Silly commuting racing

hopkinb

rower63 wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

you should be in the cycle lane").

That'll be why he did it. Punishment for me not being in the cycle lane. I've had helpful motorcyclists, scooterists and taxi drivers tell me this before on the same stretch of road.

rhodrich

I also had a 'you should be in the cycle lane' incident this morning on Priory Lane, with a guy in a Maserati SUV hooting, and revving aggressively behind me. As usual in these sorts of situations, this encourages me to slow down and take primary (whilst helpfully pointing out the 20mph speed limit signs).

Of course, he caught up at the lights, and I asked him what the problem was, which was the usual 'it's illegal for you to be in the road when there's a cycle lane' nonsense. I told him that it wasn't, and that he needed to brush up on his Highway Code. I then pointed out that he shouldn't have been exceeding the speed limit, whilst looking at his mobile phone, which was on, and in his lap. Clearly realising that he had picked on the wrong guy, he wound up his window, and told me that he 'didn't want to speak to me'. Drivers like to think that when their windows are shut, the world outside disappears.

I might have accidentally moved in front of him (he was at the front of the queue), and taken quite a while to get going when the lights turned to green. I only just got through, and sadly, he didn't. I gave him a friendly wave, and left him fuming at the red lights.....

hopkinb

Rhodrich wrote:

I gave him a friendly wave, and left him fuming at the red lights.....

A much better response than mine! Though to be fair, I only walloped this guy's wing mirror because it was an old sh1t heap of a car. I wasn't expecting it to disintegrate quite so satisfyingly, erm, I mean catastrophically. I expect the same stunt on a maserati suv would have left me with a broken hand.

anonymousblackfg

Sounds sh1tty as Hopkins, unsuprising by the morons in cars out there.

Bumped into a chap i've talked to before who races, I let him take the lead as my legs had nothing only to watch him go down when someone in font of him hit the anchors to avoid a late undertaking car. He was happy enough that he should not have been so close to the guy in front but i'm sure the adrenaline has now worn off and he's feeling bruised. Thankfully the driver behind was paying attention (White Evoke)...

dekant

It's obviously day of the (extra) dickhead motorists.

Had one pull out onto a mini roundabout in front of me this morning. Luckily I was able to scrub most of my speed and turned slightly so I only "gently" bumped into the car but it was as close as you can get without being knocked off. Will need to see what it looks like on the camera later.

I was more sanguine than hopkins but in a way I kind of regret it really. While I was busy making sure I had a number plate the driver just wound down their window a crack, mouthed something that I couldn't understand (it wasn't sorry) and then drove off. Kind of feeling that I let them off too lightly with only asking if they "were blind", although maybe they'll get a shock on their doormat at some point in the future.

wolfsbane2k

Blimey, sounds like the day of the d1ckheads has returned for an encore - sorry to hear that all
Still, I now need to go and clean the monitor again, cheers Rhodich. Love the idea of a slow ride out through an amber.

I've never taken a wingmirror off after the incident, but I've taken of a number in an attempt to give me a few extra cm, and the old cars definitely leave a beautiful and satisfying shower of pieces as they go.

vpnikolov

rower63 wrote:

hopkinb wrote:

...I'm afraid that I smashed his passenger-side wing mirror off ...

I genuinely spat some coffee out when I read that.
I also admit I've done the same when a woman drove up to me whilst stationary at a red light, and pushed me out of the way with her car, taking skin off my hand in the process ( "WTF d'you think you're doing?" "you should be in the cycle lane").

Something similar happened during the Dulwich intro ride this Saturday. Our group was approaching a red light when a Prius overtook us and deliberately drove up to the curb to cut us off. The woman inside the car found it very funny and was "apologising" for "interrupting our day out cycling". What she did not find very funny soon after was driving behind a group of 10 cyclists riding two-abreast and unable to overtake. Her impatience peaked at the worst possible moment when she decided to overtake before a corner with a car coming up the other way on a residential street where the limit is, I believe - 20 mph. What could have resulted in a very bad morning for all of us was narrowly averted due to the slow speed of the car coming up the road. :evil:

It looks like there are certain periods when driving standards massively decline....

