Im still fuming..Is it just me or are rodies a breed apart…arrogant??

You see this is where internet bickering is rubbish – what you have said there could be perfectly reasonable or complete bollox – you don’t know as you were not there and don’t know the road and neither do I. Facts remain that I’m struggling to imagine a 4 mile bit of quiet back road without a layby, little road junction or some such which a group could not roll through to let other traffic through if it chose. I don’t buy the its hard to do that as a group nonsense – I’ve done more group ride miles than had hot dinners and if that is the case the group should be having a word with itself about comms and groups leadership.

Obviously I wasn’t there – and neither were you. The principle is the important thing though – the cyclist has the decision, because they are the one with something to lose. The car driver thinks he is making a calculated risk (that nothing will come the other way) – but he isn’t actually risking anything of his own.

See my last post – it is ok to pull over and stop when in a group – you are not in the tdf! I have done it with groups thousands of times. Not one of those times was I risking anything (except a strava time!).

I fully agree that there is no reason for them not to pull over, on the face of it. I just assume that they had a good reason not to. Again – when you weigh it all up you have to give the cyclists the benefit of the doubt because if anything goes wrong they are the more vulnerable party.

Just to double check your tolerance levels – you roll up behind a bunch of walkers on a bridleway on your mtb, they turn and see you there then carry on plodding along as they were. You get off and walk too or do a bit of track standing and slow rolling.

and if your on a footpath, game over, you shouldn’t be there and it has been known for the point to be made.
Bridleway, game over. They might be nice, but having seen how some riders behave why be considerate when so many mtbers aren’t?

Now if we want a more correct comparison walkers on a bramble lined path, they can’t really move aside because of the thorns.

If the walkers don’t want to move your problem, the law is quite clear on this. You don’t have any rights to expect them to move out the way.

20mins gone – all sweetness and light with you?

20mins… club cyclists at 20mph, how many miles would that be, 7miles?

So 20mins is crap then,

By the way, I fully expect cycling individuals and groups to slow down and be prepared to stop, just the same as any road users. When they whizz through my village they will be left in no doubt about my ideas on that front if I’m walking along! Everyone needs to be able to stop in the road that they can see at any one moment – if another road user is in the same space, adjustments must be made.

Others road users do not want to be playing our cycling for fun, game.

and i don’t want other road users endangering my life when i am going about my lawful actions.

you dont have to get out of the way to let someone past

I always do. If there is a clear passing opportunity for someone tailing me I slow and move to the left edge to help with their visibility. And I always leave a decent gap in front for drivers to move into. I was taught this. Why do anything else?

And I also do this when riding my bike.

Considering the profusion of laziness and unnecessary car journeys, I think it is rather a moot point to compare a cyclist’s “unnecessary” use of the road and a car driver’s “essential” journey.

Considering the profusion of laziness and unnecessary car journeys, I think it is rather a moot point to compare a cyclist’s “unnecessary” use of the road and a car driver’s “essential” journey To ride HIS Bike

but what if you overtake the cyclist and pull in too fast, reducing his 2 second minimum braking distance ???

should he have noticed that you were overtaking and slowed down appropriately to maintain that gap ?

Fascinating – if trolling was an Olympic sport surely there are some contenders for a gold here? 😆

Turner Guy – that exact thing has happened to me, with a bloody milkman. I was riding way way out to stop him too – and he still came by into a blind, narrow bit of road and promptly slammed on the brakes. By the time I stopped I was alongside him (nowhere else to go) – and explaining in very “clear” terms the error of his ways!

Turner Guy that happened to me, riding on a straight road going in to a long left hand corner, car decides to overtake our line or riders with me on the front then pulls in to avoid cars coming the other way and takes me out with their mirror, could have been really really bad, I was lucky to get away with cuts and bruises.

I got stuck behind some for 2 miles on the way home from the Olympic road race on Sunday- a group of about 8. It was on a twisty road, quite narrow with big hedges so I behaved myself.

However, every time the road got wide enough for me to pass them they started weaving over the road like buggery- swinging 3 or 4 feet a time. Sometimes to avoid things but, quite often, to avoid each other. It was a terrible show of group riding, and there will be a lot of it about in the less hilly parts of the country while TdF/Olympic fever goes about.

