to think cyclists on country lanes are selfish gits

[justonemorethen]

Ok not talking about children,people nipping around town or coming back from the pub.IMHO thats who bikes were designed for.
I just hate those people who use country lanes to do their time trials and cycle up and down the same hill to make their calves bigger than their brains.

Roads surely were designed to get people from A to B. They weren't designed to be a fitness track or a playground. I really resent getting stuck behind some lyric clad arse (and they are ususally in packs) at 20 miles an hour. I can't overtake cos it's a country lane you see. I'm not a speed freak, I am happy to slow down for horses or to be behind a tractor.The differnce is they are meant to be there. I don't think townie gits who have nothing better to do should clog up our country lanes when they could use country parks or dual carriageways.I wouldn't mind if they even appreciated the countryside they go through but I don't think I've ever seen one stopping to have a picnic or looking at the wildlife.It;s head down with those stupid glasses and clothes that would scare the animals

There are so many on a Sunday where I live that it's getting dangerous. Still it'll be the poor motorist blamed for going about their business rather than the cyclist won't it.

It worries me that people like the op are actually driving cars.

A hostile insulting attitude, impatient and on a short fuse, get out of my way.

That is what causes so many accidents

It's not your personal road

Yes, we are all selfish and rude in the country. All of us. We are probably a bit thick and smell too but at least we are spared the horror of townie wellies.

Cyclists pass me as I drive a tractor and have never figured out the high gears so hold up at least two cars a week in this hectic area....

ItalyLovingMummy - the police arrested the wrong man - the accused was found not guilty in court and his case was thrown out but not before his name was besmirched.
It was so humiliating to invite people to this backwater and then make the national press due to the actions of one arse dissenter. The tacks can still be found.

Well personally I'd rather they were riding along roads than cutting up the countryside with mountainbikes.

And who's the really selfish one? The one that gets about without emitting pollution and noise and creating less threat to wildlife and other road users, but holding a few people up? Or the one driving a big heavy dangerpus metal box that pumps out carbon monoxide and other delightful chemicals?

My DH was knocked off his bike, when cycling on his own, by an agressive twat driving a Rav 4. My DH's leg broke, and he and was briefly unconsious - the driver sped off.

Some people cycle with clubs because it is safer.

Are you irritated by people walking along contry lanes too? Townies who are not meant to enjoy a bit of fresh air?

YABVU

(do you mean cars or tractors, Orm?)

We run on biodiesel and don't use chemicals...

horse - I got yelled at for daring to run along a country lane once

Sorry to hear about your dh Horsesweat. I do worry a lot about my own dh every time he cycles. He and his club have had a few near misses with aggressive cars.

When he goes to France to cycle it's a different story. They are much more considerate.

(Still at the notion that 40mph counts as going "slowly" round a blind bend and waiting for the OP to explain how she knows there isn't a fallen tree/pedestrian/wild animal/horse-rider just around the bend).

OP - have you ever heard of the suggestion that you go at a speed that mean you can stop within the stretch of road that you can see. If that means 10mph on a blind bend, so be it.

YABVVU and scaring me in case you are driving towards me next time I go for a walk along a lane.

Thanks BendyBob - he has a metal plate in his leg now, but luckily no long-term head injury problems.

I live in the Highlands of Scotland, all our trunk roads (A roads) are bendy country roads and the only way of getting from one town/city to another. In the summer they are very congested and a journey that takes 1 hour in the winter, can take 3 hours in the summer due to traffic, and that's usually when the cyclists want to use the road too putting their safety at risk as large lorries and coaches also use these roads.

The local council spent millions creating cycle routes all over the Highlands for them but they still insist on using the road.

Unfortunately, cyclists are killed on these roads but it's the car drivers that always get the blame.

And I'm not saying it's always the cyclist's fault if something happens to them. SIL's brother was a cyclist killed in a hit and run which certainly wasn't his fault.

funky - then the cycle network must be inadequate in some way. No sane cyclist would choose to use the road over a cycle path otherwise. But then I've yet to come across an adequate cycle network in this country. IE one that goes where you want it to go.

