patentcad

Are everywhere. I see these cyclists on group rides all the time. Last week on the Nyack Ride, a cop passes us (which is the clear signal to tighten up and get to the friggin RIGHT). Half a mile later this same officer is sitting on a side street observing the ride come up the road. Even STILL, this one moron was riding in the middle of the lane. I shouted at him to GET OVER I DON'T WANT TO GET ARRESTED and he finally did.

It is unfathomable. I've been riding for 20 years, I log 12K miles annually on the roads around here and I almost NEVER have a problem. That's because I STAY RIGHT, as FAR RIGHT as I can, and I don't want to get clipped by a car. I would say 20%+ of the road cyclists I see seem incapable of grasping this simple concept, and are a hazard to themselves and an annoyance to motorists. I have friends who ride this way. I don't like to ride with them for that reason.

And some of you idiots are worried about how unsafe it is to ride with an ipod? Yeah, OK. I'll tell you what, you follow your plan, I'll follow mine, we'll see who's still alive to blog here in 10 years.

Pcad's Rule of Cycling #7: Better to suck up a pothole @ 20 mph than to get clipped by a Ford F150.

patentcad

Oh, and by the way, if you're on a group ride that's hogging the road, and some motorist beeps at you to get the F over to the right, don't flip them the bird. They are correct, and all you have to do is ride on the white line so they can pass.

I mean, figure it out.

RIC0

My favorite bumper sticker, Honk to see finger.

youcoming

I hear ya, the group I rid ewith has some guys who just don't get it. I sit really that hard to go single file to let someone by.

carpediemracing 

+1

I can't believe I'm 100,000% agreeing with pcad.

https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...-horowitz.html

cdr

10 Wheels

So you wear one of theses?
Marshal Vest & Bib
On Ride Day, marshals who begin at the Central Park Start will need to pick up your special Marshal vest & bib when you check in. We ask that you wear the vest & bib throughout the ride. Marshals who will not be at the Central Park Start will be given their vests & bibs by their team captain at the team meeting point on Ride Day.

Braden1550

A local group ride I partake in at 6am takes up 1 lane (the left, the slow lane, in AUS) on the way into our destination town, and we've never had any problems. We do sit just under the speed limit, which is the same as any motorist in the slower lane, and in AUS, we are legally identical to any other road user. Never been a problem.

On rural roads where there aren't 4 lanes, obviously it's keep hell left.

jdon

Good post Pcad.

The only thing more frustrating than having someone do that while you are driving is having someone in your own group do it while riding.

I recently had a guy on the curb side dart left around a small pot hole and literally pushed me into the traffic. We got honked at, he flipped the driver, I told him to grow the f up and learn to hold a line.

I won't ride with him again. Especially knowing he values a cheap rim more than his riding mates.

BillyD

Good post P.

Coming from you maybe will help a few more people to get it.

Too many idiots take the "equal rights" too the road thing waaay to seriously. Do you have to be a rocket scientist to realize you shouldn't mess with motor vehicles, not even a Mini-Cooper?

The worst part is it antagonizes drivers against all bikers.

Terex

Totally - totally, agree.

I stopped riding with some groups that just don't get it. Even still, a couple of my friends currently need to get their heads straight on this concept. I will take a lane when necessary, but otherwise STFTTR.

dgasmd

What's even worse is that a lot of people ride like that on purpose. They have some idiotic reasons to do it that only make sense to them in the planet they live in: planet dumb ass!!!

One of these locally is the owner of a LBS. He even has a cop that works there part time to make it worse. In a ride a few weeks ago, I am riding in a very busy road on the bike lane that has to be one of the most clearly marked and wide I've seen in a long time. Speed limit in the road is 50 MPH, and this guy is riding 3-4 feet inside the lane! I even heard a local older guy that he rides in traffic in the lane because it forces the cars to pay more attention to him than on the bike line where they may feel too confident and go by way too close or hit him. This is in a town full of blind half demented old people that are so confused and lost they think Johnson is still in the white house!!!!

Call me antisocial or whatever, but I'll continue to ride alone. I love the solitary company of my 3 team mates (me, myself, and I) and they ever so enticing conversation I hear on my iPhone.

akansaskid

Certainly there are some who “just don’t get it”, but the worst offenders are those who do and intentionally persist, claiming their rights. And the behavior of a few will be borne by all of us when bicyclists are banned from many roads in the name of “safety”. There is an analogy in motorcycling when the “loud-pipes-saves-lives” Harley crowd forms their long convoys, blocking anyone from passing due to their length and density, and pissing everyone off with their noise.

The most egregious example I’ve seen recently was on a “suggested” 55 mph two-lane road a mile out of town. A local club was riding echelon in a heavy crosswind, forming two echelon rows spanning both lanes! Cars behind them were backed up 6 deep, and cars coming at them pulled off on to the grass to let them by. When I passed them going the opposite way, you can imagine the invectives hurled my way.

Motorists see all cyclists alike. When a few do something stupid, we’re all guilty. Don’t think for a minute the vast majority of voters would hesitate to ban all two-wheeled traffic in the blink of an eye.

