayed by the huge cattle grids that you would have to be mad to ride over.

The general attitude to cyclists in this country is fking terrible.

[ReallyReallyGood]

It's cyclist-fatigue on the part of the driver. So many cyclists and cycling events are arranged in the area that it is easy to see why some drivers are a bit pee'd off when they see yet another.

[p1stonhead]

okgo said:

p1stonhead said:

I live in this area.

Whilst I like to think im patient, the sheer number of cyclists around can make it frustrating sometimes.

After the olympics when the route came down here, the whole area seemed to get cycling fever. Now every weekend there 'teams' of 20-30 cyclists on nearly every route around here in their team colours etc - i guess a lot are semi-pros training for events? To be honest it causes huge amounts of congestion sometimes and they often ride as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

I think its just down to sheer quantity of cyclists which annoy people. No excuse for how some people drive around them though.

I personally like the organised events they do and am looking forward to Sunday

I like to think I'm patient but the sheer number of cars is frustrating all the time.

Well yes that too.

My 20 mile commute nearly always tops an hour on the way home from work at 5.30pm.

Its 25 minutes in the morning at 6am before most are up and about.

[Pachydermus]

p1stonhead said:

as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

if you're overtaking safely and using the opposing lane like you're supposed to then why does it matter how many there are? In fact if they're 3 abreast then your overtaking distance is less than 1/3 that of 3 in a row so surely it's easier to overtake them?

[AyBee]

okgo said:

p1stonhead said:

I live in this area.

Whilst I like to think im patient, the sheer number of cyclists around can make it frustrating sometimes.

After the olympics when the route came down here, the whole area seemed to get cycling fever. Now every weekend there 'teams' of 20-30 cyclists on nearly every route around here in their team colours etc - i guess a lot are semi-pros training for events? To be honest it causes huge amounts of congestion sometimes and they often ride as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

I think its just down to sheer quantity of cyclists which annoy people. No excuse for how some people drive around them though.

I personally like the organised events they do and am looking forward to Sunday

I like to think I'm patient but the sheer number of cars is frustrating all the time.

Quite!

[p1stonhead]

Pachydermus said:

p1stonhead said:

as a peloton 3 abreast which makes passing nigh on impossible.

if you're overtaking safely and using the opposing lane like you're supposed to then why does it matter how many there are? In fact if they're 3 abreast then your overtaking distance is less than 1/3 that of 3 in a row so surely it's easier to overtake them?

You clearly dont know how wide some of these roads are. There is often only 1.5 lanes.

These are a couple near me which they use constantly. Many others are similar. You cannot pass;

[Pachydermus]

p1stonhead said:

You clearly dont know how wide some of these roads are. There is often only 1.5 lanes.

my apologies, I was presuming (yes, I know) there was some common sense being applied by the cyclists in question. Nevermind overtaking, 3 abreast on the roads pictured is going to put you in conflict with oncoming traffic.

[Fluffsri]

Interesting read as Im off to Box Hill tomorrow

[okgo]

p1stonhead said:

You clearly dont know how wide some of these roads are. There is often only 1.5 lanes.

These are a couple near me which they use constantly. Many others are similar. You cannot pass;

I would say that its not the majority riding like that, though I do know what you mean.

I had words with two clowns in Richmond Park last night riding uphill at a stupidly slow pace, but they were so wide I had to go into the other lane to pass, nuts. I was going to undertake to prove a point, but thought better of it. I was on a bike.