surely its not just me that gets pissed off by this?
no there are a whole heap of other trolls and simple people who don't understand the highway code and simple logic who also get frustrated.
Is this while you are on your bike?
I'd rather see cyclists using the space they are entitled to than getting mown down by cars.
What Jonba said
A bit of simple courtesy to other road users from both sides of the fence, and life would be much better for everyone.
Here, in Spain, the roadies are rather miltant about it, they occupy their bit of road and wont move over, no matter how far the traffic builds up behind them. I understand why they do it but it some take it too far. On saturday i saw a group of about 5 strung across their lane, the vehicle immediately behind them was an ambulance with it's lights flashing, stupid pricks could have at least let them go past.
nope while driving. I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
Even if it's not just you, it just means we have more than one dimwitted tool lurking in our midst. Do horses on roads make you fume as well?
I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
It concerns me that you managed to pass your test then.
I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
It concerns me that you managed to pass your test then.
I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
It concerns me that you managed to pass your test then.
I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
It concerns me that you managed to pass your test then.
matt500 - Membernope while driving. I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
1) have a read of the highway code
2) they occupy less space on the road
Or do you want them in the gutter as well out of your way mr important car driver?
^ 4 for the price of one!
sc-xc - Member
I missed the memo about them being entitled to blockng other traffic.
It concerns me that you managed to pass your test then.
Yeah but I think it needs repeating once more.
This is what the highway code has to say if you want to be specific.
keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear
keep both feet on the pedals
never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
not ride close behind another vehicle
not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain
be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted
im not saying im militant about it and try to knock them off, i just dont see the mentality to happily ride along at 20-30 in a 40 for mile after mile ignoring the traffic behind. its just inconsiderate.
I agree,car drivers are generally very inconsiderate.
Let them have their fun, riding on the road is boring enough as it is...
Even when they are rideing side by side and doing the speed limit some idiots in there cars will try to overtake them yet will sit behind a tractor or a horse rider going a lot slower.
Now go and do the maths and see just how many extra SECONDS you were delayed by over the distance you waited for a clear overtake.
Then have a think, then adjust your attitude.
If you overtake a single cyclist properly you need almost as much width in the road as you would overtaking two side by side, and if they are in line the space they occupy would be longer thus they would be more difficult to overtake.
Are you proposing they should ride in the gutter so you can squeeze past where there is not enough room for a safe overtake?
Just how long did they "hold you up" for I bet nothing at all. I bet once you were past yo ended up in the same place in the next queue of cars
fair enough, these responses explain a lot.
Non Stop Nun, yes they will. This is wrong. good point well made.
The official advice here in Tasmania is that riding 2 abreast is good and safe, when riding on 2 lane roads (each way) to occupy the whole lane as there is plenty of room to pass. You also must pass with a 1m gap.
If you have to overtake a cyclist you need to cross the white line. If there is something coming the other way then don't pass.
It annoys me. Means you have to cycle into oncoming traffic to get around them. If they drafted each other they might just attain something like a credible pace.
It tends to be the MAMILS that are the worst... "look at me on my £4k race bike riding to the cake shop". Go and play golf.
Matt500 - Next, if you haven't already, go out for a ride on the road through a mixture of country lanes, A & B roads when there's traffic about, then maybe you might begin to understand why road cyclist adopt this approach, thus educating yourself to the potential dangers and hopefully changing your dangerous attitude towards them.
It annoys me. Means you have to cycle into oncoming traffic to get around them
hadn't thought about another bike passing them before - that is a good point!
seems like a self perpetuating danerous environment to me. Mullet adopts the arogant inconsiderate attitude to get in the way on purpose as most car drivers are dangerous. Car drivers then get annoyed and do stupid things. what came first?
Tasmania seem to have it right.
<yawn>
hadn't thought about another bike passing them before - that is a good point!
Just nip smartly through between them - problem solved. And you'll find you often get a cheery greeting from them in tribute to your sporting approach too!
On my way to the quantocks yesterday I saw a group of roadies. Just next to morrisons in bridgewater one of them just threw his gel packets into a hedge. Why the f@@@ could he not just keep it in his pocket? Inconsiderate litter bug.
And relax 🙂
There's a problem with car drivers thinking they have superior rights to the road, and some being inconsiderate too and passing and cutting very close for no reason, so some cyclists ride 2 abreast to push back on this.
But we're not going to solve that problem here.
