Your rants here.

downfader

Cafewanda wrote:

Hi all. I'm a 46yo newbie commuter. Only been at it since September. New to cycling really as got my first ever bike 4 years ago and took 3 years to have lessons/build up my confidence. 'Chicken' was my first name

Anyway, my route is Balham to London Bridge and I've noticed over the past 2 or so weeks an increase in cyclists. Great BUT why is there a need to race? Hopefully I cycle with due care and attention, but am unnerved by those who feel the need to whiz by so close to me they could ride my bike at the same time and that's when the road has more than enough space! When there is abuildup of traffic, I join the line. Others will slide up the inside, go on the outside for squeeze down the middle. Are they all late for work, or I am a wuss for taking things easy? Sometimes I have to shake my head and hope drivers don't punish me for the actions of others, but I'm sure some of them do especially on my homeward journey

On Wednesday, a fellow cyclist managed to knock me off my bike at the lights. He was way too close, on my right side. Lights change and I slowly moved off. He appears, touches my bike and instead of stopping, carries on moving forward so I lose my balance and over I go. He did stop and saw that I was ok, as did others. No apology because that would be an admission of guilt right? I strongly advised him to refrain from getting so close and to stop moving if he tangles with another cyclist.

I have to admit to being one of those who do not use hand signals only because I'm still not comfortable taking one hand off the handlebars, but I'm getting there. However, my frequent head turns left or right seems to have the same effect and drivers, generally, slow down to let me do what I need to (thanks!).

Keep at it, you will get better and more confident! BTW welcome!

I will say that from experience that if you can go a little faster its up to you, but you have to be cautious and I hope that I'm slightly more cautious that the wolly that knocked you over.

If you're struggling with hand signals and stuff then find an empty car park you can practice in. Or a quiet park (go with a mate and you can help each other). The more you do it the better you balance becomes. In the meantime perhaps consider bicygnal lights like the ones in halfords? Drivers will still look for hand signals from cyclists though imo.

Cafewanda

Thanks for the welcome downfader.

Re the hand signals: I have practiced in my local parks and I wasn't too bad. It's when I get on the road it becames a problem. My gut tightens, my hands grip the handlebars til my shoulders ache and I lose the nerve

When I started commuting last September, I gave myself a year to become reasonably proficient (hand signals and maintenance course included), so I know the clock is ticking. I will get there.

Overcoming fear is my problem when it comes to cycling, but I would still recommend the activity to anyone

downfader

Cafewanda wrote:

Thanks for the welcome downfader.

Re the hand signals: I have practiced in my local parks and I wasn't too bad. It's when I get on the road it becames a problem. My gut tightens, my hands grip the handlebars til my shoulders ache and I lose the nerve

When I started commuting last September, I gave myself a year to become reasonably proficient (hand signals and maintenance course included), so I know the clock is ticking. I will get there.

Overcoming fear is my problem when it comes to cycling, but I would still recommend the activity to anyone

Dont be afraid, it will take the guess work out of the equasion for the motorist and other cyclists.

Heres that bike indicator I was on about:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165636

benno68

Ice Cream Van left hooked me today, no indication (of course) but I think he sh!t himself slightly when I banged on the side of the van - it was a close shave!

Thing that gets me is that plastered all over the van are "DRIVE CAREFULLY" signs, blah de blah.

It's a bit like cars with "BEWARE CHILD ON BOARD" signs and then they drive like a complete "tw@ts" with their kids loose (not belted up) in the back.

Rant over - that's better.

cjcp

Cafewanda wrote:

Hi all. I'm a 46yo newbie commuter. Only been at it since September. New to cycling really as got my first ever bike 4 years ago and took 3 years to have lessons/build up my confidence. 'Chicken' was my first name

Anyway, my route is Balham to London Bridge and I've noticed over the past 2 or so weeks an increase in cyclists. Great BUT why is there a need to race? Hopefully I cycle with due care and attention, but am unnerved by those who feel the need to whiz by so close to me they could ride my bike at the same time and that's when the road has more than enough space! When there is abuildup of traffic, I join the line. Others will slide up the inside, go on the outside for squeeze down the middle. Are they all late for work, or I am a wuss for taking things easy? Sometimes I have to shake my head and hope drivers don't punish me for the actions of others, but I'm sure some of them do especially on my homeward journey

On Wednesday, a fellow cyclist managed to knock me off my bike at the lights. He was way too close, on my right side. Lights change and I slowly moved off. He appears, touches my bike and instead of stopping, carries on moving forward so I lose my balance and over I go. He did stop and saw that I was ok, as did others. No apology because that would be an admission of guilt right? I strongly advised him to refrain from getting so close and to stop moving if he tangles with another cyclist.

