[Closed] Is it me. Discipline on club runs?

I hope that's not a club run; if so, they need to sort themselves out.
Riding very inconsiderately there; a case for riding without due care and attention even...

looks like a triathletes day out.

Odd thing to film. Road riding with a headcam?

Lots of people video club runs.

I went out with a club that meet near Bristol a while ago and was shocked at the way they rode as a club. Never went out with them again.

Agreed. Poor riding and most will be car drivers not giving any thought to the bright sun on the horizon and glare off the damp road and how it will reduce the driver's visibility anyway. Self preservation innit....

What a bunch of cocks

I hope that's not a club run

What do you think it is, a group of people who have coincidentally caught each other up and ridden together?! Or do they have to have matching kit and a heightened level of snobbery to be a club?

Is it ok to ride like ****s if you're not a club?

Must be the slowest most disorganized club run ever .Nor exactly 2 nice line doing through and off up the inside and back down the outside of the line are they ?

What's riding in the centre of the road all about??
And still didn't change position after he was almost hit.
It's no wonder drivers get wound up ! What a pecker head !

I'm one of those MTBers that would have bitten over this a year or two ago..

Low sun, defensive positions on the road, and all shown to be completely the correct decision by the actions of the driver..

Agree with the above comments but, that elongated central refuge/divider is an awful piece of road design. Knowing you're going to have to wait just makes cars rush to overtake.

That is no way to be cycling along what looks to be a busy A road. Asking for trouble.

Save the wiggling, flailing of arms and yabbering for the back lanes, not the main roads....jeez

Are you all rider police?

You seem to prattling on about how others should ride out.

Take a break from the bikes guys, do something else for a while, you must be tired 🙄

sometimes, cyclists deserve all the shit they get.

Piss poor riding.
With the sun that low in the sky no way would I be ambling along all over the road, a tight group and probably singled out unless the group was big.
Would probably have my rear light on too (silly bright exposure thing) due to the low sun.

Sometimes my club rides can be a bit like that but I gave up correcting people after a new rider told me to eff-off after I told him to 'sit-in' as he was leaving a big gap to his left when 2-up so that everyone behind was forced to do the same to benefit from the tow. Now I just shake my head and get on with it. I do ride with another group of friends who are like a well oiled machine to the extent that I feel like the one who's likely to upset the flow but part of road riding is the group dynamic and when it works well it's great.
Michael Barry explains it better than I can [url= http://michaelbarry.ca/2011/11/the-group-ride-2/ ]http://michaelbarry.ca/2011/11/the-group-ride-2/[/url]

Meh.

Not very good cycling, not very good driving. But the driver is worse.

Club run discipline, neat lines, getting shouted at, shouting at others, pointing at things, 'the rules', crap car driving... all great reasons to give road riding a big miss IMHO 🙂

https://twitter.com/mtbtoursnigel/status/405763454713491456

looks like a triathletes day out.

😆

Mamils sunday run

I know the club runs I cut my teeth on as a lad we wouldn't have had enough ****ing breath to gabber on like that, too busy breathing through your arse as some 50 odd year old bloke effortlessly glided along on his ancient bike with full guards and saddlebag slowly breaking you till you dropped off the back in tears...

Think that is GGCC. Theyve not been around for long and have done a really good job attracting new cyclists into the fold but the downside of this is that they are not (or were not) that many experienced riders to provide guidance. I dont particularly like being next to their riders when racing but to be fair i can say that of a few other more established clubs too!

Of course it might not be them!

The guy that filmed the video sounds like a complete stroker judging by his other videos

Example. This looks like a common theme on the videos he posts. The car's indicating, moving into a gap, but he decides he's not slowing down for anyone and I feel he's actively looking for "near misses"

It's uphill, probably explains the pace (not the houses on the right and the guy stood up).

No room to pass even if singled out but a tight bunch on that road with the central bollard things. Still not sure why the guy was riding down the white line at the start.

I've seen our Saturday beginner ride end up like that. Basically we take all comers and some people wont be told how to ride in a group. Plenty of people avoid the ride for that reason and focus their weekend ride on the harder Sunday run. When the pace is up people fall into line (or off the back) when the pace is comfortable people weave and move up and down the bunch). Makes me cringe at times.

I'm not normally one to criticise cyclists behaviour, but that really is rubbish riding for a group ride. It might not have made any difference to other traffic in that particular clip, but it's not a safe or considerate way to ride in general.

I'd be tempted to argue the car driver is worse, but in all fairness it didn't actually ever get close to the cyclists (and didn't try to squeeze past later when it would have had enough space if the cyclists had been better organised), so it was largely a failure of anticipation rather than a disregard for the safety of the riders.

sometimes, cyclists deserve all the shit they get.

Not really. Sometimes [i]people[/i] deserve what they get.

I don't ride with a club anymore for many reasons but one of the thing that keeps me away from them is seeing stuff like this all the time around here.

It's the so called 'slower' groups who seem to have no discipline. Riding in big jumbles, allowing large gaps etc. from what I read on my local club websites these rides are supposed to be led in some fashion. When I started riding road bikes with a club years ago, you learned the craft fm more experienced riders or got made to feel very unwelcome. Does this happen these days? I doubt it.

The guy posting the videos is obviously a complete idiot and/or novice. In the above video the Honda indicated and gave him plenty of time to back off a bit yet he insists on carrying on regardless screaming his lungs out.

