Where to ride in the road?

konrad7
Posts: 7
Having read around a few beginner cycling guides, it seems that half the sites say you should ride on the left shoulder of the road (england) and half say that you should ride where the car's right tyre would be so in the middle of the road. Also reading about clipping people have said unclip your left so you are not leaning into traffic, is this in a driving on the right hand side of the road country so you are in the middle or in england so you would be on the outside of the road?
Thanks
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Comments
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I ride far enough out that
a) I never swerve to avoid anything on road like a drain and avoid the potholes that follow where the left wheel of a car is
b) Drivers are forced to react to me so they do not try to "slip past" me.
Scenario b is the really dangerous one, if you don't ride far enough out people will go past you leaving only inches, at very high speeds. You must make them react to you.
Generally the area I cycle on is between 40% to 2/3rds of the way out from the left hand side measured against where the white line is.
Always wear bright clothes if you do this, I usually wear a liquigas jersey for example and cycling at a decent speed reduces a lot of the antagonism from b).
I never get jip from drivers if cycling >20mph.
Hope that helps, but there is no "set" way to cycle. As you have recognised, people are divided on this.
A good bit of advice is to turn your head and look to your right (not behind, just to your side) if a car overtakes you. It is often when several cars overtake you it gets hairy, each subsequent car leaves you less and less space. If they see your head turning to watch them they react and move further out.The British Empire never died, it just moved to the Velodrome0 -
You also want to be out of the dooring zone!
This is worth a read http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ioning-197
As for clipping, I feel it's down to personal preference. I unclip my left foot as it feels natural but I have fallen right after loosing my balance!0 -
I would advise against riding where the car's right tyre would be as you would just anger many motorists and also your bringing yourself into problems with traffic comming the otherway (i.e. if a car coming the otherway is overtaking a car infront of it or if it needs to swerve it will come into line with you). Unless the ones suggesting this are those that drive on the right then that would put you on the shoulder.
As for clipping out, there should be enough room at the side of the rode for you to un-clip with either foot, in which case un-clip the foot you feel most comfortable with clipping back in so when you set off you don't struggle too much. Obviously if room is at a premium then left foot out and on the kerb allows you to get your bike right to the side of the road......if you only have that much space then either the car beside you is well over to the side, or perhaps its better just to pull up behind the car and find yourself some space.0 -
if you ride where a car's right tire would be your asking to get knocked down
3/4 feet away from the edge of the road is ideal as it'll leave sufficient room to avoid drains/ pot holes and other obstacles but it will also give enough space for cars to pass you when its safe and put them off doing so when its not safeCrafted in Italy apparantly0 -
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primary.
always.
unless its a steep climb
its when I move to the side that the issues start.
why people are more concerned about annoying drivers than protecting there own lives is confusing me. if someone had a gun and was trying to shoot you out of the house would you run away on the footpath so you didnt disturb there nice garden plants on the escape? :roll:0 -
I always used to ride close to the kerb till I realised I had to stop to let traffic past because of parked cars. So now i ride to the left of the centre.Level 3 Road & Time Trial Coach, Level 2 Track Coach.
Blackpool Clarion CC
http://blackpoolclarion.webs.com/
Blackpool Youth Cycling Association
http://www.go-ride-byca.org0 -
Team Banana Spokesman wrote:primary.
always.
unless its a steep climb
its when I move to the side that the issues start.
why people are more concerned about annoying drivers than protecting there own lives is confusing me. if someone had a gun and was trying to shoot you out of the house would you run away on the footpath so you didnt disturb there nice garden plants on the escape? :roll:
yes but there's a difference to riding safely with and giving yourself room, and riding taking up loads of room and causing problems for yourself and cyclists in general.
I tend to ride where a car's left wheel would be so that when there's drains and the like you can move round them without swerving too much yet there's still enought room for cars to pass me without having to pull way out into the other lane. If I rode any furthur into the road it's just causing un-necessary problems, I wouldn't be riding just to be safe, but also to p*ss people off.0 -
what unnecessary problems? taking up loads of room like you say causes problems for me? really?
I only have problems if too close to teh kerb like I already said. not causing problems for other cyclists because I ride alone.
:? not trying to start a argument. i just dont know what you mean.0 -
Team Banana Spokesman wrote:what unnecessary problems? taking up loads of room like you say causes problems for me? really?
I only have problems if too close to teh kerb like I already said. not causing problems for other cyclists because I ride alone.
:? not trying to start a argument. i just dont know what you mean.
theres nothing wrong riding primary, but primary road position is no further right than the middle of a lane, you still leave enough space for vehicles to pass you when its safe to do so.theres no need to take the piss. you can still be safe whilst being considerate to other road users at the same time.
displays of arrogance only ask for troubleCrafted in Italy apparantly0 -
Well I find drivers that have problems with cyclists get set off when I'm riding to the side, if I were going to ride down the middle of the lane and take up more room than I really needed to be safe I can be sure that I will just attract more abuse.
I know if I was driving along and a cyclist was over to the left of the lane but taking up enough room to feel safe I wouldn't be bothered, but if I saw a cyclist riding down the middle of the lane and using way more room than needed I would get annoyed (ok, i wouldn't be pushed to abuse but I would think he's being annoying)
obviously there are situations where putting yourself in the middle of the lane is the safest....i.e. traffic where cars won't overtake anyway, or junctions where your turning right, etc. But the majority of time out on the road primary is no safer than secondary and when that d*ck driver comes along (as they always will) there just going to be even more annoyed
maybe drivers are just nicer where your from and they aren't bothered0 -
Momentarily and that's all it takes, I broke my own golden rule of NEVER being in close to the kerb..... fell into a grid and paid the price with a cartwheel and ended up with trips to the dentist and a hand cast .
1 second of inattention is all that it takes.0 -
I do feel the majority of my experiences of 12 weeks road riding to be pretty pleasant as far as traffic on the road. I ride left car wheel distance and find I get the respect I need on the roads. I will up the cadence if im in traffic and its a narrow road to not upset anyone behind me.
I've had lots more people give me room or time on a narrow stretch, even giveway to me and priority than with any loons cutting me up or coming close. Very few instances thankfully of the idiot brigade so far.0 -
If you ride that close to the kerb in pinch points you will get a percentage of idiots who will attempt an overtake, you need to take up primary as you approach these places or it seems to encourage them. I hope you won't learn the hard way.0
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agree with alfablue - I ride in the middle of the lane if I deem it would be unsafe for a car to overtake me to prevent them from overtaking me.
Picture this - a car driver thinks they can squeeze past on a bend by just going slightly into the other lane and as they do so a lorry comes the other way. Natural instinct for the driver is to avoid the huge object and squash the cyclist. This happened to me a couple of times (no squashing but near misses for me and the two vehicles involved) until I started to change the way I ride. I do put my foot down and I gesture a thanks as they pass. Never had abuse because of this approach.0 -
I'm not suggesting that people should stick to one posistion. I said that in some situations primary is the best option and I use it when I need to, however the point i'm trying to get across is that if you ride primary all the time when there is no need to then it can un-nessecarily anger drivers.0