Fucking Cyclists

[SpanielSprint]

I live in a very rural area that is super popular with cyclists. All of the roads around me are narrow, bendy, single track lanes - no white lines. Wherever I go I get stuck behind cyclists. I accept this, always leave extra time for my journeys and never drive aggressively.

The issue is that the cyclists always seem to try and wave me past when I don’t feel it is safe to overtake. Either into blind corners, or when the road is too narrow so would necessitate going onto the verges which are rutted and full of hidden rocks and pot holes - I’m not willing to risk my tyres driving at pace along them. Obviously I just ignore them but this seems to infuriate them.

I’ve just returned from yet another journey where I was behind a pair of cyclists for several miles. The cyclist at the rear kept waving me on and when I didn’t go past she seemed to get increasingly angry about it, gesticulating etc. when I finally did pass, she screamed fucking twat at me and gave me the Vs.

Nice. So basically that’s my ‘thanks’ for trailing patiently behind them for 10 minutes and almost doubling the duration of my journey.

disclaimer: I realise that not all cyclists do this, but there seems to be a significant enough number of them around here to make this sort of thing a weekly occurrence.

AIBU to overtake cyclists when I’m good and ready, and think that some of them need to learn a few lessons about manners and road safety before they go out on their bikes?

You admitted you were wrong and you’re still here arguing that you’re…not wrong?

if you can’t manage to correctly read the OPs tone by this point in the thread I think you should go do something - anything else rather than keep shouting at strangers on the internet. Go touch grass as the kids say

fwiw, as a cyclist, if I wave on, I view that as a statement of "I'm ready for you to overtake when you're ready & I think you might decide that's about to happen" not anything else. If you don't overtake then I just stay vigilant until you are ready to overtake. I have never encountered angry impatience from anyone I overtook in any vehicle, like OP reported from the cyclists whom she followed for 15-20 minutes before she could overtake.

Some drivers are more cautious which is fine, just as long as they don't go from very cautious to rather reckless impatience in an instant. You never know if unusually cautious comes with fearful/bad judgement so the wariness is just me being cautious. Although You can tell usually from engine noises how impatient someone is, usually. Impatience is the primary way of identifying the hazardous drivers.

Zero worship, you and me both it would seem, you're still here arguing with me 😄

We have loads of them round here, persons of riders who must be day dreaming of the Tour de France!
I drive as I see fit and safe to do so. I pay road tax and insurance and they don’t so I pay them no notice. Idiots.

*Peletons

What do you want them to do, stop and throw themselves into the bushes every time there is a car behind them, so it can get past?

@Cherryonthetop2019 You pay car tax (vehicle excise duty). Road tax doesn't exist. Car tax is there to reflect the pollution your vehicle produces and the wear on the roads. Insurance is there because your car is capable of causing a lot of damage.

You could levy vehicle excise duty and insurance against cyclists but it's based on pollution levels so the VED would be zero rated and the insurance would cost more to administer than it would be worth because cyclists pose such a tiny risk.

I'd bet quite a lot of money that most of the cyclists are also drivers and contribute the same as you to the upkeep of the roads.

You should drive in accordance with the law, driving 'as you see fit' wouldn't get you far in court, would it?

Disney “Motor Mania” made this 73 years ago. Nothing has changed.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwPSIb3kt_4

Yawn - semantics.

I am confident I drive within the law so I won’t worry.

Another cyclist hater, this thread has brought them out hasn't.

Hope you're happy OP?

We have loads of them round here, persons of riders who must be day dreaming of the Tour de France!
I drive as I see fit and safe to do so. I pay road tax and insurance and they don’t so I pay them no notice. Idiots.

you always without fail get people on these threads who don’t understand road tax was stopped back in 1937. And even car tax is only payable on some cars that pollute- electric cars don’t pay car tax. Why are people who are so ignorant so willing to shout it out?

That's great @Cherryonthetop2019

I'm sure you'll have picked up on the Highway Code changes last year then. You need to allow 1.5 metres when overtaking a cyclist at 30mph, more when you go faster than that.

You need to wait behind them if you can't allow that much space when overtaking.

There's also a hierarchy of road users in which drivers of motorised vehicles need to recognise the vulnerability of other road users (pedestrians and cyclists)

'I drive as I see fit and I pay them no notice - idiots' doesn't make it sound like you're up to speed on these changes

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-highway-code-8-changes-you-need-to-know-from-29-january-2022

I'm glad we've finally got on to road tax, my Mumsnet cycling thread bingo card was in danger of not getting completed.