In the first video the groups all over the place, no cohesion at all.

Laughable

"A failure of anticipation"? Dies that include trying to overtake the cyclists by using the hatched area on the road? And there was never enough room to pass after that until the extra lane appears at the next junction.

I think it's good that the group has split up a bit so that any overtaking vehicle can pass a few riders and pull in without having to overtake the whole line at once. Shows a lot of consideration on the part of the cyclists.

Prior to the island the riding was terrible, unless that is a 1:4 gradient why can't they hold a line? Coming up to the island I can see why the guy went across to stop a car squeezing. Maybe it was at the start of the ride - sometimes a group can be disorganised at the start.

The group riding in the first vid is poor, not sure it matters relative to the car trying to pull in.

The second vid posted by BB is a disgrace, why can't some cyclists just share the road?

That is not a club ride.

looks like a triathletes day out.

I led our medium steady ride yesterday. Through and off for 40 miles with singling out where necessary. If riders are more than a handlebar width apart I will moan at them. You've got to look well-drilled if you want to command respect.

[quote=TiRed ]You've got to look well-drilled if you want to command respect.
The sad thing is, you're probably being serious.

Dies that include trying to overtake the cyclists by using the hatched area on the road?

The hatched area bordered by a broken white line? Why, what's wrong with that?

I think it's good that the group has split up a bit so that any overtaking vehicle can pass a few riders and pull in without having to overtake the whole line at once.

Not sure if being serious...

[quotesometimes, cyclists deserve all the shit they get.

Some do, what they dont realise is groups like this a effing it up for everybody else.

How long would that driver have to sit behind them at 15mph before somebody moved their fat ass out of the way. The driver did that out of fustration.

When I started riding road bikes with a club years ago, you learned the craft fm more experienced riders or got made to feel very unwelcome. Does this happen these days? I doubt it.

Problem is these days that everyone "learns" (or thinks they've learnt) from reading mags, websites, watching the Tour or whatever and therefore they take any kind of criticism or advice very poorly.

You're right, back when I started road riding I learnt very quickly from clubmates what to do and what not to do - the advice was sometimes a bit blunt but always meant with the best of intentions and I learnt a lot from them. Try offering that kind of advice now and you get a swift eff off in return for your troubles. It's just cringeworthy watching that group in the video. 🙁

I witnessed a very similar display of Lycra-clad bell-endery on the commute home earlier this week. A gaggle of roadies, obviously a club run, spread across the road, so that no-one could pass them, as they casually chatted to each other about EPO, or lobotomies, or pasta, or arse cream, coping with boredom, or whatever roadies bang on to each other about. This was on a busy A Road, after dark, at rush hour.

I was heading the other way, and despaired of the fact that everyone stuck behind the bunch of inconsiderate strokers will lump us all in with nobbers like that!

I'm working my way through the videos of the guy Boardin Bob posted.
I really shouldn't laugh but when he starts his trademark roar I just can't help it....

scotroutes - Member
TiRed » You've got to look well-drilled if you want to command respect.
The sad thing is, you're probably being serious.

I think it's pretty obvious that drivers don't like cyclists who are all over the place.

A lot of clubs are ace, so swift efficient and tight. I used to point them out on club runs to newcomers, but it didn't sink in.
Ended up leaving and going solo.
Like above I found I was seen as a nuisance and just simply sneered at for things like pointing out a group was three abreast with the third on the central white line whilst they caught up on the latest gossip.
But now I reckon it's because a lot of cyclists don't feel happy riding close to each other, wether side by side or wheel to wheel.

But now I reckon it's because a lot of cyclists don't feel happy riding close to each other, wether side by side or wheel to wheel.

This^

But now I reckon it's because a lot of cyclists don't feel happy riding close to each other, wether side by side or wheel to wheel.

Such cyclists should ride by themselves. I've got nothing against them going on group rides and being prepared to learn, but not those who go on group rides with poor riding etiquette and an attitude.

Such cyclists should ride by themselves. I've got nothing against them going on group rides and being prepared to learn, but not those who go on group rides with poor riding etiquette and an attitude.

A lot of them don't even know they've got poor riding etiquette hence the attitude.

Could be worse your club members could be on Country File overtaking on solid white lines but no one would do that would they?

I think that's self perpetuating too. People don't want to ride too close because they can't hold a line, so no one wants to ride close to them, because they can't hold a line, and so on.

I know I've got friends I'll happily sit a couple of inches beside with no issues, and others I'd not consider going within a foot of!

We take beginners and new club riders (and triathletes 😉 ) and, regardless of fitness, they ride in the beginners group. Once they can hold a line and ride comfortably in a group with good communication they move to more experienced and faster groups depending on fitness level. Sometimes people simply don't know what to do and are thankful of the advice. I've not had anyone take advice badly. I've seen some shocking bike handling skills though.

But you are right, there are some riders who one always feels comfortable with. A group of eight of them can feel effortless. Yesterday we were practicing soft pedaling (not coasting) and controlling speed in the group with pedal pressure rather than brakes. My judgement of a good group is how near the brakes I rest my hands.

Any when I said respect, who said it was from car drivers 😉 . But a tight group that covers half the lane looks a lot better than a gaggle of sportivistas three or four across.