Lane-share passing fail?

[Spartan925]

So I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking this was a dick move.

Rider behind me was staying pretty steady at the distance he's at for the first 20 seconds or so of the video. After that he started getting close but not any sort of closing rate that would make me think he wanted by me. He held steady behind me for a good few minutes. His weaving into gaps caught my attention first (and I'm pretty sure he was honking at cars that didn't give him a lot of space :wtf )and I thought I might go ahead and move to the left to let him by once a large space opened up...


youtu.be//_mbAeRpXvTE

...but as you can see, he had other ideas. I had looked to my left mirror about half an instant before he went around me...because I was planning on shifting over to the left to let him by as I have for every other rider I've let by when splitting.

Is that not what is expected and is that not what you should wait for before passing another rider in the split? Had I moved over as planned...shit would have gotten really shitty for both of us really quickly. Maybe I could have gotten over earlier but until then he really hadn't given me much sign he wasn't cool with staying behind me.

So..dick move, yay or nay?

 

[sanjuro]

Pass on the left... hmm.

 

[Aware]

Weaving. Spells danger.

That is a perfect example of hideous riding, IMHO. There was nothing in the road conditions that even required such weaving. You were making essentially the same progress without. And the flashing headlight ... I know they are legal in California, but it just makes him even more obnoxious.

 

[danate]

Typically when someone comes up behind you while you're splitting, it means they are and plan on going faster than you. While it seemed like he was goofing around a little with the weaving back and forth, he also may have just been trying to get your attention. Since you were holding your position, he then passed you on the left. I don't see what's wrong with that. When you split, you are passing cars in the lane they occupy as well and I'm guessing you don't wait for them to move over and signal you by before you go. While in this situation you weren't obligated to move over, there's also no reason to get offended that you got passed...

 

[klx-rider]

Not a dick move, you missed some hints that this was coming.

1. He's behind you, this means he's moving faster than you.
2. He hung back a little when traffic was tight knowing that there wasn't room for you to pull over and let him by. He knows there's no point in riding your ass if there's not room for you to let him by.
3. Traffic opens up and he gets closer to your tail.
4. He's weaving to grab your attention that he'd like to get by
5. There's room for him to weave meaning there's room for you to let him by.
6. He waits nearly a minute for you to let him by and you don't.
7. He passes you.

Some riders will happily cruise along not giving a f*k that you'd like to get by. He doesn't know if that's you or not and he gives you a little time before making his move. Had you moved over to let him by when traffic opened up he likely would have given you a wave. It's a good habit to signal that you're pulling over to let them by and double check before you pull back in behind as there may be other riders behind him.

 

[MikeyRocks]

:laughing

 

[Spartan925]

Valid points, although I have never seen someone weave to let me know they want by, and he was doing it while further back where he was at the beginning of the clip. That made me figure that's just how he splits. So the only indicator I had that he might want by me was him closing on me after having kept his distance for a good while. Since he doesn't know if I'm the kind of rider to let people by and since I was literally about to when he made his pass, isn't it safer to wait until he has a better means of passing? I wasn't offended that he passed me, I was offended that I as about to move to the left and then all of a sudden he's on my left, which to me seems like it could have been a nasty situation had I moved only slightly earlier or faster.

If I had slid over a half second earlier and we collided, I'm curious as to who would be deemed at fault.

 

[MikeyRocks]

he really hadn't given me much sign he wasn't cool with staying behind me.

His weaving into gaps caught my attention first

Looks like he did give you a sign. It's not easy to communicate with a rider in front of you, he can't read your mind. He gave you 20 seconds to move out of his way, and you didn't, so he passed you, big deal, it happens, move on. You think too damn much.

 

[Spartan925]

How was doing what he had been doing for miles giving me a sign?

And yeah, when something happens that's never occurred before that might have caused a serious problem, I think about it. How strange...

 

[Foxwolfe]

Looks like he did give you a sign. It's not easy to communicate with a rider in front of you, he can't read your mind. He gave you 20 seconds to move out of his way, and you didn't, so he passed you, big deal, it happens, move on. You think too damn much.

