Nearly jumped out of my lycra

[Thomk]

This scared the living daylight out of me as I did not anticipate the trailer and it was a bit close just as I was inching out after the truck had passed. I have no idea really how to handle this type of single track road and just decided to shuffle over to the left as far as possible to let traffic pass. I only got passed 3 times in 3 miles to it's mostly a very pleasant route to take.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=jozgL2VHXAQ

 

[daSmirnov]

Quiet single track stuff in the country I normally sit in a position where cars can't blast past me.

When you hear someone coming up behind give them a look and if its safe move over to let the pass. When stuff's coming towards you its more a case of playing chicken until they start to slow down so they're not blasting past you at 60mph. Just be ready to swerve over if you're not confident they've seen you or give a toss. And obviously don't try it on a corner where you can't see what's coming. :-) And use an appropriate hand gesture if they co-operate.

If that guy overtook me like that I'd be tempted to follow the trail of hay left, and have a word with the driver about 1) his crap driving and 2) the trailer not having a licence plate.

 

[Theseus]

The clock on your camera is a bit out of date.

 

[HLaB]

If you are too far left, it often gives the impression to driver that they can just push through, it also gives you less wobble/ get out room. I like to be closer to the centre of such a road or even on the right if there is gravel down the middle, whatever position really I have most visibility to/from. Let drivers slow down and think and when its safe to do so pull in and let them pass and give them the thumbs up and they'll usually give it back In general I find rural drivers are far more considerate than urban drivers

 

[Deleted member 1258]

As others have said, ride far enough to the right that you don't leave a gap that someone thinks they can nip through, look for farm entrances, there was one at the start of your video, field gates, laybys and anything else that gives the lane a bit of width and then pull over to let the vehicle through.

 

[Red Light]

Quiet single track stuff in the country I normally sit in a position where cars can't blast past me.

When you hear someone coming up behind give them a look and if its safe move over to let the pass. When stuff's coming towards you its more a case of playing chicken until they start to slow down so they're not blasting past you at 60mph. Just be ready to swerve over if you're not confident they've seen you or give a toss. And obviously don't try it on a corner where you can't see what's coming. :-) And use an appropriate hand gesture if they co-operate.

If that guy overtook me like that I'd be tempted to follow the trail of hay left, and have a word with the driver about 1) his crap driving and 2) the trailer not having a licence plate.

+1

Its always easy to hear that its a tractor and usually the trailer too. I always check back in such cases because often the drivers forget the width of what they are towing and some of it has nasty spikes and blades sticking out. So I always check back to make sure its going to miss me rather than relying on the driver.

 

[Thomk]

I think the problem I had was that the road was fairly wide for a single track, wider than it looks on the vid. You can see at the end that the truck passes a car coming the other way even though it was not a passing point (although it must have been very close). I thought it might be taking the piss a bit if I took primary but on reflection I think you're all correct and I will do that next time. As RL says I will check back and probably let cars through but not bigger stuff until I reach a passing point.

 

[Thomk]

The clock on your camera is a bit out of date.

It's not exactly state of the art equipment and I haven't yet figured out how to change the date or remove the timestamp as following the instructions doesn't seem to help. My next camera will cost more than £26!

 

[Thomk]

In fact looking at the vid again I bet he scared the life out of the oncoming car driver as well as they probably didn't see each other until late and the car was forced to stop. Straw/hay man just kept on going without worrying about it.

 

[fimm]

Were you aware of the vehicle before you got to the drive at the beginning of the vid? I'd have been tempted to dive in there and let him past (not always possible, I know).

 

[Thomk]

Were you aware of the vehicle before you got to the drive at the beginning of the vid? I'd have been tempted to dive in there and let him past (not always possible, I know).

Unfortunately not. Also it didn't sound like a big vehicle even when it was very close, I guess because it was after all only a (4WD) car and my theory is that the hay/straw stuff absorbed most of the sound

 

[Matthames]

It's not exactly state of the art equipment and I haven't yet figured out how to change the date or remove the timestamp as following the instructions doesn't seem to help. My next camera will cost more than £26!

A bit OT, if it is the camera I think it is, you can usually change the date by making a file in a text editor (ie Notepad) called TAG.txt

In the text editor you need to write these 3 lines:

[date]
yyyy/mm/dd
hh:mm:ss

But remember to replace the letters with the corresponding numbers for the date and time you want to synchronise it to. So for 12:30 on the 3rd September 2011 you would write:

[date]
2011/09/03
12:30:00

Then save this file and copy it onto the memory card in the camera. Unplug the camera and switch it off, then wait for the time you want to synchronise it to and switch it on.

Back on topic:

Riding on single track rural roads, I tend to adopt the primary position to discourage drivers from trying to push past. However, if somebody wants to get by I look for passing places to pull over for them to get past.

 

[Thomk]

A bit OT, if it is the camera I think it is, you can usually change the date by making a file in a text editor (ie Notepad) called TAG.txt

In the text editor you need to write these 3 lines:

[date]
yyyy/mm/dd
hh:mm:ss

But remember to replace the letters with the corresponding numbers for the date and time you want to synchronise it to. So for 12:30 on the 3rd September 2011 you would write:

[date]
2011/09/03
12:30:00

Then save this file and copy it onto the memory card in the camera. Unplug the camera and switch it off, then wait for the time you want to synchronise it to and switch it on.

Yes you've got the right camera I think, probably guessed it from the terrible sound quality of the video (BTW can anyone make out what I said at around 24/25 seconds of the clip?).

I've tried that already as it's in the instructions and I also found this link with info:

http://www.sport-cam...er%20manual.pdf

Can't seem to get it to work though

 

[PpPete]

I am also very wary of trailers now.
Had a close pass by a car - which was followed by a wider trailer. With bridge railings coming up on left I had nowhere to go and bailed out into the ditch ---- broken ribs and a bit of road rash to me and the bike.

 

[BlackPanther]

Were you aware of the vehicle before you got to the drive at the beginning of the vid? I'd have been tempted to dive in there and let him past (not always possible, I know).

Unfortunately not. Also it didn't sound like a big vehicle even when it was very close, I guess because it was after all only a (4WD) car and my theory is that the hay/straw stuff absorbed most of the sound

If you weren't aware of him, I'd suggest a rear view mirror. Frowned upon by some, I swear by them and they come in really handy on the last part of my commute, a winding country road. If I see a large vehicle behind I tend to take primary until they can pass safely.