Filtering is Fun

One of the things I watch out for when filtering is breaks in the traffic. If a car in the traffic either side of your filtering line isn't paying attention/pulls off slowly and opens up a gap watch out for cars sharply changing lanes. Those breaks can also mean they're letting a vehicle join or cross the road, which means you might have a vehicle pulling out suddenly and not looking in your direction if the road in the opposite direction is clear. In the mornings watch out for condensation that you can't see that may have formed on the white lines or tarred joints in the road, they become very slippery. I've also found out the bumpy way that driving over catseyes and white lines in a car is very different to riding over them on a bike, white lines especially can be very high and can tilt the bike when you try to mount them from the side. Biggest piece of advice is take is slow and steady, if the road is clear in the opposite direction don't be afraid to move over a bit further into the oncoming lane. Main thing about filtering is the fact that you're moving/making progress and they aren't.

Undertaking middle laners doesn't bother me, just part of driving now. It does get irritating when they realise they're doing something wrong, then decide to match your speed to block you (50/50 if they're doing it deliberately or just crap drivers) on the inside lane when you come up behind a slower vehicle. This makes me have to slow down, pull up 2 lanes, overtake at a higher speed than I was cruising at, then pull back down 2 lanes and return to cruising speed.

The elephant racing annoys me as well, but what makes it more tragic is how many people get past them then don't pull down into the empty lanes in front of the trucks to let others get past.

I like how the people who sit in the middle lane smugly justify it by saying "If I'm doing 70 in the middle lane anyone overtaking me is speeding.", while ignoring the fact they are breaking another law by not returning to the left lane when not overtaking. If we used their argument of "the motorway is empty and its not inconveniencing anyone", surely me driving at 120mph on an empty motorway isn't an issue either.

Also take a look at some of the waterproof oversuits, they can be lifesavers if your gear isn't as waterproof as its supposed to be...