October 7, 2014
by Bikeyface
Bike Creep
The other day I was enjoying the wonderful cool autumn weather on my ride home.
When all of the sudden I was interrupted.
And I realized there was something lurking over my shoulder.
I thought he was trying to pass me… but he didn’t.
I know drivers complain about tailgators. But they should consider themselves lucky that they can’t feel that stranger’s breath on their cheek.
It is strange, that person biking so much as you never heard of PELOTON.
Or did I missed something obvious? 😀
@batat: what, exactly, does a peloton have to do with bicycle commuting? I think you missed the fact that the other rider was “creepy” and thus unknown to bikeyface. the same cannot be said of a typicale bicyle pack, in which the members are all part of a team, and are well-known to each other.
@bikeyface: it’s great to see the ol’ houndstooth helmet back. Thanks for another great post.
It’s not a peloton lane, and lane splitting is illegal, even in a bike lane, typically. That said, when I get the bike creep, I can 1) usually see ’em in my mirror, and 2) intentionally swerve towards them. Being 240 pounds and having a bike with an oversize luggage rack and very sturdy fenders, even if we do make contact, I’m not the one going down.
I call them stealth drafters on the MM bike path. Mirror helps, I just wave them on. In cases where is is not safe to pass, I just hang back at least 3 bike lengths.
Beauty! While most of us are capable of riding a very smooth pace in a very straight line, this is one of those times when becoming unpredictable helps a lot. Look unsteady by wavering on the bike and using a pedal-coast-pedal-coast nonrhythmic pace. Turn to look at the jerk, and take your handlebars with you when you look back. You’ll soon persuade them that it’s in their own best interest to get clear of you – ahead of behind. (As an aside, “practiced unsteadiness” on the bike is a well-proven defensive tactic to scare the beejesus out of motorists, causing them to pass leaving a wide berth.)
“…ahead OR behind…”
Normally I am mildly amused at the pictures you draw, but this one not so much, probably because I encounter the flip side of this a bit.
I guess this is timely because yesterday I was the, “bike creep” to some lady riding up Queen Anne hill. She was on a racing bike, earbuds in; I was on my big MTB. I was riding up through Seattle to get to a store at the top of a fairly big hill. I approached a lady also riding up the hill, who looked back, saw me, sped up slightly as I approached her, and then proceeded to keep looking back at me giving me the distinct, “bike creep” feeling. Eventually she stood up on her pedals, pulled away for a bit, then fatigued and slowed down. I passed her on the other side of the one way street because there was enough space to do it safely. At the time, I distinctly remember thinking “why is she speeding up? This isn’t a race. The only race I’m in is against the clock… A&J Meats is closing in 15… 12 minutes… Oh, I need to take the next right… ”
The previous time up Dexter Ave with the same experience: “I don’t think I can overtake safely yet, but if I wait a little bit the road gets wider up ahead and I have an opportunity to do it.”
Or Ballard Ave last week: “I was hit by a car here in 2009, if I ride with someone else maybe cars will see me this time.”
As temporarily inconveniencing to you as it may be, many of these “bike creeps” probably have a good reason for riding where they are. If they’re sitting in your blind spot instead of your wheel, at least they have the good sense not to draft a complete stranger, and hopefully they’re smart enough to also not overlap wheels.
Rather than get annoyed, practice your inner zen and help them overtake – drop your speed slightly and give them the opportunity to pass. Maybe it takes you 30s longer to get to your destination, but you gain so much more from doing it. Unless, of course, you’re heading to A&J meats and they’re closing in 15… 12 minutes…
Hello neighbor!
I find this behavior weird and unpleasant. Maybe they think they have a good reason, but they’re in my personal space and make me feel uneasy. If I have to swerve or stop suddenly, they’re going to crash into me even if I call out a warning. Pass or don’t pass, there is no try.
I do have someone sidle up next to me and ask about my lighting system several times a week, and none of them creep. They just speed up a bit, hang out to my left at a safe distance, and say hello.
Sorry, there is no reason to within 2 bike lengths if you are not passing. Just wait some. Racing, don’t you know
cat 6 commuter racing ?
Lots of people in the comments so far are saying, “just ride 3+ bike lengths behind them”
In October 2012, right before I was assaulted in the international district this is exactly what happened to me. The rider followed me at a distance so they could assault me when I rode to a less populated area of the international district. So now, I’m uneasy whenever someone could be following me at a distance. That’s what I find creepy behavior – someone following me at a few bike lengths.
I’ll take feeling uneasy over being backboarded in to an ambulance after being hit by a car any day too. That is not something I would wish upon anyone having gone through that experience twice, once for being doored, once for a taxi not paying attention.
