Opinions, car vs bike..

[slowmotion]

Did you make it to your destination or are you still stuck behind the cyclists?

I'm never stuck behind cyclists. I'm far too slow, but it helps me observe their behaviour, which sometimes is selfish.

 

[screenman]

Too the three cyclist riding on Punch Bowl Lane Boston yesterday, it is not a good idea to ride 3 abreast with the third rider the wrong side of the white line. Unless you need to go to Specsavers you should have had no problem knowing I was there, after all I was coming towards you allbeit very slowly as I had not got a clue what you were trying to do.

 

[Markymark]

I cycled into London yesterday and am much faster than the cars. The annoying thing is how they use up THE ENTIRE LANE making it really hard for me to squeeze passed. I am much quicker than them and can't understand why they don't pull over when the road allows it.

 

[Tin Pot]

How to behave when other people are using the resource you need:

Pavement: Patience. Walk behind the group blocking your way until there is room to pass.

Lavatory: Patience. Wait until a cubicle becomes free.

Bar staff: Patience. Wait until earlier customers have been served.

Roads and Oil Fields: Scream, threaten nuclear holocaust, attack with all your might until the road/oil field is yours.

 

[Globalti]

When I used to mountain bike with a local club, especially at night during the winter, several members of the group would carry walkie-talkies, all tuned to the same frequency and we used them quite a lot to find straying riders or stop the group in the event of a puncture. I wonder if any road clubs have even considered using them to keep the group in shape? They are tiny and cheap as chips at Maplin.

 

[benb]

I cycled into London yesterday and am much faster than the cars. The annoying thing is how they use up THE ENTIRE LANE making it really hard for me to squeeze passed. I am much quicker than them and can't understand why they don't pull over when the road allows it.

This is absolutely a valid point.
Some drivers whine about having to slow down for a couple of minutes before being able to overtake a cyclist, despite the fact that a moment's thought would demonstrate that cyclists virtually never have a net impact on a driver's journey time. In all my hundreds of thousands of miles driving, I have never had my total journey time negatively impacted by a cyclist. Ever. I might have had to slow down for a minute or two before a safe overtaking opportunity appeared, but my total journey remained unaffected, for obvious reasons. I have however been stuck in many hours of traffic jams.

Yet drivers slow me down every single day on my commute, and it's vanishingly rare for them to move to the side of their lane to facilitate my filtering.
When I'm driving, I always pull to the left or the right if a cyclist or motorcyclist is filtering through. Makes no difference to me, so why not?

So yeah, it's a bit hypocritical for drivers to moan about how cyclists ought to pull over and let them through, presumably whilst tugging our forelock.

 

[hopless500]

Acaster Ln

https://goo.gl/maps/dSU3a9MePLx

Round here, this doesn't even come close to a single lane country road.

Same here. In fact, that's almost a motorway

 

[Ajax Bay]

@hopless500 - you have not bothered to read the whole thread (I quite understand why).

Same here. In fact, that's almost a motorway

Not only was the road in question NOT actually Acaster Lane (in due course OP amended this!) but he then appreciated that it was actually a 'normal' road ie a single lane carriageway. Edit: to be fair he only implied the road in question was 'single track' (the OP has been edited), but it was a very reasonable inference for CChatters to make.

 

[betty swollocks]

Were they 3/4 abreast or did it just look that way from your vantage point because they were not directly behind each other?

 

[keithmac]

It's hard to say, I would say 3 from how I was viewing it from the back but as people have said it can look deceiving.

Not the best pic but if you imagine the outmost rider in the pic below is 6 inches closer to the centre of the road thats where two of them were positioned within the "pack". They weren't in a neat formation.

They weren't riding as close together as the pic, I would say the pic below is 4 abreast but open to correction!.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

When I used to mountain bike with a local club, especially at night during the winter, several members of the group would carry walkie-talkies, all tuned to the same frequency and we used them quite a lot to find straying riders or stop the group in the event of a puncture. I wonder if any road clubs have even considered using them to keep the group in shape? They are tiny and cheap as chips at Maplin.

Not exactly a road club we are but, yes, the Belles on Bikes Glasgow once tried the walkie-talkies on a large group ride.
I say once, because on that occasion the leader came off while trying to speak into her lapel, she hit a kerb.
We abandoned the idea

 

[mjr]

They weren't riding as close together as the pic, I would say the pic below is 4 abreast but open to correction!.

Hey, look! A motorist able to overtake "4 abreast" (and I think it's 3, appearing as 4 due to foreshortening) on one of those narrow "single lane" roads while allowing a whole car's width of space! If I hadn't identified it as a picture of 303cycling.com (in Colorado), I would have guessed it was Canada

The article containing that picture is titled "What To Do When Your Cycling Group Ride Becomes A Traffic Problem" and is chock-full of typical advice from the Motoring-supremacist States of America, starting from an attitude that cycling is not traffic or of an equal status to motorists, should "stay to the side of the road" and show "respect for traffic" (oh crikey, not that old BS again) and there's this gem by the author in the comments: "The solution of taking half the lane, riding about two abreast, may make the line longer but a vehicle can pass completely in the other lane and if needed, can slide right" Yes, that's exactly the reason why groups take the lane, to discourage motorists "sliding right" in the face of an oncoming motorist after a misjudged overtake and squeezing cyclists against the edge of the road (or off of it).

Despite the name "I Love Bicycling" doesn't seem to love riders! We must not allow this fair isle to go the same wrong way as America!

 

[keithmac]

I just picked the best fit pic from Google, didn't realise there was an article attached to it.

Plus that's quite a luxurious single carriageway .

 

[johnnyb47]

Its not bike related but even car drivers can argue with each other over space on the road..I was getting my bike out through the front door this evening and noticed traffic queuing all the way down the road with motorists tooting there horns and shouting all kinds of grief. When I looked the other way there where two cars nose to nose on the single lane road arguing with each other ,over who's going to back up. The language was quite ripe and all this was in front of a nun who is my neighbour and a good friend. I casually walked down towards them and had a quiet word asking either of them to just swallow there pride and move over. Unfortunately both the young lads had there heels well and truly stuck in and where not budging. Plan b then came into play and I told them to move there car or I will do it for you and showed them I was more than happy to go through with it. They saw sense in the end as one driver yielded.
Just how pathetic and moronic some drivers can be is unbelievable.Effing and blinding at each other in front of my elderly neighbour just because one of them would have to swallow there pride and back up a bit.
Just imagine meeting these two clowns whilst out on your Sunday club bike riding.
The mind boggles lol