Equinox

Being in your cage, you really have no way of knowing what the cyclist was dealing with at that moment. Why were you passing so closely? You're story doesn't make a lot of sense. The cyclist almost ruined YOUR day? Seriously? In your 4000lb vehicle? I'm pretty sure you would have ruined HIS day. You don't know if there was no excuse for him moving into your lane. What was your excuse for passing so closely? You must not ride very much or you wouldn't be putting down fellow cyclists unless its a lame attempt at self aggrandizement.

Equinox

Honestly, the image you get from a typical mirror that a road bike rider would use is not as good as the image you get from your car mirrors. That doesn't mean they are not helpful. Do you think that you ever reacted to a perceived danger in your mirror that turned out not to be a danger at all? A false positive, so-to-speak? I could absolutely see that happen to me.

One could say, "Better safe than sorry" . For me, it boils down to a risk/benefit assessment based on how and where I ride.

JoeyBike

Maybe. But I can attest to TWO incidents where if I had not ditched the bike I would have been killed or "caused" a massive pileup of cars trying to avoid hitting me...or BOTH.

Now given all of the miles I have put in, TWICE is still a statistical zero. Somehow this is not comforting to me.

I don't really feel like typing two long scenarios of death avoidance right now. They exist somewhere on this forum already.
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dwing

Yep, you missed the point. You can complain all you want about bad drivers but it goes both ways and I've seen enough examples of poor road biking to think it's closely proportionate to poor drivers.

And, yes, it would've ruined our day because there was absolutely no excuse for this guy to be riding the white line given this 5 mile stretch of newly paved road with 6' of very clean shoulder. My wife moved way to the middle (not driving/passing "closely" as you assumed) and had to swerve across the middle to avoid him. The guy was an idiot regardless of what made him veer into the lane. If he'd been utilizing the available free shoulder instead of riding like he had a right to be riding the line at 18 in a 45 it likely would have been a non-issue. I see too many road bikers who think they have the right to ride inside the lane when they're going 15-20mph in 45-55.

I'm not putting down fellow cyclists. I'm giving all the road bikers that think everything is the drivers fault and they never make a mistake a reality check. You don't all have an "A game" just like all drivers don't have an "A game".

JoeyBike

Too many people have a misguided sense of entitlement OR they are just clueless OR they believe in Guardian Angels. It is a testament to motorists skill level (and anti-lock brakes) that more of these people don't get hosed when they decide to ride a bicycle on the highway.
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KD5NRH

Not a little sliver stolen from a disco ball and hot glued to some bits of a dead Gumby's skeleton to bounce around all over the place. The one I use is a Zefal, roughly 2" tall by 3" wide and securely mounted to the bars. A quick glance shows me both lanes of approaching traffic when I'm on the shoulder of US377. Any cars within 100yds are immediately apparent, and a shoulder check tells me if there are any farther away, but until that 100yd zone is clear, there's not really much point checking farther back. (Plus cars in that zone could be hiding others behind them in any of the slightly curved sections.)

JoeyBike

Did you make this up yourself? That is a pretty funny definition of an eyeglass/helmet mirror.
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Equinox

Sorry, I'm very skeptical and I have a very sensitive BS detector. Was the bicyclist trying to commit suicide? You don't often see cyclists swerve in front of cars because, you know, the dead thing. Just like you don't see bicyclists running red lights. So when this supposedly happened, what happened next? Did your wife have to swerve all the way on to the opposing shoulder? Did she slam on her brakes and come to a complete stop? Did she lean on her horn? What did the bicyclist do next? Did he make a U-turn? Did he swerve back to the right? Was this a road cyclist or some hipster doofus?

JoeyBike

I think I get your drift here. Put a different way: Motorists who live in areas totally infested with wild deer STILL hit the danged things. Either the dead deer did something sudden and unpredictable (aren't ALL deer unpredictable?) or the motorist wasn't paying attention/didn't see the deer until it was too late. Did the deer drop out of a helicopter? How about the cyclist? No...both were RIGHT THERE all the time, yet......

Most motorists drive like nothing is ever going to happen to them. Most cyclists ride like nothing is ever going to happen to them. Like two trains on the same tracks.
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Equinox

Nope. You don't get my drift.
The cyclists I know ride like they are SURE they are going to get hit.

KD5NRH

Deer seem to have a special talent for jumping straight from culvert cuts or bushes into the roadway. Driving slowly enough to avoid all of them would require constantly driving so slowly that fat women on comfort cruisers would be tailgating, ringing their bells and screaming at the cars to get out of the road.

JoeyBike

Think about ^^this next time you ride your bike on a busy highway and you get my drift here.
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dwing

Not sure why you need all the details to get my point. I must be doing a poor job of expressing myself, so, how about this:
"Give Me a Break - We're minding our business driving down a road... when a road biker riding the white line at approx 18mph in a 45 (instead of using the 6' clean newly paved shoulder) acting like many of the road bikers do ... suddenly swerves into the lane... etc etc... and you wonder how STEREOTYPES ARE BORN."

I don't know why he suddenly veered into the lane, maybe to avoid something??, maybe lost his grip on the bars??, f'ing with his computer??, who friggin cares. He shouldn't been riding the line (*wheel on line = approx 12" of body into lane) when there was plenty of clean room to the right on this long stretch. But heh, he might be one of the road bikers that feels he's entitled to the line plus 12" body room into the lane, thinks he never makes a mistake, and that all motorists are to comply with his beliefs & entitlements.

A couple guys on here get it. But, I'll lay out a summary for you. Some "motorists" have poor driving skills/do stupid things/ illegal moves, etc, just as some "road bikers" have poor riding skills/do stupid things/illegal moves, etc that can result in bad situations. You can complain all you want about motorists, but, there's plenty of road bikers providing the same type of fuel for motorists to complain about.

KD5NRH

This; I ride the same roads I've had problems with some riders on. If I know there's a rough spot ahead, I watch for a good opening, signal and take the lane. If I spot debris too late to do that, I just run over it. Better to patch a tire or true a wheel rather than swerve out into high speed traffic expecting them to figure out a way to dodge me.

It all goes back to being predictable to other road users. Some are too unobservant or just plain stupid to benefit from it, but most will avoid hitting you if they can tell where you're going to be when they get to the closest approach point.

Equinox

You are stating the obvious. The reason I complain about motorists is because a cyclist dies when they "make a mistake". Check the scoreboard. Motorists are pitching a shutout. You keep making a point about where this bicyclist was riding. We can agree that, assuming the surface was safe, it would have been prudent to ride on the shoulder. However, it is my understanding that in most states, he is under no legal obligation to do so.
You clearly have an issue with road cyclists, which is odd considering your wife rides. I know. She's one of the "good" ones. I'll bet there are plenty of motorists who stereotype her as well.
As far as the details go, I'm just trying to understand because the story you relate seems so improbable. It is like the mythical scores of road bikes runnung red lights and miraculaously never getting hit.
I guess the bicyclist could have been a suicidal psychopath in which case you should have called the aiuthorities for hus own protection.

genec

Exactly... and mule deer for instance can easily clear a 5 foot fence... now granted deer are not known for jumping fence and the like unless they have an idea of what is on the other side... but how easy is it to see a pair of big brown eyes peering out of brush at 40 MPH?

Truth be told I've had close calls with deer while walking... they seek to hide.

ColaJacket

This. So don't complain about cyclists using a lane they're legally entitled to.

If there is a good shoulder, I will try to use it. But if there is debris on the shoulder, I will use the lane. Now, when going from one area to another, I will check behind me to make sure there's not a car too close when I do so.


GH