Why you shouldn't give cyclist a wide berth when passing

Why you shouldn't give cyclist a wide berth when passing

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Discussion

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
julian64 said:
I suppose the point of the post was that it was a demonstration to me that there is a 'section' of cyclist behaviour which is unlike anything else you find on the road.

I've lived in my neck of the wood for nearly twenty years and due to its location ash, kent there are large quantities of times you will be going down small country roads behind caravans, tractors, hay bailers, horses. Its all expected and part of living in a small country roads area.

I've never met a pack of horse riders who didn't pull into the next layby, and thank you for creeping past so as not to alarm the horses.

I've never met a tractor driver or someone herding sheep who didn't put an arm up to thank you for waiting. Tractors often hold up cars but you can see them trying to get to the next field so no problem

These guys didn't have to travel at 10mph, they could've pulled over at any time and I would've been passed in a flash. I've done this countless times on a bike its simple just to pull into a driveway for a few secs, you don't even have to take your feet off the pedals.

The 'I can hold you up and bugger you' attitude is particularly peculiar to some types of cyclists usually the lycra clad ones. Its an aggressive attitude which is contrary to MOST road users.

perhaps I should say that I kinda like sorts cars so am unlikely to be the sort who just stays behind for no reason. I do draw the line however at roaring past with a few inches to spare even if they are annoying me.
Should a Micra driving at 40MPH everywhere be forced to pull into a driveway when they hold me up in the TVR?

julian64

Original Poster:

14,317 posts

253 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
WinstonWolf said:
Should a Micra driving at 40MPH everywhere be forced to pull into a driveway when they hold me up in the TVR?
Well we wouldn't be having this conversation if it was 40mph, or if the cyclists in question had no choice.

The fact that you defend them is what's worrying me.

Just as an aside I have pulled over for a number of cars in my TVR, and my TVR's pretty fast. On a dry day I am overtaking cars on my way home. If its raining and/or ice, pretty much anyone is waived past cos my visibility is poor and my traction is worse compared to any German car trying to make progress. I don't make it difficult for them as I love my car

g7jhp

6,959 posts

237 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
Hol said:
g7jhp said:
newoldfart said:
And nobody has mentioned yet that cyclists don,t pay road tax or v.e.d or whatever else you like to call it.
They have paid because they all have cars. Bikes are just another toy!
Yup, And its usually a cyclist that mentions it first, in a thread that includes words like 'nobody has mentioned VED yet'.

laugh


But, on the other hand nobody on this thread has mentioned that ALL drivers are 100% on their mobile phones whenever they are trying to overtake a cyclist.
(Do you see what I did there? wink )
Funny the one time I can remember almost getting knocked off was when I was approaching a road island, which means cars can't fit through and I heard a screech of tyres behind me. Looked behind to see a woman with mobile in hand looking very white as though she hadn't been concentrating on the road.

You do ride more defensively and cautiously when you've aware of these situations and try to get off busier roads as soon as possible.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
julian64 said:
WinstonWolf said:
Should a Micra driving at 40MPH everywhere be forced to pull into a driveway when they hold me up in the TVR?
Well we wouldn't be having this conversation if it was 40mph, or if the cyclists in question had no choice.

The fact that you defend them is what's worrying me.

Just as an aside I have pulled over for a number of cars in my TVR, and my TVR's pretty fast. On a dry day I am overtaking cars on my way home. If its raining and/or ice, pretty much anyone is waived past cos my visibility is poor and my traction is worse compared to any German car trying to make progress. I don't make it difficult for them as I love my car
If you were stuck behind them for fifty minutes I wouldn't defend them, I'm not convinced it happened as you said...

I'm sure I can speak for most cyclists when I say I'd rather cars passed me safely than sat behind me for an eternity.

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
Calling BS on this. 8 miles? No chance.