All of this unease says more about me than it does about the drivers and riders around me. It is public space after all. We share, even if it’s not convenient or comfortable or even if we disagree with how it’s shared. I try to do what’s safe, then what’s comfortable for everyone else within reason, but there are situations where there is no “right” answer and someone’s going to be uncomfortable. Being a tall, somewhat big non-white guy on a big bike, maybe I’m the very definition of someone else’s cause for unease, and if that’s the case we’ll just have to do our very best to live with each other.
Or the alt-creep that passes you very quickly on the left, and has no front or back lights. Screw that guy, man.
Or the alt-creep who passes silently on the right while you’re waiting at a red light.
Perfect as this happened to me yesterday… during a particularly difficult head-wind, right there behind me, the dreaded wheel-sucker.
People who are riding up on you, huffing and puffing, are trying to pass, but can’t for whatever reason. relax.
I’m with Kris and coincidentally I know Kris: small Internet world. I try not to be a “bike creep” but this sort of creeping is sometimes unavoidable. I usually try to stay back if it is not a good place to pass but then sometimes the “creepee” slows down. Or they subtly speed up and I don’t feel like racing. The worst is when I get passed and then the passer immediately slows (happens a lot more often than you would think.) Now I am forced to be a bike creep or engage in an unwanted race.
When this happen i hit my brake and let him pass with a smile 😀 niark niark niark
I must say I’m with Kris and Jeff on this one. I’m a large man on a large bike. When I’m trying to pass and avoid ladies on the path or street, they either make it a race, or look at me disgustedly as if I’m a thug. No Ma’am, I’m just a rider like you, trying to ride. I know I’m big and you don’t want me around, but that’s something that both of us are just going to have to deal with for the next few moments. Let’s just keep riding, and when I say “good morning,” I’m not trying to do anything at all except to admit that we’re both human beings and say “good morning.”
For what it’s worth, neither Jeff nor I are skinny weight weenies… Sorry Jeff :P.
I got rear ended by a tailgator today! I stopped for a pedestrian in a crosswalk and took him completely by surprise (why do you never stop for pedestrians, my fellow bike commuters of Boston?). He was very apologetic.
Few of my rules of thumb, partly inspired by comments, partly by original story.
When commuting, there’s this thing called announcing yourself. Saying “on your left” as you are preparing to pass removes “creepiness”, as well as makes it safer. Gluing yourself right behind somebody and panting/grunting is rude and definitely creepy. Just don’t do it.
If you pant and grunt to pass, you probably shouldn’t pass in the first place and you should keep reasonable distance instead. If it takes that much effort, you’ll have to slow down soon anyhow, so why bother passing in the first place? It’s also not cool to speed up just because your ego told you so when somebody else going faster is passing you.
Drafting often doesn’t apply to commuting. It just doesn’t make much sense to form fast moving and tight paceline with random strangers (races, large organized rides, training and/or long recreational rides are different thing). With people who may be totally inexperienced and said “yes” only because they didn’t want to say “no” (and should have really said “no”). Which brings us to the point that to draft behind somebody, you always have to ask first. As in using actual words. Never ever silently glue yourself onto somebody else’s wheel. It’s totally not cool. It’s dangerous too. I’m not going to signal hazards I see up front, because I don’t know you are in the back. And you won’t see those hazards, because you are in the back and can’t see them.
+1! There’s no excuse for gluing yourself to someone’s wheel on a commute. It’s dangerous, and just a little bit rude. If you have the steam to pass, then you can hang back a bit, find a safe time and pass cleanly with a friendly “On your left”. If you can’t manage that, you can’t manage a safe and respectful pass.
Even though drafting and many other things don’t apply to commuting, sometimes it’s not necessarily clear who is a commuter and who is out for a “training” ride. Yeah, the day and hour should be a clue, but that doesn’t necessarily apply.
I admit, I’m a bit competitive even when commuting. Heck, it’s about the only time I pick up the pace. I’ll pass others and keep it up because, yeah, who really wants to play leapfrog? If I get passed, I’ll stick back a few bike lengths and off to the side if I can, though more often the passer is usually going fast enough that it’s not worth it to try to hang on.
There’s only one other regular on my route who’s a bit overcompetitive in my opinion. We’re about evenly matched, but I’ll slow down and let him go ahead since he’s so intent on being ahead that he’ll run red lights and stop signs.
It’s not often that I need to take a while to pass someone. It only takes a short burst of power to get and keep ahead of someone. If the person I’m trying to pass also speeds up, I’ll let them go and keep to my original pace- usually our paths split relatively quickly anyway.
