To have been annoyed with the cyclists

[EverybodyLovesWine]

On the way back from visiting a friend yesterday I was behind two cyclists in the proper Lycra gear riding two abreast.

The roads were single carriage way roads through villages with on comjng traffic, corners, parked cars etc. I was not confident to overtake but the cyclists didn't move over for a good ten mins ( where the road widened out a bit anyway).

There was a LONG queue of traffic behind me and I was getting a bit stressed, even though of turning into a side road so I wasn't first. I am not an aggressive driver but wondering if I should have beeped them. They turned round a few times so certainly knew I was there.

Just as the road widened the man behind shouted loudly at them and gestured as he passed.

AIBU to have been really annoyed with the riders (the words arrogant tossers were going through my mind) as they should have pulled over IMO, should I have been more forthright with my driving? Or perhaps I should not have been annoyed and was in fact an arrogant tosser of a car driver!

[Jengnr]

Riding side by side is inconsiderate in the extreme. I'm in West Yorkshire and since the Tour de France has decided to come here (FFS) the place is full of them doing the same.

[Goldmandra]

Most motorists, including me, probably break the law in some way every day, yet when cyclists do it, it's a big issue.

No double standards. If two cars were driven down a road unreasonably slowly abreast (or even one car which was driven slowly down the middle of the road) in order to prevent other people overtaking there would be plenty of comments about how inconsiderate they were.

[Pan]

BBJ - yes you're right, I think, in that there are sometimes threads of equal length about poor driving standards. Crucially tho' they are usually started by other drivers.

I can't recall, ever a thread commenced by a cyclist about poor driving standards, despite the fact we are so much more vulnerable. ( I'm an occasional poster these days so I may have missed them). That probably says a lot about how cyclists accommodate for poor driving and how we have a very modest ambition from driving standards, through experience.

I started a thread in winter time re thanking drivers for their good conduct, usually, which I have found, and bits of advice about how we should be allowed for and what makes life pointlessly difficult for riders. Even that thread as temp derailed by a driver over a minor point, which was annoying but the thread seemed to have been well-received.

[Pan]

that thread was temp derailed...

[Pan]

Jengnr I think it;s excellent the TdF is coming to the UK again. I am v doubtful tho' that that fact has led to differing riding habits. That sounds like a bit of driver paranoia tbh. I mean, on roads how much more 'power' do you want over other road users who are a sliver of your size?

[Pendeen]

"The stats just don't back that up, cars kill all the time, cyclists extremely rarely"

What a daft statement!

A car weighs well over a tonne and goes much faster than a cycle and there are millions more cars than cycles.

[Lazyjaney]

"It's telling that some cyclists perhaps not obeying the Highway Code should result in such a long thread. If I was to start a topic about the motorist who overtook me today at above the speed limit whilst talking on her mobile, I doubt anyone would be too interested. Most motorists, including me, probably break the law in some way every day, yet when cyclists do it, it's a big issue. Double standards seem to apply here"

What was more telling is the long and grudging admission by the cyclist fans that the OPs cyclists were in the wrong and being selfish. Even the post above saying "perhaps not obeying the Highway Code" when it's been darn clear from the get go that they were shows this begrudgement.

If the cyclists had admitted the OPs two cyclists were in the wrong on page one, the thread would have been over then and there.

[Pan]

Well, not really Lazyjaney - the conversation has gone well beyond the OP's statement. There's been various interpretations given to the cyclists' choices of actions, and also generally about when it is best to ride two abreast, which are done for good reason. Because some drivers don't like it isn't the full explanation as to why we have a long thread about it.

I'd suggest that a valid reason is that many biking MNers get roundly pissed off with complaints about cyclists behaviour is when sooo much death-threatening driver behaviour goes un-noted (for the reason I mentioned above i.e we just accommodate for it and get on with riding). So having someone complain about an instance of riders holding up a drivers progress is, frankly, very very small beer compared with so much shit bikers have to put up with.

