clueless roadies at cooks corners today

Today at 8:45 this morning I encountered a large (100-150) group of roadies in close formation going North uphill at 10-15 mph on El Toro road between Glenn Ranch road and Cooks Corner. These were the most dangerous riders I have ever witnessed. There is a bike lane and 1 traffic lane in either direction. These riders were not paying attention at all to the vehicles. They were spilling over into the traffic lane and at times they had 8-10 riders abreast at some locations. One guy even moved all the way over to the yellow line to exchange a closed fist bump with another rider. Now, if you want to block traffic and stay there it is annoying but not really that dangerous. However, these riders were constantly reconfiguring themselves from being only in the bike lane to taking over the entire traffic lane and they kept getting wide and skinny and they had such a long line that I was afraid to get next to them for fear of killing someone. They were not all acting in a unified organized manner they were just randomly moving all over the road as though they thought they were on a closed-course race or something.

I am not posting this just to bitch about roadies. I hope someone reading this can forward this information to the group. If they keep riding like this someone will surely get hit.

 

Stupido!!!

 

Not being there I could be wrong on this but when I have ridden in large groups like that on narrow roads, we tend to take the lane. That is the recommended thing to do.
Although irritating as hell, it prevents passing on dangerous roads until it's safe.
Except guys in pick up trucks will pass regardless of whether it is safe or not and especially seem to like passing on blind curves while yelling some dumb-ass thing out the window that we can't hear anyway because of the wind in our ears. And this is especially common in San Diego!

 

May have been the Como ride. Those who know, will try to take up the road for the above reason, when the road narrows. The bike lane widens and narrows throughout the canyon, from a width that can hold 3+ riders to "no lane" (over the bridges).

The problem is that, while it is a regularly scheduled ride, it is open to anyone and not everyone has common sense. Unfortunately, there isn't just one specific team/club who you can address.

However, I could be mistaken; there may have been some other ride out there, or something else going on.

 

There are A LOT of club rides on those roads. Most are cool but just like anything there always will be some EL STOPIDOS!#-o:lol:

 

Sounds like the Como St. ride.........it is an every Sunday morning ride, but most think it is a race. Yes, they are unsafe......but when you get a group that big racing up the canyon, what do you expect? #-o

 

I will repeat what I said before. It is safest if they ride 1 or 2 wide in the bike lane. It is also safe but annoying if they completely block the vehicle lane. These people were going from being 2 wide to being 10 wide, back and forth, front to back, in a random uncoordinated fashion. It was almost like they were teasing the cars.

Also, the really should change their tactics when they are going uphill. When they are going 10-15 mph on a street where cars routinely go 50 they should make more of an effort to be in the bike lane. (Since they all think they are professional racers on a closed course I doubt they will actually do this.)

A little bit of googling confirmed it is the Como Street Ride, but I can't find any info on the organizers. Someone here must know someone who rides with them. Please forward this to them. (This ride has happened every Sunday since the 1960's. Pretty interesting, but there is a lot more traffic now then there was back then.)

 

In my opinion when you break the law while riding you are opening yourself up to danger and even death. Every time I don't follow the traffic laws I understand that doing so could get me killed so I try not to do it when there are cars around.
From the sound of it these cyclists have no respect for anyone else on the road but themselves. This will result in the cars not giving them any respect and someone might get hit and killed and they have no one to blame but themselves.

I don't understand why its so hard to stay in the bike lane, if you have to pass then pass one or 2 bikes wide and then only when cars aren't coming.

To make myself clear, I am only implying that a cyclist should only ride as close to the right as "practicable" and then only if he or she isn't going the same speed as traffic (or close to the speed limit).

Riding like described here is what keeps me away from group road rides. I don't want to be around when someone gets hit and probably killed.

 

Misconception here. It is okay to ride 2,3 or 4 abreast. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying to do it but climbing a hill people are going to group up as some become caught up behind others who thought they could hang. We are taking the lane intentionally. We have a ride that is 100+ riders strong and we have the same right to the street that the cars do but not necessarily the same laws. Groups like the Montrose and Como St rides are going to stop some traffic. It's not a big deal. It's never a long delay and there really is no reason for the vehicle operators to get upset. What appeared to you to be dangerous to you is a thought out proven riding process that has been developed over the years. We are allowed to take over the lane. Riding up Live Oak is maybe not the best route but OC is so congested where else are they going to ride that doesn't have this problem?

I've rode the Como St ride a few times and they have such a wide range of riders with different abilities that they are going to have some congestion every now and then and it's amazing that a ride with this many riders have so few problems with vehicles. Most OC people are very tolerant of this group.

BTW, there is no bike lane on Live Oak at Cooks Corner.

