Poorly planned overtakes on group rides

[Matthew_T]

Today on the club ride, there were three incidents where people overtaking us misjudged either the oncoming traffic or were too impatient to wait for a safe place to overtake.
The first guy barged through just as we were stopping at a junction, preventing some cyclists from turning right safely. The second blindly followed a car infront and had to dive out of the way of a tractor. And the third overtook just before a blind bend and squeezed some cyclists towards the verge, then continued to overtake me on a blind bend with double white lines.

It is not as if the group are going slow or we are struggling uphill, people just seem to misjudge 1. Our speed. 2. How long it will take them to overtake us all. 3. Oncoming traffic speed. 4. The road ahead.

Has anyone else had these kind of incidents on group or club rides?

 

[400bhp]

Yes

Quite a lot.

Many drivers don't have the skill/patience to overtake a group of cyclists.

Not much you can do other than not cycle.

 

[Herzog]

Has anyone else had these kind of incidents on group or club rides?

On a road race last weekend we had a bit of a shocker. On a reasonably winding section of the course, a black VW comes screaming past the main bunch, giving us a decent amount of room in the process. He/she was about halfway up the bunch when a car appeared coming towards us in the opposite direction. The driver proceeded to slam on the brakes and swerve sharply towards us...it was like Hoogerland TDF only not on the TV. A few brown chamois pads I would guess!!

 

[Fab Foodie]

Break into smaller compact groups separated by say 30 metres rather than longer strung-out lines, then the cars have space to hop from gap to gap.
Much safer and more curteous.

 

[PK99]

Today on the club ride, there were three incidents where people overtaking us misjudged either the oncoming traffic or were too impatient to wait for a safe place to overtake.
The first guy barged through just as we were stopping at a junction, preventing some cyclists from turning right safely. The second blindly followed a car infront and had to dive out of the way of a tractor. And the third overtook just before a blind bend and squeezed some cyclists towards the verge, then continued to overtake me on a blind bend with double white lines.

It is not as if the group are going slow or we are struggling uphill, people just seem to misjudge 1. Our speed. 2. How long it will take them to overtake us all. 3. Oncoming traffic speed. 4. The road ahead.

Has anyone else had these kind of incidents on group or club rides?

How many on the ride?
Sigle or double line?

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Group rides are worse but in many cases drivers just have to get past the "slow" cyclist/group.

Todays incident had me travelling at 25mph on the flat and a lorry over takes me from behind. Problem is there is a car coming the other way. The lorry driver judged that he could pass me in time for the car to pass on the other side safely.
What actually happened was the lorry, carrying two trailers, had to cut in after he passed me. The end result was the last trailer missing me by a millimetres. I thought it was risky but that i would be okay. I didn't factor in that there would be a 2nd trailer!
Utterly bricked it as the last trailer slowly pushed me to the verge and the tail end swung in just before my front wheel. Managed to stay upright but i know that this was one very lucky experience on my part. Could have been so much worse.

If it was a group ride one of my club mates, or myself, would have been injured or killed.

​

 

[GrasB]

Today on the club ride, there were three incidents where people overtaking us misjudged either the oncoming traffic or were too impatient to wait for a safe place to overtake.
The first guy barged through just as we were stopping at a junction, preventing some cyclists from turning right safely. The second blindly followed a car infront and had to dive out of the way of a tractor. And the third overtook just before a blind bend and squeezed some cyclists towards the verge, then continued to overtake me on a blind bend with double white lines.

It is not as if the group are going slow or we are struggling uphill, people just seem to misjudge 1. Our speed. 2. How long it will take them to overtake us all. 3. Oncoming traffic speed. 4. The road ahead.

Has anyone else had these kind of incidents on group or club rides?

I get this quite a lot when riding solo at speeds above 15mph!

 

[neil_merseyside]

In a group ride (of 6-8 in sub-groups) and as designated back marker I'll ride primary, and quite happily stick an arm out with an open palm backwards (most people behind understand) to deter a lunge, I only do this if the vehicle behind can't complete what it wants to do safely. Occasionally I'll even wobble 'out' - this gets attention and respect (or thoughts of 'loss of NCD' - the same thing) and I then 'manage' the overtake by calling the car when safe (for us!). Too many club runs seem to only look forward!?

