Does Surrey have the worst cyclists?

OS 65

I'm in the South East this weekend, visiting relatives in Surrey. We took a day trip to Hampton Court today (Saturday). There were a load of riders on the road wearing cool gear and riding high end bikes but I was surprided by how poor they were at riding. I was almost knocked over while crossing the road on a zebra - the cars had stopped but two roadies ploughed straight past me and the kid. further up the road we waited for a bus near a pelican crossing. In 20 minutes about 5 roadies passed straight through on red, just one cyclist seemed to know the highway code.

If we are going to be taken seriously on the roads then we have to behave and follow the highway code. There was no excuse for the poor cycling I saw today, it showed a lack of courtesy from the riders towards pedestrians. We get upset by drivers behaving aggressively but reckon its fine for us cyclists to behave in the same way to more vulnerable road users.

OS 65

Airwave

+1 to that,i see a lot road cyclist totally ignoring red lights as if any rules of the road don't apply to them because they are on two wheels.This attitude surely must make the motorist feel like we shoould'nt be sharing THERE road.You can't have it both ways.

antfly

Do you mean THEIR?

Airwave

Yes my mistake,but this is a cycling forum is'nt.Don't worry my secrectary is going to be dismissed!

pedylan

Airwave wrote:

Yes my mistake,but this is a cycling forum is'nt.Don't worry my secrectary is going to be dismissed!

Yes it is a cycling forum; but, frankly, linguistic and grammatical standards have been raised since Dave Hinde and his best mate arrived recently with their exquisitely crafted offerings in praise of what I now believe is a cycle business run by the finest body of men since the 12 apostles.

BTW you misplaced an apostrophe and misspelt secretary so don't let her go too soon.

Airwave

I give up.Some of us may not have had the same education but try to get it rightAfterall is'nt it the message there in thats important.Apologies for any poor grammar in advance.

antfly

I would get rid of that secretary quick if I was you.

hamstrich

antfly, do mean 'if I were you'?

softlad

pedylan wrote:

Yes it is a cycling forum; but, frankly, linguistic and grammatical standards have been raised since Dave Hinde and his best mate arrived recently with their exquisitely crafted offerings in praise of what I now believe is a cycle business run by the finest body of men since the 12 apostles.

BTW you misplaced an apostrophe and misspelt secretary so don't let her go too soon.

If I was being picky, I would say that 'exquisitely-crafted' should be hyphenated, because the two words form a compound expression...

antfly

hamstrich wrote:

antfly, do mean 'if I were you'?

No.Another common mistake but to be pedantic was is singular as in "I was here" whereas were is plural or refers to someone else as in "they were here" or "you were here" but not "I were here".Sh#it, I sound like a teacher.

Chaz.Harding

You could well be right about Surrey, but Bristol must be pretty high on the list (if not top!!)

Not to say they are all bad - there's alot of bloody good cyclists - on and off road. But because there's so many cyclists in Bristol - if you've ever been you'll understand - there is a hell of alot of really REALLY poor, dangerous and bad riders. It doesn't help that the place is so damn steep too...

Airwave

Antfly,i thought you were or was(just covering my bases) being pedantic in the first place.Damm i lost the bet could have sworn you was or were a teacher!Ha Ha

greg66_tri_v2.0

antfly wrote:

hamstrich wrote:

antfly, do mean 'if I were you'?

No.Another common mistake but to be pedantic was is singular as in "I was here" whereas were is plural or refers to someone else as in "they were here" or "you were here" but not "I were here".Sh#it, I sound like a teacher.

On the contrary. "If I were you" is correct. It's the subjunctive for a hypothetical, the first person singular of which is "I were".

Are you a teacher?

antfly

No-one likes a smart-arse. :?

teagar

Wherever I cycle is probably the worst . I'm just too cool for school 8).

No seriously, why not just feel smug that you ride a bike that befits your standard and that you don't ride like a twat?

No point getting irritated. Why associate with them? You're identity is a lot more than just a cyclist!

onehipwonder

What utter crap. Bad cycling is bad cycling wherever you go it isn't just limited to Surrey.
You might as well say all Scots are tight and all Scousers are thieves.

pbt150

You mean they're not?

+1 for grammatical pedantry btw. Save the subjunctive!

antfly

Absolutely.The time is right for a pedants` revolt!
We`ve had enough awful spelling and grammar and we are not going to take it anymore :!:

OS 65

onehipwonder wrote:

What utter crap. Bad cycling is bad cycling wherever you go it isn't just limited to Surrey.
You might as well say all Scots are tight and all Scousers are thieves.

I was surprised by how many riders disregarded the zebra and pelican crossings, I hadn't witnessed so many irresponsible cyclists before. There were a lot of riders out but most went straight through the crossings

OS 65

ride_whenever

TBH, nowhere is as bad as oxford, even the cars don't obey the rules any more, regularly see cars jumping red lights (and not just a little by accident, but a lot) ignoring zebra crossings and generally driving like idiots.

The cyclists are mostly students on beaten up old bikes and they just ignore anything that slows them down, so they jump red lights, ignore zebra crossings, cycle recklessly through shared cyclepath/footways and perpetually cycle on the pavements - does my head in...

stfc1

softlad wrote:

pedylan wrote:

Yes it is a cycling forum; but, frankly, linguistic and grammatical standards have been raised since Dave Hinde and his best mate arrived recently with their exquisitely crafted offerings in praise of what I now believe is a cycle business run by the finest body of men since the 12 apostles.

BTW you misplaced an apostrophe and misspelt secretary so don't let her go too soon.

If I was being picky, I would say that 'exquisitely-crafted' should be hyphenated, because the two words form a compound expression...

Actually, if the first word in a compound modifier ends in -ly, there is no need to use a hyphen.

I have no experience of the quality of cycling in Surrey.

STEFANOS4784

:roll: i luv woching them pedant ones get wind up :P 8) :arrow:

antfly

That`s an improvement on your usual spelling. :roll:

STEFANOS4784

cheers, i thought you'd appreciate the effort, for what it's worth it seems more hastle than it's worth to try and ensure everything is perfect :roll: :arrow:

Go to grammar radar.com if you wanna discuss English :P

antfly

Just the one mistake that time.

natrix

I carried out a little experiment today by taking a half hour ride around the lanes before work. I started out from my house in Hampshire, went through Surrey and then into Berkshire. Followed some delightful country lanes before ending up at the office in Surrey. Although I encountered traffic lights in all three counties the only ones that I went through at red were some in Surrey!

There you go, proof that cyclists in Surey are worse than those in Berks and Hamps, if not the rest of the UK.

STEFANOS4784

antfly wrote:

Just the one mistake that time.

Edit: i really am an idiot :oops:

greg66_tri_v2.0

antfly wrote:

Just the one mistake that time.

One grammar? Or one spelling? Or one of each (in addition to the "i" for "I")?

STEFANOS4784

Where's mr. Snobcycles when you need him....... :roll:

antfly

STEFANOS4784 wrote:

Where's mr. Snobcycles when you need him....... :roll:

Does he mean me?Surely not.

I just meant the one spelling mistake.One doesn`t wish to be too fussy.

STEFANOS4784

Nah, there was some-one on here who set up a user name 'Snobcycles' so he could have a go at people and stay anonymous, he's disappeared though :?