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.

blimey Saltire - I'm very strong on the idea of cyclists having full rights on the road, but they do have a responsibility to be sensible road users too.

YABU.

yabvu- I live in the country and see cyclists only at weekends and off peak- I am all for them getting off their arses and getting excersize tbh!

I run along country lanes AIBU? Should we all stay at home and only cycle on the wii?

Saltire - that's nuts! And surely not in line with the Highway code as someone else has already said (and I've always believed) that cyclists should only be a maximum of 2 abreast on a road.

YABU. I live in a rural area with bendy lanes, hills and tons of lycra-clad cyclists and I often have to drive behind them at 2 mph to wait for a safe place to overtake. sorry but imo it's part and parcel of the deal. live somewhere attractive and you'll have to learn to share it. they're not "our" roads.

and plenty of those cyclist will live in the country anyway (I assume you don't stop and ask for their addesses) and I don't know why you think they don't appreciate the country-side - I see plenty stopping at local cafes, spending money and admiring the view. Our village cafe would probably go bust without them it's so full of them.

Someguy I completely agree, I used to cycle 4 miles to work, & on the various cycle lanes I encountered in that distance, 2 were less than 300m long & when they stopped they expected you to dismount to rejoin the road

2 were a lane painted on a road full of parked cars. The 1 reasonable length one which was on the pavement alongside the main road expected you to stop everytime you crossed a side road.

Needless to say I soon stopped using any of the above.

Contrasted to the well thought out cycle paths in Germany which (imo) rightly give priority to the cyclist they are a joke.

Next time you have to brake for a cyclist remember that you are in a car & protected, not vulnerable like them - also please try to remember that when you brake you simply have to accelerate again, when you force a cyclist to come to a stop they then have to expend considerable effort getting up to speed again.

Finally I cycle on country lanes now predominately, they are less busy than main roads. I have just as much right to be there as a car & afford them the same courtesy that I expect to be offered to me. Car drivers roads do not belong to you.

cycling 2 or more abreast, however, is annoying.

I don't think cyclists should be allowed to use the road for racing. Car drivers are not allowed to race on the roads as it is dangerous. I have seen racing cyclists doing dangerous things and being knocked down as they were so committed to keeping their line and getting ahead. They may not be breaking the car speed limit but they are going too fast for safety.

I am happy to share the road with cyclists so long as they behave sensibly and obey the rules of the road.

YABU. Plenty of car drivers who use roads as race tracks. Rather see them banned.

Itsallgoingtobefine - re the baby carriage things.

No of course I don;t drive more considerately when I see a baby trailer. I do actually drive considerately at all times and not just point my car at cyclists.

The baby trailers going round a manic roundabout however are a sight to behold. I think they are bloody horrible frankly.

can I reiterate a point I made further down the thread, that the existence of a few stupid cyclists does NOT give drivers the green light to insult, abuse or drive aggressively to the majority of sensible cyclists.

All the anecdotes in the world about idiots in lycra doesn't take away the right of cyclists to be treated courteously on the road.

Fine, campaign for education on good cycling practice (as a cyclist, I also get annoyed at being cut up by idiot cyclists and bikers, as well as the large number of twat motorists who apparently believe that issues like right of way only apply to people in cars). But don't use the existence of a silly minority to justify your hostility to cyclists as a group.

Very well said youngvisitor. There are plenty of idiot cyclists but IMHO they are the minority. I've cycled in London and on bendy country lanes for the past 6 years and I have never run a red light, disobeyed a road sign, ridden two abreast when there's a car behind me, ridden on a pavement but I've seen plenty who have, and it drives me mad as they give sensible cyclists bad press.

OP, YABVU though, to get wound up by it. The more angry you get as a driver, the worse you drive, the more risks you take and the more dangerous you are. Yes, its annoying when people are going slower than you on the roads, but treat cyclists the same as you do horses, walkers and sunday drivers, and RELAX before you either give yourself a heartattack or cause a crash in your anger.

What about the hundred cyclists who've just ridden from Portsmouth to Dunkirk to raise thousands for H4H? Do you consider them to be idiots who don't deserve to be on the road because they didn't need to be there?

Surely you should always be slowing down for blind bends anyway? There could be deer, sheep, cows, a horserider, a motorbike or whatever around it, not just a cyclist! I don?t see why you?re so against cyclists and not horses for example, you have to take just as much (if not more) care to pass a horse and rider than a cyclist. And horses don?t pay road tax either. But their riders will for their cars, just like cyclists do for their cars.

And if the cyclist lives in the country, what other road are they supposed to be using? Like DrNortherner, I live on the edge of the Dales, that?s where I go to ride my bike. And actually, I think you?ll find us cyclists ARE out there enjoying the countryside! And rather than take a picnic, we use local cafes and pubs for our rest stops.

I?m not going to ride around a park thanks very much, if I want to go out and do 60 ? 80 miles on my road bike, I don?t want to be doing laps of the park! Just like if I want to be doing 30 miles off road on my mountain bike, I want to be out in the proper countryside on bridleways, again, not doing laps of the park.

And frankly on a single carriageway lane with blind bends etc, you shouldn?t be doing anything approaching the speed limit, you are not driving safely if you are.

Oh and I look damn fine in my lycra thanks ;) (well actually not at the moment as am 30wks pg!)

