Your Anti-Rants here

W1

Bloody big thumbs up to the Ocardo driver who waited behind a bus at a pinch point and indicated for me to come past. Excellent awareness/consideration.

nobunaga

Not an anti-rant but am absolutely *smitten* with the weather

cyclosaurus

I was out for a short blast this morning, when an esso artic gave me about as much room as is possible, the guy was nearly in the opposite verge. And he passed at no more than 30mph in a 60 zone. Cheers big man. Oh and hi everyone (another lurker here!)

mybreakfastconsisted

This morning by the river the cherry blossom was whirling around like a snowstorm.

I felt like I was in an MGM musical.

CiB

Prat, tried to overtake me off a roundabout into a narrowing pinch-point centre reservation, and suddenly realised he had nowhere to go - we were both doing about 30 at this point. I'd braced myself for a likely tumble, only to be greeted by a squeal of brakes & tyres as he aborted his pointless mission into the rapidly disappearing road space. He shot past me soon after on a wider stretch, then had the indignity of sitting at the back of the traffic queue as I caught him up 30 yards further on. Prat, or complete and utter prat?

Anti-rant because he had the decency to look completely ashamed of himself when I gave him the puzzled stare through his passenger window, and he followed me like a lamb over the next roundabout and out of town. Lovely. But he's still a prat. Maybe a changed one though. He did look like he'd given himself a bit of a scare.

Kieran_Burns

Comedy moment this morning:

Came up behind an old guy in a car at a crossroads where we have to wait. He is going straight over, and he takes an inordinate amount of time to check... left and right... and left and right... and left and right... :shock:

Then he sssssllllloooowwwwllllyyyyy drives across the junction looking left and right all the way across.

It was like watching the Green Cross Code (show my age there!) in a car! The thing is: he took so damn long getting across, a car appeared and almost had to wait for the guy to finish

el_presidente

hello to the foxy brunette in the 911 Carrera westbound on Embankment the other night. Your overtaking was exemplary, you drove your powerful car skillfully (unlike most of the porsche-drving cityboy to$$ers on that stretch) and the open sunroof provided a great view of your excellent legs.

Cafewanda

Cheers to the other cyclists between Oval Station up to Clapham North station last night at about 5.40pm. The first time this year NONE of you RLJ'd. I was stunned as there's 'always one' that does

Normal programming resumed this morning :roll:

rjsterry

I do find that there's a kind of RLJ sheep effect sometimes - once one goes then others feel it's ok to follow, but know they shouldn't so can't bring themselves to be the first. Perhaps all us non-RLJers should contrive to pull up 3 abreast at each set of lights :twisted:

d.n.f

Thanks to all the people that didn't talk to me at the lights this morning therefore allowing me to deal with my hangover in silence.

Roll on 4 o'clock. :P

kelsen

rjsterry wrote:

I do find that there's a kind of RLJ sheep effect sometimes - once one goes then others feel it's ok to follow, but know they shouldn't so can't bring themselves to be the first. Perhaps all us non-RLJers should contrive to pull up 3 abreast at each set of lights :twisted:

I particularly like watching the ones who would normally RLJ, but bottle it cos everybody else has stopped. So they get off their bike, wheel it across, then climb back on. By this time, the lights have changed and they get overtaken by everyone whilst they are still fumbling about with their bike.

Either jump the red light properly or just stop FFS!

CiB

Weirdly, having a PF visit this morning. I was late setting off and slow en route, and had an unscheduled deflation ¾ of the way in. It was bizarrely joyous, having a 10 minute sit-down on a newly-mown grass bank near a farm, in blazing sunshine with no noise other than rural ambience.

There are probably better ways to appreciate England on St George's Day, but this was up there.

MadammeMarie

What a lovely ride to work I had this morning!!!!

daccordimark

Thanks to the guy in the Range Rover who pulled his (electrically operated) mirror in so I could filter past in the bike lane. I hope he saw my brief wave of acknowledge as the lights changed just as I got to the front.

kelsen

daccordimark wrote:

Thanks to the guy in the Range Rover who pulled his (electrically operated) mirror in so I could filter past in the bike lane. I hope he saw my brief wave of acknowledge as the lights changed just as I got to the front.

Are you sure it wasn't just self-preservation of his wing mirror? And he probably knocked down the next cyclist who came through cos he couldn't see what was coming!



Ok..ok..this is the Anti-Rant Thread. I'll stop.

daccordimark

kelsen wrote:

daccordimark wrote:

Thanks to the guy in the Range Rover who pulled his (electrically operated) mirror in so I could filter past in the bike lane. I hope he saw my brief wave of acknowledge as the lights changed just as I got to the front.

