Mind the Gap

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Mind the Gap

The distance you leave between the vehicle in front and yourself determines how fast, smooth and relaxed you ride. If things weren't in front of us then there wouldn't be anything to overtake, and that would be a great loss to riderkind; but there are times when you have to sit in traffic, mixing it with the cars, lorries, tractors, Volvos towing caravans, everything.

So how much of a gap should you leave? In a car its simple. "Only a fool breaks the two second rule" is the mantra to repeat to tell you how much of a gap to leave; but on a bike "Your wasting your time if you live by rhyme"!.

How much gap- how long is a piece of elastic?

There is no fixed "safe" or correct distance on a bike. The 2 second rule can be applied if your stuck in an endless stream of traffic and have little chance of getting past, like a busy motorway or if your not in a hurry and just pottering along at the same pace as the traffic. Otherwise it depends on many factors: The type of vehicle, your view of the road ahead, the driver aheads behavior, what's coming in the opposite direction...etc. The question to always ask yourself is "What if the driver in front slams the anchors on?". If the answer involves getting a mouthful of rear car bumper then your probably to close to the vehicle in front.

Following cars

If you are following a car then you should be able to see over and through it which means that you probability have a better view of the road ahead than the car driver. You should anticipate that the usual things will cause the driver to brake, junctions, fluffy bunnies crossing the road etc.; but you can never be sure that the driver won't slam everything on for no apparent reason at all. For example, King Alfred suddenly remembering he left the cakes in the oven..............

So when following close, have your escape route planned in case the driver decides to jump on the brake pedal. Fortunately sitting near the central white line gives you a chance to squeeze past in an emergency, and also happens to be the best launching point for your overtaking maneuver.

It's impossible to overtake without getting "too" close to the car in front, but the trick is to plan the overtake so that your only following the car closely for a brief moment before accelerating past. Don't just sit on the rear bumper waiting for a gap as this puts you in the danger zone for longer and might just irritate the car driver. When you think an overtaking chance is on the cards, close the gap, but if the chance disappears then drop back and await another chance.

Following "White van man" and lorries

When you can't see through the vehicle in front then generally you have to leave a bigger gap. Sitting in the slipstream of a lorry may save a few pence at the fuel pumps but you can't see the road ahead and that should make you uneasy. The further you drop back, the better will be your view of the road ahead, and you'll have a bigger margin if his airbrakes suddenly jam on. As before if you do need to ride closer whilst scanning to overtake make sure you have your escape route planned.

Living with the "enemy"

Riding close behind a car for long periods is likely to wind up the car driver, especially when you have your headlights on. It may result in nothing more that a few choice words and a hand gesture or two in the mirror, but a few drivers favor the "Brake tests" where they slam all on for a moment just to show you the error of your ways.

So don't sit right on someone's tail , even if it seems safe enough. Sometimes when you roar right up behind a car you'll have to drop back afterwards , until you can nip past. You can be less sensitive about tailgating lorries and vans because the drivers feel less vulnerable and don't have your halogen h4 headlights burning holes in their retinas.

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