YABVVVVU and ridiculous.

Ps Orm, mountainbikes cause less damage than walkers do.

PPS cyclists aren?t allowed to use the roads for racing. Time Trials are allowed, but strictly speaking they?re not races.

"Ps Orm, mountainbikes cause less damage than walkers do."

I beg leave to differ. If you've seen the state of a muddy green lane after a set of cyclists have been through it you wouldn't say that. They don't have 'crud catchers' for nothing. Dad's a NT warden and he reckons they're only a step up from horses in the damage they do.

MTBs cause more damage per person as the tyres leave a continuous rut for water to run down and erode.

Couldn't agree more, OP. And if you give way/overtake carefully etc they never acknowledge.

We share our bridle paths with cyclists and I've lost count of the times the stupid twats come flying past, often making loads of noise. Last week a group came by us on both sides, at great speed and spooked one of the horses (child on pony), then told me to f* off when I asked him to be careful (I honestly was polite).

What they didn't think about though is that the path then narrows, walls both sides, uphill, and sandy so perfect for a canter! I bet they all beat their best ever times while we were behind them!

I think it would be beneficial for all drivers to spend some time cycling on city and country roads during their driving tests to get some appreciation for how vulnerable you are on a bike when giant 2-tonne metal boxes are hurtling past you, cutting you up, etc. Not to mention what it's like being passed by a double decker bus that's only giving an inch or two of space!

There was a programme in London to get women cyclists sitting in the cabs of HGVs so they could see how difficult it is to spot cyclists with their wing mirrors; that was due to the high number of women cyclists being killed by lorries turning left. Why they weren't also putting the lorry drivers on bikes and sending them out into traffic to see things from the other side, I don't know!

fairly sure I've seen a study done to that effect, I'll see what I can find.

I am a mountain biker, so have seen plenty of bridleways and green lanes after mountain bikers have used them, and unless it's a massive group, you generally can't see the affects, and you only need to look at the damage done on busy footpaths to see what damage walkers do.

don't get me wrong, I'm not saying bikes do no damage at all, but ime it's no where near as bad as horses, and certainly no worse than walkers.

I have rewritten the OP, to illustrate another viewpoint.

"I just hate those people who drive along country lanes to get their kicks and drive everywhere just to get their bellies bigger than their brains.

Roads surely were designed to get people from A to B. They weren't designed to be a racing track or a playground. I really resent getting overtaken by some alloy-wheeled gang of impatient drivers (and they are ususally in packs) refusing to drive safely along a country lane. I can't pull over cos it's a country lane you see, I'd end up in the ditch. I'm not slow, I am just going slower than they want. I'm happy for anyone to use the road - tractors, horses - we are all allowed to be there. I don't think townie drivers who have nothing better to do should be allowed to use our roads as if they were dual carriageways. I wouldn't mind so much if they 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. Its foot down, with those stupid sunglasses and mobile phone in hand, making such a racket that they scare the animals.

There are so many on a Sunday where I live that it's getting dangerous. "

Not sure if anyone else has said this, but cycle paths are often covered in glass or have cars parked on them. They also usually end just at the moment when the roads are dangerous e.g. roundabouts. Is it any surprise that cyclists don't use them.

www.bikeradar.com/news/article/crap-cycle-lanes-a-great-read-13492

www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/20/crap-cycle-lanes

I think a large proportion of car drivers are completely oblivious to how aggressive they are behind a wheel, and the idea that they have a God given right to go at the speed they want is why i very nearly got run over on a pedestrian crossing the other day, as a driver tried to overtake the car in front of it which had stopped to let me cross.

OP - you need to get some perspective!

I stand corrected, not less than walkers - the same as welkers;

www.imba.org.uk/research_and_reports/environmental_impact/natural_resource_impacts.html

oldernowiser, from the tone of your post I am willing to hazard a guess that your idea of polite is far from mine.

As for cyclists not acknowledging you, what do you seriously expect them to do, cycle hands free whilst trying to attract your attention to say thanks.

Wonder how many of you complaining about cyclists are overweight, bone-idle busy-bodies with nothing else to do. Get off your fat arses and join the cyclists getting fresh air, excercise and lovely views of our gorgeous countryside. Many of the cyclists are probably road tax payers aswell, just because they cycle doesnt mean they dont own a car.

I generally do acknowledge a driver who I think have overtaken me politely

extension, when anyone slows down, overtakes wide etc I always wave thanks if possible, and if it's not (because I need both hands on the reins) I try to make eye contact, smile and nod. I also always acknowledge coutesy from other road users when I'm driving. I don't see why cyclists can't do the same

I really was polite to them, I just said 'could you possibly go a bit slower coming past horses, they can get spooked' (and it honestly was in a reasonable and friendly tone of voice). It was the response that annoyed me, not the initial incident as they may not have realised.

"Saltire - that's nuts! And surely not in line with the Highway code"

and how many cyclists do you think a have any idea what is in the highway code? If they are also drivers, they may have a very vague knowledge from when they passed their test, but the reality is that you don't need to do anything to ride a bike on the road. i think this is wrong. If you are going to use on the road with any vehicle, you should have to pass a test.

Anyone who rides a bike in a city needs a medal for bravery tbh. You wouldn't get me riding a bike round a busty roundabout for all teh tea in china.