Oh, forgot to mention the c*nt behind her that acted in a similar fashion. I was very determined to catch up with him at the upcoming roundabout, unfortunately the moment I caught up, he managed to enter the roundabout and turn in another direction only to end up for where he was in such a huge hurry - behind a line of traffic. :roll:

kingdav

We had similar on a club ride this weekend. Big jag decides to follow another car round us, he wouldn't have been able to see, just assumed he'd be able to follow the tracks of the car in front of him overtaking. There was a car coming the other way though, so although car no.1 got by ok and round us safely, the jag had to come to a complete standstill next to us nose to nose with the car coming the other way. Happily the driver of the other car wasn't going too quickly, but was presumably as shocked (if not more shocked) as we were, both came to a complete stop and there was no impact. We witnessed several other idiot manoeuvres but none quite as silly as that one where the driver actually got caught out.

cruff

Must have been the weekend for it...

Coming back from race training ride, last interval so nailing it - dead straight, pan flat road with a tailwind - Strava says 46k/h. About a hundred metres ahead, there's a recycling centre on the left and I see an SUV is waiting to get out and turn right. Steady stream of cars coming in the opposite direction, with no gap - but my spidery sense was tingling, so slowed a bit, 'just in case'. As I get closer, there is a slight gap in the traffic coming the other way - but definitely not enough for the car to get out, cross my lane and get onto the opposite lane and pull away without hitting an oncoming car, let alone t-boning me.
The imbecile looks straight at me, then looks left, then looks straight at me again... Before pulling out. Then stopping dead to avoid hitting the oncoming car. I *actually* screamed, clamped on, skidded, did an endo and finally stopped with my front wheel hitting his door lightly.

Im ashamed to say the stream of invective and hurled abuse he got paled into insignificance when he made to open his door and I *literally* growled at him "DO NOT get out of your F***ING car". The bloke in the car behind me had stopped and ran to grab me as I think he saw what was about to happen. He gave the other driver dog's abuse, and he simply drove away without acknowledging the incident. Number plate written down and independent witness statement agreed to by the most helpful driver - but I was really, really shaken up by it. If I hadn't had the foresight (and luck) to just hold back a bit, despite it being completely unnecessary, I'd probably be dead.

sgt.pepper

Cruff wrote:

Must have been the weekend for it...

Coming back from race training ride, last interval so nailing it - dead straight, pan flat road with a tailwind - Strava says 46k/h. About a hundred metres ahead, there's a recycling centre on the left and I see an SUV is waiting to get out and turn right. Steady stream of cars coming in the opposite direction, with no gap - but my spidery sense was tingling, so slowed a bit, 'just in case'. As I get closer, there is a slight gap in the traffic coming the other way - but definitely not enough for the car to get out, cross my lane and get onto the opposite lane and pull away without hitting an oncoming car, let alone t-boning me.
The imbecile looks straight at me, then looks left, then looks straight at me again... Before pulling out. Then stopping dead to avoid hitting the oncoming car. I *actually* screamed, clamped on, skidded, did an endo and finally stopped with my front wheel hitting his door lightly.

Im ashamed to say the stream of invective and hurled abuse he got paled into insignificance when he made to open his door and I *literally* growled at him "DO NOT get out of your F***ING car". The bloke in the car behind me had stopped and ran to grab me as I think he saw what was about to happen. He gave the other driver dog's abuse, and he simply drove away without acknowledging the incident. Number plate written down and independent witness statement agreed to by the most helpful driver - but I was really, really shaken up by it. If I hadn't had the foresight (and luck) to just hold back a bit, despite it being completely unnecessary, I'd probably be dead.

Jesus Christ that sounds hairy as hell. Back commuting with the wife after her incident, but the stress is pretty immense at the moment. Credit to her, she's pretty brave getting back on the bike after getting taken out. Ironically she managed to have another scarily close pass by another woman in a black SUV, literally round the corner from where she got taken out before. Think we're just going to have to stick to the footpath at that point, pretty lethally designed section of road considering its design/combined with kiwi driving.

cjcp

@Cruff - sweet Christ. Pretty much says it all if another driver got out of his car. Any cameras around there which may show the craziness unfolding?

@Sgt Pepper - do you still have that crazy rule about giving way to drivers turning in front of you from the right? Or something like that.

itboffin

Meniscus tear of the right knee for me, walking in the lakes back in August, that'll teach me. Surgery on Friday. 2018 has been my worst year on the bike in 5+ and ironically the first in 11 where I've not commuted by bike.

Its a sign!!!

cruff

cjcp wrote:

@Cruff - sweet Christ. Pretty much says it all if another driver got out of his car. Any cameras around there which may show the craziness unfolding?

