So if you have 2 groups of ten with a 5-6 m gap in between you can hop the first one safely get behind the second one and to it again.

are you on crack Juan?

Hilarious thread. Is anyone really taking the pistonhead trollers seriously? They must be cyclists enjoying winding people up or Clarkson's sent us a few trolls over. I HATE riding on the road and only ever do so if it's to link a route or cross it (unless the mud is too deep to pedal through in our local woods and I need to rdie my bike)
It seems a more than tiny percentage of car drivers are blind, self opinionated, selfish co*ks who need to learn to consider others. And people cazy enough to share the roads with these nutters? Roadies are mad!

Out of interest, in the narrow definition of roadies, where do the less narrowminded ones amongst us who like riding bikes both on and off road fit? Do we change categorisation as we switch between disciplines and what happens if we take our mtbs onto the road or visa versa (done…)

😉

In fact if you follow them at a reasonable distance for any length of time most of them will signal you when its safe to overtake.

Well see, that is something I never do. Overtaking without seeing what is going on. Plus I commute buy bike. As I said the commuter is a real cyclist, the ponce on a 5k carbon exotica that only goes on the road on the saturday morning (not too early because the poor little thing can't sleep otherwise) is not.

As I said the commuter is a real cyclist, the ponce on a 5k carbon exotica that only goes on the road on the saturday morning (not too early because the poor little thing can't sleep otherwise) is not.

You don't know anything about these 'ponces', or how much they ride or don't ride.

the ponce on a 5k carbon exotica that only goes on the road on the saturday morning (not too early because the poor little thing can't sleep otherwise) is not.

Wonderful. So, to be fit enough to race on the road in France, one only has to spend a wedge on a bike and ride it once a week. Damn site easier than over here, then.

You were complaining about closed road racing, weren't you, troll juan?

Oh I don't know

You were complaining about closed road racing, weren't you, troll juan?

No I was not I was complaining on racing on open road, where the feckers don't let you over take them. We all agree that we would have preferred the road to be officially closed buy plods and all, rather than suffer idiots that can't get the concept of open road.

As I said the commuter is a real cyclist, the ponce on a 5k carbon exotica that only goes on the road on the saturday morning (not too early because the poor little thing can't sleep otherwise) is not.

Troll surely? I know someone who comutes 1 mile round trip on their bike every day. They were dead after a 5 mile ride with me and we had only just reached the first hill 😯
Not sure what a real cyclists is but plenty on here are not it. Plenty on here are sad obsessive bike collectors , plenty are obsessive cycling bores..I may be guilty on both counts.

juan – wave the white flag, don't worry, it will come naturally

Sorry. Did I stereotype you there?

I don't understand why people are automatically branded as pistonhead trollers if they don't agree with cyclists riding 2 or 3 abreast and blocking other road users

If you are on the road you should respect each other, regardless of whether you are on a bike, a motorbike, a scooter, a car or a horse

Indeed. There's no your side of the road – my side of the road, just drive to the conditions of the road.
Surely the biggest, probably daily hold up for cars is other cars i.e traffic. A few encountered cyclists once and a while pales into insignificance compared to other cars.

A few encountered cyclists once and a while pales into insignificance compared to other cars.

I don't get the whole anti roadie thing?? Are people actually that impatient?? If you need to be somewhere at a certain time, set off earlier. It's hardly rocket science is it???

If you are on the road you should respect each other, regardless of whether you are on a bike, a motorbike, a scooter, a car or a horse

You seem to think we have not tried this then had a car overtake dangerously pull into the middle of the group overtake a few more then pull in and repeat. Problem is some drivers will overtake with no regard for the cyclsits safety [ any oncoming traffic and they will just plough into the cyclist]. As we dont know which is which we have to ride like that to protect ourselves from idiots. When it is safe [in the cyclists opinion] they get waved through, generally.
The lack of respect is self preservation caused by motorists impatience.
Every commuter has been beeped and buzzed by a car on a road only to overtake them 2 minutes later when they are stuck in traffic anyway.
Sadly many of these comments , on a cycling forum, show some real ignorance of actually riding a bike on the roads.
As I said I ride to minimise the chances of me being runover if that annoys a few cars that is a shame but the only way I will change is if I can trust all cars to drive responsibly/respectfully. Does anyone really think that will happen?

I know I’m opening another can of worms now, but I just don’t understand this

Was driving over to Glossop today and there is a road race going on. All the cyclists were riding courteously.