The only problem is when they’re struggling to keep ahead of me when I’m traveling at my usual pace. That’s when I get to take a little passive-aggressive pleasure in seeing them suffer instead of letting me pass.
I don’t think it matters. If you’re on the public highway, you need to act like you’re on a public highway. Commuter rules of stopping distance and space definitely apply. Want to ride in a peloton? Ride in a sanctioned event or on a velodrome.
Paul: It’s not all black and white. There are dad & daughter cycling to school side by side on no traffic at all residential street. There are groups of hundreds of cyclists in fast peloton. And there is everything in between those two extremes. A lot of gray. I rode both of those extremes (though, latter extreme only during large organized events when police is controlling traffic). Laws differ widely from state to state too. E.g. in California where I live, I don’t think there’s explicit “must ride single file” law. At least I wasn’t able to find one. There’s law that effectively says “must ride close to the curb” (CVC 21202 for those interested) which could be stretched out to be interpreted as also meaning “single file”, but list of exceptions for that law makes it not applicable on most roads (not applicable on sub standard width lanes, and in CA so many streets are sub standard width, and not applicable when approaching any place where “right turn is authorized”, so basically any urban street and more). However, I’m also not a lawyer, so take what I just wrote with a grain of salt.
You can also look at it from practical side. Vast majority of residential streets look like ghost towns throughout most of the day. Nitpicking about two cyclists riding side by side at 10mph and chatting? On a street that sees like single (and slow moving) car pass by maybe once per hour? Seriously?
Why do you bike so far apart from your boyfriend?
Also, I try to complain, but ultimately, even “bike creeps” (a rather ugly characterization on your behalf) are still people on bikes, and the more people on bikes out there, the happier I am. I am offended by red light runners but these “bike creeps” could simply feel more comfortable biking in a pack (even if it is a pack of 2) and I have no problem keeping them under my wing. If all they’re doing is biking (not checking you out, making inappropriate comments), it really shouldn’t be a problem. Have you seen how closely together strangers bike in Amsterdam? A whole bunch of bike creeps, apparently.
Interesting events – I read this yesterday afternoon (linked from a separate site) then on my ride home, I had the opportunity to be a bike creep.
Major construction is in process on one of the bike routes I use for commute and the detour follows a shared use path through a park. I merged onto the path from the road behind a girl; just before the path entered a narrow twisty section through the woods, followed by narrow passage under an expressway.
I am no timid noob. I am quite comfortable in a tight pack or line; and with passing in tight spaces – but we were on a multi-use path not a race course and I was commuting home not racing. I had little opportunity for a pass without being a jerk; and I would need to hover close to take that quick pass …so instead I followed a couple bike lengths behind and waited.
She kept looking back …annoyed? …nervous? I don’t know. So, I announced I was waiting for the path to open before passing. Don’t know that she heard me because she was still checking back. Eventually the path opened and I passed with all of my creepyness.
It’s a thing with shared use recreational paths; too many people seem to think the space belongs to them alone and their own little bubble of enjoyment. It doesn’t; the space is public and shared by many …that statement goes both ways.
This is the exact situation I’m referring to. What can you do? You’re make them uneasy simply because you are there, and all the reassurance in the world won’t make them feel better.
Oh, crap… I’ve done that!! Usually it’s because I can’t stand the girl who just blew past me as if I was not moving. The huffing and puffing is just my ego being deflated… and the sound of my attempt to catch back up!!
I repent… I now see how creepy that is. Geesh… the things we do that we don’t realize are creepy!
Great post! Always funny!!
Such mansplaining. So defensiveness. Wow.
Seriously, though, if you can’t comfortably pass someone while giving them plenty of room, slow down a tiny bit to give them space and just fucking wait.
As for stealth-drafters… a sudden swerve to avoid a road hazard (that I just may have happened to intentionally ride toward) is usually enough to get them to leave me alone.
This.
If I’m not going to pass someone, I give them a couple of bike lengths. It’s really not a problem to give someone a little bit of space.
Otherwise you’re like the biking equivalent of these people: http://mentakingup2muchspaceonthetrain.tumblr.com/
Totally agree it’s infuriating when some shoots past especially if your not sure where your going a. Bit of consideration would be nice
I’m on an electric-assist cargo bike and often find myself passing riders who are working really hard to get up a hill. Normally I’d be the one getting passed, so I understand both sides of this issue! When being passed, I like to hear “on your left” and appreciate it if the passer waits until the coast is clear (quick shoulder check will do to make sure you’re not putting yourself in front of an oncoming vehicle). I also don’t like being passed at lights or stop signs. So I use the same process and etiquette when passing others. Often I can tell from 20 to 30 feet behind a rider that my pace is greater than his and can plan when and how I’m going to pass him.