Large group ride holding up traffic
#26
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There is a larger group that is much nicer to traffic, but it mostly stays on wide streets and goes like 24 mph on rolling hills. The hill climb group is more organized and blocks traffic more
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You want to start a fight with a motorist, don't use the F-bomb, just say W A I T !
If it were 75 of anything else larger than a bike, they'd suck it up.... There are no secondary citizens (or road users). There are only inconvenienced motor heads acting privileged....
Oh, cyclists aren't "holding up" traffic, they ARE traffic!!!
If it were 75 of anything else larger than a bike, they'd suck it up.... There are no secondary citizens (or road users). There are only inconvenienced motor heads acting privileged....
Oh, cyclists aren't "holding up" traffic, they ARE traffic!!!
Last edited by Digger Goreman; 05-15-22 at 04:56 PM.
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You want to start a fight with a motorist, don't use the F-bomb, just say W A I T !
If it were 75 of anything else larger than a bike, they'd suck it up.... There are no secondary citizens (or road users). There are only inconvenienced motor heads acting privileged....
Oh, cyclists aren't "holding up" traffic, they ARE traffic!!!
If it were 75 of anything else larger than a bike, they'd suck it up.... There are no secondary citizens (or road users). There are only inconvenienced motor heads acting privileged....
Oh, cyclists aren't "holding up" traffic, they ARE traffic!!!
Well, unless you're stuck behind an invading army, parade or funeral procession, when the hell are you stuck behind 75 of anything but bicyclists?
No one automatically has the privilege of restraining the other traffic in order to keep a large assemblage intact. Generally, other vehicles would have to get permits to get the special accommodations needed to keep the group rolling together.
Please spare us the empty "they are traffic" rhetoric. No one disputes that cars and trucks are traffic, yet they can and are ticketed for impeding the flow of traffic unreasonably.
This is obviously cyclists acting as privileged. No one else would expect everyone else to yield so they can maintain an unreasonably large group of vehicles. Sorry, but I don't recognize "75 of us think it's fun to take a ride together down a hill" as a use of the road anyone else should be required to accommodate. Responsibly sized groups and single riders obeying applicable traffic laws, absolutely, but the size of this group is completely unreasonable for where they're riding and how.
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#31
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Otherwise, around here, motor traffic is more than capable of self-corking. No matter how much paint there is on the box they aren’t supposed to block.
-mr. bill
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There’s a member of this forum who has done more than one Cycle Oregon on either a SS or fixie, although I believe he can flip the wheel for a lower gear. I actually climbed for a bit with him during the day from Ft. Klamath up to (and around) the rim road of Crater Lake in 2021.
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Weird you took out the sentence before the quote where I specifically mentioned funeral processions. Here's the law in MA regarding funeral processions: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Gener...r85/Section14A
You may not need a permit, but you do need a body. You also have to follow a lot of very specific rules.
Funeral processions are the exceptional case, and it's actually quite regulated.
And you can't seriously be comparing a funeral procession to 75 cyclists routinely rolling together up and down a narrow winding hill, are you? I guess they could sacrifice a loved one each time to qualify as a funeral procession so they could legally block off the road, but that seems a little extreme.
Blocking off the street just forlarge group recreational purposes is not something anyone else gets to do without prior permission. People want to pretend this is the same thing as individuals' rights to cycle on the road, but it just isn't.
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75 does seem a bit much. Our local groups tend to top out at 30 or so.
Riding single file would be pointless. There are a few spots where you might be able to pass if they're clustered but you could never do it if they were single file. Cars have to get into the opposing lane to pass and you would never have enough room before a turn or hill.
If you can't get past them, you wait until they get to a main road. Not more than 3 to 4 miles at most and usually less. Doesn't really delay a motorist that much. A group of 75 wouldn't be much different in that regard.
I ride solo myself, but the groups always pass my house as I live in an area with great roads for biking.
Riding single file would be pointless. There are a few spots where you might be able to pass if they're clustered but you could never do it if they were single file. Cars have to get into the opposing lane to pass and you would never have enough room before a turn or hill.
If you can't get past them, you wait until they get to a main road. Not more than 3 to 4 miles at most and usually less. Doesn't really delay a motorist that much. A group of 75 wouldn't be much different in that regard.
I ride solo myself, but the groups always pass my house as I live in an area with great roads for biking.
#39
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Funerals for sure. Folks know theres no choice, no problem, you just stay patient. NOBODY wants to be that way when its cyclists as they view it as a less then necessary activity. If it were Holland and everybody "looked" like they were biking to work or school, folks would be more understanding. The minute they see bright lycra, they get pissed,
#41
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Funerals for sure. Folks know theres no choice, no problem, you just stay patient. NOBODY wants to be that way when its cyclists as they view it as a less then necessary activity. If it were Holland and everybody "looked" like they were biking to work or school, folks would be more understanding. The minute they see bright lycra, they get pissed,
Funeral processions are the exceptional case, and as I pointed out above, they are actually very regulated legally. There are very clear rules which must be followed for the solidarity of the group to be accommodated. This has FA to do with the imposition on other operators on the road of putting a group of 75 riders without respect of basic rules of the road. A poorly coordinated group of 75 riders rolling down a big hill is a clear safety threat to those riders, any other riders that happen to be on that road and pedestrians.
Citing the exceptional case is a logical fallacy, btw. I still say that no other type of vehicle is allowed to spontaneously operate in a group of 75. Funeral processions aren't really spontaneous, there's way too many rules and requirements to call them that.
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#46
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#47
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https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-safety/1251888-pedestrian-killed-tanker-truck.html
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If you're a pedestrian, any motor vehicle can be a threat anyways.
https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-...ker-truck.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-...ker-truck.html
No, duh.
Whataboutism really isn't a valid form of argument. Cars and trucks being dangerous has nothing to do with the safety of cramming 75 riders on a narrow hilly winding road.
BTW, that thread got closed because it shouldn't have been in A&S in the first place, that's how irrelevant it was to cycling issues. Hilarious you'd put that in here as your shiny distracting object to cover that you have no valid argument.
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Its not exactly my favorite ride, but it brings a ton of new cyclists and young blood out. Its a net boon for the local cycling community, very approachable for a newcomer compared to pack riding. Downhills suck but its whatever. People who get inconvenienced by us can cry me a river, they are upset than they are too poor to afford a cervelo
#50
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Not every country on the planet observe this courtesy rule but on some two-lane mountain roads, the lane becomes three, especially on the uphill sections so that slow vehicles can be passed safely.
But for the OP's sake, 75 rider group would be impossible to move off the road to let the backed up traffic pass. The best advice is just don't do it, unless it's officially sanctioned and vehicle detours and support are in order.
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