RacerOne

Just curious, do you mean that you always ride just to the left of the pavement edge, or as far right as is safe, like giving yourself a foot or so of room? To get to and from my house I'm forced to ride a 55mph 4 lane divided highway with about 10" of pavement on the right side of the white line. If I try to ride in that little 'bike lane' I get constant near misses. If I ride just to the left of the white line, people move their cars to the passing lane and I get plenty of room. But, I'm in total agreement about the group ride taking the entire lane and not letting cars pass.. stupid.

Patriot

Now, if our fellow cyclists would only pay attention to Stop signs, traffic lights, posted bike lane markings, MUP speed limits, cross-traffic, train-crossing lights/gates, no city sidewalk riding (especially roadies), speed limits in general, tail gating/drafting automobiles, and use proper turn signals.

You know, the basics.


(yeah, yeah, I know, I just ruined all the fun)

Barese Rider

Come down the Jersey shore and watch some of the same type of idiots ride a few abreast along Ocean Ave in the middle of the day in the summer, hold up traffic, and get people hating them and everyone else who rides a bike to boot. The only wonder I have is that I have only heard of a few accidents involving bikes along that stretch in the last 25 years.

Kai Winters

It can have other effects as well. The shop I worked at is in a small city. We have a nice sized riding club and many of the members wear the club kit that has the shop's name, phone number and website addy prominently displayed. A couple of members had the bad habit of blasting through red light's, stop signs, etc. causing one police officer and too many other motorists to call the shop and complain.
We contacted the members told them of the complaints and asked them to obey the traffic rules. They grumbled but when told the damage they were doing to the shop's reputation, club's reputation, etc. they apparently obliged us and there were no more complaints. We were lucky. They could have told us to f off and other than ending their club membership, banning them from the shop, etc. we would have little recourse. They did own the jerseys and could wear them whenever they wanted.

I don't like to ride with people like this. They give us all a bad name. When I'm out on a group ride I am out to enjoy myself not act as Barney Fife. I'd rather leave the group and enjoy a solo ride. But on the next group ride I would bring it up and put the rider's out there in front of everybody and ask them to stop. If there was too much grief I'd leave and warn the group of the problems they are bringing onto themselves by allowing riders in the group to behave in this manner. There are always some that won't care but most would.

EventServices

Ever notice it's the guy who's out next to the yellow line that's always calling "car back!"?

patentcad

Another point: if 99.99% of the drivers we SHARE the road with (that means it's as much their road as yours) weren't very cool we would ALL BE DEAD.

Are there ahole drivers? Of course.

They are outnumbered by ahole cyclists 10 to 1, which doesn't help.

Hot Potato

I have seen the group leader stop the ride every day for a month just before one section,and tell everyone to ride single file because the road is narrow and hilly. Then I watched from the back (in single file, of course) calling "car back", while the front half rode a sloppy two abreast. The cars would stack up behind me, get impatient, at least one car would decide to go for it and accelerate maximally to pass the club ride. The problem was that before the car got to the front, an oncoming car would pop up from behind a hill, and the two cars would be closing at 110 mph (55 each way). The passing car would either play chicken with the oncoming car, or slam on the brakes and pull right forcing the cyclists or oncoming car to make room. First time I saw this I was angry at the bonehead car drivers. But then when I realized this was happening every week, sometimes twice a week, I realized it was the cyclists who were daft.

Same group of riders each week, you would think they would come to the conclusion that high speed auto wrecks about to happen right next to you is a bad thing, and you could easily avoid it. I ride as one of the last few riders on this section of road, since the cars always approach, pause behind for a moment to assess the situation, then decide what they are going to do. In the back the cars are doing what they do slower, and with more room.

banerjek

I'm not sure about that first point.

But people get confused on the second. Motorized vehicles that are not piloted by jackasses are considerate of others, and they let others through if they're blocking the flow. One of the reasons I like riding solo is precisely because too many cyclists on group rides think it's OK to needlessly gum up the roads.

My strategy has always been to ride left but not so far left that cars can't get through. This has multiple purposes. It makes me more visible, it buys a little space should I need to maneuver, but most importantly, it tells me who knows I'm out there. The cars tend to drift left as they approach, and I drift right. I can tell by their movement they're watching me, and they can tell from mine that I'm paying attention to them. Work with the motorists, and they'll be much nicer to you than they are to each other.

banerjek

A couple years ago, I counted vehicles to estimate how often I encounter a hostile action (such as being buzzed or yelled at).

I calculated that roughly 1 out of 100,000 vehicles that passes me does something hostile. That is a 99.999% success rate. Statistically, we know that there are is certain percentage of murders, psychos, dope addicts, etc on the roads and that anyone who rides in much traffic will encounter people in these groups every day.

coasting 

so what happens when you see a velo moron doing moronic stuff and you are driving. i am so tempted to shout at them but then it becomes a motorist vs cyclist confrontation.

bretgross

+1

patentcad

I try not to hit them with my 4,000 pound SUV. It's not always so easy.

mustang1

Agrees absolutely. Amen.