War on britains roads (gaz the glasses)
Comments
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Vexedveloist wrote:JGSI wrote:Vexedveloist wrote:JGSI wrote:downfader wrote:JGSI wrote:So you you think he rides with care and caution to himself and other road users ?
Yes.
And this is proved by his knowledge of the highway code, law and bikeability/vehicular knowlegde he talks about in Silly Cyclists and on his blog.
And will now ask you personally - what have you done to raise awareness and respect on the roads?
In all civilness, absolutely nothing apart from keep myself out of mischief on the Queen's highways.
I go out in my club colours, (any misdemeanour, info emblazoned on my jersey and shorts should anyone wish to take issue) and cause as little mayhem as possible.
Do you commute by bicycle?
Forgive my impoliteness, but you have just joined this forum and all of a sudden asking me if I commute?
Anyways, I dont... I drive.. I also sin by driving to most of my races
Oh , yes,, I sort of adhere to some of the requirements of the 'obligations' I am member of BC , an affiliated club, on very good terms with another local club that promotes novice cyclists and would ride for them for TTs as 2nd claim, if I could stick TTs that is....
Well you're being highly critical of a commuting cyclist, so it follows that you would have to have at least the same level of experience of cycle commuting in order to be able to criticise. It would be a bit much for a simple leisure cyclist to be critical of a commuting cyclist.
I'll ride 10,000 miles this year, around 9,000 city commuting, am I qualified enough? :roll:
I don't agree with the work of the helmet camera crew, personally it is very negative and having to explain to mother that my ride to work is not like that didn't leave me overly impressed.
I've briefly met gaz and the camera cohort whilst attending peddle on parliament & the blackfriars flash rides, for which a lot of good has come but I find the likes of i bike london http://ibikelondon.blogspot.co.uk/ far more positive in improving city cycling.0 -
iPete wrote:Vexedveloist wrote:JGSI wrote:Vexedveloist wrote:JGSI wrote:downfader wrote:JGSI wrote:So you you think he rides with care and caution to himself and other road users ?
Yes.
And this is proved by his knowledge of the highway code, law and bikeability/vehicular knowlegde he talks about in Silly Cyclists and on his blog.
And will now ask you personally - what have you done to raise awareness and respect on the roads?
In all civilness, absolutely nothing apart from keep myself out of mischief on the Queen's highways.
I go out in my club colours, (any misdemeanour, info emblazoned on my jersey and shorts should anyone wish to take issue) and cause as little mayhem as possible.
Do you commute by bicycle?
Forgive my impoliteness, but you have just joined this forum and all of a sudden asking me if I commute?
Anyways, I dont... I drive.. I also sin by driving to most of my races
Oh , yes,, I sort of adhere to some of the requirements of the 'obligations' I am member of BC , an affiliated club, on very good terms with another local club that promotes novice cyclists and would ride for them for TTs as 2nd claim, if I could stick TTs that is....
Well you're being highly critical of a commuting cyclist, so it follows that you would have to have at least the same level of experience of cycle commuting in order to be able to criticise. It would be a bit much for a simple leisure cyclist to be critical of a commuting cyclist.
I'll ride 10,000 miles this year, around 9,000 city commuting, am I qualified enough? :roll:
I don't agree with the work of the helmet camera crew, personally it is very negative and having to explain to mother that my ride to work is not like that didn't leave me overly impressed.
I've briefly met gaz and the camera cohort whilst attending peddle on parliament & the blackfriars flash rides, for which a lot of good has come but I find the likes of i bike london http://ibikelondon.blogspot.co.uk/ far more positive in improving city cycling.
I use a helmet camera. Not to shame or 'catch' motorists, but for insurance. I was knocked down three years ago. T-boned by a SMIDSY pulling out of a side-turning into the road I was on. Took ten months to sort the ensuing insurance claim out because he lied and claimed I 'just fell off in front of him', even though there was paint from his car embedded in what was left of my bike's frame and even though I bounced off his bonnet and flew twenty-five feet across the road.
So now I wear a camera so I have evidence should I be unfortunate enough to be hit again. Do I sometimes 'catch' motorists being utter morons? Yes. Do I post those occasions on Youtube? Yes.
But I do not consider myself some kind of crusading vigilante, neither am I part of any 'camera cohort', and I do not go looking for motorists. I'm just a cyclist trying to get somewhere just like any other road user. I'd like to think I'm an equal on the road, sadly there are about thirty million motons who disagree.
So the more of them that are shamed and embarrassed on Youtube the better. Because eventually enough of them will get the message that they have to respect all road users.
Cowering in the gutter not responding to them trying to kill you will get us nowhere.0 -
diy wrote:sfichele wrote:So many of these near misses can be totally avoided by attitude adjustment.