Dashcam footage?
Google Phone tracker data?

brrapp

3,701 posts

161 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
WinstonWolf said:
Should a Micra driving at 40MPH everywhere be forced to pull into a driveway when they hold me up in the TVR?
Actually, yes. If you read the original post, this was on a single track road with passing places. The highway code specifically states that slower moving vehicles should pull into passing places to allow faster vehicles approaching from behind to pass. I live 12 miles from the nearest town on a single track road, I usually average about 50mph on the trip to town. Most locals whether in a car or tractor or on a bike will pull in to let me pass as I will for the occasional driver who is faster than me. The problem tends to be at the weekend when non_locals come here for a scenic drive or ride and completely ignore the highway code. Although I cycle a fair bit myself and try to extend a bit of courtesy towards them, I find the lycra clad heroes are by far the worst and like the OP have been stuck behind a group of tts for the entire length of the road on several occasions.

Edited by brrapp on Wednesday 24th August 09:40


Edited by brrapp on Wednesday 24th August 09:42

Pooh

3,692 posts

252 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
The highway code states that if you are on a single track road and a faster vehicle catches up with you, you should pull into a passing place and let them pass, this applies to all vehicles from TVRs to bicycles so there is no excuse for holding somebody up.
Anybody who has driven much in the west of Scotland should be familiar with this and with the exception of a few numpties (usually tourists) it works very well.
Edit: Beaten to it by Brrapp

Edited by Pooh on Wednesday 24th August 09:39


Edited by Pooh on Wednesday 24th August 09:39

walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
julian64 said:
I suppose the point of the post was that it was a demonstration to me that there is a 'section' of cyclist behaviour which is unlike anything else you find on the road.
Yes, of course. Selfishness is reserved exclusively for cyclists. rolleyes

There are tts using every type of conveyance.

Where's the link to this 8 mile road?

CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
It's a pointless debate as this didn't happen.

A couple of cyclists may have held the OP up for a mile or so but not for 48 minutes - utter garbage.

I can only assume these profiles/threads are set up to bait people into some kind of discussion for sport

Move on people, nothing to see here


walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
CS Garth said:
I can only assume these profiles/threads are set up to bait people into some kind of discussion for sport
Don't worry. Julian's anti-cyclist trolling is pretty well known.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
julian64 said:
So I found the other thread interesting but infuriating. Always try to be courteous to cyclists and motorcyclist as I do both myself

However going down a country lane (with passing places) for cars for nearly eight miles on Saturday in my car. In front of me were two lycra clad cyclists drinking from water bottles, eating what looked like mars bars and generally chatting with each other while enjoying the countryside air.

They were completely aware I was behind them and spent the entire eight miles at about ten miles an hour, one of them demonstrating their hands off handlebar technique for about a mile. At no time did either of them think to pull into a passing place to let me through.

There were two occasions early on when the road started to widen when I could've made an overtake manoeuvre but I would have come very close to the cyclist to do so.

If I had known there would be eight miles involved I would've gone for it early on. Gawd only knows what people with that cycling attitude must create in a busy part of London.

After that little meeting I'm now of the opinion that cyclists should not have equal access to the road as cars.
8 miles, I just don't believe you. This is re-enforced by one of the cyclists riding with his hands off of the bars for 'about a mile'.

Also, cycling is one of the fastest ways to get around London.

HTH

macky17

2,210 posts

188 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
CS Garth said:
It's a pointless debate as this didn't happen.

A couple of cyclists may have held the OP up for a mile or so but not for 48 minutes - utter garbage.

I can only assume these profiles/threads are set up to bait people into some kind of discussion for sport

Move on people, nothing to see here
Even if it was only a mile that's still 6 minutes - a pretty long time if you sit and time it. The ops argument would still apply. As someone else said, I'd have been past one way or another long before that.

*Al*

3,830 posts

221 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
Had a cyclist a couple of days ago cause a queue as a car behind wouldn't overtake when safe to, after cars past him it was my 'turn', I gave him plenty of space (as I always give space) and yet when I looked in the rear view mirror, the idiot was shaking his head. Some cyclist are just looking for something to moan at.

TwistingMyMelon

6,385 posts

204 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
Bugger me OP, you are a dull barstard

If you are going to come on PH and lie, least make it vaguely interesting, maybe get drunk and buy an 944 on Ebay, perhaps tune a 335d or loiter outside dry cleaners for ex touring car racers but lieing about being stuck @ 10mph for an hour is just bloody dull

brrapp

3,701 posts

161 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
walm said:
Where's the link to this 8 mile road?
I can't believe there are still people on here doubting that such a road exhausts. I'm not the OP, but here's a link to my road, I'd be grateful if you could point out any places that you might pass a couple of cyclists riding two abreast.(not counting the places where you could drive off road and pass them on the grass as I've been forced to do a few times.)