On the way back though I was stuck behind a guy who was riding in the middle of the road, not in a pack or anything, alone, just blocking anyone getting past him. At some points he was touching the white lines. As far as I could tell he was just following the racing line and straightening out any bends in the road. All well and good on the Tour De France, but on a public road on a saturday? I just don’t understand it, its ignorant and dangerous for everyone involved

I’m not trying to start the whole bikes v cars thing again as that’s just boring, nothing to do with that, its more about not acting like you own the road and screw everyone else

Why are you telling us this?

because this is a forum, to talk about things

**** sometimes ride bikes. they also drive cars, lorries, motorbikes, walk and push prams.
deal with it.

blimey didn’t realise the word that rhymes with cats, bats and hats was a naughty one.

jools182 – Member

On the way back though I was stuck behind a guy who was riding in the middle of the road

Probably “riding defensively”

The lunacy of Britain’s roads today is the very reason I decided to take up Mountain Biking 18 months ago, I’m lucky enough to live near Cannock Chase with just estates, villages and country lanes to navigate in order to get there, so not too much traffic to deal with.

I was thinking about getting fit around 2 years ago and didn’t fancy the monotony of gyms, before buying my first mountain bike I had already purchased a commuter and decided to use this for a few weeks on some 10 mile, building up to about 20 mile round trips just to have a go and getting fit and to see if I would perhaps enjoy road riding.

Nightmare!

Even on weekdays, way too much traffic all over, even what I though might be quiet country lanes were packed with white van driving tradesmen and other rat runners.
In the space of 2 weeks alone I felt I was ‘lucky to be alive’ after being narrowly missed on A roads with drivers that must have been pushing 70 or 80 MPH.

The experience was awful and I would imagine that like driving, road cycling was once a pleasure back in the good old days before households became 3/4 car families and shops opened all day Sunday.

I feel a great deal of sympathy for Roadies to be honest.

I was out on a 74km road ride today. It was great. Hardly car to be seen, and those that overtook me gave me plenty of space. On the single track sections, any oncoming cars waited in a passing place until I was past them.

Blimey just read through this thread. High emotions or what.

Why do roadies ride 2 a breast.

1. To talk – on the quiet sort of club run.
2. To ride “bit and bit” on a pace-line.

Simple.

Oh and if it’s busy/narrow you go single file.

I’m an ex roadie myself. Used to have a vitus. I always give road cyclists the full lane whenever possible. I am against all this roadie v mtb, ski v snowboard, walkers v mtbers nonsense. Life’s too short.
I know how scary it is to ride on the road which is why I took up mountain biking. I just think riding like an arrogant top hat isn’t the way forward

Guess I am lucky, roads near me are quiet and drivers generally pretty good.

jools182, you sure it was a road race??
More likely to be the Tour of the Peak Sportive and yes, I saw some truly shocking riding on that but that’s Sportive riders for you. By and large most were OK; there was also some spectacularly stupid car driving going on, especially up Winnats Pass as drivers tried to squeeze past at entirely inappropriate times.

As for your rider was it on a descent? If so I’ll usually straightline corners. If he was just pootling along on a climb or on the flat though then yes, he was being inconsiderate.

Aren’t roadies just regular people who wear funny clothes, carry less fat and generally obsess. Meaning that some are cool and some are twunts, just like drivers, just like any other part of life.

Out of interest, in the narrow definition of roadies, where do the less narrowminded ones amongst us who like riding bikes both on and off road fit? Do we change categorisation as we switch between disciplines and what happens if we take our mtbs onto the road or visa versa (done…)

We get excluded from all groups. 😉

As for the original point, screw car drivers. I get held up massively more by cars than I hold them up and they bitch about me causing them a couple of seconds delay while I defend my life? Screw you.

‘It Lives’
Funnily enough I was knocked off a few weeks back riding single file. Funny because I heard a car coming up the hill behind me revving it’s nuts off struggling to get up the hill,and it kind of made me chuckle until he knocked me off and drove off.
The following week I was going DOWN the same hill. Then I hear the revving of engine and the smell of burning clutch, had a chuckle and thought he’s come back to get me! The toenail overtakes – just, and slams the brakes on. I skidded straight past him to hear him shout that I was too close?
Basically even single file is too much for some people, so in for a penny in for a pound.

Drivers/motorcycle riders that also cycle are the folk that can hopefully see the dangers from sitting in the saddle and also being behind the wheel.

Most of us have something in common and thats becoming a cyclist long before becoming a motor driver.. be it car or motorbike.For a lot of us on here,the roads were quite quiet when we were kids and i see that as being quite lucky.I feel lucky because when out riding with other folk on the road you take everything for granted. you dont know the story from behind the wheel when aproaching cyclists and everything feels fine,safe.. and nothing jumps out at you to tell you that you just had a near death experience.

It can happen easily.All it takes on a country road is a pair of cyclists doing “what they are perfectly entitled to” by cycling two abreast and they could be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They might be on a corner when old hilary comes up behind them at 50mph but cant react in time and still manages to take them out despite being below the speed limit.. it might be two great drivers approaching a bend within the speed limit and just happen to meet the cyclists at that very moment.

what do you do when you have the cyclists on your side of the road? with two vehicles approaching each other at 120mph,do you swerve into the car to miss the cyclists or brake into the pack?

