Road cyclists?…

[Humphreyshead]

Do you genuinely enjoy having cars following behind you? Or is it just something you’re willing to put up with?

I live in a very popular road cycling area, with scenic routes and lovely windy and hilly roads. Some of these roads are busy though and it can take a few miles sometimes to be able to overtake a cyclist safely.

When I’m driving behind them I often wonder if they’re constantly aware of the cars behind them, which then in turn ruins their experience. Or do you have to just switch them off?

I also ask as I’m an avid mountain biker, and sometimes I have to use the roads to connect trails. But I always pull over when I can, to let cars past, as I hate it!… But road cyclists never seem to do this.

I also really dislike it when cyclists wave me past. If I can't see the way ahead clearly then I'm not taking your word for it - it will be me that causes the accident and gets into trouble if your judgement is wrong! Otherwise, no issues with sensible cyclists although agree that it doesn't look like a fun activity to be cycling on busy roads with a tailback of cars behind you!

I manage my anger quite well actually as I haven’t mowed any cyclists down yet.

I'm a cycler and I always pull in I hate traffic behind me but as this tone will also suggest, I always cycle wearing a camera, I've been hit by a car before, I get so much abuse?
I will say I'm also not a fan of these clubs cycling in a pack on the country roads and I understand people's frustration with them but it's the pack/groups fault and I know the local one here

@Pickandmixmood So you're not actually talking about the vast majority of cyclists? Only a tiny (and possibly imaginary) minority who insist on blocking the whole road en masse.

And you're comfortable stating you'd like to mow such people down with your vehicle, but because some have helmet cameras, you won't?

You don't sound entirely rational to me.

Yes, it is the groups of cyclists who are the main culprits.
I live in the countryside so they are more prevalent round here and give me the rage.

The cycle paths are not always great, bumpy, full of pedestrians, you have to give priority at every junction. Sometimes the
path just finishes in the middle of nowhere with an infuriating and condescending "cyclists dismount" sign. Imagine the road just ended and it had a sign saying "get out and push".

Get on a bike yourself and see why! I'm happy to teach you if you're lacking this life skill (unless you're disabled, but then there are always trikes)

drivers, do you really like sitting in a traffic jam if you could take the train instead?

I find them very inconsiderate. I live rurally and cycle myself but always pull over to let cars past - it’s a better experience for everyone.
I find most cyclists seem to take delight in holding up cars and don’t pull in even when there are passing spaces.
i think I find it annoying as there are just so many of them now.
A few times a year they use the road for cycle races. They don’t warn residents. I needed to get out and about to take my kids to various clubs. The race went on all morning and I got shouted at by cyclists just for wanting to leave my house (they don’t close the road they just expect everyone to stay home).
Cyclists seem to think rural roads are private velodromes, not roads that people need to use to get to their houses to out to work etc

Well there're some right shit cunts on here tonight aren't there? 😂

To whoever commented about the A24 in Dorking, the cycle path is not fit for a 20mph road cyclist. I would use a shared cycle path when going slowly, with my children for example, but when I'm averaging 20mph paths like that with exposed roots and uneven surfaces are fatal.

To the poster who said cyclists are all entitled - that term is usually reserved for things that people are doing that they shouldn't, and they feel entitled to do so.
Cyclists are allowed on the roads, like any other vehicle, so it's not entitled to lawfully use a bike on a road, you muppet!

As a cyclist and motorist and pedestrian, I'd rather have a cyclist on the road than on a pavement.

Give over being so angry at cyclists. It will take you a short press of your pedal to regain where you would have been if you weren't held up by us for those 30 seconds.

Maybe your stress or high blood pressure would be aided by a nice cycle ride, blow some cobwebs away.

Well said

If we go on the shared pathway we are “terrorising the pedestrians

Only if you’re the kind of a-hole cyclist I’ve come across since becoming a dog owner and walking my (on-lead) dog on shared paths. The kind that don’t ring their bell to let me know that they’re behind me but barge past at speed, inches from me. The Outdoor Access Code here is quite clear about shared paths but there are many cyclists who have obviously never read it.

I was knocked off my bike as a teenager and a relative of mine was killed on his bike, so I’m well aware of the risks cyclists face - but just as the increased in car ownership means there are more dangerous drivers out there, the increase in cyclists means that as a pedestrian I’m coming across more utter pricks on shared pathways - and no way to report them.

You seem delightful and emotionally mature. Sure they are annoying and have a pointless interpretation of cycling, but if they were all in a car you'd be stuck in traffic too.

No, I wouldnt be stuck behind cars because they would be driving at car speed rather than crawling along at cycle speed

I do wonder about the dodgy logic of some of these replies

The nearest station to my house is sixty miles away.

That is one of my irritations.

We have a lovely cycle path near us. Dh uses it frequently and says it's pretty perfect: not over grown, no potholes, not shared with pedestrians etc. It goes alongside the road, but slightly removed.

I not infrequently crawl along behind cyclists on the road that every time there is a straight bit of road with no one coming the other way either pull right out to the middle of the road, or decide to ride in a wavy line, taking over half the road (that's of the whole road, not just one side). So making it hard to pass and very distracting too.
And before someone suggests it's the same person, only if he has three different coloured helmets.

I mean I don't mind going slowly behind until there's a good space to overtake, but when they try and make it difficult to overtake when it's safe to do so, it's frustrating.

We refer to them as "The Wasps". They come out in sunny weather, wearing yellow and are really irritating.

I wish I had your luck at never being stuck in a traffic jam.

@Pickandmixmood

They do not give you the rage.

You choose to get enraged.

You could equally choose to recognise that they have as much right to use the road as you have.

You could choose to recognise that they are doing less damage to others and the planet by owning and riding their bikes than you are in by owning and driving your motor vehicle. Even if you drive an electric vehicle, the cradle to grave environmental impacts of these dwarf those of bicycles.

Who's being selfish here? Big groups of people getting exercise with non-polluting, active travel? Or you, wanting to mow down a lot of people you've not previously met because they've got slightly delayed in their journey?

On those occasions when you encounter them, how much time do you estimate these large groups of cyclists add to your journey? Have you ever measured it? Does wanting to mow these people down seem like a rational response?

It is entitled and selfish to block the whole carriageway as a group of cyclists who crawl along and unnecessarily hold up the other road users. I don’t have any issue with considerate cyclists who don’t do that.

I’m talking about cyclists on country roads where there are no traffic jams. In a city it probably doesn’t matter whether you are stuck in a traffic jam behind a car or a group of cyclists

Selfish behaviour gives me the rage rather than the delay caused by their selfishness.

What about cyclists who use the road when they have a cycle path
They're usually full of parked cars

I ride single file, let cars through if it's safe and share the road with respect for others. It's probably no coincidence that I have minimal conflict with motorists.

That’s what I do and that is why it is so irritating that groups of cyclists deliberately block the road these days.