RobM77

35,349 posts

233 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
newoldfart said:
And nobody has mentioned yet that cyclists don,t pay road tax or v.e.d or whatever else you like to call it.
  • VED is a levy on emissions. Cyclists, horses and electric cars etc therefore don't pay it.
  • VED is not road tax; there is no such thing as a road tax. Roads are a public benefit paid for by general taxation. Where I live we don't have pavements, so roads are how everyone walks places! They're not exclusively for cars or in fact anyone - they are for us all to share with equal rights.
  • Most cyclists will also have a car. For most people, cycling is a sport and a way to keep fit, like running. This especially applies to the lycra brigade as people like to call them; because generally speaking, if someone's wearing dedicated cycling clothes and wearing shoes that you can barely walk in, they're not riding to the shops, funnily enough!
In a nation of coffee slurping, Dorito eating, smelly fat people we should applaud cycling, not deride it. I find it shocking that many people not only insult people who are getting off their arse and burning calories, they actually expect them to unclip, come to a halt, climb off their bikes and wave a car through as if it's somehow superior to them. If a cyclist is all over the road or riding two abreast, then yes, that's wrong and perhaps a friendly toot of the horn will pull them back to where they should be (they may not be able to hear that you're there). If they're cycling along normally then in virtually all circumstances it should be possible to overtake and if you can't, then you should take a look at your driving, and in most situations, not blame it on the cyclist. I'm not denying the OP's story could be true, but as I said before, in 22 years of driving and nearly 30 years of cycling I've never come across a cyclist holding a car up for more than a few hundred metres.

If the OP's story is true, then sure, if I was the cyclist in question I'd pull in after half a mile or so! To have a car behind you for that long is extremely weird. It's merely the arrogant and entitled attitude that I'm responding to.

walm

10,609 posts

201 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
macky17 said:
Even if it was only a mile that's still 6 minutes - a pretty long time if you sit and time it.
Absolutely.
I strongly doubt any cyclist on PH would condone cyclists behaving like that.
It is selfish and contrary to the highway code, not to mention unpleasant having someone up your over-sized lycra-clad arse for that long.

Sadly selfish people exist. And some of them choose to cycle. (Some of them also choose to drive or even BOTH!)

brrapp

3,701 posts

161 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
brrapp said:
walm said:
Where's the link to this 8 mile road?
I can't believe there are still people on here doubting that such a road exhausts. I'm not the OP, but here's a link to my road, I'd be grateful if you could point out any places that you might pass a couple of cyclists riding two abreast.(not counting the places where you could drive off road and pass them on the grass as I've been forced to do a few times.)
Sorry I haven't been able to upload the link to Google earth on this tablet (another disadvantage to living in the wilderness). Could someone please upload a link to an 8 mile piece of single track road somewhere in the UK? Just to appease the city dwellers who don't believe such a thing exists.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
RobM77 said:
  • VED is a levy on emissions. Cyclists, horses and electric cars etc therefore don't pay it.
  • VED is not road tax; there is no such thing as a road tax. Roads are a public benefit paid for by general taxation. Where I live we don't have pavements, so roads are how everyone walks places! They're not exclusively for cars or in fact anyone - they are for us all to share with equal rights.
  • Most cyclists will also have a car. For most people, cycling is a sport and a way to keep fit, like running. This especially applies to the lycra brigade as people like to call them; because generally speaking, if someone's wearing dedicated cycling clothes and wearing shoes that you can barely walk in, they're not riding to the shops, funnily enough!
In a nation of coffee slurping, Dorito eating, smelly fat people we should applaud cycling, not deride it. I find it shocking that many people not only insult people who are getting off their arse and burning calories, they actually expect them to unclip, come to a halt, climb off their bikes and wave a car through as if it's somehow superior to them. If a cyclist is all over the road or riding two abreast, then yes, that's wrong and perhaps a friendly toot of the horn will pull them back to where they should be (they may not be able to hear that you're there). If they're cycling along normally then in virtually all circumstances it should be possible to overtake and if you can't, then you should take a look at your driving, and in most situations, not blame it on the cyclist. I'm not denying the OP's story could be true, but as I said before, in 22 years of driving and nearly 30 years of cycling I've never come across a cyclist holding a car up for more than a few hundred metres.

