RoscoeP
Likes Bikes
Just wanted some feedback on road riding ettiquette as a result of something that happened yesterday on my homeward commute on Yarra Blvd in Kew, Melbourne.
I commute every day from Richmond to Bundoora and back, running along the blvd, then dropping down to the river at Chandler Hwy to Heidelberg on the trails and singletrack. This is the mainstay of my training and I do it on a Merida Matts with an 11 speed Alfine hub and Schwalbe marathon plus tyres - in a word (or two); resistance training. I regulary do extra laps of the blvd and hill reps on Yarra St. Most of this is high intensity riding at an average speed of around 30 km/h, and it is generally fixed power outout rather than speed.
So yesterday, I was coming home and joined the blvd at the Chandler Hwy. On the first rise, I typically try to tap out a light rythym to recover from running up the stairs next to the bridge and then get into a higher effort pace at the top of the rise.
Halfway up the rise a road rider passed me at a rate of knots. However towards the top of the rise he eased off and was about 20 m ahead. Then after the next descent, as I was getting up to speed adn intensity, he began to come back to me, and on the lower part of the next rise after crossing the freeway his speed dropped off and I drew level with him and then passed him near the top. As I passed he seemed to say something but I didn't catch it.
After the next descent and around the corner, on the following gradual rise I heard him come up behind me and then he was shouting out how I had dropped off 5km/h. Thinking this was friendly banter to get me to push harder, I upped the speed until the end of the rise and then waved him to the front.
I was then absolutely gobsmacked when he rode up beside me and just DOWNLOADED, calling me an f'ing idiot, saying that i should stop trying to be a hero and, I think implying that I shouldn't have passed him because he wanted clear road in front of him. I pointed out that I always ride at this speed and that the only reason I passed him was that he had eased off. Needless to say the discussion became more colourful until I told him to f'off and let him in front.
The irony was that he then rode at a much more moderate pace than when he was breathing down my neck shouting, and I comfortably stayed back about 20m behind until he slowed to turn into Studley Park Rd and I passed him again, reminding him that he was an arrogant curmudgeon (in slightly less eloquent language).
So, as one not well versed in the rules of the road cyclist, my question of ettiquette is whether there was some unwritten rule that I transcended in passing him as he eased off?
The way he carried on was as if once he passed me that I was not allowed re-take him as that was evidence of me "trying to be a hero". If he was so annoyed that my speed dropped off on the next incline (a by product of a MUCH heavier bike), why didn't he simply re-pass - all he did was speed when I sped up, sat there, then abused me, and then dropped back to a slower pace after I let him go. Ironically, what I think he was acussing me of was effectively what he had done when he first passed me. His irrational diatribe was of an intensity that you would have thought I nearly took him off his bike.
Is the unwritten rule that commuters carry less rights on the road than someone out on a road ride?
Or is this obnoxious ego-induced behaviour just one of those things that you will always find in a minority of people, even MTB'ing?
Sherrif
I commute every day from Richmond to Bundoora and back, running along the blvd, then dropping down to the river at Chandler Hwy to Heidelberg on the trails and singletrack. This is the mainstay of my training and I do it on a Merida Matts with an 11 speed Alfine hub and Schwalbe marathon plus tyres - in a word (or two); resistance training. I regulary do extra laps of the blvd and hill reps on Yarra St. Most of this is high intensity riding at an average speed of around 30 km/h, and it is generally fixed power outout rather than speed.
So yesterday, I was coming home and joined the blvd at the Chandler Hwy. On the first rise, I typically try to tap out a light rythym to recover from running up the stairs next to the bridge and then get into a higher effort pace at the top of the rise.
Halfway up the rise a road rider passed me at a rate of knots. However towards the top of the rise he eased off and was about 20 m ahead. Then after the next descent, as I was getting up to speed adn intensity, he began to come back to me, and on the lower part of the next rise after crossing the freeway his speed dropped off and I drew level with him and then passed him near the top. As I passed he seemed to say something but I didn't catch it.
After the next descent and around the corner, on the following gradual rise I heard him come up behind me and then he was shouting out how I had dropped off 5km/h. Thinking this was friendly banter to get me to push harder, I upped the speed until the end of the rise and then waved him to the front.
I was then absolutely gobsmacked when he rode up beside me and just DOWNLOADED, calling me an f'ing idiot, saying that i should stop trying to be a hero and, I think implying that I shouldn't have passed him because he wanted clear road in front of him. I pointed out that I always ride at this speed and that the only reason I passed him was that he had eased off. Needless to say the discussion became more colourful until I told him to f'off and let him in front.
The irony was that he then rode at a much more moderate pace than when he was breathing down my neck shouting, and I comfortably stayed back about 20m behind until he slowed to turn into Studley Park Rd and I passed him again, reminding him that he was an arrogant curmudgeon (in slightly less eloquent language).
So, as one not well versed in the rules of the road cyclist, my question of ettiquette is whether there was some unwritten rule that I transcended in passing him as he eased off?
The way he carried on was as if once he passed me that I was not allowed re-take him as that was evidence of me "trying to be a hero". If he was so annoyed that my speed dropped off on the next incline (a by product of a MUCH heavier bike), why didn't he simply re-pass - all he did was speed when I sped up, sat there, then abused me, and then dropped back to a slower pace after I let him go. Ironically, what I think he was acussing me of was effectively what he had done when he first passed me. His irrational diatribe was of an intensity that you would have thought I nearly took him off his bike.
Is the unwritten rule that commuters carry less rights on the road than someone out on a road ride?
Or is this obnoxious ego-induced behaviour just one of those things that you will always find in a minority of people, even MTB'ing?
Sherrif
