Red faced mtb ride.

fletch8928

Awful ride today. I set off up a back road and within 100 metres I was blowing and burning, 4 gears lower than normal. I then droped down to begin the next climb, as i rounded a corner the power went down and I was left sitting on the tarmac, bloody ice. I pushed, slid and cursed all the way to the top and came up against a flock of sheep being driven down the road. So i waited for them to pass having a giggle at them sliding all over. Then as the farmer thanked me I went to movr off only to fall on the ice and threw the bike into a ditch (didnt mean to) in 1 movement.

Yeay I got to the trail. Boo its all horrible. The compact snow was ridable until back wheel breaks through and I come to rest on the stem, Ouch. The rest got worse, I went overish the bars twice when the front wheel just dug in and then to top it all off I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38! No action taken just wanted to bring it to my attention. On a + note it was foggy and i had my lights on.
What an awful ride out .
Phew glad I got that off my chest.

RichMTB

Sounds like a bit of an adventure

Did you point out to plod that as you aren't obliged to have a speedometer you can't be accused of speeding

Briggo

fletch8928 wrote:

I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38!

Whats he going to do about it, put some points on your pedal cycle license?

bomberesque

Briggo wrote:

fletch8928 wrote:

I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38!

Whats he going to do about it, put some points on your pedal cycle license?

it's never nice to hear about a sh1tty ride. Hope the next one goes better

as for points. iirc they can endorse your driving licence for vehicle offences on a bike, but not 100% on that

another thing; while I've heard the "no speedo = no fine" for speeding on a bike, while you're not obliged to have one fitted, many bikers do; I wonder if that's ever been tested? In principle I'd think you are guilty of speeding if you have a speedo on the bike and so knowingly exceed the limit. Honestly I'd give money for a speeding ticket that said I was doing 40 on a push bike....

Kiblams

What about those of us that don't yet have a drivers licence?

bomberesque

Kiblams wrote:

What about those of us that don't yet have a drivers licence?

they take away your lunch money

Kiblams

bomberesque wrote:

they take away your lunch money

That is sooo mean! *stomps feet*

Bikerbaboon

bomberesque wrote:

Briggo wrote:

fletch8928 wrote:

I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38!

Whats he going to do about it, put some points on your pedal cycle license?

it's never nice to hear about a sh1tty ride. Hope the next one goes better

as for points. iirc they can endorse your driving licence for vehicle offences on a bike, but not 100% on that

another thing; while I've heard the "no speedo = no fine" for speeding on a bike, while you're not obliged to have one fitted, many bikers do; I wonder if that's ever been tested? In principle I'd think you are guilty of speeding if you have a speedo on the bike and so knowingly exceed the limit. Honestly I'd give money for a speeding ticket that said I was doing 40 on a push bike....

+1 for that one of my best bits on my local training ride is slight down hill in a 40mph zone. i burst my lungs to try to get the cameras to flash me. Once i manage it i will be writing to them requesting a copy of the image. if it costs me a fine it will be worth it.

as for a copper pulling me over to say i was speeding i would ask to be shown the vid in the back of his car, i would then have asked is he though i could have had 2mph more if i spent some time in a wind tunnel.

sorry for the bad ride but you get the pay back on the dry ride ( yes just the one) of the summer.

Splee

I believe you can get 'done' for furious pedaling or something along those lines unless it specifically mentions a speed limit for an area like in certain parks etc.
Mind that would be a reasonable badge of honour.......speeding ticket on a push iron

biff55

fletch8928 wrote:

I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38!

that would have made my day ,no matter how sh*tty rest of ride was.

as for points. iirc they can endorse your driving licence for vehicle offences on a bike

pretty sure they can't.

alfablue

biff55 wrote:

fletch8928 wrote:

I got pulled over by pc plod for enjoying the tarmac run back home, long steep hill that is only 30 mph. He claimed he followed me down it doing 38!

that would have made my day ,no matter how sh*tty rest of ride was.

as for points. iirc they can endorse your driving licence for vehicle offences on a bike

pretty sure they can't.

Absolutely they can't, and speed limits don't apply to bikes.

delcol

should of pointed out that he has admited to you that he was doing 38 mph and he was driving a car,,,
don't do as i do do as i say... when in roam... :P

bails87

Hmmm, that's a good point, he was breaking the law by speeding. But you weren't breaking the law, so was it a pursuit? Or is it the equivalent of a police car speeding to get to the takeaway?!

