All that shouting on group rides, 'Car-Up, Car-Down' etc ....

[robjh]

No not another Left/Right conundrum,

Left/right? Don't get me started up the car up/down conundrum. There's nothing instinctive about which is up and down, and new riders seem to have a strong urge to call 'car up' for a car ahead, where tradition has it that we call 'car down'.

In the club I ride with we use 'car back' quite a lot instead of 'car up', and that at least that reduces any ambiguity. We also get a lot of new or occasional riders, which increases the risk of bad habits reinforcing themselves. But be that as it may, I'd rather have the shouts than not have them, as visibility as well as time for reaction can be reduced when riding closely in a group.

 

[Globalti]

Yes it irritates me, especially when I'm in a small group and can already hear a car approaching from behind. Cars coming from in front, I can see with my own eyes.

The only time it's of any use to me is on the hooligan rides when I'm on my buddy's wheel or he on mine and there's a bad pothole or other hazard that the following cyclist might not see.

 

[HorTs]

I'm in the no call camp.

 

[clay_bs7]

The last ride I did with a friend of mine was full of taking the piss of this exact thing. We basically pointed out every single thing we saw, at full volume. Pot holes, cars, tress, leaves, the sky, the sun.

 

[mjr]

With the wrong group? It's my farkin' club!* Actually, I was one of the 5 founders .... so not mine really, but I feel I have some ownership
I think it mostly comes from those who have been in one of the newer 'racing-style' clubs and are relative newcomers to cycling, but not exclusively.

It sounds like a refresher briefing at the start of the ride might be a good idea, especially from a founder like yourself? As annoying as that is to do, it's probably less annoying than having someone shout "car up" repeatedly on busier roads (the delegated back-marker / tail-ender should decide what merits a call) or point out every gutter drain cover you pass in a town.

The easy-rider/freewheeling group I ride with does use car up/down and hole calls sometimes, but the car ones more when on small quiet roads and the pootleton drifts around chatting, so the back-marker hears them quite a bit sooner than others. I think that counts as warnings of the unexpected, because we often ride for miles around Norfolk without seeing a motor vehicle. If it's a busy road, of course there are cars and I feel they make quite enough noise without us adding to them!

The only call I dislike is people calling "clear" at junctions, especially when it's only clear for them. I think we should let everyone make their own decision unless the junction visibility is really awful. I fear calling "clear" may risk the next rider slowing correctly for the junction and a started-with-racers rider behind thinking they'll proceed because it's "clear" and crashing into them. Not that I've seen that happen yet, happily.

 

[Dan B]

I sometimes say "Ow! fark!" on group rides to warn the riders following about potholes that I saw too late to avoid

 

[Browser]

"? Huh? We don't do that - are you referring to the arm across the back to indicate an obstruction - for example badly parked/unexpected car/van, walkers etc - if on left, left arm across back hand pointing right?"


Yes, there you go, I obviously missed that particular lesson, so I presume from the confused tone that the pointing is to indicate which side one should ride to miss the hazard? I thought the arm-accross-the-back was to make sure the following riders saw the arm move, rather than just assuming someone was taking a hand off theri handlebars to shake some life back into it? I've only ever encountered the hand signalling thing on sportives I've done, and since I've never ridden with a club and no-one gave me a cyclists hand signals-to-english phrasebook at the start of the event I had to try and work it out as I went along

 

[youngoldbloke]

I sometimes say "Ow! fark!" on group rides to warn the riders following about potholes that I saw too late to avoid

In more polite mode, sometimes moved to say 'thanks! I might have missed it if you hadn't pointed it out' .....

 

[w00hoo_kent]

In more polite mode, sometimes moved to say 'thanks! I might have missed it if you hadn't pointed it out' .....

"Pothole" - "got it" <bumping noise of bike bouncing through it...>

 

[Hill Wimp]

I joined a club for a very short period, lovely people but all this shouting malarky put me right off. On another note i hate it when a group of cyclist overtake me whilst i am cycling and almost wrap me in a bear hug as they go round me.

Many a peaceful ride in the lanes have been spoilt by club runs and don't get me started on Mr MAMIL Sportive man and his weekender mates

 

[Fab Foodie]

That's called 'doing it wrong' though.


But @Fab Foodie's opening post was about 'an amiable group of bimblers' not 'seasoned club riders' in a chain gang. The shouting might be useful and normal in the latter, but it's annoying and rather ludicrous in the former.

Correct, we're generally not of the head-down close formation persuasion.

 

[Fab Foodie]

"Pothole" - "got it" <bumping noise of bike bouncing through it...>

'New Balls Please"

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Not group riding, but I caught a pothole heading through Plumstead last week, thought I'd squared both wheels for sure. One of those annoying 'sinkholes' you get in bus lanes with dodgy tarmac. Not sure how I stayed on the thing.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I'm far more annoyed when newbies to club riding don't alert the riders behind to potholes and parked cars.

 

[Sittingduck]

Definitely better to call out too many holes than be the 'hole that doesn't call it and somebody ends up hitting it and coming off!

Car up & car down are used a lot on my club's rides. Can be a bit irritating if it's over the top and constant. Not everybody needs to call them and not for every car - that's for sure. I think it depends a lot on the speed of the group and the familiarity of the riders with one another. Also on the route and if it's very well known to everybody. There's definitely a lot less vocal stuff in the fast group and the standard of riding is generally a lot better, shame I can't keep up with them at the mo!