Richmond Park, roundabouts and that f*cking Dynamo

veronese68

twist83 wrote:

Also people seem to be losing site of that fact that DDD actually bothered to stop and allow them to carry on their way... Perhaps if they had raised a hand or used some sign to show they appreciated him slowing he might not have made this post? Manners cost nothing?

Whilst tongue in cheek, my comment about subconsciously slowing to leave them room may have a tiny semblance of truth. But you're quite right, manners cost nothing they should have acknowledged him somehow. I hate it when I'm driving and I let someone through and they don't say thankyou. Just plain rude, can't say I've ever rammed anyone for it though*.


* not yet anyway.

asprilla

TGOTB wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Posting here got a response from club members which is more than I've ever got attempting to contact them directly.

Only time I ever had an issue with one of their members, I sent a constructive and non-inflammatory email to an address on their website, and got a prompt and constructive response. If I hadn't received a response I'd probably have probably assumed the email address was broken and followed it up with one of the members...

My mails to them were descriptive, informative and sympathetic.

Since I don't ride in the park at the weekend I have no way of following it up with their members.

kelsen

SteppenHerring wrote:

And you can do as many laps as you like round Little Switzerland and up Box (IIRC about 8 miles). As many as I like is about one.

I like that...Little Switzerland! Is that what it's unofficially referred to as?

asprilla

vermin wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

We don't know if any of this happened. Contacting the club would make more sense than whining about it here:

"Person who takes a vehicle onto the roads annoyed when others do same"

I dunno. Posting here got a response from club members which is more than I've ever got attempting to contact them directly.

It wasn't exactly constructive though, was it?

Sorry. It is what it is.

My attitude towards LD has been forged by my dealings with them and I make no apology for that.

tgotb

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Which part of the incident was "directly dangerous" to you? As far as I can tell, you stopped and there was no issue. If you hadn't stopped, you'd possibly have had some cyclists wrapped around the side/rear of your car. Pretty dangerous for the cyclists, but you'd have been fine. Unless your car is LHD, you wouldn't even have been close to the point of impact.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

mybreakfastconsisted

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

This.

twist83

I still feel giddy though defending DDD It is christmas though

Paul E

DonDaddyD wrote:

Paul E wrote:

Keyser__Soze wrote:

I'm disappointed that this thread has descended into criticising spelling, particularly of someone who has previously stated they have dyslexia. Other posters should be aware of the symptoms and effects of dyslexia (poor spelling is a resultant side-effect of the reading problems), namely that dyslexics often find it difficult or slow to read or comprehend text and process information and have difficulty structuring arguments. Please can posters take this into account when replying. It is a genuine disability.

http://www.reading.ac.uk/disability/about/DyslexiaSLDs/do-dyslexia.aspx wrote:

Everyone is different but most people with dyslexia are likely to have difficulties with some of the following:
Reading, Spelling, Writing, Speed of processing information, Organisational skills, Short-term memory, Motor co-ordination, Numeracy
...
take longer to complete reading
fail to notice spelling errors
find it difficult to structure arguments

It's news to me for one (I don't read every post in every thread), maybe some more thought might need to be given before starting threads like this then

You had the opportunity to demostrate that you have some decency and you still manage to fail.

Fail, oh well that's no sleep for me tonight.

Paulie W

Paul E wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Paul E wrote:

Keyser__Soze wrote:

I'm disappointed that this thread has descended into criticising spelling, particularly of someone who has previously stated they have dyslexia. Other posters should be aware of the symptoms and effects of dyslexia (poor spelling is a resultant side-effect of the reading problems), namely that dyslexics often find it difficult or slow to read or comprehend text and process information and have difficulty structuring arguments. Please can posters take this into account when replying. It is a genuine disability.

http://www.reading.ac.uk/disability/about/DyslexiaSLDs/do-dyslexia.aspx wrote:

Everyone is different but most people with dyslexia are likely to have difficulties with some of the following:
Reading, Spelling, Writing, Speed of processing information, Organisational skills, Short-term memory, Motor co-ordination, Numeracy
...
take longer to complete reading
fail to notice spelling errors
find it difficult to structure arguments

It's news to me for one (I don't read every post in every thread), maybe some more thought might need to be given before starting threads like this then

You had the opportunity to demostrate that you have some decency and you still manage to fail.

Fail, oh well that's no sleep for me tonight.

Did you really mean to use a comma after the word fail?

cyclingprop

DonDaddyD wrote:

Stuff that tempted me to mock spelling, and made me feel guilty for thinking it.

Stop the press, life is over.

tgotb

Asprilla wrote:

Since I don't ride in the park at the weekend I have no way of following it up with their members.

You don't have to, there are plenty of them on the forums.

Now Vermin has outed himself, I'm sure he'd supply you with the email address of a committee member if you asked him nicely. Or just post a topic on here asking for someone to PM you a working Dynorod address...

Coach H

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

This.

I have just gone through the whole thread and cannot see where you would come to this conclusion.

