to wonder why people are so horrible to cyclists that are not breaking the rules?

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Even I get irate at cyclists who go through red lights, pedestrian crossings etc. But how about those that obey the road rules?

This afternoon, cycling with DS14 and DD12, one car honked us whilst overtaking. No reason, apart from the fact that they were delayed by a few seconds as they couldn't go past me within inches to spare. I was riding in the middle of the rode and DD to my left, which is perfectly within the rules.
Minutes later, a road which I always ride in the middle because, if even half a chance, vehicles will overtake without giving any space. A group of pedestrians, shout at us, saying "you should be riding behind each other, what's wrong with you?"??
WTAF???

Why are some people such twats? Luckily (or unlikely) my DCs are used to this, so weren't bothered. Some driver gave my DD (11 at the time) the finger whilst cycling to school. A grown man trying to get one up on a 11yr old girl.

Whichnumbers · Today 17:06

- - -It might be legal but I think it’s a bit selfish to cycle 2 or 3 abreast across the whole lane with no awareness of the 30 cars behind you - - -

Are you really taught to be unaware of what's behind you? And to ignore the advice of the HC, regarding slow moving vehicles to pass?

If so, you've been taught by someone rather stupid.

This is the big problem round my way (rural SE). The HC requires that cyclists will pull over when convenient. But none ever do. As you say the farmers driving tractors and other slow moving farm machinery always pull over at a sensible point to let the queue of traffic pass.

This was a massive problem in the bit of rural Yorkshire we used to live in.

The HC requires that cyclists will pull over when convenient.

technically it’s not a requirement. It’s a should not a must and only when safe to do so.

I’m not arguing with the general idea, I pulled over a couple of times myself when cycling last Sunday. I just would not want people misinterpreting the HC to think cyclists are required to pull over, if they were it would say must.

At weekends I sometimes ride with a club, so a few of us, normally around 8 in our group. The sort of roads we are on are generally two lane roads and being rural can be bendy. If there’s a car behind us they may have to wait a couple of mins until we get to a straight bit. We’re not going to pull over when all they need to do is wait a couple of mins. I think that’s reasonable. Depends on the road we will go single file if there’s a car behind us if that makes it easier for them and remains safe for us. We’re not going to pull over every time a car is behind us as we’d be pulling over every 5 mins if not more often. The car which overtakes us only has to overtake us once. But we might get overtaken by 100 cars. If we pulled over every time that’s going to add 100 mins to our ride! Surely people see that’s not feasible.

I have never been in a situation on a group ride where someone has been or has the potential to be stuck behind us for miles and miles. I have when I’ve been out on my own and then I have pulled over, but they tend to be quiet roads with the odd car, not a car every few minutes.

@QuintanaRoo exactly. On country roads there isn't that much traffic and to overtake can mean literal miles. In this case it is reasonable for the cyclist to pull over. But they rarely do. I do because I have the feeling of a car crawling behind me and in these country roads I can cycle very fast

If cyclists choose not to pull over when they can, and take a view that they are entitled to ride 2 abreast and therefore they will, irrespective of traffic hold ups behind them, it increases the level of irritation car drivers feel towards cyclists. This leads to impatient/rude behaviour from the car driver, which in turn increases the danger to cyclists generally. The cyclist meanwhile, has gotten fed up of aggressive behaviour from the car drivers and takes a 'why should I' approach to moving over to the side. So maybe everyone needs to be a bit more mindful of how their behaviour impacts future situations.

Ignore all the italics - accidentally touched the wrong button

On the puling over thing, it is when convenient for the cyclist, not for the motorist. It has to also be safe and practical to pull back out again, so if its uphill that's a nope for pulling over as getting going again will be wobbly and thus more risky for me as the cyclist. I tend to stop at junctions and wave cars through there if I can before I set off again, as I've potentially had to stop anyway. I'm noting going to throw myself into a ditch on a narrow road because a car has just appeared, if there was 10 of them in a patient queue then i'd try and help out because one me is holding up lots of others, but one car vs one bike can wait a bit to see if there is a place the car is able to pass ahead, as if you stopped immediately every time a single car came behind you you'd never get anywhere but this seems to be how some drivers interpret the HC.

I feel that people who don't cycle also don't understand how momentum is the biggest help for a cyclist, and that sometimes stopping at that point in time is just not that practical. Apart from a manual wheelchair, a bike is the hardest effort of the road users to stop and start, followed by a runner. It is much easier physically for a driver and walking pedestrians both to stop and start than it is for a bike. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT IS OK FOR BIKES TO IGNORE TRAFFIC LIGHTS ETC, but it is something that should be considered when looking at interactions between different users, and why I would like for drivers to have to do some amount of cycling proficiency as part of learning to drive (I know some disabled drivers will not be able to, but understanding the limits of differing vehicles, also including HGVs as the way some cars drive around those is shocking as well, has got to be a good thing). It's also why I step to the side as a pedestrian on shared use paths which I walk regularly with my dog, rather than belligerently force the cyclist to come to a stop. (again disabilities aside, i'm talking the vast vast majority of the time) pedestrians and cars are inherently stable when stationary, bikes (and motorbikes) are more stable at a certain amount of speed and don't stand up on their own!

If we are going to talk about dicks on the road- last month 36% of the vehicles logged passing through the centre of our village were doing over 35 mph. The speed limit is 30, the logging device is by the village shop, opposite a T-junction with poor visibility, in an area where there are a lot of parked cars. 6% were doing over 50 and the fastest recorded was 90! I don't cycle, except occasionally on holiday, and am frequently held up by cyclists for a couple of minutes but I really don't think they are the biggest problem on the roads.

I would never shout at or be unsafe around a cyclist, they only annoy me when there are tailbacks on a windy road and it adds time to my journey. We've lots of winding roads around here and the weekends the traffic actually gets effected by cyclists because there are only a few places to safely overtake and they;re often in groups.

I dont know where you live, but most "country roads" near me are very busy. With ex-Londoners driving in very large powerful cars at silly speeds. They are busy, bendy, and a total nightmare to overtake a cyclist, let alone a pack of cyclists. I do think people glamorise country living and really have no idea about the reality. Put 200 homes in the country and that will be 400-500 cars on the road. No public transport.

I drove for ~2 hours yesterday on very rural roads. And 40 minutes each way on rural roads the day before that. Longest time waiting behind (a) bicycle(s) was ~40 seconds. Just lucky me?!

Time being closely tailgated even though I was travelling at speed limit = cumulative at least 15 minutes.

@lljkk very much experience too. I do a 12 mile round trip twice a day on bendy, rural roads in wolds so very up and downy. Very popular area with cyclists. I rarely get stuck behind a cyclist for more than a minute. Far more likely to have to take evasive action because someone coming the other way has taken a bend too fast and is on the wrong side of the road.

My experience on country road is when riding my horse and a swarm of 8-10 Lycra clad hell bent on winning cyclists appear around a blind bend. There is no way a horse can deal with this. The area in question is peppered with livery yards so it is reasonable to assume there will be horses

All the horses on our yard cope regularly with groups of cyclists so you can't say there is no way a horse can cope. And my horse only has 1 eye. In fact all the horses I know cope once they are used to them, even the recumbents.

I used to ride on the road and my horse didn't like cyclists much because they were very quiet compared to cars and often gave us less space than cars.
I suspect that she would have been more able to cope with a large group of cyclists because they would have been noisier but mamils were much less of a thing when I went riding regularly.