Cycling etiquette

[mikeIow]

Had a lovely drive back through the Cotswolds from a wedding at the weekend.
Glorious weather, wish I was out for a ride 🚴‍♂️
Went through one village, following another car.
Cars parked on left, plenty of room, but two cyclists were coming up the hill towards us riding two abreast.
Of course they are entitled to do so….but as we drove down, the outer one waved his arms in frustration at the car, who he deemed was too close.
I’m a cyclist: I felt that there was plenty of room, & of course there was nothing to stop them dropping to single file🤷‍♂️
I’d have done the latter, regardless.

Two abreast to me makes sense when you want to shorten overtaking distance, or on quiet country roads where you can have a chat, but that scenario just suggested (to me) that the cyclist was being a bit of a prat: the kind of cyclist who gives the rest of us a bad name 🤷‍♂️

Just wondering if that is common behaviour?

The “clarification of Highway Code” this year has led to car drivers giving more of a wide berth to cyclists, I have noticed (which is a great thing!), but I do wonder if it has made some on two wheels feel a bit more ‘entitled’ to that space.
I can’t see the driver in front of me forming a better opinion of cyclists after that little episode….

 

[nickyboy]

When you drove through the village did you remain on "your side" of the road or not?

If, by driving past the parked cars you needed to go onto the oncoming part of the road you should have waited and given way, just as you would have if a car was coming the other way

Cars coming towards you on your side of the road, making you squeeze into the kerb, as a cyclist, is one of the most scary things

 

[icowden]

Also worth adding that some cyclists <ahem> find hills hard work and can get a bit wibbly towards the top if they are steepish, so it can be a little exasperating if someone in a powered vehicle squeezes you...

 

[figbat]

There's what you can do and what you could do. You can stay 2-abreast because you are entitled to. You could drop back to single file because you are able to. In that situation, if I were one of the cyclists, I would have dropped back to go single file. Not because I have to, but because I choose to. However I do believe that one shouldn't assume that others will be courteous, and one shouldn't berate others for not being courteous, so long as they are legal. Being courteous is going above-and-beyond, which is nice, but not being courteous is just being 'normal' - it is not being deliberately obstructive. You should assume that someone won't cede priority and be pleased when they do, rather than today's apparent default of assume people will cede priority and getting angry when they don't (see also: joining a motorway from a sliproad and expected someone in lane 1 to get out of your way).

 

[Ian H]

The cyclists were entitled to their half of the road. As for 'enough room', there could have been potholes, drain-covers and whatever that they wished to avoid.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I was riding two abreast on a road wide enough for two large vehicles to pass easily with a fellow audaxer not so long ago when an oncoming vehicle pulled over to our side of the road sounding his horn and drove at me. I braked hard and dropped in behind the other cyclist.

That's what you should have done, it's the only language they understand.

 

[T4tomo]

Sounds a bit like there was enough room for the cars to get through had the cyclist been in single file, so the cars attempted to force the cyclists into single file!

Like other have said, I/we'd have gone into single file, but if into a rhythm climbing and it has been clear wide road, it may take a few moment to spot that there are parked cars on the opposite side of the road and get singled out, so you should have either waited behind the parked cars, or if you were passing the last of row of parked cars, stopped to allow the cyclists more time to single out / squeeze through.

 

[Sharky]

Too many "grey areas" in this scenario to make a decisions on who should have done what, but with no harm done to either party, an excellent learning experience for both sides to improve matters should they be faced with a similar scenario in the future.

 

[DaveReading]

If, by driving past the parked cars you needed to go onto the oncoming part of the road you should have waited and given way, just as you would have if a car was coming the other way

In fact you should arguably not cross the centre white line when driving even if there is just a single cyclist coming in the opposite direction.

 

[Ian H]

In fact you should arguably not cross the centre white line when driving even if there is just a single cyclist coming in the opposite direction.

Exactly. The advice to give room when overtaking a cyclist surely applies even more so when heading in the opposite direction. And the Highway Code says give way to oncoming traffic when the obstruction is on your side.

 

[normgow]

Also on a narrow road or one narrowed by parked cars, traffic coming uphill should have priority over that going downhill.

 

[mjr]

Sounds a bit like there was enough room for the cars to get through had the cyclist been in single file, so the cars attempted to force the cyclists into single file!

Like other have said, I/we'd have gone into single file, but

Maybe. Depends on the road. I might decide to react to a motorist trying to bully us single file by stopping the bike broadside in front of them while I checked the highway code(!)

 

[Arrowfoot]

Riding abreast has long been a difficult topic even within the cycling community before any code change took place. I have seen bunch rides falling into single file very quickly and I have seen 2 cyclists riding abreast in traffic when things are tight.

The funny thing is riding is not impeded when cycling single file or abreast, only the conversation and sometimes the bromance gets stifled.

 

[figbat]

Riding abreast has long been a difficult topic even within the cycling community before any code change took place. I have seen bunch rides falling into single file very quickly and I have seen 2 cyclists riding abreast in traffic when things are tight.

The funny thing is riding is not impeded when cycling single file or abreast, only the conversation and sometimes the bromance gets stifled.

There's a bit more to it than that. A large group in single file presents a very long overtaking requirement where the same group two-abreast could halve that distance. It really depends on the situation, sight lines, traffic weight etc. If I find myself in a single-file group around the middle and the road doesn't offer long sight lines I will often drop back to allow any overtaking car somewhere to go part-way along the peleton.

 

[boydj]

Had a lovely drive back through the Cotswolds from a wedding at the weekend.
Glorious weather, wish I was out for a ride 🚴‍♂️
Went through one village, following another car.
Cars parked on left, plenty of room, but two cyclists were coming up the hill towards us riding two abreast.
Of course they are entitled to do so….but as we drove down, the outer one waved his arms in frustration at the car, who he deemed was too close.
I’m a cyclist: I felt that there was plenty of room, & of course there was nothing to stop them dropping to single file🤷‍♂️
I’d have done the latter, regardless.

Two abreast to me makes sense when you want to shorten overtaking distance, or on quiet country roads where you can have a chat, but that scenario just suggested (to me) that the cyclist was being a bit of a prat: the kind of cyclist who gives the rest of us a bad name 🤷‍♂️

Just wondering if that is common behaviour?

The “clarification of Highway Code” this year has led to car drivers giving more of a wide berth to cyclists, I have noticed (which is a great thing!), but I do wonder if it has made some on two wheels feel a bit more ‘entitled’ to that space.
I can’t see the driver in front of me forming a better opinion of cyclists after that little episode….

I suspect that you coming down the hill overtaking a parked car would have put you well into the oncoming lane and possibly too close to even single file cyclists.

Riding 2-abreast is often the best way for cyclists to keep themselves safe and stop silly overtakes - or oncoming drivers on the wrong side of the road. Of course it often does not stop inconsiderate drivers forcing their way through.