You know who you are!

[Katherine]

It doesn't make sense to hold people up if there are passing places to use, whoever is behind you.

I was held up on a country road once by an idiot cyclist who went out of his way to stop me passing at several passing places. I obviously went a bit closer to him at the first passing place in anticipation. Then I had one more try at the next one, then I just had to crawl along for a few miles until we got to our turn off. It was ridiculous and going slowly was a waste of petrol and produced more exhaust. I was taking a car full of kids to a country park to climb trees, play hide and seek and generally enjoy the countryside just as he was doing. It's not even nice cycling along with cars behind.

 

[Markymark]

There's a difference here between moving to the left and slowing a little at a safe place to let a car pass and stopping in a grass patch and unclipping losing momentum and energy for this and possibly many other equally needy cars.

The op expected the latter.

 

[mjr]

What im struggling with here is - the cyclist must inconvenience himself, so he doesnt inconvinience the driver/op and in doing so, saving the driver/op a few minutes of his time, while putting himself at risk

I don't have a problem with that as such. In fact, there's some evidence that I do that almost every trip because I use some cycleways with known-dangerous design flaws rather than the adjacent carriageway - in short, I'm hoping that knowing the dangers means that I take action to mitigate them makes it less dangerous than the punishment-pass lottery of mad motorists on the very busy carriageway. I do curse both the mad motorists and the incompetent cycleway designers as I crawl out past each low-visibility corner, though...

So the problems I saw were that the places suggested as suitable for stopping sound unsafe to ride on and that the motorist seemed to be following too close.

 

[Illaveago]

As road users we should all get along together , if I see a motorcyclist approaching from behind I try to pull over to left to let them by, they usually signal thanks. The same goes for fast cars that you know will soon be far off in the distance. If I saw a cyclist stopped by the road in a desperate situation I would stop to ask if they needed help. So in the case of the inconsiderate cyclist he could have just stopped to let the car go by so allowing him to continue his journey. It isn't nice to hear the sound of a vehicle following close behind anyway.

 

[Markymark]

As road users we should all get along together , if I see a motorcyclist approaching from behind I try to pull over to left to let them by, they usually signal thanks. The same goes for fast cars that you know will soon be far off in the distance. If I saw a cyclist stopped by the road in a desperate situation I would stop to ask if they needed help. So in the case of the inconsiderate cyclist he could have just stopped to let the car go by so allowing him to continue his journey. It isn't nice to hear the sound of a vehicle following close behind anyway.

Should he stop for say, 30 cars seperately if they were all on a long stretch of single track road?

 

[jowwy]

Should he stop for say, 30 cars seperately if they were all on a long stretch of single track road?

No he shouldnt - simple as that really

 

[Markymark]

No he shouldnt - simple as that really

So maybe the op was the 30th. Maybe not. Who cares. The guy was cycling and didn't stop for any number of reasons.

 

[Illaveago]

What if it was an ambulance or a person in desperate need to get to hospital.

 

[jowwy]

What if it was an ambulance or a person in desperate need to get to hospital.

It wasnt

 

[youngoldbloke]

There are some narrow roads with no passing places for a couple of miles on the fens. I explained why some farm entrances aren't safe for some bikes and passing places are usually tarmac not grassy - grass usually means the verge and dangers lurk under the grass.

That's amazing - what happens when 2 cars travelling in opposite directions meet in the middle of such as stretch? does one of them reverse for a mile or so? How do they negotiate this? Are you seriously saying that it is dangerous for a cyclist to pull over to the side of such roads and come to a halt? I'm staying away from the fens if that's the case!

 

[Markymark]

What if it was an ambulance or a person in desperate need to get to hospital.

They would have put the siren on.

So your thought process is that cyclists shoukd give wsy to all cars as they may be in an emergency?? ffs. Maybe the cyclist was racing home to his dying wife.

The ludicrous scenarios beibg created to justify the cyclist bowing out to the car is pathetic.

 

[Brandane]

I couldnt give a monkeys if the bike is small, why should he go to that inconvience just for the sake of two miles at 15/20mph.....so approx 6 mins of the drivers time

Sheesh........good job he wasnt driving on the country roads around me

Or about 5 seconds of the cyclists time.

 

[Markymark]

Or about 5 seconds of the cyclists time.

Shoukd he stop 30 or 40 times for each car he may meet on country lanes?

 

[jowwy]

Or about 5 seconds of the cyclists time.

Im sure it would be quite a fair bit more than 5 seconds to brake, stop, dismount, move to one side ( tight narrow lanes) re-mount and then get back upto speed..........all when theres no safe place to stop

 

[Brandane]

Im sure it would be quite a fair bit more than 5 seconds to brake, stop, dismount, move to one side ( tight narrow lanes) re-mount and then get back upto speed..........all when theres no safe place to stop

I've yet to find a road, even a single track road, where I cannot just pull the bike in right to the verge, put my left foot down, lean the bike to the left, let the car past, and then get back on my way.

Don't know if it's been previously mentioned, but such actions might just prevent the next cyclist that the driver comes across from being on the receiving end of a punishment pass.