Club run nearly ending in disaster

[Pete A]

On Saturday 21st March at 3pm I was driving through Hovingham in North Yorkshire on a single carriageway road. i could see a group of maybe 15 cyclists, obviously on a club run, heading toawards me travelling towards Malton. This group was really strung out and not at all together. The gaps in the group were so large that vehicles were overtaking several riders and then pulling into the gaps as opposing traffic halted their progress.
I have ridden for many years on club runs and always rode in a tightish group to avoid such a thing happening. I appreciate groups can become strung out due to hazards but on this accasion it was an ordinary country road with no hazards for miles.
I post this message not to seem holier than thow but in the hope that someone maybe identifies the club and possibily, that someone, is in a position to offer a word of caution to the run leader who was possibly unaware of the situation and the danger the group as a whole was in at that time.
I have seen/dealt with most of what goes on on our roads and the incident was a little hairy to say the least and most probably was not seen by the front cyclist.
After all - tha name of the game is staying safe and there are far too many people out there who are more than willing to have a pop at we cyclists.

[manybikes]

Well on our club rides we try very hard NOT to have all of us together as a large group is hard to overtake and causes frustration to drivers. We therefore like to restrict group size to about 10 (or less) and ask riders to space out occasionally to give motorists a chance to overtake a small group and find a gap - which we try to maintain as a reasonable one - and then take the next.

A tourist type club ride of mixed ability and age will inevitably get some spacing out, particularly on hills. The faster "racing" type groups that bunch close together look impressive but they are always attempting to make progress that requires discipline and effort - that does not stop them becoming intimidating to motorists trying to overetake either.

[drossall]

Yes, I'd agree - splitting a group into sections is often much more useful, and safe, than singling out in getting motorists past. Singling out just leaves a long string which motorists will try to squeeze past. Splitting up leaves gaps that they can move between, but remaining two abreast forces them only to do this when the road ahead is clear.

[Galaxy-Tourer]

I can't see the problem / danger?

Car sees hazard (cyclists) overtakes when safe ... pulls in and waits for an opportunity to overtake more cyclists ... does so safely, etc etc.

Much harder to overtake a tight bunch, surely?

[softpedal]

I also think its much safer to keep groups fairly small, less than 10 I would say. Drivers are used to seeing small groups of cyclists but a large pelaton style group can be intimidating, do they overtake, is there room etc. etc.

In any case in my experiance its almost impossible to keep a big group together.

[meic]

We have tried all the different methods of grouping and discovered that you can not find any format which will ensure that cars attempt only safe overtakes.
They will try and overtake regardless of everything.

[eileithyia]

Am inclined to agree with the comments refering to splitting of the group to allow easier passage of cars, and of Meic's observations that however we ride we always upset someone and cause them to attempt unsafe overtaking.

[hubgearfreak]

Pete is quite right, if us cyclists really must insist on leaving the beautiful, smooth, direct & well signed national cycle network, then we really should go out of our way to mind read the motorists intent. do they prefer to pass a whole group as one, or is the car behind under the control of someone who would rather overtake several smaller groups?
unless we can get this right, then we're simply getting in the way for getting in the ways sake, and any dangerous overtaking is entirely our own fault.

[pigman]

"Club run nearly ending in disaster"
... are you a tabloid headline writer?

Some guys out on bikes got a bit split up and some cars overtook them. Happens on every clubrun Ive ever been on and never thought of it as near disaster.

[Spider]

"Club run nearly ending in disaster"
... are you a tabloid headline writer?

Some guys out on bikes got a bit split up and some cars overtook them. Happens on every clubrun Ive ever been on and never thought of it as near disaster.

Exactly - what is the problem referred to in the OP?
There's nothing in the highway code that says you have to ride in a peloton, is there?

[Flinders]

Strings of racehorses, when forced to use public road to get to exercise grounds, have the same sorts of problems. Some divide into small groups to make overtaking possible on roads such as the ones you mention. On the whole, I would have thought that was both safer and more civil than a string of horses holding a traffic queue up for several miles, but it will always depend on the conditions and the type of road.
Would you rather, when cycling, overtake nine horses at once on a single track road, or three lots of three? On the roads round here you'd never see far enough ahead to be able to pass more than three safely.

[hubgearfreak]

Would you rather, when cycling, overtake nine horses at once on a single track road, or three lots of three?

it'd make no difference to me, i'd hang back until it was safe to overtake either way.

as i (sometimes wrongly) expect motorists to for us

[Colin Stanley]

The advice from Mid Kent area is to split into small groups to make it easier for motor vehicles to overtake. Seems a good idea to me.

[Flinders]

Would you rather, when cycling, overtake nine horses at once on a single track road, or three lots of three?

it'd make no difference to me, i'd hang back until it was safe to overtake either way.

as i (sometimes wrongly) expect motorists to for us

Perhaps I should have said-
'would three small groups make it more possible to overtake safely' than one larger one- that's really what I meant, sorry. I do think it is civil not to unnecessarily prevent safe overtaking.

I wouldn't overtake horses or cyclists in a car or on a bike if I couldn't see far enough ahead to get round safely, but you do need to be able to see further ahead to overtake more horses/cyclists.
In both cases, I give a LOT of space, both alongside and ahead when I pull in again...................