Or the guy made a poor pass that could have caused a collision, it happens.

"You think too damn much" well if that's the case the other dude didn't think enough.

 

[MikeyRocks]

How was doing what he had been doing for miles giving me a sign?

Obviously it worked because it got your attention. What kind of sign were you waiting for? You want a tap on the shoulder? A horn honk? A wheelie? Like I said, he gave you enough time to move over, you didn't, so he passed you, big deal, it happens, move on.

I'll usually do the same thing, give a few seconds for a slower splitter to move. Personally I prefer to move over between lane 2/3 to pass if it's a safer option, but that's not always the case (and that comes with its own risks).

 

[Abacinator]

How was doing what he had been doing for miles giving me a sign?

And yeah, when something happens that's never occurred before that might have caused a serious problem, I think about it. How strange...

The sign was he was going faster than you. Who knows what the weaving was all about, doesn't really matter. Just move into a gap and let the faster rider by, ffs. It's clear you spent too much time thinking about what you were going to do and before you had your mind made up, the rider squirted by. Next time just GTFO the way

 

[Spartan925]

I wasn't thinking about what to do beforehand, he just finally got close enough that I though, "Okay, he must want by me." *That* is the sign I was looking for. And that's when I started to GTFO. And that's when he passed.

All he had to do was wait another second or two. Imagine if that's all it would have taken to avoid a crash?

 

[Aware]

when I come up behind someone, I size them up to understand how they are riding, judge what they are going to do etc. If they don't seem to notice me (like after a minute!) I'll find a safe way to go past. I won't blast past after a handful of seconds ON EITHER SIDE until I am confident I understand the rider in front. I will 99.99% never pass on the right of the rider. Most likely exception is the rider moves to right lane to enable me.

 

[DTM74]

Don't think it was a dick move. Dude was obviously weaving to grab your, and other motorists, attention. If I see someone coming up behind me and doing something out of the ordinary, I'll just move over.

 

[Pluot]

when I come up behind someone, I size them up to understand how they are riding, judge what they are going to do etc. If they don't seem to notice me (like after a minute!) I'll find a safe way to go past. I won't blast past after a handful of seconds ON EITHER SIDE until I am confident I understand the rider in front. I will 99.99% never pass on the right of the rider. Most likely exception is the rider moves to right lane to enable me.

You're thinking in Brit/Scot terms. You meant you DO pass on the right :cool

 

[Spartan925]

Sure, but what if he had been weaving the entire time, even when he was just a spec in your mirror?

 

[Karbon]

move b... get out the way get out the way...

guy was weaving because that's what you're suppose to do. You dominate the space and give yourself room away from the car you are about to pass. In this context, that's proper action in what call a "murder hole", the gap between cars where cages like to fill.


here is what can potentially happen if you don't give yourself that gap. Also this vid is the culmination of 6 years of commuting, riding 22 miles in bumper to bumper traffic, 4x a week. Less than 40sec among the countless hours of boring as fuck commute footage.

youtu.be/vhKdJtlOZ9o

Get the f out of the way. OP you could have been this guy.

youtu.be/PnTb9gkYQ7I


anyway you're probably doing it all wrong.

 

[Spartan925]

I get the point of the weaving when comes to splitting in general, ie. commanding your lane. What I don't see it as is a signal for me to move since he had been doing it, and I repeat, the entire time he was behind me. Which includes when he was a bright flickering speck in my mirror.

And I wasn't nor do I ever do what the guy in that second video was doing. He was never that close behind me either.

 

[quicksparks]

Spartan, I gotta hand it to you. You take criticism very well, and you keep coming back for more.

The first part of your video is pretty cool -- it would make a non-rider wonder, "Well why the hell wouldn't bikers split lanes?"

The second part, yeah. Shit or get off the pot. When I'm splitting lanes and I come up on a slower biker, what seems like minutes is really just 10 seconds.

You wondered aloud, "WTF, if I had moved left right when you passed me..." The proof is in the pudding -- he got by. He made the same decision you make yourself every time you decide to pass a car.