CraigXXL

You can have points applied to your licence even if you don't own one as I found when I was banned from driving aged 15. At the time I thought pointless until I was able to apply for my licence and it still had 3 points on it that hadn't expired effectively banning me from driving until I was 19 when I didn't have to declare I had been previosuly banned.

I also had a mate who lost his licence when pulled over on a bike he had stolen whilst drunk. This was in Germany and arrested by the german civil police and prosecuted by the army under UK law. How that relates over here I'm not sure but I wouldn't want to test it either.

alfablue

CraigXXL wrote:

You can have points applied to your licence even if you don't own one as I found when I was banned from driving aged 15. At the time I thought pointless until I was able to apply for my licence and it still had 3 points on it that hadn't expired effectively banning me from driving until I was 19 when I didn't have to declare I had been previosuly banned.

I also had a mate who lost his licence when pulled over on a bike he had stolen whilst drunk. This was in Germany and arrested by the german civil police and prosecuted by the army under UK law. How that relates over here I'm not sure but I wouldn't want to test it either.

In the UK your driving licence is irrelevant to any offence committed on a bike. There have been reports of the odd case where a licence has been endorsed, but if so this is an error (or the reports were wrong). It is, however, quite appropriate to endorse your as yet unheld licence for drivingoffences committed before you have a licence.

I am not sure about the Germany anecdote, if it was a prosecution under UK law then it was probably an error.

alfablue

Its all here

biff55

CraigXXL wrote:

You can have points applied to your licence even if you don't own one as I found when I was banned from driving aged 15. At the time I thought pointless until I was able to apply for my licence and it still had 3 points on it that hadn't expired effectively banning me from driving until I was 19 when I didn't have to declare I had been previosuly banned.

but i bet your "offence" prior to owning a licence was commited in a car and not a bike

I also had a mate who lost his licence when pulled over on a bike he had stolen whilst drunk. This was in Germany and arrested by the german civil police and prosecuted by the army under UK law. How that relates over here I'm not sure but I wouldn't want to test it either.

but this doesn't relate to speeding on a bike , the issues for the german police were the
stealing and drinking parts. good story tho.

CraigXXL

Mine was for riding a motocross bike on the road and having a solictor who argued with the judge. The point made was that just because you don't have a licence doesn't mean that you can't have points applied to it for when you get one.

mkf

always wanted to get flashed by speed camera on my bike with my shorts half way down and a smiley face back at them:)
then i'd contest it and ask for the photo back,

Briggo

CraigXXL wrote:

Mine was for riding a motocross bike on the road and having a solictor who argued with the judge. The point made was that just because you don't have a licence doesn't mean that you can't have points applied to it for when you get one.

Exactly, you were riding a motorised vehicle, your driving license whether you have it or not is for motorised vehicles.

Ergo you had points put on your non existent license for the motoring offence so that when it came to it and you got your license they'd be there ready and waiting for you.

As said you cant get points put on your license whilst on a pedal cycle, you can however get on the spot fines etc for dangerous/drunk/furious pedalling etc.

fletch8928

Thats cheered me up. I didnt get a conviction, not that it would have been a legal one yet at the same time I got away with it. Sweet. To be honest the chat we had was more just pointing out and I never thought it would or could have led to further action. Funny thing is my bike comp said max was 36.2.

Anyway my traumatic ride is over, I didnt hurt myself for more than 10 mins at the time and I aim to do a different run tomorrow.

I think I was more in shock of how bad a ride it was. I have been out in the snow and freezing temps as often as my shifts and 4yr old have let me and not had a proper off. Then today looked ok, felt mild and got caught out. ho hum.

in hindsight I think the speeding thing was the highlight today

bomberesque

alfablue

Thanks for that fascinating link and a well written accessible article about the law and bikes.

/gets a cup of tea and settles down to read the whole thing

Th3 Firestarter

I tried to get a red light camera to flash me going through the red light on my bike. Didn't work for some unknown reason.

tdougan

First of all I'm sorry to hear about your rubbish day!

But..
This whole page has made me laugh loads, the people suggesting to ask for the tape, others trying to set cameras off and ask for the photo!

Love it all!

Good luck to all you crazy b**#ards in your future terrorizing of both speed cameras and policeman!