On 17/03/2019 11:15, RJH wrote:
On 16/03/2019 14:36, TMS320 wrote:
On 16/03/2019 13:35, RJH wrote:
On 16/03/2019 09:29, TMS320 wrote:
On 16/03/2019 00:11, TMS320 wrote:
On 15/03/2019 22:03, Peter Parry wrote:

There is a web site where the owner publishes the details of
all the cycling fatalities he can find in local and national
papers to act as a memorial to "cyclists down".Â* He generally
puts the cause of the death,Â* The last time I looked early last
year over a third of cyclist deaths occurred while they were on
club rides, time trials, "training rides or similar club or
racing related activities.

In other words, a third occur at weekends. Which is 5/7ths of a
week.

Err... 2/7ths of the week. I am sure you get the drift. Besides, a
Â*large number of weekend rides "club rides" are purely social -
essentially rambling with bicycles. Your information is worthless.

The few 'club' people I know have regular weekday evening rides, and
Â*it's rare not to see solo/pair cyclists on the national speed limit
Â*countryside roads just south of Sheffield at any time.

The OP was concerned about people racing. Your club riders - what sort
of racing are they doing?

Apologies, no - I jumped on what I thought was a bit of thread drift and
refer to competitive or hard-core amateur cyclists training.

Yes, that would be transport riding. Some try to argue that a 30+ mile
bicycle trip is not transport but they cannot explain why it is
different to driving the same route.

My idea of "national speed limit countryside roads" are generally
single tracks. The roads where it is sensibly possible to do NSL I
consider to be main roads.

Are we talking about the same thing?

No - NSL on half decent roads, but plenty of bends, dips/hills. So fast
moving traffic mixes with slow moving, highly vulnerable, traffic

What alternative do bicycle users have? Even where there is a good
network of country lanes it often impossible to avoid a busy road for a
mile or two.

It is also noticeable how minor roads are becoming busier due to sat
navs taking people off signposted routes because they have found one
that is 3 inches shorter. On top of that, people are buying much bigger
cars than they used to so reduced overtaking opportunities are partly
self inflicted.

TBH when I'm in the car I find them terrifying, difficult to pass
safely,

When you are not in danger why is it terrifying for you?

I find the thought of injuring or killing somebody terrifying. Just do.

Nice to hear.

and they seem focussed on riding the racing line and two or three
abreast. The roads are also in pretty poor condition. As a cyclist,
pretty much the last thing I'd do out of choice.

Of course, I take the point that as a motorist I should only pass
when it's safe. It's simply that the risk escalates on roads that
weren't designed for this sort of mixed use.

Would it be easier to overtake if they were riding inline 3ft from the
kerb with 2 seconds gaps between them?

If it's 2 or 3 and depending on the width of the road, probably, yes.
Still a higher risk situation than I'd like.

Well, they could be helping you not to kill them.