I have to admit to being one of those who do not use hand signals only because I'm still not comfortable taking one hand off the handlebars, but I'm getting there. However, my frequent head turns left or right seems to have the same effect and drivers, generally, slow down to let me do what I need to (thanks!).

Howdy! And welcomg to commuting!

You'll get better the more you do it. Practice somewhere like RP (I think I saw a post in which you mentioned you'd been there), particularly the section in the middle where there's little or no traffic if that helps.

As Downfader said, don't worry about the chap that knocked you over. There truly are some berks out there.

always_tyred

Benno68 wrote:

Ice Cream Van left hooked me today, no indication (of course) but I think he sh!t himself slightly when I banged on the side of the van - it was a close shave!

Thing that gets me is that plastered all over the van are "DRIVE CAREFULLY" signs, blah de blah.

It's a bit like cars with "BEWARE CHILD ON BOARD" signs and then they drive like a complete "tw@ts" with their kids loose (not belted up) in the back.

Rant over - that's better.

No one gives a sh!t about children once they have grown up.

benno68

Always Tyred wrote:

Benno68 wrote:

Ice Cream Van left hooked me today, no indication (of course) but I think he sh!t himself slightly when I banged on the side of the van - it was a close shave!

Thing that gets me is that plastered all over the van are "DRIVE CAREFULLY" signs, blah de blah.

It's a bit like cars with "BEWARE CHILD ON BOARD" signs and then they drive like a complete "tw@ts" with their kids loose (not belted up) in the back.

Rant over - that's better.

No one gives a sh!t about children once they have grown up.

But I'm a 40 year old kid!!! Does that count???

Cafewanda

Hi Benno

Sounds to me like your icecream van man is related to the one who regularly tries to run over myself and other club runners, at Streatham Common on a Thursday night. Maybe they score a certain number of points for a particular type of road user?

benno68

Hey Cafewanda

Maybe he uses the scorecard from the SCR threads - you never know

Scalping of a different kind.

Porgy

I had just come over London Bridge and reached the traffic lights, into the ASL where an older woman (I'm 42) edges in to my left. There wasn;t really space but I moved aside for her thinking she was going to whizz off when the lights changed. But she didn't - she tootled along still on my left. I sped up, she sped up, I slowed down, she slowed down, I couldn;t even stop due to the seriously heavy traffic just behind me - and I couldn;t tuck into the side of the road cos she was there. anyway - I wanted to turn left, so I sped up again stuck my arm out and turned left up to the station. About 30 seconds later I heard her squeak and looked back, she'd followed me up the incline and gone into a huge pothole and nearly fallen off. Now I'd just been across this pothole, and despite it being uncomfortable, I didn;t come close to falling off. I certainly got the impression that she was a novice cyclist.

At the station she caught me up - I'd stopped - and said "you know what you made me do". Now I can't see the connection between my turning left in front of her and her falling off her bike 30 seconds later due to a pothole. And then in her plummy accent she said "I'm sure you didn;t mean to do it". I told her that she'd caused the problem by edging into a gap that never existing and getting in my way - that she should be more aware of what other cyclists are doing. She walked off before I finished. Grrrr. that's when I saw red and shouted that she was a bloody menace and should give up cycling before she hurts someone.

Was I wrong?

alfablue

Porgy and Cefewanda - two sides to every story :?

Porgy

alfablue wrote:

Porgy and Cefewanda - two sides to every story :?

I know it looks like it, but I don't think Cefewanda is my woman - she's not old enough I don't think and I'm not aware of any services from London Bridge that go to Balham - it sounds like Cefewanda cycles all the way to Balham anyway - not jumping on a train like some lightweights :P

Rich158

I had my closest call yet last night. Riding up through Greenwich to meet the London Phoenix boys in Regents Park, I was filtering along the left, approaching a junction on the left. The escort van allongside of me (white :roll: ) wasn't indicating to go anywhere and the junction was clear so I thought it was safe to cross. Oh no, the twat in the van decides to indicate at the last minute and left hook me. Luckily we were both going slowly and I managed to turn with him, so it was more of a gentle nudge,, and I managed not to hit the deck thank god.

What really got me was his gormless twat of a mate in the passenger seat was watching me the whole time and didn't do anything to warn the driver, and then gave me a mouthfull. What a pair if cnuts :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Cafewanda

Porgy wrote:

I had just come over London Bridge and reached the traffic lights, into the ASL where an older woman (I'm 42) edges in to my left. There wasn;t really space but I moved aside for her thinking she was going to whizz off when the lights changed. But she didn't - she tootled along still on my left. I sped up, she sped up, I slowed down, she slowed down, I couldn;t even stop due to the seriously heavy traffic just behind me - and I couldn;t tuck into the side of the road cos she was there. anyway - I wanted to turn left, so I sped up again stuck my arm out and turned left up to the station. About 30 seconds later I heard her squeak and looked back, she'd followed me up the incline and gone into a huge pothole and nearly fallen off. Now I'd just been across this pothole, and despite it being uncomfortable, I didn;t come close to falling off. I certainly got the impression that she was a novice cyclist.

