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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

AIBU to bloody hate cyclists

845 replies

FortyAndFlagging · 30/05/2019 16:20

I have just trailed three cyclists during the course of the day. Honest to God, why don't they just pull over and let people pass?

OP posts:
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YouBumder · 30/05/2019 16:45

A group of 3 men created a tailback of over 40 cars on our single carriageway country road on BHoliday Monday. It is a wide road designed to accommodate cyclists easily but they chose to ride 3 abreast and make everyone wait for 11 miles on a national speed limit road.

Not one car could overtake them for 11 miles? Bullshit.

YouBumder · 30/05/2019 16:46

Do you pay road tax then?

Neither do you.

whothedaddy · 30/05/2019 16:46

It really surprises me how unaware car drivers are to their dangerous driving. Tailgating a cyclist is terrifying. If I have a driver behind me I make sure I am nearer the middle of the road so that I know they can see me....it also gives me more space to move into the curb when they (almost always) overtake too close.
People drive far too fast and arrogantly, in towns and on country roads. Where are you going that makes your journey more important than mine. You forget that you are driving a 2 tonne weapon. If I ride too slow its and inconvenience, if you get impatient and drive dangerously my life is at stake.

never mind walk a mile in my shoes...get on a bike and cycle a mile on your roads, it will give you a better appreciation of how the road should be used.

twojackrusselsandamoggie · 30/05/2019 16:47

@neveradullmoment99 time to roll this out again...no one pays "road tax", people pay vehicle excise duty which is zero for non polluting vehicles. Bike + electric car = zero charge.

OP yabu. I cycle daily, and several times daily cars pass me illegally. You've got that classic attitude of thinking you have more right to be on the road than I do. You don't.

Annabk · 30/05/2019 16:48

@sarahjconnor
“YANBU A group of 3 men created a tailback of over 40 cars on our single carriageway country road on BHoliday Monday. It is a wide road designed to accommodate cyclists easily but they chose to ride 3 abreast and make everyone wait for 11 miles on a national speed limit road. I picked 28 gel packets off the grass verge in front of my house after a cycling 'race' 3 weeks ago”

I have had many, many similar experiences. No issue with a bloke or woman riding to work but the tailbacks caused by the packs of cyclists around here are unbelievable.

YouBumder · 30/05/2019 16:49

People are always moaning about cyclists delaying them for a few minutes (at most) but most delays to journeys are caused by cars - congestion, accidents, breakdowns.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/05/2019 16:50

Oh god, road tax. Stop it! I can't read the reasons why that is a stupid response again.

Please, make it stop!

That and the ever so patient explanations of why they ride 2 abreast, why it is not only reasonable but encouraged in the HC.

I can take no more!

Slow down, wait, pass safely. Have a nice day.

RedSheep73 · 30/05/2019 16:51

If you don't already know you are being unreasonable, you shouldn't be driving.

whothedaddy · 30/05/2019 16:52

...and as for riding 2 abreast- I always ride 2 abreast with my 9yo DD because I can not trust Bl**dy car drivers to prioritise her life over their speed.

crazyasafox · 30/05/2019 16:52

@stucknoue

It's the 2-3 abreast in packs of 20 or more on weekends that annoy me, on many roads there's nowhere to safely overtake and it barely wide enough to get past them anyway, and with the hills i find myself in 2nd gear trying not to stall. Though this is principally a Sunday issue. And what is it with the silly Lycra suits, they are going at a snails pace and not more than 10 mph even on the flat!

This. It's not normal cyclists plodding along, helping the environment, and creating a healthy lifestyle. (Like me - I cycle to work and back - into our little local market town, about 3 miles away,) and like to potter around the area on my bike too ...

I think the 3 and 4 abreast, entitled, lycra-clad twonks are the type the OP is on about.

If those are the ones you mean, then I agree, and YANBU @FortyAndFlagging

Sarahjconnor · 30/05/2019 16:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

letsdolunch321 · 30/05/2019 16:53

Whoever passed the law that cyclist can ride two abreast (side by side) has not got an ounce of common sense.

I'm all for cyclist doing there stuff but this is very dangerous when other modes of transport are trying to pass.

Frouby · 30/05/2019 16:53

Yanbu OP.

Some cyclists like some car drivers are absolute wankers. We live just off a main road, with designated cycle/pedestrian paths to use alongside the road. Cyclists use the road instead of the path as they don't want to be slowed down by pedestrians.

Am all in favour of those that cycle to work/shops/to get from A to B. But those wankerbastards who park up outside our house at 7am on sunday mornings, make a fuckton of noise greeting each other and back slapping etc then go for a nice 3 or 4 hour leisurely ride for recreational reasons are a pita.