I dont believe that's entirely true. Whilst it's true that you are in control of your own temperament, there are times when no matter what you do as a cyclist someone will cut you up badly, or give you a left hook, or some git will force their way through a dangerous pinch point, and there will be very little you can do to avoid it. People will say you should have been more aware or you should have ridden in stronger position, or you should have riden slower and just let them past blah blah. But it's impossible to watch for every eventuality
If you believe that he goes out entirely to wind up motorists then you have fallen into the trap of the program makers.
Now, I somewhat agree with some comments here about wether it's right for people like cyclegaz to be documenting this stuff, but who else is doing it? Our authorities, infrastructure, and attitudes to cyclists in the country stink. Ask yourself why cyclists in this country resorting to cameras? Just look at the last post.
Regarding the roadcraft training - I'm not missing the point. No one should need that to ride a bike.0 -
No but if you are going to teach others - you should at least have studied the subject. Man would not have got very far in development if we based expertise on the experiences of one. I'm not against helmet cams, I have a couple of spycams which I bought for mucking about on the MTB, I think they are a good idea and at £30 for a car key sized HD camera - its a no brainer. I have also had my share of conflicts where a cam might have been useful. The difference is where you are making a fair bit of cash/fame from broadcasting your footage. It can easily then embed in to the subconscious that you are out looking for the next bit of footage.
I watched quite a few of his videos as I was genuinely interested in the advice he was giving. 90% of what he is saying is good advice. However, he doesn't practice what he preaches. He rides hard most of the time and only brakes/reacts at the last moment.0 -
diy wrote:No but if you are going to teach others - you should at least have studied the subject. Man would not have got very far in development if we based expertise on the experiences of one. I'm not against helmet cams, I have a couple of spycams which I bought for mucking about on the MTB, I think they are a good idea and at £30 for a car key sized HD camera - its a no brainer. I have also had my share of conflicts where a cam might have been useful. The difference is where you are making a fair bit of cash/fame from broadcasting your footage. It can easily then embed in to the subconscious that you are out looking for the next bit of footage.
I watched quite a few of his videos as I was genuinely interested in the advice he was giving. 90% of what he is saying is good advice. However, he doesn't practice what he preaches. He rides hard most of the time and only brakes/reacts at the last moment.
My understanding is that Gaz does not make money from the road safety videos. He has ads on the reviews which is fair enough imo. Magnatom is the same. You have to allocate each video and a video ad will play before the video (with a countdown or "skip advert"). Ads printed on the page or google-bars during the video are down to youtube, not the videographer.0 -
let me get this straight. Taxi man pulls a pointless overtake where there ain't quite enough to complete it cleanly. Ga,,z the safety expert accelerates into the danger zone and then seems surprised when the taxi moves over. Great riding :roll:
Don't think Gaz is doing very much good at all with his "looking for confrontation" style tubes.0 -
andi1363 wrote:let me get this straight. Taxi man pulls a pointless overtake where there ain't quite enough to complete it cleanly. Ga,,z the safety expert accelerates into the danger zone and then seems surprised when the taxi moves over. Great riding :roll:
Don't think Gaz is doing very much good at all with his "looking for confrontation" style tubes.
Accelerate? He was braking.
I think theres a problem with some of you lot, you're trying to assert your dominance, a misguided attempt at at machismo (something easy on the internet) - cycling is about far more than road riding in packs. Your own attitude presents an image to non-cyclists of everyone on two wheels being aggressive, oddly enough (see the comments on Yahoo News over the recent Cavendish incident).0 -
downfader wrote:Accelerate? He was braking.
Not at the start imo, I thought he clearly accelerated into the 'danger zone' until he had to brake. The reason? To ensure that he got something on his helmet cam worthy of Tubing. Well, he certainly did. Thats the problem with this young man. Its gone beyond capturing fun or cool moments, or having something to use in evidence in case of accident/injury/damage. When he turns his cam on it affects his attitude and riding and its almost become his way of life. Quite sad really. All in my humble opinion of course.I think theres a problem with some of you lot, you're trying to assert your dominance, a misguided attempt at at machismo (something easy on the internet
Not at all. Just opinions that can be freely shared. Only when they are shared people say you have a problem, or try to assert dominance or are misguided.
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Watch that clip again, Gaz is riding in the bus lane. Notice there is an empty cycle lane (the blue thing) next to this bus lane, which he is not using. The taxi cab is driving half over the bus lane and half in the next lane because gaz is in the bus lane.
When he bangs on the cab he has half of the bus lane and the whole cycle lane, I would clearly say that he is extremley over reacting either that or he cant control his bike enough to stay in the cycle lane.
The other thing I dont understand is if he is cycling at 25+30mph like he says how come all the cars are still overtaking in a 30 zone?0 -
NITR8s wrote:
The other thing I dont understand is if he is cycling at 25+30mph like he says how come all the cars are still overtaking in a 30 zone?
