I don't want to kick off some sort of polemic here, but I am curious and would like to hear the views of other cyclists.
I'm a middle-aged cyclist with two sons still at home who are more and more inclined to use bicycles for fitness training. As I ride quite a lot, they come out with me (together or singly). One is 12 the other 16. We all tend to ride one kind of road bike or another.
We live in the hilly part where the Three Counties meet and most of the good riding is on sinuous, rolling, single-carriageway, NSL, A-Roads. Cars often pass us at 60-80 mph.
The riding here is good and all my children enjoy it. I've taught the kids to ride as I do, but I see from some posts in other threads that there is a significant weight of opinion holding that my positioning is flawed. As I'm teaching it to my loved ones, I'd be glad of some views.
I ride like this: Usually about 15" from the painted line marking the edge of the carriageway. I tend to be on roads I know and often on roads where I and my boys know the drain covers and potholes. I look behind me often (childhood riding in Central london and years as a courier) and where there's room I go round poor surfaces rather than over them. I'm big on doorzones, but there isn't much stationary traffic between towns. I do not ride like this in towns or cities.
My object on rural roads is to make good progress (I tend to push quite a lot) without holding up motorised traffic. Approaching a right turn off a fast A-Road, I slow well before my turning to allow me time to find a gap in the traffic to pull across. I indicate early, but if there is someone close behind me I wait for him to pass before sticking an arm out.
I read lots of posts about being exposed to gravel if riding close to the white line, but this has not been my experience. I teach the boys to look for gravel and loose/broken surfaces and avoid where possible, but 15" from the white line there is very little loose stuff.
Occasionally, on a fast descent (40-ish mph), I will move out about a third of the way across my lane. Not always, but sometimes. Never,ever much under 40. This seems reasonable as it will not slow other road users down too much and to be frank I have limited braking options from those speeds and loss of control is likely if I have a mechanical failure. My boys don't really crack much over 33 yet, so I still stay out of the traffic with them (but quite far apart).
I am a driver too. Like many cyclists, I like to do what I can to allow the traffic around me to flow freely. Some cyclists consider this unassertive, but it just seems a real-world compromise and a matter of courtesy.
I'll ping this post now and will be interested to see what sort of constructive advice it elicits. I tend to like my own way as it has got me from childhood to almost 50, but I see that the roads have changed and there may be a case for thinking these things out some more.
I'm a middle-aged cyclist with two sons still at home who are more and more inclined to use bicycles for fitness training. As I ride quite a lot, they come out with me (together or singly). One is 12 the other 16. We all tend to ride one kind of road bike or another.
We live in the hilly part where the Three Counties meet and most of the good riding is on sinuous, rolling, single-carriageway, NSL, A-Roads. Cars often pass us at 60-80 mph.
The riding here is good and all my children enjoy it. I've taught the kids to ride as I do, but I see from some posts in other threads that there is a significant weight of opinion holding that my positioning is flawed. As I'm teaching it to my loved ones, I'd be glad of some views.
I ride like this: Usually about 15" from the painted line marking the edge of the carriageway. I tend to be on roads I know and often on roads where I and my boys know the drain covers and potholes. I look behind me often (childhood riding in Central london and years as a courier) and where there's room I go round poor surfaces rather than over them. I'm big on doorzones, but there isn't much stationary traffic between towns. I do not ride like this in towns or cities.
My object on rural roads is to make good progress (I tend to push quite a lot) without holding up motorised traffic. Approaching a right turn off a fast A-Road, I slow well before my turning to allow me time to find a gap in the traffic to pull across. I indicate early, but if there is someone close behind me I wait for him to pass before sticking an arm out.
I read lots of posts about being exposed to gravel if riding close to the white line, but this has not been my experience. I teach the boys to look for gravel and loose/broken surfaces and avoid where possible, but 15" from the white line there is very little loose stuff.
Occasionally, on a fast descent (40-ish mph), I will move out about a third of the way across my lane. Not always, but sometimes. Never,ever much under 40. This seems reasonable as it will not slow other road users down too much and to be frank I have limited braking options from those speeds and loss of control is likely if I have a mechanical failure. My boys don't really crack much over 33 yet, so I still stay out of the traffic with them (but quite far apart).
I am a driver too. Like many cyclists, I like to do what I can to allow the traffic around me to flow freely. Some cyclists consider this unassertive, but it just seems a real-world compromise and a matter of courtesy.
I'll ping this post now and will be interested to see what sort of constructive advice it elicits. I tend to like my own way as it has got me from childhood to almost 50, but I see that the roads have changed and there may be a case for thinking these things out some more.
- which is just a daft way of saying I do pretty much the same. Riding "comfortable" country roads is different - a bit of stepping back in time. And generally, you have a lot more time to be aware of other users.
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