 

Is "clueless roadie" an oxymoron? I'm just asking......:?:


shitty

 

Funny how much time is given to baggin on roadies on mtb sites. Go to the roadie sites and see how much dergetory talk is given to mountain biking. It doesn't happen. Take a look at some of the top pro riders in road riding and a lot have a mtb background. These guys are the best riders in the world, dirt or road. Do you think they care what kind of shorts a person wears. Quit trying to divide the riding community and work towards a common goal.

 

1. There is a bike lane until you get right to Cooks Corner. If you want to also take over the traffic lane then do it and stay there. I was not complaining about this.

2. Next week don't tell the rest of the group but ask a friend with a video camera to drive behind you in this location and film the group. You look like a bunch of wildebeasts on a slow stampede.

 

I like to road ride myself but I saw a lot of bad roadie form this weekend. People were all over the freakin' road! As a driver I found the lack of common etiquette frustrating. Hold your line, ride single file and signal your turns out there people!

 

The common goals are to be safe and to improve how people feel about bicyclists. I happen to be a roadie also.

 

When you have a large group of 10 or more riders some are going to be going around and at the same time maybe another so now you have 2 or 3 maybe even 4 across. It happens and it's perfectly legal. Yes, it's important to try to stay to the right but groups of this size it's just not practical and it's not going to happen. We are not trying to be discourteous we are trying to be safe. (see dirtmistresses post). I know some mtb'ers don't understand and trying to explain it is difficult unless you've done these rides.

 

i heard rodies were plotting to take over the world and are therefor evil by all means...

although i really do question anyone who enjoys wearing bright colored spandex in public haha!

 

Take a look at your next group ride, they'll be there (in bright clothes)....one city at a time! (evil laugh inserted here)

 

Its the Como Ride. I do it every Sunday. Its about 200 strong. And there are some idiots in the group (I saw the fist bump you refer to, not smart, but there was no call out of car behind from the 100+ to the rear so I doubt they thought anything of it). But, you might want to know what you are talking about before you decide to characterize the world.

At the Cooks Corner intersection going uphill, there is a raised concrete triangle for those making the right turn going up Live Oak. For the stretch prior to that, between where the bike trail veers off to the west from the southbound lanes, there is no shoulder on the northbound lane, just a white stripe painted on the dirt and occassional pavement in the shoulder all the way back to the previous streetlight at Glenn Ranch Road...not to mention that at one point the shoulder moves from an apparently safe 8-10 feet wide to 0 with a raised curb and guardrail...even a single bike rider is forced to take over the lane at that point.

Past the intersection, the shoulder is blocked off by orange cones to provide for motorcycle parking. It is not until 100 yards past that point that the shoulder begins to re-appear and is wide enough for first one, then two riders wide until the right turn-dedicated lane 200 yards further on widens the area to 3-4 abreast....at which point everybody has funneled onto the debris-laden shoulder.

So, there's about a 1/2 mile where there is no option but to occupy the entire lane starting from Glenn Ranch, whether you are at the front of the pack or the rear. Also, about every other week, its apparently on the OC Sheriff rotation to drive that stretch at about the same time the group goes through it (that's about as often as I see them anyway). For the short time I've been with this group, there's yet to have been an issue along this stretch except for dodging the rocks and debris in the shoulder to avoid bringing down the group.

By the way, did you also happen to see the motorcycle that sped up along the left side of the group and attempt to cut through the solid group of riders to turn into Cook's Corner? Or how about his buddy who nudged the front wheel of his rig beyond the illegally placed orange traffic cones blocking the shoulder (see last Wed. South Park for my opinion of that group). Or the gray toyota sedan (early 2000's) that drives through the area leaning on his horn and alternately accelerating to 60 and slowing down to riding speed, leaning on his horn again next to the next group, and then flooring it again...despite having more than enough room to pass?

Do you really have to be somewhere in so much of a hurry that you are frustrated by having to go 20 miles an hour for a 1/2 mile stretch?

There is no organization to the ride save for the few teams that use it to train at a high pace...and they stick together The rest of us like to tag along and use the high pace as motivation to get faster and fitter. We also self-police the group to yell out when a car is coming from behind or the lane is being taken up and shouldn't be. Everybody who uses this short stretch, including us Mountain Bikers, takes over the lane...its safer than hitting a guardrail head-on or following the irregular edge of the pavement as the white line disappears into the dirt.

I'm done...time to go dodge the boulders and cars on Jamboree and roads north and over the Anaheim Hills to get my morning suffering in.

 

I drive a pickup! Maybe I should put the rifle rack backup in the rear window, put the NRA and support your local Sheriff sticker on and "go get me some roadies".
:steppie:

 

MnMDan, yes I saw the motorcycle. I was going to mention it but my original post was already too long. I was behind you guys. There were some cars behind me. The motorcycle passed all of us and you guys and went around the blind turn on the wrong sde of the road. Talk about stupid.

At the beginning of your post it sounds like you rely on riders behind you to call out "car behind" instead of looking for yourself. And the riders in the back aren't looking either. Bad combination. You seem to be aware of how dangerous this road is so I don't think I can add anything else.