Curmudgeonly post about failing to call passes

[JimK]

So what is the best way to react when you are riding and a cyclist blows past you without signalling? I usually ring my bell as they pass. I doubt it does any good.

[jrenaut]

@JimK 21367 wrote:

So what is the best way to react when you are riding and a cyclist blows past you without signalling? I usually ring my bell as they pass. I doubt it does any good.

Grouse about it in this thread.

[consularrider]

@jrenaut 21368 wrote:

Grouse about it in this thread.

Works for me.

[rcannon100]

Seriously, the best way to react is to enjoy your bike ride.

Or in the words of the mighty prophet Dirt, with expectations completely low, dinguses will never ruffle you; when angels ring their heavenly bells, you can rejoice.

Enjoy the ride knowing that great is the reward for the cyclists that calls their passes.

[pfunkallstar]

@rcannon100 21385 wrote:

Seriously, the best way to react is to enjoy your bike ride.

Or in the words of the mighty prophet Dirt, with expectations completely low, dinguses will never ruffle you; when angels ring their heavenly bells, you can rejoice.

Enjoy the ride knowing that great is the reward for the cyclists that calls their passes.

I generally just sprint the whole way to and from work. Thus avoiding any issues with passing since I call 100% of my passes with a throaty baritone. Sometimes I imagine that there is a pack of wolves behind me, other times zombies, I try to mix it up.

[thucydides]

The failure of other to call passes doesn’t directly detract from my ride. To me that’s not the issue. For me the issue is the broader impact on trail safety, political support for pro-cycling policies, and the indirect influence of trail experiences on road safety. Appropriately called passes (high volume, well before passing) are generally safer. There are exceptions, especially where children are involved, but there are lots of reasons why a cyclist/hiker/walker may suddenly swerve left and needs warning. In addition, trails users are potential supporters of policies that makes cycling easier and safer. Or, they are potential opponents of the same. Case in point. We now have an inappropriate speed limit on the CCT. That happened because we alienated potential supporters. (It doesn’t matter that ipod wearers, dog walkers, etc behave badly, too. On the trails we’re the cars. We’re the vehicles that can kill people.) Finally, all those trails users, they also drive cars. I’m fully convinced a bad experience with a cyclist leads later to (some) drivers acting badly (and perhaps dangerously) towards other cyclists on the road. Perhaps the Metro driver who purposely tried to put me into the curb last week was buzzed by somebody on the MVT the week before. Like it or not, we’re all representatives of cyclists generally and our actions (good or bad) reflect on all cyclists.

[Dickie]

I agree 100% with the way Dirt deals with the issue and I tend to act the same way. I try to lead by example and maintain a happy place on my bike. This means being social, kind, and an ambassador on the trails and roads. I always provide an audible warning (usually “on your left”) for anyone that I pass, and if the chance is available, say “good morning”, or recognize them in some way by treating them as humans not robots. This doesn’t always go over well, and I have been ignored more times than not, but that little kid with the training wheels certainly got a blast out of me riding behind her up that hill, and on passing letting her know how jealous I was of her pink tassels… that smilie made my aching legs disappear. Sadly I feel my behavior is the minority as I am often passed by riders who care little about anyone but themselves; making dangerous maneuvers between runners, passing on blind corners, and never providing warning. I used to chase them down and thus contribute to the problem, now I simply ignore them and get back to being happy in the saddle.

[jopamora]

On my ride home I was passed without a warning. Then the guy slowed down enough for me to stay with him. Yeah, not so bad until he launched a snot rocket to the side that ended up spraying me. So glad I was wearing sunglasses, but I might have to add a shield.

[OneEighth]

@pfunkallstar 21399 wrote:

I generally just sprint the whole way to and from work. Thus avoiding any issues with passing since I call 100% of my passes with a throaty baritone. Sometimes I imagine that there is a pack of wolves behind me, other times zombies, I try to mix it up.

Trust me…the zombies are chasing you just beyond your peripheral vision…

[UrbanEngineer]

As a hard of hearing cyclist, I find audible warnings to be a secondary gesture. I often times don’t hear people calling out and I almost never hear bells. My advice is to treat audible warnings as a secondary gesture. Pass at a safe distance and at a reasonable speed and the audible signal won’t really matter.

[vvill]

@OneEighth 21499 wrote:

Trust me…the zombies are chasing you just beyond your peripheral vision…

[baiskeli]

After getting passed with no warning this morning, I thought of a new snarky retort:

“On my left!”

[jrenaut]

I got passed on 14th St this morning as I was starting up again on the green light. He wouldn’t have said anything except that he needed me to give him some room to get back over so he didn’t run into a parked car. That may be why you don’t pass on the right with no warning on 14th St.

[pfunkallstar]

Some brief statistics on my 100% calling my passes this morning:

-2 bikers terrified that someone was passing
-1 horde of tourists frozen in absolute fear by Lincoln Memorial
-1 dude on Lynn St. who flew out in front of me through Do Not Cross then was PO’d that I passed him on the straightaway
-3 runners who gave me thumbs up or “air high fives” (Polka Dot Running Shorts Guy OWNS)

[JeffC]

This thread is like part 2 of the earlier one “Tales of Woe, Passing on your Left” (title was something like that). I agree that Dirt’s philosophy is generally best.

A couple very practical things: 1) having a mirror can make you feel more in control, no need to constantly turn around to monitor your rear.

2) I will frequently tell people to “say you are passing next time”. Some ignore it, some probably don’t hear it if they are wearing headphones or it is loud, but a few get pangs of guilt as if they got their hand caught in the cookie jar. I even had one guy try to justify it by saying that I had a mirror so I should have known he was going to pass, as if it was my fault he did not announce he was passing! All in all, a non snarky way to do it probably helps.

On to tales of wackos and our necessary venting of frustrations: so this Monday morning crazy dude on orange road bike who looked like John Denver/Theodore Roosevelt combo tries to pass me (UNANNOUNCED of F$%^&* course) on the Custis headed eastbound right before the drive way entrance to the hotel near Fort Meyer Drive. This was extremely dumb for so many reasons it is hard to know where to start. For one, it is a blind line of sight into the hotel parking lot, for another it is the busiest stretch of the trail, and for another the stop light was red 20 yards ahead, who passes to get ahead to a red light? As soon as he pulls to the left side of me, as if on cue another biker comes around the corner from the hotel parking lot and almost crashes into crazy John Denver/Roosevelt guy who then nearly veers into me. So I slow down and pull as far to the right as possible. I had some choice words for John Denver/TR crazy guy road biker who was so embarassed by his dumb move, he crossed to the other side of Lee Hwy as soon as he could to avoid me.

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