Phil_gretz

Um. It's "bro-talk". For fun. You don't ever talk smack with your buddies?

Metieval

ya have to slow down for the pass so I can grab a draft for a bit,

Passing too fast ya just leave me hanging. hahah
I've never seen one in person, It would actually make my day to see, even if it was being passed by one.

Notso_fastLane

Thing about velos is they really leave no draft. On the plus side (for other bikes) it weighs 80 lbs, so you'll definitely catch me on a hill.

jon c. 

Motorcyclists pass me in the same lane regularly. Probably the majority of motorcyclists do that. The exception are the retirees riding full dress cruisers with fairings and saddlebags. They seem to always move to the other lane.

Pop N Wood

I have a beard, a recumbent and always wear gym shorts. Not sure if they are basketball shorts but could be used as such. Don't have any grateful dead T shirts but do have a tie dye Autism awareness shirt I wear at times. I'm pretty sure I'm on a spectrum somewhere. Does that make me a weirdo that I really enjoyed her statement?

I also have a red T shirt with a bike silhouette and the words "Ride Me" on it that I bought at the Goodwill. Seems like it was never worn, couldn't believe my luck.

My wife hates that shirt.

njkayaker

???

So, in your experience, bad passes lead to actual collisions.

And you are more worried about being "driven crazy" because absolutely nothing happened in "thousands" of examples.

That doesn't make much sense.

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...ell-buddy.html

autonomy

For me, one meter is from my fingertips to the armpit of the opposite arm (that's including the torso); I imagine it's similar for most people. I'm 5'11".

If a driver stays 1m/3ft away and doesn't cut in front of me too quickly, all good. Where I ride, the roads are so narrow that you can't even stay in the lane and keep that 1m distance. Most of the time I have to "encourage" people to cross the yellow lines by not riding too close to the shoulder.
Completely agreed about the ones who tail you for minutes, afraid to pass. Raises the inexperienced driver flag very quickly. I don't usually slow down or stop in those case but lately I've been thinking I should. I would also like to throw in 'niceholes' into the conversation.Thanks for waving me through, lady, but there's a car behind you in the other lane doing 35mph with no intent on stopping.

Counter-example from my experience: in two cases nervous drivers made bad overtake decisions; one went for it at a bad time, another went waaay too far in the opposite lane, like crossing the white line with their driver side wheels, and took too long to get back in their own lane. Both times there was a car coming in the opposite lane which they narrowly avoided clipping head-on.

njkayaker

So, nothing happens and you still worry about it? Bad passes are never done by inexperienced drivers? You'd rather an inexperienced driver attempt a complicated thing like passing rather than being cautious and driving slow?

That's not a counter example.

​​​​​​It's example of the possible different consequences of a bad pass.

"Bad passes" aren't just the close ones.

"Nervous" drivers making "bad overtaking decisions" sounds like inexperience.

thumpism 

No, merely two examples of what has happened to me, and autonomy's response to your post demonstrates other possibilities, which have also happened to me. I don't go looking for examples like this and would much prefer to have the roads to myself when out for a ride but that's not realistic. We're outnumbered out there, outgunned, outpowered, out-just-about-everythinged. If someone passes within three feet of me I'm not immediately outraged at the intrusion into my space; I try to be realistic about the road conditions and what I can expect from my fellow voyagers in those conditions.

And "absolutely nothing happened" is not what happened all those times. Each was a case of being confronted (conbacked?) by a driver who could not or world not manage a simple pass, usually on a two-lane road, leaving me to contemplate what might actually happen when they finally started to do something. Will they pass normally? Will they get too close or brush me? Will they go too far into the other lane and cause an oncoming driver to hit me while trying to avoid hitting them? Anything is possible until they're gone.

As when driving, I'd much rather encounter someone who makes a bold decisive move in traffic than someone who is tentative, reluctant, indecisive and who telegraphs all that to fellow drivers. The ones who hang back fall into that latter category. I can't be less of an obstacle to them unless I get off the pavement and it's not my responsibility to make their lives easier by doing so. You don't know what will happen until they are past you so my feeling in those cases is, "Make your move and let me get on with my ride."

njkayaker

Yes, nothing happened with the cars following you and autonomy. And bad stuff happened when you and autonomy were passed.

Unhappy if they don't pass, unhappy when they do. If you think they are "nervous" drivers when following you, they'd be "nervous" drivers passing you. And passing takes more competence and experience than driving slowly.

In the same way that other drivers can't decide where it is safe for you to ride, you can't decide when it's safe for other drivers to pass you.

Clyde1820

Dangerous, and asking for a crash and injuries.

Can't say that I've had folks pass me in the same lane on a multi-lane road, like that. Often, people won't give quite enough space on a country two-lane road (one lane in each direction), but that's common.

As others have said: you never know. Some people just don't think, when out with others.

Metieval

On those rural skinny roads, I swap from riding the right tire track to riding in the middle of the road, or on the middle line if there was a line. When a car comes up behind me, I make an obvious move to the right side of the road and then do the head check after. They in turn have returned the favor and went to the left side of the road to pass. When ever I just ride the right side of the road and ignore the people behind me I get close passes.

Maybe it is the head check, the communication behind it, maybe it sparks drivers into actually thinking?

Heck on these roads, I drive in the middle of the road anyways, Traffic is light and hell I pay taxes for both sides of the road, I am using both!

Edit: People are funny though. Drive a Prius and people coming head on will hog the road. Drive a big van, and the same people will run down the gravel alongside the road giving me room. Life to many people now days is just one huge pecking order.

thumpism 

You either can't be made to understand or you're being argumentative. In either case, I wish you many happy uncollided miles and...Ignore.

njkayaker

You are worrying about a problem that, by your experience, isn't a real problem.

And you are unconcerned about something that you've personally had problems with.

That makes no sense.

pdlamb

I was surprised today when a motorcycle passed me in my lane.

He gave me three feet or more, so it was a safe pass.

Why was I surprised? Because he was on a Harley, and perhaps because we were on a slight downgrade, I didn't hear him coming. I'd have expected it if it were a Honda or a BMW, but a Harley? Maybe I need to have my hearing checked.

ClydeClydeson

You've seen that guy too? Geez he gets around!

JanMM

Hearing test a good idea. Or, maybe it was an electric Harley? https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/e.../livewire.html

Notso_fastLane

I'm just surprised a Harley passed anything!

I kid, I kid.

But we (other motorcycle riders) do often refer to Harleys as 'rolling road blocks'.