so I'm going down Mowatt Lane (25MPH winding campus road, one lane in each direction) at about 20-23MPH (don't have a computer so I can't tell for sure) today on the way to my parents house and I'm behind a pickup truck. the guy in the truck motions me to go around him. sure thing buddy, I'm keeping up with the general flow of traffic on a two-lane 25MPH road, the last thing I'm going to do is illegally pass a f'ing pickup truck. at the next stop sign he opens his back window and says "don't ride on my ass like that. it's not safe" huh? come again? I was a good 4-5 feet behind the guy, not that far behind, but certainly not in ass-riding territory either. maybe it looked like I was riding his ass in his rearview. he closes his window and I say whatever buddy, and stay behind him. we stop at the next stopsign and he doesn't go. traffic is piling up behind us and he refuses to go, and waves me around him again. about 5 seconds of this and I decide he's not going to go unless I pass him I start to go around him and he steps out of the car and says "don't ride on my ass like that" again. I'm not in the mood to argue so I say "whatever dude" and ride on.

did I do something wrong here or was this guy just being unreasonable? I've never had anyone else get pissed about this before and I was riding the way I normally ride in this kind of traffic, which is very lawful and VC. the guy had DC plates so maybe he's used to cyclists passing him on the left when he drives in the city.

oh and was in the center of the lane for anyone who cares.

4 or 5 feet behind a truck going 25mph is tailgating.

Get off the guys ass, fercrissake!

Troll?

If this is a satire on the driving habits of cagers then, "good one." However, this practice wouldn't strike me as a good VC habit.

Don't get me wrong, there is a long 30 MPH zone near my home where all the hicks do 45+ MPH all the time. When I'm in the throes of an adrenaline induced madness following a set of intervals on the lowracer, I'll catch the tail of a pickup and draft 'em until I spinout in the 40's. Quite a trip, but very stupid.

Well how well do you stop while "keeping up with the general flow of traffic on a two-lane 25MPH road?" Motorists are supposed to keep apart a car length for every 10MPH. What about you... think you can stop in 4-5 feet? I don't think so, and I don't think that motorist thought so either.

Don't tailgate... sudden stops hurt.

Yes, you did something wrong, you were tailgating.

Yeah, 4-5 feet is a little close. If he slammed on his brakes unexpectedly, could you have stopped?

I like waiting games with motorists. So far I have out-waited them all. Never blink first!

Obviously he wanted you to pull through and do your share of the work.

yeah you guys are right

I probably would have been in a bad spot if he had stopped suddenly

No ****, don't be a wheel sucker, it was your turn to pull is all the guy meant!

Yes, you were tailgating him and I wouldn't like it either. If he hit his brakes you would get to taste the paint on his truck. Three seconds behind him, not feet, is the rule.

What were you thinking, that this was a paceline?

nah, I was thinking I wasn't really that close. but you're right, if he had stopped I probably would have crashed and it would have been my fault... in retrospect I was def. too close.

Nah, you would have been in the bed of his truck or on the bumper depending on how you hit. I tend to tailgate when I'm in heavy traffic because I've found it drastically reduces how often people move into my lane when I'm there, but it's not a good practice.

Tailgating is not only unsafe, it's a bit rude. When you ride that close to someone, you make them uncomfortable and force them to drive a certain way to keep you from crashing into them.

25mph is 36.7 ft per sec.

At 5 ft behind him, you have 0.14secs to react if he has to do an emergency stop - which he can probably do in a shorter distance than you.

And by react, I mean slam on your brakes while simultaneously deciding what your best course of action is and where you should steer in order to avoid becoming an exhaust - sorry - muffler ornament. People who react that fast are generally known as benjohnsons

In cycling language, riders who do as you claim you were doing are known technically as "the late..." Donations in lieu of flowers...

I used to do that. One time a guy (coincidentally driving a pickup) deliberately stopped short and I hit his rear bumper. It hurt a little. the only funny part was that my bike was OK, but a big hunk of plastic fell off his bumper.

You didn't hear this from me, but... theoretically, if you're tailgating near the right or left side, as opposed to the center, you can probably move to the side and avoid hitting him in case he suddenly brakes...

But, you'll never be able to out-brake him. You have reaction time working against you, plus bikes take more distance to stop than do most motor vehicles.

But you'll also most likely put yourself closer to the driver's blind spot increasing the chances that he might do something unexpectedly (when considering that amount of time one has to react with 5 feet of clearance at 25mph) like let off the gas or turn.

True that bike brakes don't perform as well as car or truck brakes. But reaction times for a cyclist will be quicker for a very strange reason: the nerve impulses have a much shorter distance to travel from the brain to a cyclist's hands, as compared to the distance from the brain to a driver's feet. This will result in measurably shorter RT for the cyclist to "hit the brakes."

Of course I wouldn't want to bet my life on it!

Looking at it from the driver's perspective, if a cyclist rear ended my car, the cyclist would be the one hurt the most and I'd feel guilty about stopping short, even if there was a good reason for stopping short. I don't like tailgating cars because I can get hurt and my car can get damaged, but a tailgating cyclist? I'll be fine, but the cyclist probably won't.

Probably 4-5 feet is a little close, but I find if I'm riding in traffic -- in traffic, matching the speed of cars -- if I allow too much space people behind me will start doing all sorts of crazy things to try and pass.

You were definitely too close. I used to drive an ice-cream truck which had a GIGANTIC rear blind-spot. When I was on my route (going about 10 mph), punk kids used to come up and ride within 4 feet of my back bumper. After telling them multiple times not to do that "because I can't see you", I realized that actions speak louder than words. A sharp tap on the brakes later, no more problems

+100

Don't tailgate, in a car or on a bike. I live in a state with serial tail-gaters (to the point of tailgating me 1 foot off my bumper when I am driving at the speed limit in the left lane and the right lane is totally clear). Pisses me off . Sometimes I just gradually slow down until they get the hint.

If I was to do the George Carlin routine I would say

"Three people who need to be shot"

1. Serial tailgaters
2. Crosswalk creepers (you know, those geniuses who come to a stop sign and stop on the freaking cross-walk or stop at the edge of it and then slowly creep foward, as people are crossing!)
3. People who don't use their signals.