single file?

[p90ade]

hi, does everyone always ride single file when out with friends or 2 wide?
obviusly this depends on what sort of road you are on but today while going through town (very quiet morning) we had a couple in car go crazy at us . the man driving was beeping his horn and slowed right down then his mrs`s lent out the window and started screaming " single file single file" at us.

there was nothing coming and it was a wide road.
were we that much in the wrong????

 

[Sam Kennedy]

The club I cycle with rides 2 wide nearly all the time, but we do move over when a car comes. I'm not really sure who was at fault, if it was clear up ahead then I think the driver was just being awkward.

I hate how people assume they know the rules for cycling when they have never even glanced over the highway code

 

[betty swollocks]

Highway Code rule 66 says that you should never ride more than two abreast.

Tell them to eff off.

 

[purplepolly]

A car still has to pull out to overtake if you're single file and usually has to go over the centreline if they give you enough space. There's very little difference between this and overtaking cyclists riding two abreast but if you're two abreast then it means they can overtake you more quickly and spend less time facing any potential oncoming traffic.

Unfortunately a lot of car drivers can't work this for themselves or aren't aware of how much space a cyclists needs when being overtaken which is why they get upset.

 

[GrasB]

I don't see the problem. If I'm cycling two abreast & on the outside when a car approaches on a narrow lane I'll pull ahead to give the car more space but if it's a wide road & clear they can overtake fine.

A lot of people here these random things from somewhere & get it into their head that it's law not a recommendation. I've been told by irate motorists that:
It's a legal requirement to cycle on the path (no not a cycle path a normal path).
To wear a high-viz jacket & cycle helmet when cycling.
That I legally am not entitled to be further than 60cm out from the kerb for ANY reason including cycling round a parked car.
That a bike has no right of way at any time & is required to stop for all motor vehicles.
That I shouldn't be cycling on a clearly marked cycle contraflow, even after pointing out to the said person the sign painted on the road who said that vandals put it there (then what the council decided to not paint over it with the red road paint?)

 

[purplepolly]

even after pointing out to the said person the sign painted on the road who said that vandals put it there (then what the council decided to not paint over it with the red road paint?)

LOL, you must have more inventive vandals than us - round here they just turn the odd signpost so it points the wrong way. Or maybe the driver thought it was an extremist wing of the CTC secretly covering the roads with cyclepaths in the middle of the night.

 

[SimonC]

Highway Code rule 66 says that you should never ride more than two abreast.

Tell them to eff off.

+1 for the eff off

 

[darkstar]

I only ever cycle single file tbh unless in really remote areas simple because I find it a bit anoying when I'm driving myself (late for work) only to find some cyclists two abreast, attempting to overtake them on a road with loads of bends is tough and dangerous.

 

[cheadle hulme]

A car still has to pull out to overtake if you're single file and usually has to go over the centreline if they give you enough space. There's very little difference between this and overtaking cyclists riding two abreast but if you're two abreast then it means they can overtake you more quickly and spend less time facing any potential oncoming traffic.

Unfortunately a lot of car drivers can't work this for themselves or aren't aware of how much space a cyclists needs when being overtaken which is why they get upset.

+1

When I explained to my mum how it was easier to overtake a bunch that has half the length - she grudgingly understood.

Now she tells all the old biddies down at the bowls club.

 

[marinyork]

I think some of this was just today. It was very sunny and nice weather, the roads were particularly busy (with everybody out driving) and road rage was abound. I had a record number of beeps and comments telling me to:- have my lights on, another said I should be wearing hi viz, another said I should keep left, another three beeped and shook their fist, one beeped and tried to threaten us by doing a close overtake and there were a couple that shouted something indecipherable. Basically it was road rage day because it was nice weather.

As for this incident. It happens, unfortunately.

 

[Joe24]

Should have just told her to stick her head back in and go away(a nice way of putting what i really mean)
I was on the way back from the caravan storage place after being on holiday in Europe for a few weeks. Had a car come past, the husband driving, wife sticks her head out to tell me there's a cycle path over there.
I say, "then get on a bike!!!!"

The problem is, on the club ride we will go to single file. Now if there's alot out, there a big long line of us, normally doing a decent speed. So cycling 2 abreast is normally better.

Peasant car drivers

My parents also think that hi-viz is the be all and end all, and if you have that on, you wont get hit.
Bollocks, my rear light that's like a fog light is better

 

[mr Mag00]

sometimes i will reply or respond to their 'comments' but what i find really infuriates them is just to stare straight back at them from behind your shades. only if you know there is nothing in your way

 

[GrasB]

My parents also think that hi-viz is the be all and end all, and if you have that on, you wont get hit.
Bollocks, my rear light that's like a fog light is better

A decently bright, unobscured rear light always on solid burn is much better than a high-viz jacket ime. Car drivers treat you more like a motorist than an annoyance with a light on. I also find riding with a solid light is also much more calming to motorists than one single flashing light (& also allows for quicker judgment of position, speed & direction)

 

[marinyork]

A decently bright, unobscured rear light always on solid burn is much better than a high-viz jacket ime. Car drivers treat you more like a motorist than an annoyance with a light on. I also find riding with a solid light is also much more calming to motorists than one single flashing light (& also allows for quicker judgment of position, speed & direction)

The dinotte is the only rear light I've ever seen that works even satisfactorily in daylight conditions. As it was so sunny yesterday at 1pm, around the time of most daylight, there's not very much I can do about demands by silly motorists to have my light on. It just doesn't work like that.

 

[dodgy]

I was out with Yenrod yesterday and we were riding down Oil Sites road this is a completely straight and wide stretch of road through the Oil complex at Stanlow. It's a useful quiet road to get into Delamere area. Almost no cars at all use this road, they're all on the M53, besides, there are barriers half way along preventing cars from using the road whenever they wish but cycles are OK. We were riding along 2 abreast when a woman with kids in the back pulls along side, winds down the windows and bellows "SINGLE FILE" before turning right about 3 seconds later.
So, given that she had time and room to overtake, wind her window down and bellow instructions there must have been plenty of room for us to ride 2 abreast (and there was, I can assure you!). Even if there wasn't toom (yes, there still was/is), she could have waited 3 seconds before making her right turn.
I'd love to have had a grown up discussion with her about it, no doubt another one of the great misinformed using our roads, file it with the "you don't pay road tax" morons I suppose.