Its a question of proportion.

Do you see sense in any of that?

[TiggyD]

Maybe the cyclists were Jack Bauer type agents who foiled a plot to destroy the world with a bomb but had only partially defused it. They had to get it away from a fault line in the Earth's crust that according to ancient Mayan prophesy would split the world in two. They were carrying it between two bikes as MI6 has an eco drive on for all it's agents at the moment and it was the greenest way to move the bomb to the aliens portal and throw it in thereby destroying the alien star destroyer parked behind Uranus.
Simple. Problem solved.

[Pan]

Tiggy...even as the most insane of theories (which i like), you cannot, in any universe, dimension, Cartesian-notion of mathmatics, physics-intelligence bound by our universe limiters..partially defuse a bomb.
Sorry dear.

[TiggyD]

Shows what you know about defusing bombs!

[Pan]

True.

[Technotropic]

OP

I realise you don't want to give us the google map of the road in question but perhaps you can tell us exactly what type the centre lines were for the duration of the 10 mins?

Lazyjaney

Can you recall what the lines were along the centre of the road last time you overtook anything, be it a cyclist, car, horse or tractor etc?

[whatsthatcomingoverthehill]

It's not clear at all whether they were being annoying or whether driving defensively on a road too dangerous to overtake on or if the OP was overly cautious.

But, I get fed up of motorists moaning about cyclists. All a cyclist is likely to cause a driver is some minor inconvenience whereas a cyclist is at risk of injury or worse from idiotic drivers. This imbalance of consequences is important and explains why cyclists can be uppity. Believe me, when you regularly cycle you soon learn to protect yourself and if that pisses someone off then so be it.

[TiggyD]

They should have protected themselves by fully defusing the bomb first.

[Pan]

yes, whats - broadly, drivers moans about cyclists are 1st world problems. Cyclists problem-solvings re drivers are survival problems.

There is no comparisons. As a very experienced bikist, drivers moans about about bikists pisses me of more than is polite to say.

[Pan]

or 'pisses me off' more than is polite to say.

[BestParentEver]

They sound like safe cyclists. And it is legal for them to cycle two abreast.

[Lazyjaney]

^^
Yet another cyclist who doesn't know the Highway Code or doesnt think it applies to them.

[VivaLeBeaver]

LazyJane you're totally wrong as I'm sure you do actually know.

www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/overview-59-to-71

Cyclists must not ride on pavements

Cycists should not ride more than 2 abreast (so 2 is fine)

Cyclists should ride in single file on busy or narrow roads. Note it says should and "busy" and "narrow" are grey areas. What's one person's busy may not be anothers.

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

It is inconsiderate to ride two abreast in that situation. As for 'not safe to overtake' if there was one, well when I'm cycling, and I imagine when others are too, if there's a cycle lane you use it and you're at the edge while cars go past you, usually faster: but if there isn't a cycle line, the set up is still pretty much that, isn't it? You don't move out into the middle of the lane and take your place between cars, surely: why would you? It is fine for cars to be travelling faster, and therefore past, cyclists in single file, in most instances.

I'm a regular cyclist, I see dickish behaviour from cars: but as a driver, the only cycling behaviour I find really infuriating is riding two abreast and knowingly holding up a queue of traffic.

[Lazyjaney]

"LazyJane you're totally wrong as I'm sure you do actually know"

No matter how you twist and turn and mangle the English language, you are never going to get the Highway Code to say to tbat its OK, cyclists should ride 2 abreast on narrow roads for 10 minutes while traffic builds up behind them.

[JanuaryTwenty]

"...you are never going to get the Highway Code to say to tbat its OK, cyclists should ride 2 abreast on narrow roads for 10 minutes while traffic builds up behind them."

That's very true, the HC would never say that, because it makes no sense.

[VivaLeBeaver]

But equally it doesn't say that they must not or that they can not.

[Sparklingbrook]

Happy Week old birthday to the thread.