Apparently the speed cyclists don't like using cycle paths, they prefer to use the road.

Funky, it's the same in our area of the countryside - there are cycle paths and cycle routes which tend to be less used roads with less blind bends.

But the cyclists want to use the busier roads. Why I'm not sure, I guess it is a faster route. But you're right, I think few people have a problem in the countryside with a cyclist going for a ride - I think the point in question is packs of cyclists holding up drivers for miles and not behaving considerately - ie pulling in to let other vehicles past.

Not every few minutes but surely when there is a queue of 6 cars stuck behind you they could at least go single file rather than stay in your lycra-clad pack?

GetOfMoiLand

"
Ditto those nutters who have one of those baby carriage thingies on the back of their bike, you drive behind them in terror because you fear for a baby's life in there,"

So a babies life is more important than an adults? You would drive with less care if you knew it wasn't a child?

For many car-free families a child-trailer may be the only way they can get around until their kids can ride a bike. The trailers are also very safe, they will remain upright if the rider falls off, they have roll cages and 5-point safety harnesses.

Of course none of.this will protect them from some twat in a car who is driving too fast, and assuming there will be nothing around the next corner. As someone has already said, surely when driving on a country road you have to make the assumption that there may be an oncoming tractor around the next corner, and drive accordingly.

Regarding the cyclist stopped in the middle of the road - maybe she was stopped there so she knew she would be seen by someone speeding round the corner, rather than only spotting her as you clip her with your wing mirror?

their lycra-clad pack even.

Lots of cycle paths are crap.

We have one along the seafront which is very narrow and right next to the pedestrian bit so you often get walkers on the cyle path. If you want to go at any speed it is dangerous. Also I've been on cyle paths that are so bumpy and uneven that it wouldn't be safe on a road bike.

re cycle paths; many are totally inadequate, or just dangerous, built by councils trying to look green, or to fulfil a quota, with no thought/understanding of the cyclists who are meant to use the. There is also no requirement for cycle lanes to be maintained in the same way as roads so they may be in poor repair/full of broken glass. Indeed the cycle lanes painted along the edge of the road often have all the detritus from the road swept into them.

Rural cycle lanes tend to be designed for families and those that wish to picnic and pootle, rather than those who wish to use there bikes for transport. And yes, they often do not go anywhere useful

There is also a perception amongst many car drivers (as evidenced on this thread) that cyclists have no right to use the roads. This is entirely untrue, however, the existence of cycle lanes can, to some people, imply that cyclists should not be on the road. Hence many cyclists choose to use the road to exert their right.

YABU roads are for people using transport to get about.

I am trying to pluck up courage to get on my bike so I can cycle to work. I am terrified of cycling in traffic. This isn't helping

presumably you don't find the tractors just around the blind bend a little bit hazardous?

YABU

I thought of this thread today after seeing the following icident on the way to school.
A mother with her 4 children. The youngest, year 4 child was on teh inside, then next to her, going across the road were her twin brothers, (year6), and thne, over the white line on the toehr side of the road, but next to them - so 4 abreast,- was the mother with the youngest in one of teh seat things that attach to bikes.
There were 25 cars behind her, and cars coming in the opposite direction were having to mount the pavement, - thus potentially injuring a pedestrian child walking to school - to get past her.
And they were all peddling merrily along with the mother saying "it's a lovely morning,look at the cows, don't worry about the tooting horns darling we have as much right to use the road as them, ooh look a rabbit"

Cycle paths are generally completely hopeless, filled with parked cars or starting and stopping suddenly because they didn't bother to improve the road, merely paint a line in it, and cars are given priority when it comes to space - seems it's ok to have a cycle route that peters out every 100 metres, but no way would they do that to the road. Cycling on the road is the only way to be sure you're not going to be subject to the invariably crap cycle routes.