Originally Posted by patentcad
This perpetural fixation on what's behind you is a Fred thing to be sure. But it really is questionable to me whether it enhances your safety. You can do something about avoiding what's in FRONT of you on the road. But BEHIND you? Whether or not the individual here would have reacted differently in this unusual circumstance - we'll never really know, will we? Perhaps. But generally speaking the Fred thing in a pace line is to continuously turn around for some bizarre reason to look behind them. After this happens 15x, I've actually pulled up to guys and said - 'yes, I'm behind you, I was there the last 10x you looked, and I'll still be here the next 10x you turn around'. It seems like there's a paranoia about getting clipped from the rear, when in reality the only hazards you can REALLY avoid on a bicycle @ speed are in front of you - and looking back will only divert your attention from the real dangers on the road where split second reactions are critical. For example when two wheels touch the guy in the BACK goes down, not the guy in front of him whose wheel he made contact with. You don't need any distractions. You need your eyes on the road in front of your bicycle to be safe. And that may be my biggest issue with those who think rearview mirrors are keeping them safter.
To wit, I generally think that your rearview mirror will give only you a chance to say 'HOLY ****!!' to yourself before you get clipped. In this situation that trailer swung back at the very last minute - and @ 40-50mph would the cyclist have seen it happening in time to react properly via his helmet mirror? I doubt it. Again, all pure speculation, but the fact that some cyclists here believe that and some don't speaks for itself. I've been riding for many years/miles, and I'm just telling you what my experience tells me.
I'm getting those little Oakley stick on spot mirrors soon. I'll report back after riding with those for a few weeks and let you know if I've gotten Fred religion on this one...
Thank God I ride solo mostly, otherwise I'd be a huge "Fred".
The other half of it is, I don't necessarily trust others to be watching out for me, so if I was in a paceline, I'd still turn around and look when I felt the need. On a century ride last year, at one point my buddy and another guy were in a group of about 12-15 cyclists on a rural road in VT on a Sunday morning with pretty much no traffic. People were fanned out in the lane, sort of like a "mini peloton". We were up towards the front, on the left side passing people, and heard a car approaching from the rear. I was the only one who looked back, and everyone was fairly clueless as to what was going on behind them, as they were either concentrating on maintaining their pace or talking to their buddy next to them. I gave the "car back" shout, and nobody really paid attention.
Me and my buddy got up in front and over to the left, while most of the group was AT LEAST 2 abreast (and not really close to each other), making the car pass them by crossing the yellow line. I witnessed plenty of other stupid acts on behalf of cyclists the other day on that ride, and was a bit embarassed to be associated with them. Especially with the "time trial tool" who decided to crank it up to 400 watts and blow past me within about a foot or two from my left side (I was sick on this ride; later found out I had mono and really shouldn't have been riding), and then turn around about 30 feet ahead to see if I was either giving chase or if I had pulled over, dismounted, and started bowing in his general direction. He let up slightly when I didn't react, but was then riding about 4 feet from the center line - cars coming up behind him, guy didn't move one bit, and where was plenty of lane to the right to ride in where the cars were behind him. The cars behind him had to fully go into the lane of oncoming traffic to get around him.
And this is why I like riding solo.