Fellow riders who won't let you pass... what do you do?

[DogBoy]

I wonder if OP would react the same way if the 3 BMW's were cars?  Would you expect them to pull over as well?  After all, those three bikes have every right to be on that road.  The same right that you do.  They are riding their ride and under no obligation to let someone pass.   The need to pass is your problem, not theirs.

As long as they are traveling at the speed limit, I agree. I you can't maintain the speed limit for that road, move over because you do have an obligation. Besides, common courtesy trumps "I have a right to ride however I like even if I slow down others for several miles."

[Galo]

(snip)  he was a huge beast of a man on a GS, going slow, splitting the group and completely blocking the view of the road ahead.He gave me a mouthful at the next traffic light. I just flipped my visor down and shrugged it off. He was asked politely to ride at the back a few miles later by the ride leader. Whatev's.

Dayum......one guy blocking the view of the road? He musta been someone REALLY big and fat-assed!
 

[steelerider]

well, maybe not COMPLETELY blocking.....
But enough to be really annoying!

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Ugh, I generally have the opposite problem.  I'm always the slow person who is TOTALLY aware that someone wants to pass me and I wish they'd just cool it for like a minute until I can find a safe place to pull to the side.  

Not to say that I'm always at the back, but there are many times I'm on a ride and just flower-sniffing. I try to be very aware of who/what is behind me at all times. I'll adjust my speed if I see that someone wants to pass me in order to make their pass easier, and if it's a difficult pass, I'll just step up my game a bit so as not to hold them up (as much) until they can pass.

I've also been known to move to the far right of my lane and wave them by (assuming other conditions permit their passing in my lane to be safe)

[sfalexi]

I'm guessing you commute with your car, and not a bike?

You guess incorrect. I avoid driving a car as much as possible.

Alexi

[naustin]

If you can't pass them without them "letting" you - the either 1) they aren't going THAT slow, or 2) the road conditions are probably such that passing is unsafe in general.

If you want to pass, get on with it.

If you "can't" thats your problem / or maybe you just shouldn't.

[2RR2NV]

If I'm by myself, i never have a need to go fast and pass. i'm fine with just hanging out. now if they are goin below the PSL +5 or more, and i'm in the "do at least PSL" mode, then i pass at the first safe legal chance. i don't worry about what they think except to not blow past at TOO excessive speed when i can pass doing 70-80. if they have a problem, and want to hang with me to try to show their skills (or whateva), i'm more than happy to oblige em and pick it up a notch or two. kinda fun to see how far they will go to  hang.  

if someone catches me (which isn't too hard since i don't go flying 100+ everywhere) and i'm doing PSL or higher, i'll pull over and/or out of the way ASAP. not stop or slow to a crawl, just get the heck out of the way. i don't have any really need/or want to have to keep up with faster folks. just riding my own ride. and smiling the whole time!!

Now, if someone is just being a "richard" by doing their hardest to keep me from passing when they are obviously intending to go below the PSL but speeds up on the straights/parks in the corners or swerves or whatever, then i may just pull over at a nice scenic spot, take some pics, and let the re-re get far enough ahead i probably won't see em again.

They could be stuck in their own little world and might not even notice you passed them.  had that happen on Nemo road. i was following a coworker, and came upon a cruiser. as i got closer to take my turn to pass, i noticed it was a civilian coworker in my shop. just to prove not all sportbike riders haul butt past people, i took my slllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww asssssssssss time to pass him. i mean really slow, i think i was doing MAYBE +5mph faster than him. waving at him when i got a lil ahead of him. and then once i was fully past, got back in the groove and was gone. at work the next Monday, i asked him how his ride was on Nemo. he gave me the "how the heck do you know i was riding on Nemo" look, and i asked if he remembered seeing a red sportbike with a fire engine yellow clothed rider pass him and wave. he truly had no recollection of me passing him. WTHHHHH???????? i then gave him rash of crap for being a snobbish HD rider that won't wave at riders on sportbikes. oh what fun for the next few weeks.

[rgbeard]

You guess incorrect. I avoid driving a car as much as possible.

Alexi

I am sorry that I guess wrong.  I chose that because you indicated....

....... I make sure I'm never out on a strict timetable so I can relax and take a breather whenever I feel like it.  Not have to make sure I get to the end by such and such time.

When I was commuting from Lake Elsinore to Orange County, CA., that involved highway 74, (the Ortega Highway) and was often stuck behind those what would not take turnouts, while I'm trying to get to the office in time for that 9am phone call or whatnot.

That in mind, I have passed plenty of slowpokes that pass the mandatory turnouts after horns/hi beams/etc.  I just don't even notice them anymore.

[Testcase]

There are only 3 options...

1)  Blow by them legally.
2)  Blow by them illegally (when safe).
3)  When all else fails (eg. crazy assed twisty road), pull over and take a break.

This +1. Fortunately, I rarely rarely make it to #2. If I was wearing my rational hat, I'd even say reverse 2 and 3. With my honesty hat, it's already right.

[sfalexi]

I am sorry that I guess wrong.  I chose that because you indicated....




When I was commuting from Lake Elsinore to Orange County, CA., that involved highway 74, (the Ortega Highway) and was often stuck behind those what would not take turnouts, while I'm trying to get to the office in time for that 9am phone call or whatnot.

That in mind, I have passed plenty of slowpokes that pass the mandatory turnouts after horns/hi beams/etc.  I just don't even notice them anymore.