All these pages and I still don't know what the point is of doing a 20mph(max) chaingang? :?

mybreakfastconsisted

With a large group of riders it can be safer to travel en masse, if I started a thread every time someone failed to yield to my priority I'd have started eleventy million threads. Get over it, or contact the club instead of whining here, sheesh.

bigmat

Coach H wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

This.

I have just gone through the whole thread and cannot see where you would come to this conclusion.

All these pages and I still don't know what the point is of doing a 20mph(max) chaingang? :?

Most cyclists on the road in Richmond Park exceed 20mph. They just do. My understanding is that Dynamo have an unwritten agreement with the Park authorities that they will turn a blind eye to the club rides exceeding 20mph as long as they generally behave themselves and act in a safe and courteous manner. On this occasion, they technically should have given way, but unless I've misunderstood it sounds like they delayed DDD by all of about 5 seconds - why he couldn't just cut them some slack is beyond me. If we as cyclists can't do other cyclists a favour on the road then we really are in trouble.

As for the people above saying that they would have carried on and it would have served the cyclists right if they were knocked down... I'll bite my tongue, like I generally do out on the road.

greg66_tri_v2.0

kelsen wrote:

SteppenHerring wrote:

And you can do as many laps as you like round Little Switzerland and up Box (IIRC about 8 miles). As many as I like is about one.

I like that...Little Switzerland! Is that what it's unofficially referred to as?

I've always referred to it as the Giant of Dorking (cf Ventoux). It shares the standalone quality with Ventoux. It's certainly not part of a range of mountains, err, hills.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Anyhoo.

Has anyone ever wondered who would win a fight out of King Kong and Jaws?

Kong:



Jaws:



Tough call, I'd say.

Although I think Kong should wait until Sexy Time is finished before starting the fight. That thing's gonna stop him getting close enough to swing a punch.

Paul E

Kong is thinking will Jaws eat me whole?

rubertoe

Jaws wins every time in water, King Kong on land.

Its a tough call in space though

cookdn

twist83 wrote:

I still feel giddy though defending DDD It is christmas though

I can't believe this thread is into it's ninth page and is essentially discussing how DDD got disgruntled by cyclists during his Saturday AM commute by car. :shock: Does anyone else not see the irony (without spelling it out ).

walkingbootweather

rubertoe wrote:

Jaws wins every time in water, King Kong on land.

Its a tough call in space though

You think?

tailwindhome

rubertoe wrote:

Jaws wins every time in water, King Kong on land.

Its a tough call in space though

Give the shark 8 tentacles,then we got a match up

DonDaddyD

BigMat wrote:

Coach H wrote:

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

This.

I have just gone through the whole thread and cannot see where you would come to this conclusion.

All these pages and I still don't know what the point is of doing a 20mph(max) chaingang? :?

Most cyclists on the road in Richmond Park exceed 20mph. They just do. My understanding is that Dynamo have an unwritten agreement with the Park authorities that they will turn a blind eye to the club rides exceeding 20mph as long as they generally behave themselves and act in a safe and courteous manner. On this occasion, they technically should have given way, but unless I've misunderstood it sounds like they delayed DDD by all of about 5 seconds - why he couldn't just cut them some slack is beyond me. If we as cyclists can't do other cyclists a favour on the road then we really are in trouble.

As for the people above saying that they would have carried on and it would have served the cyclists right if they were knocked down... I'll bite my tongue, like I generally do out on the road.

It would have served them right wouldn't it. I mean its a road, there are rules. OBEY THEM. As for me being pissed off that I was delayed. I think earlier in the thread I said that I was happy to wait behind them until I was out of the park. I could have overtaken them, but didn't.

My issue was that what they did was dangerous. End of. And there is no excuse for that.

DonDaddyD

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

But to bite, I don't generally get annoyed by other road users using the road. I do get frustrated when their actions are directly dangerous to me - the level of frustration varies depending on the severity of their action. Nice try to take what I said out of context.

Which part of the incident was "directly dangerous" to you? As far as I can tell, you stopped and there was no issue. If you hadn't stopped, you'd possibly have had some cyclists wrapped around the side/rear of your car. Pretty dangerous for the cyclists, but you'd have been fine. Unless your car is LHD, you wouldn't even have been close to the point of impact.

Sounds like the real reason you're p*ssed off is because you had to stop when it was your right of way. As a London cyclist, aren't you used to that?

Any collision is potentially danagerous, whether emotionally or physically, to either party. Just because one party carries the larger portion of the danager/risk does not mean there is none for the other party except for extreme circumstances. I cite a guy who once posted on here about a drunk cyclist who served infront of him and ended up in him flipping his car.

Quite besides which, the post you quoted was in direct response to MBC was more an account of encounters in general than this specific one. I've been left more frustrated by some of the posts and attitudes displayed in this thread than the actions of the cyclists.

tgotb

DonDaddyD wrote:

As I entered Richmond Park (entrance from Roehamptom) there's a rounabout. At the roundabout there is a car at the line on my right and bikes approaching the line on my left. The car goes straight so I've entered the roundabout to go straight and the bikes, who are still approaching, should be slowing to stop.

