I'm not cut out for road riding.

Almost every time I head out on the road someone tries to kill me.

Until now I’ve assumed they’re not making deliberate attempts on my life but the evidence is stacking up.

At least when I’m mountain biking it’s only me that’s likely to do me harm.

You need to buy a cross bike.

Cross? I’m f*cking livid.

I must be oblivious to it all, don’t really have a problem. I get the odd one or two planks not concentrating but I get that when I am in the car.

Had a woman in a big 4×4 start to cut me up on a roundabout and a bloke start to pull out on me at a junction today. Don’t know if i’m just use to it happening or expect it I don’t even get worked up about it anymore.

Fair play to the bloke he did put his hand up to apolgise whereas the woman just looked at me gormlessly as it was my fault.

I had my first incident with a driver the other day. I was turning into the junction he was pulling out of, I even looked him in the eye and he still pulled out straight into me as he “didn’t see me”. **** pleb. Still at least me and the bike are ok with the front wheel being knocked slightly out of true. I did more damage to his bumper with my cleat, I’d somehow managed to unclip both feet before he’d even hit me 😆 Not bad for a few years road riding though and its made me think twice about wearing my helmet as I usually go without – will wear one all the time now as it could’ve been a lot worse!

I must be oblivious to it all, don’t really have a problem. I get the odd one or two planks not concentrating but I get that when I am in the car.

I suppose it depends how you take it. I had someone come past me on a motorbike today so close that the other guys in the group joked that he’d nicked my saddle bag but it wasn’t really that dangerous, he was just a numpty.

There not trying to kill you just making the roads deliberately more dangerous. Whether it’s punishment passes or taking centre line when oncoming or my favourite the look into the distance so they can say they didn’t see you. I reckon there’s about one per hour even on the relatively quiet roads.

I said it on another thread, lesson # 1 of road riding is lots of people are unpleasant.

Yeah we all have those days when we get back wondering just who took a hit out on us.

Recently though I’ve found the roads friendlier, been wondering its some form of Tour effect.

There not trying to kill you just making the roads deliberately more dangerous.

This is what I was driving at (puntastic). Although how much is deliberate and how much is conditioning and stupidity is a moot point.

Spin – Member
Cross? I’m f*cking livid.

Applauds. 🙂

Recently though I’ve found the roads friendlier, been wondering its some form of Tour effect.

I agree with this I find more drivers are willing to hold back till its safe to overtake and giving more room when they do.

I did 40 mile today and, apart from one plantpot who didn’t see me till the last minute when I was going round a roundabout, everyone has been great.

It’s not normally like that. Don’t know if its the Tour effect, the weather being nice or what but I tend to choose carefully where I Road Ride.

There’s a few towns nearby where I’ve had loads of near misses so I tend to just head out it the lanes.

I am constantly impressed with how many car drivers these days are considerate towards cyclists. I make a point of responding by thanking those who have shown consideration – even if they’ve done no more than recognised my legal right of way.

I put this shift in attitude probably down to the fact that more drivers than ever before now own and ride bikes. And they are also more likely to have sons, husbands, etc, who ride bikes.

There is of course the small minority who hate cyclists, and whose prejudices are fed by the small minority of cyclists who are arrogant arseholes, but like Kuco I tend not to get worked up by them, don’t see the point really.

Was out on my road bike today and, once I had got away from Guildford and its environs, the roads were quite and what drivers there were behaved pretty well. Once in the back lanes of Sussex I hardly saw any cars at all. The only muppet who got too close was someone with a bike on their roof rack!!

I’ve got this mate who seems to have all these incidents with near death experiences on the roads. I feel for them as it’s endangering their health and ruining their enjoyment.

Trouble is, I try to avoid riding with them at all costs. It’s not like they ride like an arrogant asshat, it’s just their sense of awareness of what’s going on around them and their anticipation is dreadful. Same in a car too.

Just saying like. 😉

Is it me?

Me too OP.

Usually <40yr old females.

I passed/was repassed by one who was texting throughout constantly.

Spin – Member
Is it me?

Where do you live?

Not sure I’d enjoy road riding in Surrey as there is loads of traffic and no proper hills. But in Northumberland it is great. There are roads that are very quiet, nice scenery and you can get out into the hills with little effort. Biggest worry on saturdays ride was the young lambs wandering out into the road and whether we’d get to a cafe in the next 2 hours.

Where do you live

The incidents that prompted my post were in Applecross!

I live in Invereness and my OP was a deliberate exaggeration but some times it feels like that.

