As someone who has done some of the very first "Muffin Rides" from NYC to Nyack and the Runcible Spoon, way before they put in all that bicycle parking, before STI, before carbon, I will say that the pack that went past you was more than likely not being malicious at all. None of them has an interest in going down, especially on a training ride. If they were experienced, they would have called out your presence at some point, which they may have done before you were in earshot. One theory with approaching a slower, burdened rider at speed is to *not* alert them, the idea being if you do, you may startle them into your path--"your" in this case being the lead riders and the 18 cyclists traveling at 27mph directly on the wheel.
Generally, with a more experienced rider in the lead, they would glance back well in advance, and with coast clear, take the lane for the group, giving you a wide berth. As someone else pointed out, when you moved to the right, they took that as you acknowledging their presence and they more or less held their line. If some of them really came as close as six inches, that's borderline not very nice. I think the noise of all those spinning gears, the wind, the mass of bodies, the length, can make being passed by a pack more unsettling than being passed by a car, which obviously is a much more common occurrence. That many in a pack that fast probably not all from one club, though. On Sunday, May 22, 2016 at 9:26:15 AM UTC-4, Jay LePree wrote: > > Hi group, > I am writing to ask how you would have handled this and to get a bad > action off my chest. Today, I was coming home with some baked goods after > my ride in Nyack, NY on my Rambouillet, set up with a big saddle > bag..Clearly not a race type looking bicycle. I was on a road with a > narrow shoulder and riding near the white line. I saw a pack of cyclists > bearing down on me, maybe at least 20 strong. My first mistake was to ride > inside the white line instead of taking the lane, but then again, I was not > sure how they would react and did not want to cause a pile up. They passed > me without any warning and were perhaps 6 inches away from me. There was a > sewer drain in front of me. Rather than move toward the center of the road > to allow me to avoid it, they ran me right into it. I was able to slow > enough to get over it. (One of those sunken-in type drains with oval > holes, not bicycle friendly.) As all this was proceeding, the combination > of surprise, fear of dumping the bike, and just consternation that a group > of cyclists would treat a fellow cyclist like this, I said, quite > clearly...A**h*les. (How hard would it have been to move to the center of > the road? How hard would it have been to alert me to their presence.) It > was dumb move on my part. Not taking the lane and then allowing my > emotions to get the best of me. (Nothing happened after > that....fortunately, they were too much into their ride and keeping pace > that no one stopped or challenged me back.) I confession is in order for > today I guess. > > It is an unfair question as this group was not there, but would you have > taken the lane? Would you have trusted them to react accordingly? If I > had more warning, I would have stopped and dismounted an went onto the > sidewalk until they passed; however they really were moving. I saw them > in the distance in my rearview mirror, and the then they were on top of me. > > Jay, > Demarest, NJ > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
