Overtaking whilst on a group ride

[dawnrazor]

Hi,

Lets say you're in a group ride where there's a bit of a riding pace differential between different members of a group.
This is sort of hard to explain so i've drawn a picture which shows what I mean.

Lets say that you're one of the 'faster' riders (bike B) and you pull up behind one of the slower riders (bike A) who is still faster than the car and is waiting for a good place to overtake the car.

Should bike B wait for bike A to overtake the car and then overtake the slower rider or should he just pass them both at the same time?

The reason I ask is I nearly saw a couple of high speed accidents yesterday due to bike A pulling out to overtake the car without realising that bike B was pulling out to overtake them both.

My view point was that the bike behind should wait untill the slower bike has passed and then pass the slower bike. Thats what i'd do if I were the faster bike unless the slower bike pulled to the left to let me through. Just seems a bit more curtious / safer that way. If I were the slower bike and couldn't find a good place to pass the car within a reasonable period, then i'd pull left to let the other bike through. However i'd expect the bike behind to give me a fair crack at overtaking the car first.

Is there a general guide line about this? I imagine its only gonna be a matter of time before theres a high speed collision otherwise.

Avoid riding in groups with slower riders unless your prepared to ride at their pace.
If you up the anti, the pressure is on the slower rider to stay in touch with you, which will make them ride beyond their abilities. The chances of the slower rider having an off, has just got a lot high and its partly your fault for raising the bar.
It can be argued that the slower rider doesn't have to go faster, but lets face it after the humiliation of being overtaken 9 out 10 slow riders are going to speed up, particul;arly if they don't know where they are going and are following the group.
Its kinda part of the thinking behind having novice, intermediate and expert groups at track days.

[Yokai]

As a slower rider, I'd appreciate it if the faster person waited for a roadcode safe place to overtake. I've put myself in the position of nearly killing myself by not having the power to overtake, and although it is MY fault that I want to try to keep up with a Hayabusa when I ride an SRV250, I know I am not alone in that... we tend to go "Oh - experienced person can do that, I can do that too!" rather than "Dang that's some power that bike has... I'll wait"