Most drivers are fantastic I find – if you put them in a position where it’s easy to be fantastic. Put them in a more difficult situation, or under pressure and it becomes a different story. Once watched a car patiently sit behind a cyclist for a little while, negotiating bends on a country road. They drove impeccably, giving the cyclist plenty of space. A couple of cars come up behind. They reach a straight section of road. The car waits a little longer for oncoming traffic to pass…and then, seemingly provoked by the car behind getting ever closer to their bumper, they overtook (very slowly I will add) leaving an inch, or maybe two at most, between wing mirror and handlebars. Yet had they waited another two seconds, they would’ve had a clear road.

Unfortunately it’s the kind of stupid shit you see every day. Some of it is ignorance. Some stupidity. Some aggression. A lot of it just carelessness. Most people are great, but I spend most of my time out in the middle of nowhere. If all I had was busy roads, I really don’t think I’d ride on them. You do get used to it to an extent though, and you come to know what to expect. Often you can see it before it happens.

OP I know what you mean. I’ve pretty much given up on road riding at the moment. Too many instances of being treated like shit by selfish ignorant idiots, I just wasn’t enjoying having to look over my shoulder every thirty seconds for the next murderous **** in a white Audi or whatever. No doubt I’ll go back to it in time, but for now the road bike is gathering dust, and the mountain bikes are getting far more mileage.

Most drivers are fantastic I find – if you put them in a position where it’s easy to be fantastic

I wonder if sometimes I fail to make it easy for drivers to be fantastic, if that makes sense.

I was a courier for a while and the attitude amongst the group was that it was war, and it was up to you to assert yourself. This fostered a pretty agressive stance. Sometimes it was justified, sometimes not.

My first response to any poor behaviour from motorists is still quite hostile but then you are so much more vulnerable and lots of motorists seem to fail to realise that.

I’m with the op. Tried rode riding, but just had enough of dicks in cars. I much prefer riding through the woods.

I wonder if sometimes I fail to make it easy for drivers to be fantastic, if that makes sense.

I wasn’t implying that this is up to you btw. Just referring to all the circumstances that lead to events – road layouts, traffic flow, all that kind of stuff. But of course, there’s stuff you can do to help. I just think when pushed into difficult situations, many drivers deal with it badly, even when they mean well.

I wasn’t implying that this is up to you btw

I realised that but it made me think.

It’s a bit odd at the moment. A lot of drivers are getting better and better and holding back or passing well clear – friendly waves from both parties. It’s been really noticeable the last couple of months and shows that we can instigate change if we bring enough pressure to bear.

But the minority of aggressive drivers seem to be getting worse – almost like they realise they’ve lost the argument and so they’re having a tantrum cos everyone else is getting on famously without them.

Witness the guy who nearly rear ended me in Bromley when I stopped at a full amber light which he had no intention of stopping at, and then spent the next couple of minutes bellowing at me through the car window. I’m sure he knew full well he was at fault but what kind of psycho sits in their car on a beautiful sunny summer’s day shouting at a stranger?

I had one yesterday – singletrack country road, going up hill, car comes up behind me, see a passing space further up the road, I get out the saddle pick up speed to get the wide bit, as I do another car comes the other way, no room to let them past, they drop back while negotiating the car, again I see another spot for them to pass, I pull in & trackstand to let them through, after they’ve gone past I set off again, passenger flips me the bird….
I respond in kind, see the brakes come on then the reversing lights, think oh bugger here we go…. then reversing lights go out & they carry on…

The road was so narrow & overgrown I let them past as soon as was safe, held them up for about 30 seconds. I think often when in your metal box the worst that will happen is a dented wing/bonnet/pride, they genuinely don’t realise how vulnerable you are on a bike.

Getting better and anticipation.
Carelessness seems the big issue, my last ride I encountered a couple in a car try to squeeze past but couldn’t, I could see in and see he was petrified, I just slowed down so he could go. Then a lady driving toward us turned in front of us to go into a fete, her way was blocked so she just stopped her car right in our path. Just poor quality, and you can see it coming.
You know the way poor drivers just seem to blunder across roundabouts as if braking and changing gear is a hard thing to do, you get a lot of that.
Once out of town I’m happy.

A mate of mine posted the highway code photo of a safe overtake on Facebook tonight (the one with the massively exaggerated gap – car completely in the other lane). His friends ran up a huge list of vitriolic posts abusing cyclists, all ending with, “Of course, you’re the exception”.

Cements the idea that people who drive but don’t cycle see us as objects rather than humans on two wheels, unless it’s their mate. Wasn’t surprised but as always, the heart sinks a little.

Stay calm, dont give the bird etc.

I tend to wave if its really close. Kinda sarcastic.