They have as much right to use the roads as everyone else. But hold up traffic, litter (chuck those pouchy things everywhere), get in the way, frighten horses by approaching silently from behind, nearly run pedestrians over if they use the trans pennine trail and disturb my peace on a sunday morning.

I try and be sympathetic and tolerant. We have ponies so understand completely how it feels to be a vulnerable road user. But if we carried off on horses the way cyclists do we would be slated.

Disfordarkchocolate · 30/05/2019 16:54

@neveradullmoment99 no one pays road tax, general taxation pays for roads.

FiddlesticksAkimbo · 30/05/2019 16:54

Rule 163 of the Highway Code states that when passing cyclists, drivers should give "as much room as you would when overtaking a car".

Those like sarahjconnor complaining that "packs" of cyclists unfairly impede their progress are presumably breaking this rule, which is why they can overtake single-file cyclists more easily?

HunterHearstHelmsley · 30/05/2019 16:56

I don't like any other road users Wink

Everyone does stupid shit sometimes. I nearly killed a pedestrian last week when he ran out from behind a bus. I don't hate all pedestrians. I was stuck behind a 40mph driver on the motorway the other day. I don't hate all car drivers.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/05/2019 16:59

Whoever passed the law that cyclist can ride two abreast (side by side) has not got an ounce of common sense. Or they were thinking about how to make cyclists more obvious and therefore safer from the twattery of impatient car drivers!

Myscarfisblue · 30/05/2019 16:59

Here we go again ....

TFBundy · 30/05/2019 17:00

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

whothedaddy · 30/05/2019 17:00

@Frouby why should pedestrians and cyclists have to share? A bike is a vehicle and not safe to be sharing a pavement.
also moaning about the noise they make and then saying they frighten horses because they are too quiet...which one is it?

The rest of this post is a general post not aimed at you personally.

Why should motorised vehicles have priority on roads?

If a group of people cycle as a hobby why is their enjoyment less important than whatever you are on you are on your way to do in your car. Visiting the in-laws, off to the beach, taking kids to swimming lessons? All hobbies/social, all of equal importance.

As for the litter, have you ever seen the side of a motorway?

Feffylith · 30/05/2019 17:02

YANBU OP. I have absolutely no issue with any non-twat road users, cyclists or otherwise, just the twatroad users and that includes some cyclists which despite being wonderfully eco friendly are still absolute idiots with a death wish.

Veterinari · 30/05/2019 17:04

Whoever passed the law that cyclist can ride two abreast (side by side) has not got an ounce of common sense.

@letsdolunch321
As 2 abreast cyclists are still not as wide as a car and as you should give cyclists at least as much room as a car when overtaking, can you explain why this is a problem? How is it any different from passing a slow car?

It sounds like drivers like you who nip past single cyclists leaving a narrow margin when it’s not safe to overtake properly are exactly the reason why cyclists are advised to cycle in defensive positions.

Zampa · 30/05/2019 17:04

Whoever passed the law that cyclist can ride two abreast (side by side) has not got an ounce of common sense

It's infinitely safer for cyclists to ride two abreast; it stops close passes as the driver has to cross into the opposite carriageway to overtake. It also makes the cyclists more visible.

It's also better for car drivers. Overtaking 20 cyclists in single file formation (20 metres) is much harder than overtaking 20 cyclists riding 2 abreast (10 metres).

Anyway, of course you're being U, OP. Cycling saves the economy millions of pounds and would save more if there weren't people like you putting orders off getting on their bikes.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 30/05/2019 17:05

We live just off a main road, with designated cycle/pedestrian paths to use alongside the road. Cyclists use the road instead of the path as they don't want to be slowed down by pedestrian Oh, Frouby! That reminds me. Last week I nearly ran a cyclist over. He popped out from a bus lane from in front of a bus, right in front of me.

I stipped. He stopped. Bus and queue of cars stopped and he bagn to wave his arms at me.

The bus driver came over and explaned that A: it was a bus lane, for buses and taxis, specifically, no little cyclist sign. B: there was a designated cycle path on half of the very wide, specially made, pavement C: he had it all on his CCTV and would provide it for me if my car had been damaged (it hadn't).

Cyclist called him a cunt and cycled off, in the bloody road, round a very odd roundabout and pissed off an ambu,ance driver in the process. The roundabout was the first space in town to get cycle lanes around it and cycles are specifically prohibited, there are signs at all the entrances (anyone in Cheltenahm will know exactly where I mean).

Hedgehogparty · 30/05/2019 17:07

Yabu just for posting your ignorant thread title.
Do you “bloody hate” children when they happen to be cycling as well?