Because he's overstating the speed he actually rides at ?
If your average mediocre grass roots racing cyclist like me road races and 25mph to 27 mph in a bunch average depending on conditions. and TT's solo with full aero kit and TT bike around the same solo ( Depending on distance ) . I find it very difficult to believe the claims he makes that he's able to ride that fast given that i train regularly with 19 and 18 minute 10 men and we dont knock those sort of speeds out just heading through a town or city.
I've found his Garmin traces from 2010 and they show average speeds of around 13mph. but he's getting up to 20 between various sets of traffic lights.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40878514
Maybe he's set his Garmin to Km/h rather than Mph.
Either way i could not give a flying spoke nipple.
He does not represent club cyclists.0 -
Thick Tester wrote:NITR8s wrote:
The other thing I dont understand is if he is cycling at 25+30mph like he says how come all the cars are still overtaking in a 30 zone?
Because he's overstating the speed he actually rides at ?
If your average mediocre grass roots racing cyclist like me road races and 25mph to 27 mph in a bunch average depending on conditions. and TT's solo with full aero kit and TT bike around the same solo ( Depending on distance ) . I find it very difficult to believe the claims he makes that he's able to ride that fast given that i train regularly with 19 and 18 minute 10 men and we dont knock those sort of speeds out just heading through a town or city.
I've found his Garmin traces from 2010 and they show average speeds of around 13mph. but he's getting up to 20 between various sets of traffic lights.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40878514
Maybe he's set his Garmin to Km/h rather than Mph.
Either way i could not give a flying spoke nipple.
He does not represent club cyclists.
To be fair, I thought he said he cycled at 30mph as in "up to 30mph". I hit that speed pretty much every time I commute - on a bad day it needs a descent, on a good day I'll do it uphill. Maintaining an average speed of even 20mph is seriously hard work through London traffic though (and probably traffic anywhere else).
Anyway, the suggestion above that traffic wouldn't want to overtake you if you were doing 30mph in a 30 zone is very sadly misplaced. There are a lot of drivers who will be desperate to overtake you however fast you are riding - they see a bike, they have to overtake, simple as that. I got left hooked by a British Gas van earlier this year, when I suggested to the driver that he didn't have room to overtake me before turning off, his initial response was "but I had to overtake you - you're a bike". Actually, his inital response was that he hadn'thit me and I had spontaneously collapsed in the road just after he turned across me, but that's a nother story...0 -
Gaz the glasses rocks ... I won't hear a word spoken against. The guy has done so much for the cycling community as he goes tirelessly about his business. Surely it's not too late to nominate for SPOTY...0
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Mikey23 wrote:Gaz the glasses rocks ... I won't hear a word spoken against. The guy has done so much for the cycling community as he goes tirelessly about his business. Surely it's not too late to nominate for SPOTY...
Mikey23 coming to a standup comedy venue near you soon.
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Firstly I wouldn’t say I know Gaz. I don’t know what he's like as a person and don’t want to slight his character. I have no doubt that the film makers wanted to portray him in the way he came across.
I do however work for the same firm. Have spoken to him and know he rides a single speed. Well he was today and has been for months. Anyone who can tick over on their own at close to 30mph on a gear they can use all year round to commute is either an absolute beast or needs a new bike computer.....
He came across very badly. He appeared smug and self-riotous. He may or may not be, I don’t know him at all well enough but that’s the way he was portrayed and as it’s a TV program to the masses that’s all that matters, as that’s the perception people who do not know him will establish.
He seems nice enough whenever I have spoken to him but most people won’t get to do that. I actually feel sorry for him. He did what he thinks is right and is getting a bashing for it. For all we know the program makers told him to say things or asked him leading questions that we just hear the answers to.
We as people and esp. cyclist need to remember we are vulnerable. I fully agree with claiming your space etc. I have raced and ridden bikes for 20 years and was racking up north of 260 miles a week commuting miles into London over the summer, before you question my credibility to comment. Yes there are silly drivers out there. Yes there are stupid cyclist that put themselves in ridiculous positions. I would very much like to see the rules of the road enforced for both cyclist and car/lorry/bus drivers. There have been times when I wished a police man had been in site but that’s life. Things will improve as more people ride and political pressure builds.
The one thing he appears in this video to forget is people are human. If someone is the type of person who gets wound up don’t poke them. Yes they did something wrong but is you getting smashed up because you gave them a whole load of mouth going to help you or them?
The most constructive use of time if you really do want to help cyclists on the road is have a little word with people who jump the reds or ride at night with no lights. Sort those things out and it would improve the perception of cyclists with other road users. If your tanking at 30pmh + you may have to slow down a little for them to hear you mind.
Winding them up so they drive even worse on the way home won’t help and they will give even less respect to the next cyclist they see who may not be so lucky.0
