I had my first dispute yesterday since getting back on the bike. It wasn't on the road though, it was a old chap walking. I'm sticking to paths atm as my helmets still not arrived. Shouted 'excuse me' twice but he didn't react and I'd caught him up so went in the grass verge but there long grass hid the step up and my bike wheel dragged along the side. The old chap said something about going on the grass to get passed (which I clearly tried to do). I told him I'd shouted excuse me but he started something about the road. I shouted "shut the **** up you miserable old dickhead" and went on my way. #shortandswift
My daughter used to live in Bristol. Whenever I visited I was pissed off with the number of people riding bikes on the pavement and through crowded pedestrianised areas.
i splattered someone just outside my workplace one day . He regularly flew down the pavement even though it was very busy including an entrance to the main shopping precinct and a pedestrian crossing . I came into the path to find him hurtling towards me so i turned my chair round to angle towards him and clipped his back wheel - very strange noise when his face hit the pavement but have to say felt no guilt as people had moaned at this fella no end of times about the danger he posed ..
I've never had an altercation with a ped of any kind ... I've had my fair share of close calls with them of course, in my line of riding it's usually them stepping out into the road not appreciating that I am coming towards them at a reasonable speed. I'm of the don't react school of thought, sometimes it's obvious who's fault something is, other times it's always good to think is there something I could've been doing differently that would've prevented that
Exactly, we're using roads and infrastructure that were designed and laid down decades ago for like half the volume of vehicles that now use them, plus as you say the vehicles have fundamentally changed, cars have got bigger and grown into SUVs etc, massive trucks and lorries are now common and it's just not possible to make changes to much of the historical/traditional road system because it's so confined and there isn't the room, or it isn't sensible to widen it. This is a problem for everyone using any particular road, not just cyclists, and contributes a lot. Personally I have the capacity/ability to think as both a driver and a cyclist when I'm in the car or on the bike, it's not that difficult ... that's why you'll see me in the driver's seat of the car in lycra turning my legs over out the bottom through a special pedalling hole looking very confused, and trying to press a button on the cockpit to get the bike engine going
Exactly the point. The roads aren't practical for such a variety of use. As someone who has variously been a cyclist, motorcyclist, car and motorhome driver - as well as a pedestrian, obviously - I can see all sides. They just don't mix. There are good and bad people within all of those groups, so one set vilifying another is silly. Everyone has to take care in what is far from an ideal situation.
He designed the Daleks to rid the universe of pesky cyclists - but that bloody Doctor keeps interfering...
Better that than please log in to view this image if only i had received a pound for every "wit" who went "oi no speeding Ironside" . mind you those great big metal footplates made a very effective weapon
There are some total morons on bikes, I'll give you that, from road cyclists who think they've got free reign to cycle wherever they want and hog the middle of a lane riding what they'd call 'defensively', to people on bikes pootling around in some oblivious dreamworld. Just as there are in vehicles, the morons who like to shout abuse at cyclists out of their windows or beep their horns to try and scare them, or pass needlessly close and dangerously. I've had all that. It doesn't phase me now, but it's intimidating for those with less stiff constitutions or who are new to road biking or less frequent/experienced cyclists I agree that there are always hazards. The problem with cycle paths, in the UK at least, is that they aren't consistent, consistently there that is, and also consistently safe to cycle in ... the surfaces in cycle paths are often a lot worse than the normal road surface and a lot of **** from the road ends up in them and never seems to get cleaned up so they're a potential puncture fest and quite tricky to ride in, they're also very confining. I'd argue that they give drivers given our road culture, a false sense of security too like they think they're a protective shield for cyclists so they don't need to give any more space. Last night there was a stretch on a dual carriageway which I use somewhat frequently that has decent cycle path for a while but it disappears eventually, that's what I mean about the consistency, and that cycle path is also pavement ... if you're a decent cyclist and you're training or whatever trying to stay at a certain pace, it's just better to stay on the road for various reasons. I know you'll see this differently
I've realised it for a while. It's only because we're so familiar with each other on here I expected/hoped @Solid_Air 2 would be ok with the piss-take.
