“Clear” you can kind of get away with mumbling, as if the riders behind you pull out, they”ll be ok….
But
“Car” needs to be loud please, or online slots you may be faced with a vehicle travelling 60km/hr 10m away from you on your bike…… like i was this morning.
It is a tough one..
If I see a car, I will generally call car 100m etc.. But when you call, you are taking on the liability of others in the group… How many riders back can rely on my call? If there is a car close by, I stop..
On this corner, a blind left hand corner onto Mounts Bay road, everyone should be treating it as ‘un-called’ and checking it is safe for them to go on to the road.. You have to be prepared to stop if there is a car coming, the people at the front do it, the people at the back should do it to, not use it as a place to ‘catch up’ to the people at the front who have had to slow…
It seems in this instance, you were at the back of a group and were the one whom had to stop.. The others in front of you should have shouted loudly that there was a car coming (as they rode out in front of it)..
It is a tough one, glad you stopped in time.. Unlucky you were dropped.. Good there were some other riders behind you who caught up and kept you company for the final lap.. Good work with the bag of QOMs on Lovekin, next week closer to the front at the intersection to Mounts Bay?
Interesting topic. S
Surely each and everyone of us, as road users, should be ensuring our own safety at all times.
Within a group, riding along main roads, is it not appropriate to accept there is always a ‘car back’, and ride accordingly? 10 m away is huge, the proposed ruling by the Amy Gillet Foundation is ‘a metre metres’, we should be conscious at all times of each other and vehicles. We share the road, so perhaps we should always assess whether it is appropriate to let a vehicle through, or take up the whole ride. After all, we are only training…
Different circumstance here Tom.. It was about the group who had gone through a T-Junction and the person at the back of the group got to the junction and was about to roll through the junction onto a dual carriageway as they had not heard any calls saying there was a car approaching. Anna was asking people please shout louder if there is a car coming as if she had rolled through the intersection onto the road, the results could have been fatal (thankfully in this instance, Anna managed to come to a stop).
I agree though, we all need to be aware of our surroundings and don’t place total faith in those around them, especially at notoriously dangerous sections.
Cyclists not right at the front in a group are always multi-tasking, and watching the wheel in front when approaching a turn/intersection is very high on the priority list.
There will be times when you have the opportunity to do a traffic check and there’ll be times when you’re relying on the calls ahead of you.
If you see traffic, call it so it can be heard and make sure you pass the message down the group.
This is a really difficult problem. Every corner that we go through is different. It is therefore difficult to generalise…
My concern is relying on other people for what amounts to your safety. My personal thinking is that you should never rely on other people’s calling. I think that your safety is your own responsibility.
If you rely on a call that never comes, you can get into a lot of trouble.
Just a pointer, to go with all the other great advice. Don’t watch the wheel in front too closely, aim your vision a few riders ahead, you can watch those 1 in front in your peripheral vision, doing this helps you have a feeling for what is happening around.