If it was REALLY close and they are at lights/pull up next to shop then sarcasm is unleashed. No raised voice because shouting person always looks a tool in any situation no?

wanmankylung – Member
You need to buy a cross bike.

that’s what I did and then look carefully at maps and google satellite – sometimes I forget why and go ride a random road route someone has posted and then I realise why I hate some roads – stopped riding road completely for around 10years twice – once after a very lucky to walk away from side impact – got thrown across 4 lanes (crank axle cracked on impact) and then again when just got fed up with deliberate close passes and the rubbish at the side of the road – started again because a friend wanted to do some long distance routes – after built up a cx the road bike got sold

IanW – Member
…… Whether it’s punishment passes

no point preaching to the converted but I always convert “punishment pass” to “cowards pass” in the hope that it’ll catch on 8)

Definitely fewer problems out for road rides since the number of cyclists has gone up, at least round here. Commuting has it’s moments still but not as bad as it was 5 years ago.

The other thing I tend to do – if the road is too narrow in my opinion for a car to safely pass, I make sure I ride far enough from the hedge so that a car cannot fit past, moving back again when there’s enough room.

If you spend your whole time riding in the gutter you’re encouraging people to try & overtake.

You know the way poor drivers just seem to blunder across roundabouts as if braking and changing gear is a hard thing to do, you get a lot of that.

I’m wondering if we’ve made driving too hard? Oversized cars in narrow lanes, signs, speed humps, pinch points, roundabouts absolutely everywhere – way too much to pay attention to, let alone all the in-car distractions. Coupled with the knowledge that hitting someone with such a big car will seriously hurt them (and cost you a fortune).

The increase in cyclists is just an added difficulty to have to think about – and the risk of hurting a human being added into the mix just ratchets up the sensory overload and leads to barely contained panic.

Some people can cope with this sensory overload but many can’t, or are already so close to the boil from the moment they got out of bed that they’re straight into aggression/anger when they see a cyclist…

Be interesting to see the results of the naked road experiments… although self-driving cars are the very obvious solution here

I find the vast majority of HGV drivers are spot on, middle aged ladies in small cars try to nick my bar ends as they pass which can be a bit unnerving. Double white systems seem to be misunderstood by many, loads try to squeeze by whilst staying on their side of the road. Commuting aside, the road thing is not for me.

A mate of mine posted the highway code photo of a safe overtake on Facebook tonight (the one with the massively exaggerated gap – car completely in the other lane).

The thing is, it’s not really a “massively exaggerated gap”, it just feels like that because we are so used to much smaller gaps.

Someone tried to guesstimate the distances on the photo:

(Source: Geko Cycling blog)

In some countries, including the US, the legal minimum is one metre / three foot. So by their standards it’s own slightly bigger than it legally has to be.

Of course we have no such laws here and the Highway Code is fantastically wooly on the subject. 🙁

That’s quite badly worded- the caption doesn’t really go with the picture. If that cyclist was a car there’d be far less space between them.

Two schools of thought – one that the gap between cyclist and overtaking vehicle should be at least as as big as the gap between one car and another when one is performing an overtake. The other school of thought is that the car performing the overtake should take up the same road position (in the other carriage) irrespective of if the thing being overtaken is a car or a bike.

I’m in the first camp – thinking the photo shows a ‘luxury’ overtake with a nice big ‘exaggerated’ gap. It’s much bigger than the gap you could leave between two cars without the overtaking car taking to the opposite verge – but if you can, why not. I think those in the 2nd camp are misinterpreting the the photo as if you took that road position to overtake a car you would probably have clipped wing mirrors at the very least.

Those is camp two use this photo as ‘evidence’ that cyclists taking the primary position are no harder to overtake properly than those riding closer to the edge of the road because (in my opinion) they misinterpret the position a car has to take when overtaking a bike according to highway code advice and therefore preach that any cyclist not riding in the primary position 100% of the time is doing the cycling world a disservice.

Went out on a rather good road ride on friday, mainly empty roads but a short stint on woodhead pass absolutely chocka with HGVs, that was not a nice 10minutes, did ok for most of the day then on our way home through Denton some lights ahead changed, my mate in front of me stopped, I stopped, lady behind us in a car decided not too and squeezed passed us to blow through the lights, really close – all for stopping at a red light.

Quick road ride last weekend didn’t go well either, 2 seperate occasions when someone stupidly pulled out on me, endangered me and then got all arsey when I called them out on it – with a bit of using their vehicles in an effort to intimidate me, further endangering me.

OTOH I did a road commute this morning and apart from the obligatory few **** driving in bus/mandatory cycle lanes it was a fairly low key affair and was rather fun.

That’s quite badly worded

spectacularly so