Matt - put the keyboard down and go polish the 456 instead. This way lies madness, you know I'm right.
Just nip smartly through between them - problem solved
Treat them like fellow sprinters at the finish and give 'em a headbut.
ha ha i know, funny though isn't it!
see you wednesday, unless i get nailed on the way to work by one of these "car drivers!" oh the irony....
This is what the highway code has to say if you want to be specific.keep both hands on the handlebars except when signalling or changing gear
keep both feet on the pedals
never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends
not ride close behind another vehicle
not carry anything which will affect your balance or may get tangled up with your wheels or chain
be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians. Let them know you are there when necessary, for example, by ringing your bell if you have one. It is recommended that a bell be fitted
Two important words precede the above - "You should"...
Got passed on an empty road yesterday by a cattle lorry. Felt way too close and I was the inside rider...
I only really ride on the road on my own, and when I do Im sure to ride in the middle of the lane to simulate "two abreast" riding.
I like to test the patience of motorists. The ones that tend to crack first are those who drive the fastest cars (the bellends)
Cyclists/horse riders/runners etc are first tier road users.
Drivers are second tier road users because they're unfit, lazy, dangerous and they pollute the air. Therefore they should be made to wait.
Mullet adopts the arogant inconsiderate attitude to get in the way on purpose as most car drivers are dangerous. Car drivers then get annoyed and do stupid things. what came first?
It's not inconsiderate or arrogant at all. You have to ride in a manor that's safe for you. If that means riding a metre out form the verge or occupying the centre of the road coming up to a pinch point then I'll do it, as will most road cyclist/ commuters.
Remember, we are traffic too and it's the person in the car's responsibility to overtake in a safe manor.
Edit, I must also add that when It's safe to do so, I will wave a car through with a cheery wave and thank you so not to hold them up on purpose. This apply's more when riding on small country lanes.
Motorists always drive 2 abreast even when there's only one in the car.
My commute every morning is held up massively by cars driving slowly in front of me taking up the whole width of the carriageway, even though there's only one person in them...do they get out of my way and let me through - well one or two do, but the bulk of them...do they ****.
if only there was some sort of cheap, single person transportation device that was fast and efficient that they could use around town instead of having them just being sat there pumping poison out into the city whilst expecting the majority of the population to subsidise their antisocial behaviour and yield to their demands.
Lots of roadies out near us yesterday and great to see. Including long chains of club cyclists. On the whole cyclists and motorists behaved very well and with due consideration.several times, I came behind two abreast cyclists and slowed to wait for opportunity to pass. They then moved into single file and I went past at the corre t time giving them ample space. As others have said, basic common sense from everyone involved. Of course there were also examples of equally militant cyclists and motorists both blinkered, both inconsiderate and both dangerous.
Good to see folk on the road instead of trashing the sodden trails. Chapeau to yesterday's roadies!!!!
I don't mind cyclists riding two abreast, it when they ride more than two abreast and are strewn across the road like a local club by me, (Rhos Cycling Club) quite militant towards other road users, they are bunched up using the whole carriage way, they get annoyed if anyone beeps at them yet have total disregard for traffic entering roundabouts at full belt like their on a closed road, often encounter them on their Tuesday night chain gang, seems they've lost the meaning of chain. Not a good advert for cyclists.
^^ sound just like ERC round this way
You have to ride in a manor that's safe for you.
**** me there's some rick folk on here these days?
opps, manner. 😳
Lots of roadies out near us yesterday and great to see. Including long chains of club cyclists. On the whole cyclists and motorists behaved very well and with due consideration.several times, I came behind two abreast cyclists and slowed to wait for opportunity to pass. They then moved into single file and I went past at the corre t time giving them ample space. As others have said, basic common sense from everyone involved. Of course there were also examples of equally militant cyclists and motorists both blinkered, both inconsiderate and both dangerous.
Can we leave this as the last word and close the thread?!
ahmen.
(lovely day yesterday, my girlfriend 'bagged' her first QOM, i'm so proud 🙂 )
Our club rides two abreast. Our club rides in singles.
Depends on the road width and how busy it is.
Simple innit.
[url= http://www.st-1100.com/highway-code.html ]2012 Highway Code (Revised)[/url]
Legally you must overtake cyclists in the same manner you overtake cars; i.e. entirely in the opposite lane. Therefore, two abreast makes it easier for you to overtake as you do not have to be in the opposite lane for as long a time.
Clues. You have none. I suggest the clue shops.