If the OP's story is true, then sure, if I was the cyclist in question I'd pull in after half a mile or so! To have a car behind you for that long is extremely weird. It's merely the arrogant and entitled attitude that I'm responding to.
This is the nub of it. Self important salad dodgers (if we're going to generalise eh) with one hand on speed dial and the other flicking a fag butt out of the window. The sight of cyclists must truely annoy them, I get that from the 'insults' that they post up on PH, it's playground stuff. 'lycra boy' 'Lycrasists' 'Bradley Wiggins types' 'MAMILS' and so it goes on. One poster recently suggested I might look 'camp' in lycra, it's quite remarkable that all this nonsense is spouted over such a small bump in the road. As a motorist you are going to get held up with traffic, no matter what you drive/ride.

Last night there was a local club out and about. Their riding wasn't great and I must have followed them for 6 corners down a country lane. I could have squeezed past, just, but there was no rush. I thought of all the frothy posters on here and timed this 'massive inconvenience', after all it was the most I have been held up in a while.

72 seconds.

Get over yourselves.

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
quotequote all
yonex said:
RobM77 said:
  • VED is a levy on emissions. Cyclists, horses and electric cars etc therefore don't pay it.
  • VED is not road tax; there is no such thing as a road tax. Roads are a public benefit paid for by general taxation. Where I live we don't have pavements, so roads are how everyone walks places! They're not exclusively for cars or in fact anyone - they are for us all to share with equal rights.
  • Most cyclists will also have a car. For most people, cycling is a sport and a way to keep fit, like running. This especially applies to the lycra brigade as people like to call them; because generally speaking, if someone's wearing dedicated cycling clothes and wearing shoes that you can barely walk in, they're not riding to the shops, funnily enough!
In a nation of coffee slurping, Dorito eating, smelly fat people we should applaud cycling, not deride it. I find it shocking that many people not only insult people who are getting off their arse and burning calories, they actually expect them to unclip, come to a halt, climb off their bikes and wave a car through as if it's somehow superior to them. If a cyclist is all over the road or riding two abreast, then yes, that's wrong and perhaps a friendly toot of the horn will pull them back to where they should be (they may not be able to hear that you're there). If they're cycling along normally then in virtually all circumstances it should be possible to overtake and if you can't, then you should take a look at your driving, and in most situations, not blame it on the cyclist. I'm not denying the OP's story could be true, but as I said before, in 22 years of driving and nearly 30 years of cycling I've never come across a cyclist holding a car up for more than a few hundred metres.

If the OP's story is true, then sure, if I was the cyclist in question I'd pull in after half a mile or so! To have a car behind you for that long is extremely weird. It's merely the arrogant and entitled attitude that I'm responding to.
This is the nub of it. Self important salad dodgers (if we're going to generalise eh) with one hand on speed dial and the other flicking a fag butt out of the window. The sight of cyclists must truely annoy them, I get that from the 'insults' that they post up on PH, it's playground stuff. 'lycra boy' 'Lycrasists' 'Bradley Wiggins types' 'MAMILS' and so it goes on. One poster recently suggested I might look 'camp' in lycra, it's quite remarkable that all this nonsense is spouted over such a small bump in the road. As a motorist you are going to get held up with traffic, no matter what you drive/ride.

Last night there was a local club out and about. Their riding wasn't great and I must have followed them for 6 corners down a country lane. I could have squeezed past, just, but there was no rush. I thought of all the frothy posters on here and timed this 'massive inconvenience', after all it was the most I have been held up in a while.

72 seconds.

Get over yourselves.
Hang on, let's look at this laterally. Cyclists are to be thanked if you think about it, once you're past them you've got the road to yourself biggrin