I think she is reading born and bred

I thought you were trying to 'pimp her out' (sorry but couldn't think of a better way of putting it) not scare everyone off?!

dont be afraid to stop and have a little cry if you need to

Woohoo, permission at last!

Lol! That just about ruins it for me JEngledow.

It could have been worse, I could have posted this:

No, wait I did! :lol:

molgrips, Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure = Jane Wiedlin:

Strictly speaking there probably is a planning issue, however do you get on with all your neighbours? If so I’d just do it and make sure you don't upset anyone, if not you might have 'problems' if they decide to kick up a fuss about it. :wink:

tinker-belle and 3STW 'gents':

I'm only 26 so my personal favourites are a little more contemporary:
Cat Deeley:

and Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch):

do you know why they've withdrawn?

Is it because the pope says condoms are bad?

rugby player build?

I drop the seat and turn it sideways then rest it on a workbench which lifts the reat wheel about half an inch off the ground, you have to be careful, but it works for me.

A Uni friend of my wife’s lives in Stoke

Well there's the problem

You've hit the nail on the head there. They were at Uni in Oxford, but she's got a teaching job she really enjoys up there :roll:

saxabar +1

A Uni friend of my wife’s lives in Stoke and is in a similar position (although only 26) and is having difficulty meeting guys who aren't desperate or total w*nkers.

I've suggested that she needs to forget about trying to find a bloke, but should find new (better) friends and get some new hobbies. What / where would be a good place for her to start?

Women's opinions matter

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..! :P

[whisper] please don’t tell my wife I typed this [/whisper]

I'm not that miserable :|

So why aren’t you smiling? :-)

…And the whole thing was planned by Tom Hanks and the Vatican.

I should have known the pope would be involved, the shady rascal!

Do NOT feel sorry me

There's little chance of that so don't worry :lol:

Is a company bike anything like a village bike? :lol:

….and the rest of the extended family

In that case I’d be trying to find something pretty much bombproof!

Yes, I'm loving it

:-) :-) :-)

wwaswas… that is ****' awful.

+1

Well done mate, are you enjoying it yet / still?

I now feel bad about having a couple of days off of running at 6am (although I did feel proper rough) :(

I do like a happy ending :lol:

dust devil?

Drive really, really fast, if the police stop you they'll understand and might even give you an escort! :lol:

Thanks stumpyjon, that's just reminded me why I moved away from Rossendale at 18 :roll:

Why did they stop making the Blur 4X and do they have any plan for anything similar in the future?

jd-boy, when you say 'Next he will be moaning about tractors and trucks….' is the 'he' you refer to me? If so please read my original post, I was NOT moaning about Cyclists holding me up or slowing me down, but I was asking why they rode beside each other, which I (wrongly) thought was more dangerous than riding single file. Although it doesn't appear so I was actually thinking about other people’s safety! :?

Personally, if I happened to stumble upon an all male cluster bum my first instinct would not be to charge right into the middle…

Where's your sense of adventure? :lol:

Always lay your coat over puddles when you see ladies approaching? :lol:

…or you might be able to buy a dag!

Sancho, I agree that a horse will take up as much room as two cyclists, but if I was given the option I'd want as much space while being overtaken as possible. I do now see the need for riding 2 abreast.

I think Edukator's strategy makes alot of sense and I wish more people around here would use that method (although some do).

if you had happened upon a large horse would you have been on horseriderworld.com moaning that horses shouldnt be on the road because fast cars are held up for a few seconds.

No, because I'm not signed up to horseriderworld.com and they generally ride in single file (around here) unless there's a young horse / inexperienced rider in which case they're boxed in for support / safety (I unfortunately know more about horses than bikes).

Yes – its safer to ride like that – the line of bikes is shorter and by being further out into the road it is safer as visibility is greater.

JEngledow, I recognised that yours was a mostly honest question, and I hope that the answers that we've given hint that its not simply a matter of being selfish/ confrontational with group riding.
Sometimes theres very good reasons behind the way cyclists ride, that are not always obvious to the following motorist.

Thank you and yes, I do appreciate that there is often a need to ride in ways that don't immediately seem safer (but actually are!). I appreciate that it is safer to be seen and that by bunching up cyclists are easier to overtake and apologise for the slightly stupid title for this thread, but will still get p*ssed off by the inconsiderate ones (whether they're in a car or on a bike).

TJ as you failed to read it last time I’ll post it again:

My issue is that I was careful and passed safely while other drivers may not have done, by riding 2/3 abreast the cyclists left less space for faster vehicles to overtake and so put themselves at greater risk.

I just wanted to know if there was any reason behind their choice.

were they taking up more width than a car? Were you able to pass safely on a straight stretch? could you have overtaken a car there?

No, Yes, Yes.

I fail to see what your issue is – they have a right to ride on the road and you have a duty to pass safely and to leave at least as much room as you would a car.

My issue is that I was careful and passed safeley while other drivers may not have done, by riding 2/3 abreast the cyclists left less space for faster vehicles to overtake and so put themselves at greater risk.

It makes NO difference at all. We all use the roads, so all should respect each other. Something a lot of people fail to see.

+1

TandemJeremy and ourmaninthenorth,

The issues I was having were on some of Oxfordshire’s country roads on Saturday, the roads are fairly narrow and don't have road markings, I don't mind waiting behind bikes while going around corners, but do get p*ssed off when they leave very little room for me to pass on the straights.

You'll get to the trail centre soon enough without having to endanger anyone else

For what it's worth I was working, so what's the need for this?? :roll:

Why can't some people in charge of motor vehicles drive them more safely for all concerned?

I agree, I also try to drive considerately, this includes giving cyclists enough space when I overtake which is sometimes difficult when riders are trying to take up all of the road.

so you havnt ridden on the road either jengledow

I have, but choose not to (too many idiot car drivers!) and have never ridden in a large group on the road.

My original question was why do riders appear (to me) to put themselves in more danger by riding 2/3 abreast. The idea of halving the length of a group makes sense.

so an irritable motorist doing a dangerous over-take because he hasn't the patience to wait and overtake safely is an example of a cyclist killing people by being inconsiderate?

The cyclist won't kill anyone, but they do seem to be putting themselves in unnecessary danger (I may be wrong, but that's how it appears sometimes).

Some cyclists aren't very considerate to drivers.
Some drivers aren't very considerate to cyclists.

One of these facts kills people. The other just makes people a bit late sometimes. Take a deep breath.

I dissagee, they both have the potential to kill people as paulrockliffe says:

If anything it will have a negative impact on safety as you'll piss more (ignorant) motorists off, who then go for the dangerous overtakes.

Although I also agree with this:

But at least it gives people something to complain about on the internet on a Monday!