Never really ridden in a group before, but last week me and a friend were heading up Cragg Vale (longest continuous road climb in England) and came up behind a group of six or so riders.
Tagged on behind them as i didn't quite have the legs to get past them cleanly on that hill, and started chatting with them as we rode.
Two things struck me - 1) how much easier it felt to tackle that hill in a group even though we weren't going fast & 2) how much safer it felt being passed when riding in a small group riding 2-up.
Stuff the thick and willfully ignorant, it's my road too.
FlippinHeckler...I'll have a word, know some of the Rhos lads
I ride road and off road with the VC Melyd lads, 2 abreast is deemed safer (and far more sociable) generally but we always single out when a car comes up behind and wave them through
gels in hedges...hmmm Dyfi was littered yesterday so can't claim the high ground really 🙁
Never had an issue with this before but on the way to Hopton Woods yesterday got stuck in a 40+ car tailback for 20 minutes traveling at 9-25 mph on open road. Group of about twenty riders riding two abreast spread out over 30-40 metres or so.......there was a large articulated lorry caught behind them who had no chance of passing ......even I started getting a little twitchy...can't imagine what the other (non cycling) drivers around me were feeling! We passed several parking bays but the cyclists showed no intention of pulling over even as they crawled up inclines causing stop start in the traffic behind....can only assume this was some kind of organised race otherwise these were the most selfish bastards imaginable.....will assume the former as the only reasonable explanation.
However, for non organised rides where there is no race clock, I would expect any sensible adult cyclist to behave as I would in either car or on bike......If I'm in a slow car/towing etc or taking a (rare) road spin on the open road I will pull over to let other road users through when things build up noticeably behind me and/or there's no safe opportunity for others to pass.....think road cyclists should have a little more awareness in these situations and let traffic through too. No one has to pull over car or cyclist wise, but there is a thing called goodwill that should transcend the letter of the law. The "stuff you" mentality...well, 🙄
A bit of common sense on both parts would be good ........
prob asking a bit much though I suppose.. 😐
kiwifizz. Exactly my point. Thank you. Goodwill and courtesy go a long way on both sides. Matt500 the proud Troll.
Stuff the thick and willfully ignorant, it's my road too.
it's you who are ignorant (of the law) 🙄
As subjects of the queen horse riders, pedestrians, cyclists have the god given inalienable right (HRH is head of the COE) to ride/cycle/walk on the queens highway.
motorists are merely licensed, this privilege is discretionary and may be revoked at any time.
so you have more rights to the road than a car driver. 😆
Mackem - Member
Here, in Spain, the roadies are rather miltant about it, they occupy their bit of road and wont move over, no matter how far the traffic builds up behind them. I understand why they do it but it some take it too far. On saturday i saw a group of about 5 strung across their lane, the vehicle immediately behind them was an ambulance with it's lights flashing, stupid pricks could have at least let them go past.
Just came back from over there. Cannot remember seeing one such cyclist doing anything similar.
One thing that did stand out - was we never once got tossers in cars shouting or beeping their horns at us .. and they gave us plenty of room when they overtook.
Maybe its a Basque thing then.
FlippinHeckler...I'll have a word, know some of the Rhos lads
Doubt they will listen or take to kindly to anyone having a word.
I know a few of them also, rode with them once and was shocked when they chased down a car and one of them nearly ripped the guys head off, the guy was in the wrong but reaction of said cyclist was extreme. Its worrying when other people who are none cyclists also comment, one said person has just become a Councillor and he really has a bee in his bonnet about the Rhos lot. It bewilders me why they are so inconsiderate because of the fatal crash involving Rhyl cycling Club you would think safety would be paramount. I often go out with a group of six or more we hardly ever ride two abreast and mostly single file taking it in turns on the front.
What's a road bike?
GW - Member^^ sound just like ERC round this way
That's a bit of a clueless reply considering the ERC only have [b]one[/b] organised chaingang on a Saturday and is a beginners run.
There is a reason the faster chaingangs sometimes get referred to as "[i]The black train of death[/i]", and the last time i looked, the ERC kit is mainly red!
Maybe you should actually go out on one and see for yourself who the main clubs are!
I'm all for people that like to cycle on the road, but there is pricks out there. You always get a group that take up a whole lane and no matter what, on bends or anything will never fall into single file. Even on small roads with a 2 mile tail back, they look around as if the motorist should not be on the same road as them. If u wanna cycle on the road you gotta remember who will come out top.