Dear beardy touring ****,

You see that I am driving behind you giving you a fair gap, not hassling you but obviously wanting past, on a narrow singletrack road yet you ride straight past the first **** passing place. I sound the horn on approach to the second one and you ride straight **** past the second one. What the **** do you think i’m gonna do at the third one numbnuts? You have no room for complaint you ignorant ****.

bad day at the office?

0/10 btw – poor rant IMHO

no -day off. just hate ignorant people.

Would you do the same if you were behind a car

You had to drive slowly for a bit?

Chin up.

nickjb – yes.

When did “ignorant” start getting used to describe anyone who doesn’t immediately do whatever we want?

indeed – so no scope for mis-interpretation? or what about hard-of-hearing?

You own a car. Not the road.

Were you driving that taxi which pretty much forced me off the road whilst attempting to get past me climbing out of Peaslake on Sunday morning before coming for another go just before we reached the top of Holmbury Hill?

awwwwwwww. poor little smee. He could’t get from A-B. as fast as he would like, you see. The cyclist wouldn’t let him past. Alas, he was forced to stare at his….

….bottom.

Smee – Member
[ I ] just hate ignorant people.

Oh, the irony…

(almost forgot the 😉 )

Depends on the road – quite often I won’t let someone past on a singletrack road because the second anything else comes round the corner heading towards me/us, they have to slam the brakes on and reverse or dive into the hedge leaving me no room to get past (again).

It’s the same when drivers overtake on a road with lots of width restrictions/parked cars etc, floor it round the cyclist then oops, they need to stop to let the bus through therefore either forcing me to a stop or I nip past and they feel the need to do the whole stupid overtake again.

i’d go and worry about something else if i were you, smee. i’m sure you’ll get over it given time. maybe give it a week

May I refer the ‘orrible member to the Highway Code:

167
DO NOT overtake where you might come into conflict with other road users. For example

where the road narrows

when you would force another road user to swerve or slow down.

If you were behind me, being an impatient selfish twunt, beeping yer bloody horn, you’d have been there for a while longer, belive me.

112
The horn. Use only while your vehicle is moving and you need to warn other road users of your presence. Never sound your horn aggressively.

Can’t find anything about cyclists HAVE to give way to any vehicle behind, unlessit’s an emergency vehicle. Same way a tractor does not in any way have to give way.

Now I was not there, so I don’t know the road/conditions. Maybe the cyclist din’t think it was safe to pull over for you. They don’t have to, regardless of any ‘passing place’ (are they not for oncoming traffic anyway?).

As mentioned, did you know/appreciate whether or not the cyclist was hearing impaired?

How much did they actually slow you down, anyway? Why were you in such a rush? Was it an emergency???

So, you couldn’t wait, and used your horn aggressivley, contrary to the Highway Code.

Seriously, especially considering your profession, you need to chill out a bit.

And are you sure you’re of the right temperament, to be a driving instructor???

Sorry. No sympathy here.

BTW; does that sign above, white on blue, not signify that the instruction is advisory, not compulsory? IE, does not in any way have to be obeyed by law?

Oh, is smee the scotch driving instructor that used to make people eat his dust?

That’s the one, aP.

I wish I was as cool as he is.

we can’t all be linear homosexuals aP

I really don’t understand the above post…

He also knocks people on their arse for saying hello to his son and writes an essay about it or something like that.

The only disability this guy had was being hard of **** thinking. Hmmmmm – maybe we should start screening for it.

Have to say i’d be pretty pissed off too if I was in the car, if i’m holding some one up its just courtesy to let them past be it a car, or a faster rider come up behind me, not really fussed what mode of transport they’re on. And if I’m the one on the bike, personally i don’t want some pain in the ass driver sitting an inch from my ass while i’m trying to enjoy my bike ride.

When did “ignorant” start getting used to describe anyone who doesn’t immediately do whatever we want?

it’s a northern usage for stubborn or awkward…

as for smee, I diagnose anger issues 🙁 Though, admittedly, beardy people CAN be very annoying

sfb – does that include bearded ladies?

LOL! You are funny, Smee!