Sadly not. Its in a rural area (coming into Altrincham from Dunham Massey, for the very few people on here who know Manchester) and no dashcam footage from the car behind, and was on the race bike, so no camera.

First time I've been really shaken in a couple of years - only really brought home a couple of minutes after I'd calmed down from losing my rag with the driver

ricky_h-2

There's a lot of pretty grim incidents being reported here and the hour going back is a time when accident rates spike up on the roads, either from not being fully used to the dark, fatigue etc or a combination.
I am only here typing this after assuming that the knuckledragger driving the lorry that pulled out (without slowing or looking to turn right) across me on reverse sex panther was going to do exactly that. I heard no drop in engine revs as he approached his junction and took pre-emptive action to avoid being crushed by him. Some people are careless and some couldn't care less. Doesn't matter which if you rely on drivers to give you the due care and attention they're supposed to and they don't. Take it easy folks.

dekant

To add to the fun of yesterday's idiotic woman, I also had one of London's finest pretty much drive straight at me on the way home as well. This is one of the manoeuvres that pisses me off the most - all they need to do is lift off for a second but no, they just accelerate at you because they just don't care. :evil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7luiHDO8I

On a more positive note, I had a rare capture of the Clapham Sex Panther this morning. Here's hoping they've tweaked the light timings back so that I can start getting it again.

asprilla

Mobile chicane this morning. I caught up with them in Kingston and they rode side by side all the way up King's Road blocking my overtaking and traffic coming the other way. There wasn't a lot of traffic, 5s of single file would have let it past, but they were oblivious or just didn't care.

Overtook them in the park but they went past again when I stopped to take a photo. Caught them again at the end of Putney Bridge where they shoaled to the front and then took up half the road again. This became the story of the morning. all the way to Blackfriars.

I like riding two abreast, but surely it's just good manners to be considerate to others and occasionally make a space. Queue of people wanting to be past all the way down embankment.

smokey_bacon

Damn...lots kicking off recently! Twas halloween week I suppose. Glad no-one was seriously hurt though!

Had my first visitation in a good old time at PS this morning. Made a graceful stop at the side of the road, then promptly fell over trying to get up the steps! While I was in my pitstop got scalped by Rhodrich & Rower.

It seems to be a day for fairies, had a one of the drafting variety latch on down embankment about 6 inches from my rear wheel. Explained in an unimpressed manner at the lights at blackfrairs chicane that he should leave space and was an idiot got a noncommital shrug and mumbled ok out of it.

cruff

itboffin wrote:

Meniscus tear of the right knee for me, walking in the lakes back in August, that'll teach me. Surgery on Friday. 2018 has been my worst year on the bike in 5+ and ironically the first in 11 where I've not commuted by bike.

Its a sign!!!

Bummer. That'll teach you to use your legs for a purpose they weren't intended (i.e. Not on a bicycle)

Mend up well - you'll be back moaning about the wind in no time

ricky_h-2

Just to add to it, I arrived after a cyclist/prius (most probably Uber) collision on the "quietway" at Tyers street (round the back of Vauxhall) this morning at around 7am. Cyclist was down, being tended to and an ambulance on the way. I hope he is ok as the bike was bent up quite badly and it looked like the Uber had hit him crossing from Jonathan street which is a nightmare junction if cars don't check both ways for bikes (Tyers street one way to cars, both ways to bikes). Sorry to add to the grimness and hope he is ok

AyBee

Ricky h wrote:

Just to add to it, I arrived after a cyclist/prius (most probably Uber) collision on the "quietway" at Tyers street (round the back of Vauxhall) this morning at around 7am. Cyclist was down, being tended to and an ambulance on the way. I hope he is ok as the bike was bent up quite badly and it looked like the Uber had hit him crossing from Jonathan street which is a nightmare junction if cars don't check both ways for bikes (Tyers street one way to cars, both ways to bikes). Sorry to add to the grimness and hope he is ok

Seems to be a lot of it about right now. Had a narrow miss last week (the guy in front had an even more narrow miss!) with a car pulling an overtake and then left turn in the wet, made even worse by the fact the car was plastered with advertising the training of driving instructors - you couldn't make it up Wish I'd had my front camera on

martinc

Ricky h wrote:

There's a lot of pretty grim incidents being reported here and the hour going back is a time when accident rates spike up on the roads, either from not being fully used to the dark, fatigue etc or a combination.

