A cycling type question

[Allblackdup]

As has been said above I do wish more motorists were cyclists and probably visa versa so there was more awareness but also more respect between those on 2 wheels and 4.

On my commute there is only one small stretch of road (say 500 yards) and it has a small narrow bicycle lane but even when there's very little traffic all the cars seem to think it's fine to drive down or stop in traffic in the bicycle lane.

I am in no position to go arguing with a car so the best I can do is stop and start with the cars or get off and walk up the pavement to the point where I turn off the main road.

Very frustrating!!

[Benbay001]

Its Youtube's population of militant cyclists that boil my piss! fk! Behave like a normal cyclist and you wont get people passing you in obscure places. Some drivers are tts, no need to beat on their windscreen at traffic lights because they didnt give you room to filter through! fk, i could create a whole essay on the population of militant cyclists using youtube.

[will_]

Johnnytheboy said:

A couple of weeks ago, I was forced to a halt by cyclists coming at me two abreast round a corner on a fairly narrow lane. I _could_ have squeezed past but no doubt would have got some abuse for doing so, instead I had to hit the brakes hard enough to upset my dog in the back a bit, so they could continue in their formation. I personally don't think that's reasonable road behaviour.

At least some of them thanked me.... not.

What would you have done if the oncoming traffic had been a car instead?

[OMNIO]

will_ said:

What would you have done if the oncoming traffic had been a car instead?

Its funny all this 'what if those 2 cyclists was a car' and 'you can overtake a car traveling at 10mph why not 2 bikes'

People seem to forget that a car cannot choose how wide it is. Two cyclists can choose to ride single file or 2 abreast. The reason cyclists riding 2 abreast and not reverting to single file annoys so many people is that the cyclists have made a consious desision to get in the way and ultmately hold people up.

[Garlick]

ewenm said:

It's a shame that not all motorists are cyclists too though - then we might see a little more appreciation of others from the extremists in both camps.

True, but we do have a nice select place of our own to hang out on here, don't want all and sundry coming in to our cycling section

[Steve_F]

When you come up behind a group of cyclists 4 abreast it may not be the case that they are cycling together. Could easily be two group out on a training ride where the fast group has caught the slow group. They have every right to overtake too, it just takes longer than it would in a car.

It still amazes me how a lot of drivers will take risks passing cyclists. A lot of them don't seem to be able to judge how quick a bike is moving and where they can pull back in. It also seems that if they get caught out they will react by pulling in to their own side where the cyclist is. A car to car crash isn't going to be fun but at least all occupants should survive, pulling back over and hitting someone on a bike isn't going to end well.

I cycle with a club, we do ride 2 abreast and will pull into single file where it is appropriate. I will not pull back in if I think it is an unsafe opportunity for the driver to pass. I've seen guys in the club moving to single file on a blind bend and the driver taking that as an invite to pass. I try to let drivers know if they can overtake if I'm at the front of a bunch and can see further away than them.

Trying to force someone around with 1.5+ tonnes of metal just isn't on. If someone was walking in your way on the street you wouldn't push them would you?

[ewenm]

OMNIO said:

People seem to forget that a car cannot choose how wide it is. Two cyclists can choose to ride single file or 2 abreast. The reason cyclists riding 2 abreast and not reverting to single file annoys so many people is that the cyclists have made a consious desision to get in the way and ultmately hold people up.

They might have made a decision to hold up traffic, or they might have made the decision to put the experienced cyclist on the outside providing some level of protection to an inexperienced rider on the inside, or they might have experienced cars squeezing through against oncoming traffic when the cyclists are single-file so positioned themselves to make drivers think properly about the overtake.

What looks like willful obstruction to a driver might be defensive/protective riding for the cyclists.

I was in the Lake District all weekend, driving the narrow twisty roads up there, and frequently came up behind cyclists. I was sadly unsurprised to see that the general behaviour by cars overtaking them was significantly worse than that of the cyclsits themselves. It seemed that most drivers had the attitude that they "must get past NOW" regardless of oncoming traffic, bends, junctions. Waiting for a decent overtaking opportunity rarely cost me more than a minute and I was soon back behind one of the risky overtakers. I understand the attitude of the few militant cyclists more than I understand the attitude of the risky overtakers.

[BoRED S2upid]

Maximum of 2 side by side any more and you would be quite within your right to throw something or blast your horn it says so in the highway code in the small print

[blearyeyedboy]

Steve_F said:

I try to let drivers know if they can overtake if I'm at the front of a bunch and can see further away than them.

I agree with everything else you say. But if you signalled to me, I'd stay right back until I can see it's safe to overtake with my own eyes. No offence meant, but I think that's safer than possibly misinterpreting the signals of a cyclist I don't know.

[grgrgray]

flemke said:

IMO almost all cyclists do move over, once they become aware that a motor vehicle is now behind and would like to overtake. On a bike, it's no fun to have breathing down your neck a car that might attempt a dodgy overtake at any moment. If you're cycling at high-teens or greater speed, there's enough aero noise to mask the sound of most cars that would be following behind. A polite toot on the horn should never be a problem, for either driver or cyclist. When the cyclist becomes aware, normally he will pull over, if only for self-preservation.
In the major cycling nations on the Continent, it is common for an approaching driver to toot for a cyclist. Almost invariably, the toot is intended both as a friendly caution and as recognition and encouragement to the cyclist. Those intentions would be opposed to the horn's frequent meaning in the UK: "Hey, you - get the fu<k out of my way!" (Please note that none of those words has more than one syllable.)
Obviously, when a cyclist is made aware of a following vehicle and yet refuses to budge, that's a different story.
One could ask, "Why can't cyclists ride single file constantly?" The answer to that might be, "Because they're waiting for that practice to be demonstrated by car passengers' traveling for hours without speaking to each other."

