Originally Posted by
Daves_Not_Here
I think the reason why some are having a hard time taking your complaint seriously is that it consists of 2 simultaneous improbabilities: (1) a clueless cyclist that repeately filters past a queue of faster riders, and (2) a riding environment that prevents the easy passing of that slower rider (even though the rider somehow had the room to filter up).
I can't recall a time I had a difficult time getting past a slower rider, and I suspect others here may feel the same way. Slow cyclists are slow off the line, and I find it pretty easy to pass them in the open intersection.
But, assuming the scenario and passing difficulties occurred as described, why wouldn't you just speak up. "Hey, nice day. Cool beach cruiser. Hey, I hope I don't mean to across as the ettiquette nazi, but we're having a hard time safely passing you when you keep coming up to the front. We'll have to ask you to stay at the back or we'll be forced to make comments about your butt."
Well, I think I described exactly what happened accurately in my original post.
As for point (1) being improbable, I've only encountered such a situation once. I was annoyed. I wrote about it. It's not like this is a perpetual problem for me. Sometimes I'm even happy to stay behind slower cyclists, but after seeing this particular cyclist almost take the cyclist ahead of her down, I was eager to lose her.
And as for point (2) there is a huge difference in having enough passing space when traffic is stopped versus when it is moving. In this case the "queue" of riders was only two strong and the cyclist jumping the line was brushing up next to cars to get to the front.
As for passing in the open intersection, the offending cyclist was jumping the lights. I stated this clearly in my post. She had almost cleared the intersection by the time the light was green.