At the station she caught me up - I'd stopped - and said "you know what you made me do". Now I can't see the connection between my turning left in front of her and her falling off her bike 30 seconds later due to a pothole. And then in her plummy accent she said "I'm sure you didn;t mean to do it". I told her that she'd caused the problem by edging into a gap that never existing and getting in my way - that she should be more aware of what other cyclists are doing. She walked off before I finished. Grrrr. that's when I saw red and shouted that she was a bloody menace and should give up cycling before she hurts someone.

Was I wrong?

DEFINITELY not me. 'Speed' is not in my cycling armoury at the moment and I definitely don't have a plummy accent.

Porgy

Cafewanda wrote:

DEFINITELY not me. 'Speed' is not in my cycling armoury at the moment and I definitely don't have a plummy accent.

Hoorah!


Then we can be friends!


8)

Cafewanda

hmmm

You wait til I get some speed, then we'll see. In the meantime "very pleased to meet you" (spoken in my bestest South London accent).

Mickey Eye

Rant at myself now. Took a corner way to fast in the rain. Somehow this translated into a fractured shoulder, some superficial scrapes to the bike and totalled the sleeve of my jacket. Unsure as to what is worse, not being able to ride for a few weeks or having to watch Eurovision sober.

Cafewanda

:shock: :shock: The ESC is still on? Thought that had disappeared years ago

Sorry to hear about your fall. I reckon not riding will be the more painful of the two.

slightly delayed

First post, and it's a rant sorry,.cheers to the pair of numbnuts in the blue saxo near Grimsby college yesterday lunchtime I really appreciate milkshake been chucked at me :evil:

chris s

grayo59

Cafewanda wrote:

Hi Benno

Sounds to me like your icecream van man is related to the one who regularly tries to run over myself and other club runners, at Streatham Common on a Thursday night. Maybe they score a certain number of points for a particular type of road user?

99?

mountainroadie

not usually on this thread but ive got a moan
on the cycle path home i slowed down as i usually do for dogs
this was two dogs off their leads on a cycle route with a line down the middle
anyway one of the dogs actually ran into me from the side :shock: the dog was ok
the dog owner didnt usher his dogs out the way like most do .i tried to remain calm as i cycled off .then the dog owner started the verbal abuse .......
i braked hard spun the bike around and cycled towards him
funny how people change there stories when confronted

msw

Top of Adelaide Road this morning in Swiss Cottage, I'm rolling slowly up to the red light in the LH lane when a Megane to my right decides he doesn't want to turn right after all and ducks into my lane, practically driving into me. I accelerate and squeak out in front of him as the lights go green, looking over my shoulder and giving him the patented Hard Stare.

Cue instant whacking of horn. Genuinely surprised I turn round to see he's gone from nought to purple-faced rage in 2 seconds and is now trying to get past in too small a gap (I'm still doing about 15mph here). Too much, so I sit up a bit and turn round with a "what?" sort of gesture, upon which he continues yelling, gives me the finger and peaks with a massive "FSCK OFF!" before accelerating past on the wrong side of the road.

Nice. Nice for his 3-4year old son in the back too. Twunt.

Fireblade96

On my way home from work the other day, cycling along at a decent pace, I hear the irritable revving symptomatic of an impatient driver behind me. Next thing there's a burst of revs and he passes me.

Nothing strange there, but the queue of traffic in front was all of 20m ahead, so he then slams on the brakes to avoid tail-ending the car in front. And I filter on past...

He passes me again slightly further on, again gets stuck at lights, and as I come past this time I give him the patented Sorry Shake of the Head. I'm at the front of the queue at the lights, don't see him again.

No surprise that he's driving a BMW :roll:

rontana

Bloody thieves...
Having just spent a good wadge on locks and shackels for the bike shed to secure my trusty steed. Some local scrotes broke into my flat and nicked my keys...

Not that they took the bike, it's just that it's rendered all my shiny new locks worthless. Forcing me to have to buy a whole new set. GRRRRRRRRRR

KonaKurt

OK, my turn to have a quick rant! (and i'm not usually the type to do so..!)

A big thank you to the stupid grey haired plum in his black Range Rover (registration PSU ???) who drove down from Shotover Hill (Oxford) down along Old Road this afternoon. Thank you for not only pulling out from a private driveway somewhere, very suddenly without checking if a cyclist was coming down the hill at a sensable 20ish MPH... but thank you also for looking at me in your mirror over and over again, and deliberatly hitting your brakes suddenly again and again ....