A polite toot? You're joking right, I politely tooted a pair of cyclists I was following recently on a country lane and just got a load of verbal from him as I want past. Had me reaching for my false goatey until I remembered i'm as soft as ste.

[will_]

OMNIO said:

will_ said:

What would you have done if the oncoming traffic had been a car instead?

Its funny all this 'what if those 2 cyclists was a car' and 'you can overtake a car traveling at 10mph why not 2 bikes'

People seem to forget that a car cannot choose how wide it is. Two cyclists can choose to ride single file or 2 abreast. The reason cyclists riding 2 abreast and not reverting to single file annoys so many people is that the cyclists have made a consious desision to get in the way and ultmately hold people up.

Even when passing a single cyclist, a good driver will leave a decent gap by crossing into the other carriageway if required. On that basis, passing a cyclist in single file or two abreast should make no difference at all to the overtake.

In the instance I quoted above, I was highlighting that if the driver had encountered another car, then he (and his dog) may well have been more than a little upset.

[Chris71]

Pig Skill said:

My daily commute is along a twisty B road. It is also a popular choice for cyclists - not a problem; share and share alike.

What really scrapes my balls is when a group of cyclists are happly cycling along in their tight little outfits parralel to eachother creating what is sometimes a 4 deep obstacle to pass.

Am i legally wrong for thinking that they should be in single file and are almost asking for a clipping or are they allowed to travel in said formation?

I'll start by saying I agree that cycling in a big group (peleton?) is just a bad idea on the open road, but... It may actually be harder to get past them safely if they're cycling single file. Say, they're four abreast they'll take up a quarter of the length of road they would in single file. The danger in single file is that people will try and squeeze past in the gap between the long, thin line of cyclists and the oncoming traffic, rather than waiting for a clear space to go past all of them in one go. And that has the potential to go badly wrong.

Edited by Chris71 on Wednesday 11th May 17:18

[Johnnytheboy]

will_ said:

Johnnytheboy said:

A couple of weeks ago, I was forced to a halt by cyclists coming at me two abreast round a corner on a fairly narrow lane. I _could_ have squeezed past but no doubt would have got some abuse for doing so, instead I had to hit the brakes hard enough to upset my dog in the back a bit, so they could continue in their formation. I personally don't think that's reasonable road behaviour.

At least some of them thanked me.... not.

What would you have done if the oncoming traffic had been a car instead?

I would have had to stop.

I wouldn't have had to stop for a single line of bikes. A car would have been further over than this bunch of bikes who were taking more of the road than a car would have done.

And the driver of a car would most likely have thanked me. Unlike any of these ~8 bikes.

[Johnnytheboy]

will_ said:

Even when passing a single cyclist, a good driver will leave a decent gap by crossing into the other carriageway if required. On that basis, passing a cyclist in single file or two abreast should make no difference at all to the overtake.

By the same rationale, a good cyclist will aim not to cycle two abreast with another when cars are trying to pass, in order to give the drivers the opportunity to pass him or her more widely, surely?

[Stu R]

Note to self: Don't annoy BlairOut.

[ewenm]

Johnnytheboy said:

will_ said:

Even when passing a single cyclist, a good driver will leave a decent gap by crossing into the other carriageway if required. On that basis, passing a cyclist in single file or two abreast should make no difference at all to the overtake.

By the same rationale, a good cyclist will aim not to cycle two abreast with another when cars are trying to pass, in order to give the drivers the opportunity to pass him or her more widely, surely?

Possibly, but I gave two possible reasons cyclists will ride two abreast above.

[MC Bodge]

I've cycled on the road and off-road for years, but I no longer enjoy cycling on the road.

The attitude of many people driving cars towards cyclists is horrendous:
General selfishness, a sense of detachment, invincibility and a presumably 'de-humanised' view of people riding bikes adds up to a dangerous experience for somebody taking to the roads on a bicycle.

I've lost all patience with the sort of W*nk*rs who cut-up, squeeze past (instead of waiting *slightly*) or drive alongside in heavy traffic with their front wing centimetres from my pedal. There have been numerous times when I have been hit/knocked off by cars.

These instances often happen at times when forcing past offers no advantage to the car driver anyway.

WHY DO YOU DO IT? REALLY, WHY??

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 11th May 22:26

[BliarOut]

Stu R said:

Note to self: Don't annoy BlairOut.

I self censored my comments about his first born

[geeteeaye]

BliarOut said:

Stu R said:

Note to self: Don't annoy BlairOut.

I self censored my comments about his first born

I hope to see BliarOut on the road sometime, suffice to say the vigilante cyclists on this thread have only served to reinforce my hatred of the bum chum costumed 'pro' cyclists, who can only go on the road with matching lyrcra shorts/vest/helmet/water bottle/helmet, their choice I suppose.

[Mr2Mike]

Deluded said:

You do realize that they are making an obstacle no bigger than a car?

Yes, I often find cars driving along in two separate parallel halves that randomly wobble left and right.