Anyone but you might get a bit of sympathy, but sorry, I’m afraid it’s too good an opportunity to laugh at you, to be honest!

So, seriously, how much did they hold you up by? A minute? Two?

And why is your journey more important than theirs?

I can kind of see Smee’s point. He did the right thing by not trying to squeeze past the cyclist, so the cyclist should have used the passing places to let Smee past.

I know someone who did something similar – he was climbing a hill and slowing a car down. When the driver got the chance he overtook, stopped in front, got out his car and called my mate every name under the sun. Stupidly the main point of his rant was that he was in a rush… but obviosly not so much of a rush that he couldn’t stop for a five minute rant.

The only disability this guy had was being hard of **** thinking.

Aside from my relative inability to conjure a suitable four-letter expletive that would make this sentence coherent, I’m not entirely sure what you’re implying. Are you saying that at the third lay-by you pulled alongside and availed him of your (presumably considerable) skill in proceeding to diagnose some form of mental impairment? As you say, I can’t see any possible objection, why surely a mere mortal would be honoured.

…and while we’re here, what’s wrong with beards? I have a beard. I grew it recently and I like it a lot. I just remembered, I also have a singlespeed. 😀

Rudeboy – white on blue signs are compulsory. Think one way streets, keep left/right, minimum speed limits…

Lol!! Bout time there was glupton driving/biking type rant. Rspkt!

Courtesy. Except in the mind-you-own-business, not-my-problem 21st century it’s getting quite hard to find. And if the issue must be forced:

Highway Code 155

Single-track roads. These are only wide enough for one vehicle. They may have special passing places. If you see a vehicle coming towards you, *or the driver behind wants to overtake*, pull into a passing place on your left, or wait opposite a passing place on your right.

Of course the execution of this statement requires courtesy on behalf of the driver of the slower vehicle as anyone who’s driven in rural Scotland will know.

I have a beard. I grew it recently and I like it a lot. I just remembered, I also have a singlespeed

it was YOU!

The trouble is that we are all familiar with the concept of “courtesy” which many drivers of motor cars expect to see from cyclists. It boils down to “Get Orf My Road”. Most of us generally choose not to be the person demanding that level of courtesy from cyclists, it’s just George.

😉

Sadly not, Mr Barnes 😆

Ok, so is that sign above giving an order that must be obeyed, or is it merely advising that you could do that if you wanted to?

Even so, the cyclist does not have to use the passing place to let you overtake.

Do they?

I would probbly pullover and let a car pass, but if they started beeping at me, and being impatient, I might just stop and have a cig.

And make them wait.

A horn is to alert others to danger. It is not a method of shouting ‘get out of my way’.

I have never done this, of course…

(Secretly hopes Glupton gets stuck behind a muck-spreader, some time very soon…)

Yes they do.

A horn is to alert others to your presence, just like flashing headlights.

I get stuck behind muck spreaders and other farm vehicles all the time – it happens when you live in a rural area – those folk pull over and let you past.

It’s the people from outside the area that cause the problems.

Dont get me started on folk driving to and from GT.

Need to warn others of your presence, Smee.

Not to get them to get out of your way.

Touring bike- narrow tyres? Was the ‘passing place’ safe for the cyclist to pull into? Maybe it had a load of loose gravel or something in it. Maybe the cyclist din’t have enough confidence to pull over. Maybe they were in a hurry.

And maybe they wooduv let you past on the second one, but got pissed off with you using the horn, and thought ‘Sod it, it’s Glupton, impatient git, he can bloody well wait’.

I get held up/endangered by cars every single time I go on the roads. As most of us do. But we just put up with it.

As I asked before, how much did it actually hold you up?

It’s the people from outside the area that cause the problems.

Bloody foreigners, eh?

When I am cycling on tight singletrack lanes, I feel apologetic if I hold someone up for more than a few seconds. I tend to sprint up and find a gateway to pull in, because I don’t want to be an annoyance to anyone.

I wonder if the touring cyclist felt self-conscious about needlessly holding up another road user?

And if I did hold someone up and received a short bip of the horn I’d get the message and do what I could to oblige.