Understood.  I see how you'd figure that.

Luckily right now i dont have to travel a main road for a long time and have options to get to from work.

  My mornings i actually mapped out a different route specifically to avoid main roads.  Adds time, but virtually no traffic so i can leisurely ride in, plus i get to lean a little instead of go straight and i pass up some horse farms and see miniature horses and donkeys and not just houses and businesses.  

And i'm one of thos hyper-aware people that will wave someone past if they're really na rush and move over if possible.  But on a pleasure ride, i never make timetables.

You cant beat all the bad drivers on the road, you cant guarantee they'll let yu by or even notice you.  Hell, over here in GA, i see people with a right turn signal light on and they turn left and STILL leave it on! I've adapted the uber-patient method of defensive riding, which means many days i end up getting where i'm going a half hour early, but damn i'm stressfree when i get there!

[SummerLove]

I'm constantly paranoid about this on the multi. I still haven't gotten comfortable hanging off her in the twisties and this slows me down a bit in the mountains. (I move fast enough to keep local commuter traffic happy but not fast enough for some of the more lacking in judgement sport riders) The problem is the mirrors are well documented as fucking terrible. I can't see anything behind me with out taking a hand off the bars and lifting it over the fairings to get my elbow out of the way. If I do see someone I tend to move over and wave them by. In the rare event I'm wanting to go faster I've always been waved ahead and they pull over to right side of the road. If I'm stuck behind a pirate parade? I pull over and wait a bit.

[miles]

My attitude on passing is that if god didn't want me to pass, why would he have given me a motorcycle?


In all seriousness, I simply don't wait very long at all before making my move and getting past.

[Rogue]

Yup, just pass when you can.  Why get your shorts in a knot over nothing?

Because it's annoying as shit when people are too self absorbed and make it hard for you to move on.  

99.9% of the time we all just want to get by slow riders and cagers, NOW, and not have to wait for them to realize they're a rolling road block.  But some of us are patient and give the slow poke the benefit of the doubt.  

If you know you're holding people back do you just keep on doing it and be a jack-ass??  

It was a rhetorical question on SVnates part.  Why do people hold others back?  I often ask that question because I'm still trying to figure that out.  

[Rogue]

In all seriousness, I simply don't wait very long at all before making my move and getting past.

I'm with you on that Miles.  

[Kootenanny]

I see the OP is from California...it figures, when I was there last summer, one thing I noticed was how most of the cars would pull over for me, even on twisty back roads.  I can see how a guy could get used to that, to the point that he'd get ticked whenever anyone didn't (indeed, I got caught behind a group of oblivious Gold Wing riders on the coast highway, and after riding for hours without having to wait for anyone, it really bothered me...).

Here at home, few people pull over for you (and when they do, it's often at the most inappropriate times and/or unsafe places...).  Like UFO said, there are 3 options...

[SVTNate]

Yup, I am in California.

Here's the thing.  If you're on a twisty road that is used by commuters, like Ortega Highway... cars very rarely use the turnouts.  Because fuck you, that's why.  I guess.  There is no courtesy on well traveled roads like that.

I was riding Angeles Crest Highway.  You've got roughly 50 miles with no commuter traffic.  Just guys like me out for a driver/ride, cyclists, construction people, and cops.  People who are on roads like that seem to pull over much more often for faster traffic.

Yes, I would expect a car to use the turnouts.  They usually do on that particular road.  Just like I've moved over for guys with knee pucks who want to drag a knee.  

It's courtesy, one which I practice myself.

Hell, once on Palomar Mountain a highway patrol officer pulled over to allow me to pass.  I swear.  No trick either... I rode the speed limit for awhile thinking he would fly up behind me, or radio a buddy down the road... but nope, he just waved me past to be courteous.  

[ConPilot1]

Around here the pullouts are called ditches.  

OK as a long time PA boy, that made me loller.   You're so right.

Turnouts?? What the hell is that?? Mandated by law?? Not around here.

[Kootenanny]

It's courtesy, one which I practice myself.

I must admit, I did post here a year or two ago about a pair of riders--actually, BMW riders (GS's, as I recall)--who were oblivious to the huge, long line of traffic they were holding up.  I was driving a car at the time, and it was on a twisty mountain highway with continuous double yellows and poor sightlines, so I really couldn't pass safely (plus, I was a ways back in the line...).  These two riders--whom I assume to relative newbies, because of their bolt-upright, super stiff posture (plus, NOBODY rides that road that slowly)--passed several pullouts, not to mention there is a wide shoulder the whole way along that road.  They were either oblivious, inconsiderate, or too scared to pull over...in any case, they pissed of not only myself but a whole lotta other drivers that day.

[ConPilot1]

Who cares if anybody pisses off cagers. Cagers piss me off and threaten my very existence every freaking day of my life. Every day I run into a stupid cager. One of these days one of the bastards is going to get me.

[ConPilot1]

Why do people hold others back?  I often ask that question because I'm still trying to figure that out.  

Don't blame it on someone else. It's called riding your own ride and being safe.
Sorry, I don't subscribe to the notion that slower riders should pull over.

Pass when you can. If you're panties are knotted in the meantime that's your problem.
Don't blame the slower rider. They may be doing the best they can and in a comfort zone.

Just because you're a seasoned corner-shredding veteran doesn't mean somebody should pull over for you.

 If you're that good, and want to ride faster, blast on by, by all means. Your balls, throttle and ego are evidently bigger and you've got no room for the slower rider. Do it.