Are you sure it wasn't just self-preservation of his wing mirror? And he probably knocked down the next cyclist who came through cos he couldn't see what was coming!



Ok..ok..this is the Anti-Rant Thread. I'll stop.

Definitely not self-preservation. Have you seen the mirrors on the latest Range Rovers? It would have been my head versus his mirror and I'm not sure what would have won!

suzyb

Kudos to the woman in the blue Passat who didn't speed off when I fell out of her way onto the grass verge. But who stayed at the slow speed she'd had to go at whilst stuck behind me until I waved I was OK.

HebdenBiker

Good thread.

The other week I was riding up a steep hill on a busy road. The cycle lane was coned off due to roadworks.

I could hear a HGV stuck behind me, working through the gears trying to maintain some momentum on the gradient. I waved him through and rode in the coned-off bit for a few seconds while he got past me.

Once we got over the hill, traffic slowed to cyclist-pace anyway and I found the cycle lane blocked ahead. The HGV driver anticipated my problem and left me a huge gap and flashed me so I could rejoin the main carriageway. I gave him a thumbs-up and we both continued on our way.

Which goes to show, a little give-and-take on the roads can make everybody's journey easier. Certain "I only ever do what Cyclecraft tells me" types would do well to take note.

Matt.K

Back on the bike today after 2 months of driving due to the arrival of a baby.

I'm seriously unfit now and my legs are going to hate me tonight.
But it was a beautiful morning and it's good to be back.

Looking forward to the summer now.

Kieran_Burns

Matt.K wrote:

Back on the bike today after 2 months of driving due to the arrival of a baby.

I'm seriously unfit now and my legs are going to hate me tonight.
But it was a beautiful morning and it's good to be back.

Looking forward to the summer now.

fresh air, a better view.. warm day... what could be better? 8)

(my bleeding brakes working for a start but I'll sort them tonight)

rjsterry

The difference between feeling a bit 'Monday morning' as I did when I got on the bike, and 'Monday Legs' which revealed themselves about 10 minutes in to the ride. Started to feel much better. Didn't even mind too much when a WVM decided at the last second that he wasn't going through the amber lights in front of me.

Specialized Needs

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Matt.K wrote:

Back on the bike today after 2 months of driving due to the arrival of a baby.

I'm seriously unfit now and my legs are going to hate me tonight.
But it was a beautiful morning and it's good to be back.

Looking forward to the summer now.

fresh air, a better view.. warm day... what could be better? 8)

(my bleeding brakes working for a start but I'll sort them tonight)

Hydraulics, eh

Matt.K

To the bloke in the red Golf, thanks for hanging back and not attempting to left-hook me coming up out of the village last night.
And thanks for then following patiently through the speed humps and around the tight bends before passing with plenty of space and returning the wave of thanks.

Much appreciated.

Gypsum_Fantastic

HebdenBiker wrote:

Which goes to show, a little give-and-take on the roads can make everybody's journey easier.

I call that Car-ma (groan :roll:) I adopt something similar when driving if someone lets me out I must let someone else out befopre the end of the journey.

Meanwhile back on topic (great thread BTW) I had breakfast in my garden in the sunshine before a lovely ride to work in my shorts.

el_presidente

hello to the lady on the Kona cyclocross bike who swapped leads with me all the way up Hyde Park this morning, chapeau madam

rf6

Just went for my first ride in 6 weeks after hurting my back at work. I enjoyed it, and so did the mutt, who's happily snoozing at my feet.

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that make you smile.

el_presidente

el_presidente wrote:

hello to the lady on the Kona cyclocross bike who swapped leads with me all the way up Hyde Park this morning, chapeau madam

We did exactly the same again on the way home after coincidentally meeting at exactly the place we had parted in the morning!!! note - I AM NOT A STALKER

WesternWay

It was a frustrating journey into the city this morning... Every light seemed to be red and my 45 minute journey was an hour.

Thank you though to the guy on the mountain bike getting the miles in by doing St-Albans to the City in preparation for a London - Paris ride... A cheery chat at the lights lifted my mood :-)

Kieran_Burns

el_presidente wrote:

el_presidente wrote:

hello to the lady on the Kona cyclocross bike who swapped leads with me all the way up Hyde Park this morning, chapeau madam

We did exactly the same again on the way home after coincidentally meeting at exactly the place we had parted in the morning!!! note - I AM NOT A STALKER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNC0kIzM1Fo

essexian

Many thanks to the nice people at St Mary's Church Brewood.

Now normally I only go into Churches when on holiday or when one of the family gets marries/dies etc. Today however I felt the need for tea and cake after only 10 miles so to find you were open for a coffee morning was, er, a God send.

And what nice people you were too giving me a free cake when I said how much cyclists liked cake: the tea was very nice too.

Made my morning