Then theres the country road speeder approaching the corner (on the same side as the cyclists) with the good driver sticking to the 60mph limit on the other side. bingo! 140mph+ impact coming right up.. all on a nice quiet country road.

Has anyone ever had those moments driving on the road and someone does something that annoys you? you manage to flash the lights,wave fists,honk the horn. well some folk consider these moments to be near misses.

Now has anyone experienced near misses where there was no time to wave fists,honk or flash lights? Those are moments a step closer to death. when they happen they leave you speechless and you dont show anything for quite some time. I see these moments aa those piggy in the middle moments.Somewhere between the waving the fist moment and the getting killed moment.

A few weeks ago the instructor that taught me to ride the motorbike and get me through my test was riding on his side of the road and found a vw polo sliding across his path.The marks are still on the road,the wall at the side of the road is obviously smashed and he had no chance of avoiding it.

His funeral was last week.An amazing rider that did this as his job yet still got taken out by something he would have never expected.

If he did manage to avoid it i know for sure he would have swore a dozen times at the woman and shook his fist but unfortunately he was on the wrong side of that Piggy in the middle moment and didnt get the chance to shake the fist,shout and swear.. honk the horn.

With what i see on the roads i can see that theres so many of these moments waiting to happen. We often come so close to them without thinking about it.. but try and evaluate it next time you have a moment and ask yourself how close it was to death.
Riding two abreast is legal,its great.. but dont think that you will always get the chance to give the V sign and wave the fist to make you feel better and for the driver to feel bad (or irritated).
A lot of us will have this in us, the feeling that you are invincible on the road,you are in your rights to be two abreast,entitled to do this or that… but unlike someone cutting you up on the trail and managing to have an arguement over it. The roads are the real deal and wether the driver is careless or a good driver,any of them can take you out in an instant and you wont have a say in any of it. Its just not worth it.

Think about how you ride and who you ride alongside depending on the road conditions etc as you wont get a second chance.

Well there you go,Oldgit.. its nice to be able to hear you tell the story.You have just lived through another moment!

As for the original point, screw car drivers. I get held up massively more by cars than I hold them up and they bitch about me causing them a couple of seconds delay while I defend my life? Screw you.

Exactamundo, 99.99999% of the cause of any of my motoring holdups are caused by other motorists.

I don’t understand the problem. If you are over taking someone you should be on the other side of the road so if so if the cyclists are two abreast or in single file you still have to go out round them onto the other side of the road in gap when there are no on coming cars. This is unless your driving like dick head.

2, 3 bikes side to side = about same width as a car. so whats the issue ? wait ’til road ahead is clear and then overtake us and f##k off out of our air space.

WE ARE TRAFFIC !

I don’t understand the problem either. Motorists will slow down, wait, act all courteous and cautious when overtaking a horse (which takes up about the same amount of raod space as a couple of cyclists).

Meet a couple of cyclists though and the motorist will blast past at the first opportunity. Maybe give a quick hoot to teach them a lesson.

I just don’t get the mindset – hit a cyclist and you’re going to have all sorts of hassle fixing the car, untangling the mess from the bumper etc not to mention the obvious one of the police being involved (although you’ll be exempt from any punishment bar a couple of points and a small fine). Avoid cyclist and you’ll get to where you’re going on time with your car unsullied by blood and guts. Or is that just too easy?

Here we go again, cars v bikes. That’s not what I was talking about. I just can’t see what’s to be gained by riding like you are the only one using the road. With the amount of useless drivers I see using the roads every day surely its only a matter of time before someone hits you. I just think this guy was riding like a fool. I was sitting behind him just trying to work out why he was riding like that, but I could have been someone else, in a van, late, tired, pissed off or whatever.
It must have been the tour of the peaks. To be fair everyone was riding well apart from that one guy. Probably came across a lot more bad drivers than riders

“whats the issue”

“WE ARE TRAFFIC”

To me it doesnt matter what the issues are. Its the consequences. Some still have the aggro mindset on this forum from reading through the thread and i will admit to having that attitude at times in the past. The reality is, if you get hit by a car by a careful driver or someone speeding it wont matter how nice they are,how assholey they are,how careful or how careless they were.If they kill you,none of it matters.

If it happens its going to be a diffrent story. We cant be ignorant and think that its always going to end with a shake of the fist as the driver speeds off past you. This is no bmx,4x or track race where elbows are involved,tempers flare and black flags get waved at the finish line while officials sort out “who has won”. On a country road this could be lumps of metal weighing a ton+ travelling around 60mph towards someone weighing 80kg made up mainly of water travelling at 20mph..

good luck folks!

…own mtbr’s with their superior power & endurance??

😯 😛 😆