Nightmare drive

[661-Pete]

Well, seeing as the OP was written nearly 3 years ago, and the poster has presumably gone their separate way, time to let this thread rest in peace?

[Vorpal]

Well, seeing as the OP was written nearly 3 years ago, and the poster has presumably gone their separate way, time to let this thread rest in peace?

I thought it had....

[thirdcrank]

The alternative is to ignore what you don't like, unless it's offensive. By that, I'm assuming that nobody would be in favour of threads being retained indefinitely for reference, but automatically locked after a period of, say, 12 months to prevent anybody being upset by a resurrection.

What we had here was a one-time poster with a grouse and apparently no intention of engaging in any sort of discussion. Perhaps they never looked at the forum again after posting. Perhaps they clicked to be notified of new posts. Perhaps they've come galloping back to check the new interest. Perhaps not.

[Flinders]

This whole thread is basically based on a silly first post.
From the OP:
I could not stop because there was a Council vehicle directly behind me.
That is rubbish- the op could have stopped in a passing place (the OP said there were passing places) and let the council vehicle go past, then gone on at leisure. That's what the passing places are for, to allow vehicles to pass.
That's what I would have done had I not been happy about my clutch.

What the OP did was closely follow slow vehicles, who due to the terrain were clearly not going to suddenly speed up, and then grumble about them being so slow. They ought, if they ever had been a cyclist, to know that it is much harder for a cyclist to do a hill start than a car. Provided the driver of the car is competent to do a hill start, which is after all in the driving test.

As I understand it, cyclists regularly use this route. And so do cars. And presumably most cars don't burn out their clutches. An old friend who taught horse riding used to say, 'when there is a problem with a horse, look first at the other end of the reins'. Same with cars, just in that case, look first at what's going on behind the wheel.

Re Thirdcrank's post, I recall Sutton Bank being a notorious place for breakdowns back in the day. I knew about it even though we didn't have a car and lived the wrong side of the border....

[ambodach]

I suppose since summer hopefully is not too far off this could be a reminder that courtesy and common sense as well as obeying the requests to let faster traffic past makes us all happy.

[thirdcrank]

... Re Thirdcrank's post, I recall Sutton Bank ...

When this thread re-emerged, I just looked at the OP and made the post about the CTC mag.

This has had me looking back to see what I wrote about Sutton Bank. It's like finding an old paper or mag in the attic.

[mjr]

I suppose since summer hopefully is not too far off this could be a reminder that courtesy and common sense as well as obeying the requests to let faster traffic past makes us all happy.

Or hopefully, this could be a reminder that incompetent motorists shouldn't harass cyclists up steep hills

[Cyril Haearn]

The alternative is to ignore what you don't like, unless it's offensive. By that, I'm assuming that nobody would be in favour of threads being retained indefinitely for reference, but automatically locked after a period of, say, 12 months to prevent anybody being upset by a resurrection.

.. .

No! I hope threads like this will still be open indefinetly

I did feel schadenfreude when I read it mind

[pwa]

The commonly accepted etiquette when cycling up a long hill on a narrow road with passing places is to allow motorised traffic past in places where doing so does not mean you have to come to a complete stop. That means pulling to one side and cycling very slowly to allow following traffic time to pass.

[MikeF]

I suppose since summer hopefully is not too far off this could be a reminder that courtesy and common sense as well as obeying the requests to let faster traffic past makes us all happy.

Or hopefully, this could be a reminder that incompetent motorists shouldn't harass cyclists up steep hills

If I'm going up what is a steep hill (for me) I will be in a low gear, maybe 20". If I stop I cannot restart in that gear (or any other gear), so I have no option, but to keep going. I would expect courtesy and "common sense" (whatever that is ) from any following driver to realise that I'm expending a relatively large amount of energy whilst he/she is expending about zero. I find many good drivers do that and are patient; the MGIFs aren't though .

[drossall]

That said we are considering the case of a single car coming up to cyclists, but it's also possible from the cyclists point of view that they'd already had to let by an endless stream of cars, of which they was just one more and they wanted to get on with their ride without endless stopping.

This is probably the most important point made in the thread. Whatever the slower vehicle might be, from the point of view of its driver/operator, the vehicle being held up is probably yet another in a whole series. There is a limit to how often you can pull over.

I generally think that the behaviour of tractor drivers and the like is a good guide (ignoring the ones among those who never pull over). They'll typically try to balance the size of the queue behind against their own need actually to get their loads somewhere today. That means that they will absolutely not use every available stopping place, and other drivers will be held up for minutes at a time. But, when I am one of those drivers, I find it hard to criticise their choices.

My only relevant recollection is my one trip up Hardknott. I was easily the slowest thing on the road, and there were some other cyclists around. However, it wasn't me doing most to hold up drivers; it was the drivers going in the opposite direction. I remember the smell of burning clutch as I reached two drivers who were having to manouevre especially carefully to pass each other. Nonetheless, everything was done in total good humour, and drivers were keen to give cyclists as clear a run as they reasonably could, because they respected the effort of climbing under one's own stream.

[robing]

Doing a hill start on a bike when you are riding clipless can be very difficult. There have been many times when cycling up a very steep gradient that I have been praying that I didn't have to stop!

[Username]

In the Highlands on single track roads they have signs, not everywhere but not infrequent, which say "Use passing places to allow faster traffic to overtake." Unfortunately, not everyone uses them but it at least establishes the principle. Cyclists should also do this. However, the OP should not have burned out their clutch. Bad driving I am afraid.

My tactic would be to do what I did once on the road to Mallaig when behind a car moving at a snail's place. As it approach a passing place I put on my right indicator and started to overtake, tooting my horn at the same time. The same could have been done to these cyclists assuming they were going so slow it could have been done in absolute safety of course. Cyclists are not excused being tooted at if they are being inconsiderate.

The opposite happened to be today. I was bombing it down a hill on a tarmacked single lane road on my MTB. There was a very slow moving car in front which actually pulled over to let a dam cyclist (me) pass. Its the 2nd time a motorist has done it on that same road for me.

Also when Im cycling or motoring, I hate having faster people driving behind me and I tend to pull over just for my own piece of mind. If however I am being tailgated, I just drive deliberately slower which I like to think riles them up just as they do me. Yeah I aint perfect, but im much worse if other people micturate me off.

[Username]

Also why is Vorpal's user name an horrible colour but everyone elses is blue?

[Cyril Haearn]

Also why is Vorpal's user name an horrible colour but everyone elses is blue?

Vorpal is a moderator and has extra powers

Gang warily!