So long as everyone considers their actions we’ll all be OK- slowing down and moving in to the kerb a bit on a safe bit of road to let drivers pass as quickly as possible, waiting patiently in the twisties. A considerate rider will make opportunities for drivers to pass while a considerate driver will not take every opportunity they see.

These very polarised arguments on here don’t really hold the answer at all.

If you drive a diesel then the answer, when you finally overtake them, is to floor the clutch pedal and accelerator, blasting them with a cloud of black carcinogenic particles.

Particularly apt when the OP is ‘fuming’ 🙂

If you drive a diesel then the answer, when you finally overtake them, is to floor the clutch pedal and accelerator, blasting them with a cloud of black carcinogenic particles.

Or slam on your brakes once past, as your entitled and legally allowed to do. Any resulting damage to your vehichle will be at the cost of said rider/s.

Choice.
I have to assume that most of the above is Tongue in cheek, no?

Or slam on your brakes once past, as your entitled and legally allowed to do

not sure that you can without reason – didn’t some surgeon in the states do that in his SUV some years ago – made a real mess of one of the cyclist who went through his rear window.

omg still going on about this? roadies are **** at the best of times. weave all over the road and have no respect for other road users. you know we wont hit u so u act like pricks. if u looked over your sholder and there was some 50cent looking guy built like a brick shit house driving with his home boys revving his engine u would soon move over

Tony, your Mother might want you to go and have a bath now.

50cent looking guy built like a brick shit house driving with his home boys revving his engine u would soon move over

been there, called the police, driver was arrested. Wasn’t the first complaint.

Konastoner – Member
Or slam on your brakes once past, as your entitled and legally allowed to do. Any resulting damage to your vehichle will be at the cost of said rider/s.

guff.

Or slam on your brakes once past, as your entitled and legally allowed to do. Any resulting damage to your vehichle will be at the cost of said rider/s.

you mean the uninsured cyclist, so you would deliberately cause a crash just to cause yourself the grief of a trip to court to launch a civil claim,

Remind me next time i see a car carrying bikes to shoot the driver, it is the only way to be safe, I used to think it was the ****s in Audis and BMWs i needed to watch out for, now i know it is the ones with mtbs on the back.

were does this put me? i ride my mtb on the road to get to the place i want to ride

roadies are **** at the best of times. weave all over the road and have no respect for other road users.

I know they just ruin the flow of respect and courtesy you get from all the polite car drivers…..nice bit of casual racism too

were does this put me? i ride my mtb on the road to get to the place i want to ride

Nothing personal but with your attitude in a box 6’under is the only safe place for the rest of us.

I hate riding on country lanes due to all these issues.
I often have to briefly to link up bridleway sections.
How people actually enjoy spending hours on the roads regularly dealing with these stressful dangerous situations is beyond me.
I always wave and let cars through at the earliest opportunity even if it means track standing for 20 seconds at a driveway or passing point.
Lots of nutcases on the road and I don’t want an angry one behind me even if I technically have right of way.

were Where does this put me? i I ride my mtb on the road to get to the place i I want to ride.

It puts you in the same place as everyone else; needing to appreciate that the way forward is to learn tolerance and to discard muppetry.

(I’ll risk the English correction, knowing full well that some bright spark will be along soon to correct me…)

weave all over the road

case law, going back over 100 years, bikes are allowed to wobble, this is why you have to overtake properly.

A car hitting a wobbling cyclist is totally at fault, tested time and time again, driver will loose any court case.

For balance, I’ve just got back from a road ride and had a thoroughly pleasant time. Drivers were fine and gave me ample space when passing. Those that had to wait for me I gave a wave as passing. On the tight mountain passes I waved through vehicles from behind me when I had the better line of vision. They waved back saying thanks.

Back to the OP – four miles does seem excessive!

How people actually enjoy spending hours on the roads regularly dealing with these stressful dangerous situations is beyond me.

despite what some might think, it is actually very rare, sightly more common than being threatened by a shotgun toting landowner,or riding bridleways and being confronted by falling pheasants, shot etc. yes both have happened more than once!

Most people on the road are considerate, all sides, but there are ****s.