 

[User6179]

Group rides are worse but in many cases drivers just have to get past the "slow" cyclist/group.

Todays incident had me travelling at 25mph on the flat and a lorry over takes me from behind. Problem is there is a car coming the other way. The lorry driver judged that he could pass me in time for the car to pass on the other side safely.
What actually happened was the lorry, carrying two trailers, had to cut in after he passed me. The end result was the last trailer missing me by a millimetres. I thought it was risky but that i would be okay. I didn't factor in that there would be a 2nd trailer!
Utterly bricked it as the last trailer slowly pushed me to the verge and the tail end swung in just before my front wheel. Managed to stay upright but i know that this was one very lucky experience on my part. Could have been so much worse.

If it was a group ride one of my club mates, or myself, would have been injured or killed.

​

That happens to me all the time and its usually worse the quicker your going and obviously its driver error but the only thing that i can think of that would solve the problem is if all roads were wider, a standard size!

 

[GrasB]

In a group ride (of 6-8 in sub-groups) and as designated back marker I'll ride primary, and quite happily stick an arm out with an open palm backwards (most people behind understand) to deter a lunge, I only do this if the vehicle behind can't complete what it wants to do safely. Occasionally I'll even wobble 'out' - this gets attention and respect (or thoughts of 'loss of NCD' - the same thing) and I then 'manage' the overtake by calling the car when safe (for us!). Too many club runs seem to only look forward!?

It also annoys me when you call for a a group to allow a split & riders in the middle don't do as they're told. In Italy if a back marker yells "split" we form into small blocks of riders (3 riders wide 2 deep typically) & maintain a good 3-4 car length between blocks until the block behind catches up.

 

[G3CWI]

I didn't factor in that there would be a 2nd trailer!

In the 1980s I cycled across Australia. There they have road trains. Thoughts of who might have the right of way tended to be secondary to thoughts of getting off the road as fast as possible.

30-40 seconds into the video you get the impression of one of these trains heading for you. Very scary.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb5d6ISHoMU

 

[400bhp]

It also annoys me when you call for a a group to allow a split & riders in the middle don't do as they're told. In Italy if a back marker yells "split" we form into small blocks of riders (3 riders wide 2 deep typically) & maintain a good 3-4 car length between blocks until the block behind catches up.

Interesting - I'm not sure many clubs adopt the splitting here?

There are insurance restrictions on the overall size of the group for some clubs, but I've never seen a group being told to split. That's experience of 3 different clubs.

To be brutally honest, some of the club riding leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Two trailers is a showman's licence so exclusively the preserve of (pikey) circus/fairground folk...

 

[GrasB]

Interesting - I'm not sure many clubs adopt the splitting here?

There are insurance restrictions on the overall size of the group for some clubs, but I've never seen a group being told to split. That's experience of 3 different clubs.

To be brutally honest, some of the club riding leaves a lot to be desired.

Part of that maybe the size of groups. If you consider we're splitting down into groups of 6 riders & we can be in 5 groups that's a big clump of cyclists to overtake. There's also the type of roads, being quite windy it's hard to find opportunities to overtake a train of riders 3-4 long, however it's easier to find space if the train is only 2 long. This is why the 3 wide 2 deep works. Yes the driver needs to be right on the other side of the road but as a single rider would require the driver to cross the centre line then there's very little difference there, however being 3 shorter means less space is needed to overtake between the sharp turns. For this reason the act of going single file (which seems to be more common in the UK) will be met with blaring horns & abusive yelling from drivers for the most part. Obviously isn't the case when you can get past a cyclists while staying in lane (there is quite a lot of more major road where 3 lanes have been down graded to 2 wide lanes where I ride)

 

[Tanis8472]

In the 1980s I cycled across Australia. There they have road trains. Thoughts of who might have the right of way tended to be secondary to thoughts of getting off the road as fast as possible.

30-40 seconds into the video you get the impression of one of these trains heading for you. Very scary.

I sh*t myself when those things are comin my way in a Campervan.
On a bike I dont know what I'd do