Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:35 pm  

tedglen wrote:

What get's me, everyone here appears to be talking about grown men, not kids. (including my example).
All that I can say is they should know better. ffs.

I know, and its nearly always males too - its an aggression thing.

Having cycled in heavy commuter traffic I know that there is conflict from time to time, not the sort of gesticulating stand-up fight sort of conflict but a definite flavour of "Fook me that was too close" or "I don't think that person waiting to pull out of that junction has actually seen me yet", and there is definitely a heightened sense of speed as cars zip past you (even within the speed limits) and of personal risk - not only have you got the motorised road users to contend with but you've also got the road surface waiting to pitch you off into the road, and it can be terrible near the kerb.

All of this adds to a "them and us" attitude and in certain males it becomes aggressive and competitive, for no real need, not many cyclists actually want to physically take on a motor vehicle and not many vehicle drivers actually want to run over a cyclist, but you'd be excused for not thinking this was the case when you see some of them.

All of which could be massively avoided with the judicious separation of the two types of road users with the ultimate aim of making the routes safer for children to use - how many kids cycle to school these days ?

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:40 pm  

Robbo wrote:

I remember it mainly for a young lad who rode his Bike with a camera on his helmet who came across as one of the most arrogrant people I've ever seen. Who basically thought that because he had the camera he could do what he liked and if anyone gave him any jip then the little camera on his helmet made him invincible...

Theres loads of them on Youtube and without fail nearly all of them put themselves into danger by their manner of riding, and their arrogance.

There is one who takes a route into Leeds that I have used and just from the video I can tell that he is riding aggressively in heavy traffic and also too fast to avoid any problems, I take my hat off to his fitness because he is pelting along and easily keeping up with the motor traffic, but when stuff happens (as it invariably does to him) then he is very vulnerable and usually sh#ts himself and then starts bawling out the drivers - when its not always their fault.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:47 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

All of which could be massively avoided with the judicious separation of the two types of road users with the ultimate aim of making the routes safer for children to use - how many kids cycle to school these days ?

Have you ever been to or seen one of the Sky Rides? I've done a couple now in Leeds and Bradford and there are thousands of young families out on a loop of closed roads. They walk their bikes there and walk their bikes home again though, which I think is telling. There's so much demand for segregated bike paths out there but it's completely hidden, because for many it's all or nothing.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:49 pm  

vbfg wrote:

Have you ever been to or seen one of the Sky Rides? I've done a couple now in Leeds and Bradford and there are thousands of young families out on a loop of closed roads. They walk their bikes there and walk their bikes home again though, which I think is telling. There's so much demand for segregated bike paths out there but it's completely hidden, because for many it's all or nothing.

Only noticed it in Leeds this year when it was too late to re-organise stuff, looked good though, and you're right, there's a huge family demand but bikes. kids, and A roads just don't mix well, which is a great shame.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:40 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

Theres loads of them on Youtube and without fail nearly all of them put themselves into danger by their manner of riding, and their arrogance.

There is one who takes a route into Leeds that I have used and just from the video I can tell that he is riding aggressively in heavy traffic and also too fast to avoid any problems, I take my hat off to his fitness because he is pelting along and easily keeping up with the motor traffic, but when stuff happens (as it invariably does to him) then he is very vulnerable and usually sh#ts himself and then starts bawling out the drivers - when its not always their fault.

One I saw once on youtube once was a cyclist who crashed into a car that pulled out on him. Even from the video I could tell the car was going to pull out on him from a good way away. Cyclist proceeds to crash into him, seemingly just to prove a point that he had right of way.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Sat Aug 17, 2013 7:18 pm  

wigan_rlfc wrote:

Cyclist proceeds to crash into him, seemingly just to prove a point that he had right of way.

Graveyards are full of 'em

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:41 am  

Last month I witnessed a small group of cyclists turning right at a junction. They all looked behind them, signaled right and slowly moved into the middle of the road just before the junction and waited for the traffic in the opposite direction to cease before making their maneuver.

Approaching them from behind was a woman in a slick Audi who wound her window down and screamed bloody murder and abuse at them, because she had been held up for all of 10-15 seconds.

Aggression works both ways.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:48 pm  

Today I saw a cyclist stop at a red light, wait, then move off with no drama whatsoever, it then took me about 20 seconds to get past him and not once did I get angry about it, I went to work and he went wherever he was going with zero fuss.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:36 am  

Mintball wrote:

I'm neither a motorist nor a cyclist, and I've seen stupidity from both. But I've never been assaulted by a motorist or spat on by a motorist or threatened by a motorist.

Been threatened by other motorists a few times, usually when they try to cut in front of me in daft situations and I don't let them. I've even had one try to get out of his car to start a fight with me over that. I moved off very slowly so he could almost catch me, kept him going for a good 50 metres, then accelerated up to the speed limit. Leaving him to walk back to his car, which had been left unattended in the middle of the road. I hope he felt like a bit of a fool during that walk back.

Re: Cyclists Cycling - do they annoy you ? : Fri Aug 23, 2013 11:21 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Been threatened by other motorists a few times, usually when they try to cut in front of me in daft situations and I don't let them. I've even had one try to get out of his car to start a fight with me over that. I moved off very slowly so he could almost catch me, kept him going for a good 50 metres, then accelerated up to the speed limit. Leaving him to walk back to his car, which had been left unattended in the middle of the road. I hope he felt like a bit of a fool during that walk back.

He did feel a bit of a fool.

But he thinks you're a pu55y who ran from a fight.