I don’t get this, when we go out on the road there are 2 camps in our group. A bunch who ride their own way and don’t worry about cars and a bunch who are more considerate. When we get to big numbers we tend to split into 2 smaller groups. The back group who split to be more considerate will ride single but the others tend to stay double.

It’s a real divide and a source of frustration we sit at the back whinge and shout ‘car’

It’s daft if you frustrate car drivers they are more likely to go something silly and from how they drive round here they don’t need encouragement to be knobs

Saxabar, agree with what you said.
Just got in from a 2 hour ride and didnt get any hassle from drivers despite being out in rush hour traffic. I moved in close to the kerb where appropriate in order to make an overtake easier when i knew there was a car behind me….i think most of us on this thread know the kind of cyclists the OP was talking about….there are some idiots with a superior attitude because they are on a bike and intentionally make life difficult for cars, there are also the group riders who refuse to make themselves easier to overtake….i have no idea why they do this, small penis perhaps?….either way, a small group give the majority a bad name.

I’m sure it’s all been said before, but if you have a large group of people riding single file, then you are inviting cars to pass, sometimes in dangerous circumstances. Say that car gets half way through the group only to be met with a lorry coming the other way, there’s only one way they’re going to swerve…

On the other hand however, riding two or three abreast cuts the length of the group by at least half. Effectively making it easier to pass safely.

Yes, I pull in and sometimes even stop to let cars past, but I ride by myself and it’s easy to do. I’m guessing it’s not so easy to manage that in a large group.

The frustration of drivers comes from the core belief that they have right of way. I even feel it myself when I’m driving: the collective mindset, with almost telepathically connected peer pressure. It’s a very real problem that needs addressed at the root. Those core beliefs must change. As threads like this prove with cyclists attacking cyclists for, ahem, cycling.

So what if your journey takes a couple more minutes along a scenic country lane. Is it that big a deal? Something too get stressed about? To fight over? To kill someone out of impatience…?

I don’t get this, when we go out on the road there are 2 camps in our group. A bunch who ride their own way and don’t worry about cars and a bunch who are more considerate. When we get to big numbers we tend to split into 2 smaller groups. The back group who split to be more considerate will ride single but the others tend to stay double.

Perhaps the front group put their own safety above being “more considerate”?

Clearly, as can be seen in this thread, opinions differ on what is safer – but it is quite possible that both your groups are doing what they think is safest and think the other group is wrong.

This belief that cyclists riding 2 abreast when in a group is selfish because it takes up space on the road…

1. It’s legal
2. It’s frequently safer for both cyclists and drivers because it helps stop drivers overtaking inappropriately
3. It’s how group cycling has been for over 100 years, including at least 50 years before cars came into mass ownership!!!!

Where does this idea come from that this has to change because car drivers don’t like it?

just a thought,

this road, most narrow windy rounds i know are solid white lines, ie you must not overtake.

How many of the drivers here have overtaken cyclists on a solid white line, which is illegal? How many tried not to cross the white line to do this?

Yes i have overtaken cyclists crossing a solid white line, It comes down to common sense about how you do it. if you can’t do it safely for all parties you don’t try.

Earlier today i was driving for 5miles behind a tractor on the A39 doing c20mph, such is life, can’t overtake, why worry about it.

Is it likely that at any point in the future, group riding on the public highway could be outlawed due to the actions of obstinate die-hards..?

It’s a serious question, as rules frequently get updated to suit the changing times and the needs of the majority..
could it happen..?
especially if the imagined cycling revolution does take place and many more cyclists take to the roads..

Is it likely that at any point in the future, group riding on the public highway could be outlawed due to the actions of obstinate die-hards..?

Should we ban car rallys, been held up a few times by old codgers driving classic cars through the cotswolds?

I am not fussed, but i guess society seems to be getting less tolerant not more, so anything is possible.

Mind you if more cyclists take to the road it is less likely.

Would come down to who has the money, cyclists tend to be reasonably affluent, ie have power. If it was benefit scroungers or young people then it would get banned.

Not illegal to cross if they are slow,,

Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.

Mind you if more cyclists take to the road it is less likely.

I’m not so sure.. we’d still be in an enormous minority wouldn’t we..? I don’t know the statistics.. There’d just be many more of us for motorists to get in a flap about.. more deaths per annum, more road rage incidents etc