Warning shouts in groups

Mendip rouleur
Mendip rouleur Posts: 163
edited June 2010 in The bottom bracket
I ride with a group regularly and we have warning shouts for cars: "Car up" for car coming head on towards us and "car back" for a car approaching us and going the same way as us. A quick trawl on the net shows a number of other clubs use these too.

But I have heard all sorts of other shouts on sportives, sometimes the complete opposite of ours, to much confusion and disdain in some cases.

So, is there a definitive way of letting others in the group know of approaching cars from either direction?
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Comments

  • hells
    hells Posts: 175
    I just shout car front or car rear
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  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    We shout 'car up' for a car that is up your a*se, and 'car down' for one that is down your throat.
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • rapid_uphill
    rapid_uphill Posts: 841
    You dont need to shout if you have a bicycle horn.
  • JohnCleland
    JohnCleland Posts: 172
    Car up, a car is coming up from the rear into the group.

    Car down, a car is coming down towards the group.


    Never heard any different ???
  • clanton
    clanton Posts: 1,289
    Sirius631 wrote:
    We shout 'car up' for a car that is up your a*se, and 'car down' for one that is down your throat.

    Exactly the same in our club - but at the Dragon ride I heard more than one rider swap them around!
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    One group I ride with uses Car up (front) and Car Back, and the other group Car Up (behind), Car Down (front).

    Proper confusing. Car up, and Car back seems more logical though.
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  • schweiz
    schweiz Posts: 1,644
    we just use 'Auto'

    you can work out where depending on if the shout originates from the front or the back of the group. Admittedly groups are never much more than a dozen riders usually riding in pairs.
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  • GiantMike
    GiantMike Posts: 3,139
    I shout:

    Car front - for a car in front

    Car back - for a car behind

    When other people shout car up or car down, if I can't see it ahead I assume it's behind.
  • TommyEss
    TommyEss Posts: 1,855
    Up your arse and down your mouth...
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  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    "Nose", or "Tail".
  • BMX Bear
    BMX Bear Posts: 198
    Up your rear, Down your throat was what I was used to. The group I ride with now it's front and rear.

    As long as someone shouts that'll do me.
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  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    JohnCleland wrote:
    Car up, a car is coming up from the rear into the group.

    Car down, a car is coming down towards the group.


    Never heard any different ???

    What if you are going downhill? In that case the up car will be going down and the down car will be going up. Clear?
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • Cleat Eastwood
    Cleat Eastwood Posts: 7,508
    We use "Watch out Beadles about" for a car ahead and "Honolulu baby where did you get those eyes, and your dark complexion I just idolise" for a car behind but by the time you've said the last one the hazard has passed.
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  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    I wish the group I came across last week could learn to shout warnings.

    They were spread across the whole of the road on blind bend. I came around the corner and nearly ploughed into one of the riders.Although she had sight of me she never tried to cross to the correct side of the road. I had to ride into a hedgerow to miss her.

    Wasn't a happy bunny.

    A shout up from the front of the group would have given ample warning.
  • Flasheart
    Flasheart Posts: 1,278
    Sirius631 wrote:
    We shout 'car up' for a car that is up your a*se, and 'car down' for one that is down your throat.

    Heh that's what I was told when I first started road cycling too. Hence it's the same that I pass on when I'm asked :wink:
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  • TommyEss
    TommyEss Posts: 1,855
    Sirius631 wrote:
    JohnCleland wrote:
    Car up, a car is coming up from the rear into the group.

    Car down, a car is coming down towards the group.


    Never heard any different ???

    What if you are going downhill? In that case the up car will be going down and the down car will be going up. Clear?

    Crystal! :roll:
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  • Flasheart
    Flasheart Posts: 1,278
    Down your throat is from your front
    up your @rse is from behind

    simple when you get dirty about it :twisted:
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  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    For a car behind, I simple shout, car behind, and for a car in front, well.... we know there is a car in front as we have eyes.
  • TommyEss
    TommyEss Posts: 1,855
    freehub wrote:
    For a car behind, I simple shout, car behind, and for a car in front, well.... we know there is a car in front as we have eyes.

    No you don't - in a big bunch you can only really see the riders in front of you - so you should call out hazards in front as much as behind - particularly helpful on narrow country lanes - stops riders behind you from moving up on the wrong side of the road etc. when there's oncoming traffic they haven't seen.
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,665
    We don't shout, cos we love de chaos. :wink:
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    When riding in a group it's a good idea to just have one or two people giving shout outs.
    Less confusion that way.
  • clanton
    clanton Posts: 1,289
    dennisn wrote:
    When riding in a group it's a good idea to just have one or two people giving shout outs.
    Less confusion that way.

    Ah but the lead is continually rotating - so your front and back riders change all the time.
    Unless you mean whoever is currently the leader and the tail end charlie are those responsible for calling out? That's what tends to happen in any case.
  • TommyEss
    TommyEss Posts: 1,855
    In larger groups we generally pass the call on - if it's a long train and windy, the guys at the back might not hear the call at the front, so we have repeaters...
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  • andydale
    andydale Posts: 12
    It is Car Up for coming up the line.
    and Car Down for going down the line.

    I've heard old timers use Oil Up and Oil Down.
  • sheffsimon
    sheffsimon Posts: 1,282
    BMX Bear wrote:
    Up your rear, Down your throat was what I was used to. The group I ride with now it's front and rear.

    As long as someone shouts that'll do me.

    :shock:
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    clanton wrote:
    dennisn wrote:
    When riding in a group it's a good idea to just have one or two people giving shout outs.
    Less confusion that way.

    Ah but the lead is continually rotating - so your front and back riders change all the time.
    Unless you mean whoever is currently the leader and the tail end charlie are those responsible for calling out? That's what tends to happen in any case.

    That's the general idea. Sometimes it even works.
    Here in the States it's "Car Up" for a car coming at you from the front and "Car Back"
    for one approaching from the rear.
  • markos1963
    markos1963 Posts: 3,724
    It usually ends up with
    'F&^king idiot, thats far too close, wait till I catch him up I'll rip his lungs out!'

    The men in the club are usually a bit more polite :D
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  • rabk
    rabk Posts: 182
    Garry H wrote:
    "Nose", or "Tail".

    +1
  • penugent
    penugent Posts: 913
    JohnCleland wrote:
    Car up, a car is coming up from the rear into the group.

    Car down, a car is coming down towards the group.


    Never heard any different ???

    That's the standard shout at my club. However, I noticed that some riders did shout the opposite when I first began to ride with the group and asked the group leader about this. I was told that anything will do as long as a warning is yelled!
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    markos1963 wrote:
    It usually ends up with
    'F&^king idiot, thats far too close, wait till I catch him up I'll rip his lungs out!'

    The men in the club are usually a bit more polite :D

    Now that made me chuckle!

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