This. It's like it every year. At least it's not raining or icy. Yet.
Tailwindtastic blast home last night with a quick group jostling through the jams on the Embankment. Great fun.
Normal service resumed this morning. urgh.

kingstonian

itboffin wrote:

Meniscus tear of the right knee for me, walking in the lakes back in August, that'll teach me. Surgery on Friday. 2018 has been my worst year on the bike in 5+ and ironically the first in 11 where I've not commuted by bike.

Its a sign!!!

I've been there, not a lot of fun. Mine was re-sutured back in place rather than the loose bit being removed, which is apparently better long term but takes aaaaaaaages to fully heal after the op. Good luck with the rehab, make sure you work the physio hard and do everything they prescribe to get back to full fitness asap.

kingstonian

As for near misses, I had an absolute twunt in a Range Rover pull right out in front of me at the top of Priory Lane last week. The stopping power of my disk brakes somehow stopped me face planting her side door. the stupid woman wouldn't look me in the eye, knew she was in the wrong and focused her attention on her kid in the rear seats instead.

xbnm

Always the same when the clocks change from Sunday to Friday i had 2 cars pull out in front of me then we all do an emergency stop shake my head and get beeped at clearly my fault ! A third pull out in front on a roundabout. Someone attempt to overtake a dangerous and illegally parked HGV as if I'm not their. 2 attempted overtakes at a junction while I'm indicating right. One overtake attempted twice by a car with no working indicators as i overtake a car and then turn right horn and hearing worked when the obvious error pointed out.

inbike

Ricky h wrote:

Just to add to it, I arrived after a cyclist/prius (most probably Uber) collision on the "quietway" at Tyers street (round the back of Vauxhall) this morning at around 7am. Cyclist was down, being tended to and an ambulance on the way. I hope he is ok as the bike was bent up quite badly and it looked like the Uber had hit him crossing from Jonathan street which is a nightmare junction if cars don't check both ways for bikes (Tyers street one way to cars, both ways to bikes). Sorry to add to the grimness and hope he is ok

They've "solved that" problem by moving the quietway one road to the north.

The new road is one lane wide, but two way for bikes. Bikes have priority but you try holding your nerve as you face down a goods vehicle coming your way with no idea if it'll stop.

elbowloh

For a bit of balance, I almost hit a cyclist yesterday whilst driving home yesterday after football and it was the cyclist who almost caused the accident.

Driving round Hammersmith gyratory. I'm coming from the north, going to the Hammersmith Bridge exit. I'm in the correct lane. The cyclist is in the left of the lane to go east towards Kensington. As I go round the corner he cuts across 2 lanes into my lane, with no shoulder check and no arm signal. I slam on the brakes and I must have missed hitting him by inches. He has no idea that this has happened, doesn't look back or change speed or anything (maybe had headphones on). I was just in a bit of shock to be honest about how close I was to knocking him over.

ricky_h-2

Just had a look at it on street view, it's like they have to double down on crappiness with another half arsed (and unsafe) solution. Thanks but no thanks, I will take my chances on Tyers street.....

anonymousblackfg

No driver issues but I hit something big (and metallic) last night as I turned off CS7 at Clapham South. Front tyre deflated PDQ and I held it rubber side down suprisingly given I was leaning for the corner but I could find in the road was a moderate sized piece of pave. Loveley bit of tube replacement while chatting to some tramp who'd evidently watched me go back to find the rock i'd hit.

dekant

inbike wrote:

Try holding your nerve as you face down a goods vehicle coming your way with no idea if it'll stop.

As per previous post, they won't.

wolfsbane2k

elbowloh wrote:

For a bit of balance, I almost hit a cyclist yesterday whilst driving home yesterday after football and it was the cyclist who almost caused the accident.

Driving round Hammersmith gyratory. I'm coming from the north, going to the Hammersmith Bridge exit. I'm in the correct lane. The cyclist is in the left of the lane to go east towards Kensington. As I go round the corner he cuts across 2 lanes into my lane, with no shoulder check and no arm signal. I slam on the brakes and I must have missed hitting him by inches. He has no idea that this has happened, doesn't look back or change speed or anything (maybe had headphones on). I was just in a bit of shock to be honest about how close I was to knocking him over.

One thing I've been reminded off recently is that the old cycling profiency used to teach people to stay on the outside lane of roundabouts, as listed in rule 77 for the cyclist, and 187 for drivers...
https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/roundabouts.html

Still, well done in avoiding it!