It's quite obvious to me that you don't like cyclists from the way that you kept checking to see if you could make me rear end your tail bar while going downhill. I wish I had my helmet-cam turned on, because your dangerous driving today, not to mention your nerve at provoking a cyclist for no obvious reason, deserves to have your license suspended and a hefty fine.

A good job I decided to descend the steep hill slowly and sensabilly, otherwise this plum would have sent me rocketing through the air to my death, no doubt.

My apologies to any responsible and sensable Range Rover drivers out there...

KK
(I owe my life to my superb Hayes 9 brakes)

Mr_Cellophane

rontana wrote:

Bloody thieves...
Having just spent a good wadge on locks and shackels for the bike shed to secure my trusty steed. Some local scrotes broke into my flat and nicked my keys...

Not that they took the bike, it's just that it's rendered all my shiny new locks worthless. Forcing me to have to buy a whole new set. GRRRRRRRRRR

At least you get to test how theft proof they are

salsarider79

We're allowed top rant at ourselfs on here too???!!! :twisted:
In that case I'm on a big rant at myself for:

a: not taking enough food with me yesterday when riding about something over 50miles
b: meeting up with people who wanted to ride faster than I did, and riding with them
c: getting lost when trying to show them the route I was trying to take (and eventually did after they got bored and left)
d: last but not least, taking the stupidly long and steep way home when I was already tired, hungry and lacking water!

I had several rest stops, ran out of water twice and even the Haribo sweets I'd promised myself as a treat for doing the ride got eaten.

It is said that you live and learn. I just live. :roll:

p.s. I maintain that its not all my fault, my bike always wants to explore a new road...

ride_whenever

Konakurt,

the road down from shotover has flat enough banks on the corners, were you not tempted to overtakehim when he braked.... :twisted:

Also when do you ride up there?

KonaKurt

Ride: Tempted to overtake, of course! But ABLE to overtake this grapefruit, in his wide and slightly swerving Range Rover? No way. Beside, even if he had not been swerving slightly, I just KNOW from his mentality, that if he was to see me ovetake him as normal, he would have done something to show his 'dominance' on the road (maybe nudge me sideways?)

Anyway, I remembered his full Reg No last night, and with family in law enforcement let's say , he could be in trouble now.

The whole of Shotover Hill is a great area, I've heard some riders put it down saying is it not that big or too special, but I disagree ... ride it end to end and go all the way down into Wheatley for a nice quick off road fix without leaving Oxford.... not bad! I go there some weekends, usually en route from the Chilterns or Brill.

KK.

Dog Breath

Idiot F**kwit Drivers

This doesn’t really have a cycling theme and may not be appropriate to a cycling forum, but I just feel the need to vent.

I drive most days and yesterday was no different by taking advantage of the fantastic weather and went for a days hill walking in Snowdonia. On the drive home, just after Conway I hit the tail end of a traffic queue on A55 (2 lane dual carriageway)

Idiot F**k-wit Drivers 1

This traffic queue continued at various speeds (usually slow or stopped) for over 16 miles. Just after St.Asaph where the road is straight and descends, there is a clear view ahead for over a mile and I could see that the traffic appeared to be moving freely further ahead.

The reason ? On the opposite carriageway there was a police car stopped and the policeman was using a hand held speed gun, but he was not checking for cars on our carriageway.

Therefore, f**k-wit rubber-neckers caused 16+ miles of tail backs just so that they could look at a policeman with a speed gun !! Aarghh.

Idiot F**k-wit Drivers 2

Nearer home, on a single carriageway road with the national speed limit of 60 mph, a line of cars were happily progressing at 50mph. Suddenly, brake lights were on and we were all down to less than 30mph.

The Reason ? There was a Gatso speed camera. But why the need to hit the brakes hard when they are already doing 10mph less than the speed limit. Are they so unaware of their surroundings and their speed that upon spotting the offending speed camera they panic and hit the brakes. Aarghh !!!

Idiot F**k-wit Drivers 3

Shortly afterwards after joining the M53, the motorway takes a long sweeping right hand curve. I normally take this bend comfortably at 70mph on the inside of the bend ie in the outside lane. However, on this occasion I was in the inside lane behind someone who obviously could not control their car. Doing 55mph, such was the drivers inability to drive around the curve, it was if they were driving around the edge of a 50 pence piece – straight, turn, straight, turn, straight, turn and repeat.

Then, at the end of the curve the motorway bends slightly the opposite direction. This was obviously too much for the driver as upon seeing this they had to brake.

The driver was a woman in their early twenties. I’m not making any generalisation about women drivers, but are these people so unskilled at driving and controlling their vehicles that they cannot perform a simple manoeuvre of driving around a curve. Aarghh !!!

OK, I feel better now….