I really don't think you should wave them on at all - the driver may (rashly) interpret this as an all clear signal, rather than your more nuanced 'message' that you are ready for them to overtake once they are able to. Please desist from doing this - as I posted upthread, I was on the receiving end of a driver waved on by a cyclist (who was on the crest of the hill, so must have seen me coming ) and that overtaking driver was in direct collision course for me

Sigh - my daughter passed her diving test last what so yes th ask all up to date as spent time testing her.

23 years no claims and clean drivers licence also speaks for itself.

Anyway!

Totally agree with this.

Doesn't matter what you think your signal means, to many it will be interpreted as 'all clear for you to overtake'. If someone then acted on this and ended up in an accident, there is a very real chance that you will also be injured.

The last time I was waved on by a group of cyclists, if I had of trusted them, I would have collided with a cyclist coming in the other direction.

They were very angry at me for 'tailing' them for so long but as I've said previously, if having cars behind you on the road makes you so nervous/angry, maybe you shouldn't be there.

People who are daft enough to overtake on brow of a hill really weren't waiting for a cyclists cue to do so.

Then you are a bunch of extremely inconsiderate cyclists and part of the problem. I’ve no problem with 2 abreast but 12 bikes together in a group (and inevitably trailing in a long line along the road) is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible to overtake. It’s no wonder cyclists have the reputation they do given some of the attitudes I’m seeing on this thread.

I think you’re bringing it on yourselves to be honest

There is something about road rage, really brings out the fury. Even a simple driving decision (like an awkward roundabout approach) gets people screeching early on "Get off the road if you don't understand the Highway Code!!" No Mercy topic.

i came across a troop of cyclists along the lanes,
one is bad enough along the lanes but this huge swarm of cyclists was undefeatable!

i decided to pull in and wait for 5 minutes

As a horse rider I could also start a fucking motorists thread.

Come on OP, You know you want to. And it would be some nice variety, even.

Then we could have a fucking motorbikers thread. Fucking white van man. Fucking ParcelForce delivery. Fucking Evri people. Fucking motorised scooters. Fucking buses. Fucking bin lorries. Fucking tractors (especially in August, omg, fucking August tractors with their unsecured ploughs or trailer loads of spuds, and combines & sprayers on the rural roads). Fucking Lorries and doddery old codger drivers. Fucking uninsured and boy racers. Since the count of any one of the groups heavily outnumbers the cyclists on roads and yet... when did MN last get a single thread about any of those road users ?

Why do these cyclists take to country roads & expect them to be free of vehicular traffic? Why are they apparently delighted to hold up urban traffic & make cars crawl along behind them, yet angry when it happens in the countryside? That's what nobody's explained so far
This is what's wrong. You are reading the cyclist experience totally wrong.

Cyclist don't expect roads to be free of cars, and get angry when they get cats behind. They get anxious. Why? Because of motorists who drive on these roads knowing they are likely to be cyclists as if they were on a race course, than braking hard right behind the last cyclist.

Cyclist don't see behind them. They rely on noise. Hearing a fast car coming behind unsure if they will see them on time is scary. Then they are right behind them, sometimes raving as they prepare to pass, and then not pass, worried when they do, they might get too close pushing them into the ditch. Even worse when going up.

I was a driver before I was a road cyclist. My understanding was what I thought was fair from a car rider. I now realised that although I wasn't doing anything wrong as such, I wasn't doing what's best to make the road feel safe for everyone.

I now accept that being stuck behind a bike is a likely possibility and that's that. I approach gently and stay far away. I make sure to pass without pushing on the accelerator to the max and give plenty of room.

It's because car drivers act impatient and unpredictable that cyclists act nervous. If they wave you to pass, it's because they feel intimidated by your driving and want you out of the way asap.

I've given up road cycling as much as I used too because I just don't feel safe after the too many near misses, and the constant feeling on edge concentrating to anticipate any poor behaviour from cars is tiring.

I can almost be certain from car drivers behaviour who is likely to also be a cyclist and one who probably has never sat in on a bike!

Cyclist are twats, we were towing a caravan in Yorkshire overtook him and stopped at a junction to turn left, there was about a foot between the caravan and the kerb. The moron tried to pass on the inside and fell off, unbelievable.

I hear ya! I too live in a rural area, where people bring their bikes via car to cycle as if they were riding in the peloton! It's not all, but they can be so bloody rude and miss the point that we are just going about our day.