I was thinking of this as I rode home; my normal commute takes me through Roehampton Gate and up towards Richmond Gate, which sounds like the route you were taking.

Now you say, "I've entered the roundabout to go straight". Does this mean you weren't indicating? When you stop at the junction, because of the position and orientation of the various cobbled islands it looks like a right turn towards Richmond (ie you start off pointing towards Robin Hood Gate and are very much going round the roundabout rather than straight across it). Approaching from Robin Hood Gate, conversely, because of the splays, the left turn towards Richmond actually feels straighter than it looks on the map. Straight enough to take flat-out in the aero bars (maybe 27mph) on a TT bike, for sure. I'm probably more banked over at 15mph doing the same right turn as you, than I am doing the left turn at twice the speed.

Is it possible that you weren't indicating, and that the cyclists (albeit unwisely) assumed you were going to turn left?

Before anyone asks, I've only been round that bend at ~27mph in a sanctioned race, for which the speed limit has been waived. All the junctions are marshalled for safety. Oh yes, the race is organised by London Dynamo. There are 2-3 every Summer, and they put on a great event, I thoroughly recommend it!

DonDaddyD

TGOTB wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

As I entered Richmond Park (entrance from Roehamptom) there's a rounabout. At the roundabout there is a car at the line on my right and bikes approaching the line on my left. The car goes straight so I've entered the roundabout to go straight and the bikes, who are still approaching, should be slowing to stop.

I was thinking of this as I rode home; my normal commute takes me through Roehampton Gate and up towards Richmond Gate, which sounds like the route you were taking.

Now you say, "I've entered the roundabout to go straight". Does this mean you weren't indicating? When you stop at the junction, because of the position and orientation of the various cobbled islands it looks like a right turn towards Richmond (ie you start off pointing towards Robin Hood Gate and are very much going round the roundabout rather than straight across it). Approaching from Robin Hood Gate, conversely, because of the splays, the left turn towards Richmond actually feels straighter than it looks on the map. Straight enough to take flat-out in the aero bars (maybe 27mph) on a TT bike, for sure. I'm probably more banked over at 15mph doing the same right turn as you, than I am doing the left turn at twice the speed.

Is it possible that you weren't indicating, and that the cyclists (albeit unwisely) assumed you were going to turn left?

Before anyone asks, I've only been round that bend at ~27mph in a sanctioned race, for which the speed limit has been waived. All the junctions are marshalled for safety. Oh yes, the race is organised by London Dynamo. There are 2-3 every Summer, and they put on a great event, I thoroughly recommend it!

You have a point, but I was pretty much beyond the point that would suggest I was going left. I drive a Mazda 6 its a big car, it was clear that I was going straight. They should have been prepared to stop, they weren't so for their safety I did. I think they need to take more care in situations like that.

SteppenHerring

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

kelsen wrote:

SteppenHerring wrote:

And you can do as many laps as you like round Little Switzerland and up Box (IIRC about 8 miles). As many as I like is about one.

I like that...Little Switzerland! Is that what it's unofficially referred to as?

I've always referred to it as the Giant of Dorking (cf Ventoux). It shares the standalone quality with Ventoux. It's certainly not part of a range of mountains, err, hills.

I think you're thinking of Ranmore - which is one of those gittish climbs that you start off full bore because it's flattish but it gets steeper and steeper until at the left hairpin you are out the saddle no matter what gear you ride.

Little Switzerland is (checks map) Lodgebottom Road - a rather pleasant gradual descent through a valley. It's the loop used by the Ballbuster. Imagine if you've come up Box, you ride along through the village, past Cycles Dauphin then at the junction turn left towards Headley. Past the cricket club, bear left then you have an interesting descent. Just before the bottom there's a left turn and that's Lodgebottom Road. Follow that down to the bottom, turn left over a little hump and you find yourself at the bottom of the Zig Zag road.

If you really want to see the climbs of that area then do the Cheam and Morden CTC Hilly 50 which is normally at the beginning of March. Bring strong wheels and winter tyres. 1,400 metres of climbing in 50km. Hard but my 12 year old son has done it.

EKE_38BPM

TailWindHome wrote:

rubertoe wrote:

Jaws wins every time in water, King Kong on land.

Its a tough call in space though

Give the shark 8 tentacles,then we got a match up

Sharktopus vs Kong would be interesting.

Vs

rjsterry

SteppenHerring wrote:

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

kelsen wrote:

SteppenHerring wrote:

And you can do as many laps as you like round Little Switzerland and up Box (IIRC about 8 miles). As many as I like is about one.

I like that...Little Switzerland! Is that what it's unofficially referred to as?

I've always referred to it as the Giant of Dorking (cf Ventoux). It shares the standalone quality with Ventoux. It's certainly not part of a range of mountains, err, hills.

I think you're thinking of Ranmore - which is one of those gittish climbs that you start off full bore because it's flattish but it gets steeper and steeper until at the left hairpin you are out the saddle no matter what gear you ride.

Little Switzerland is (checks map) Lodgebottom Road - a rather pleasant gradual descent through a valley. It's the loop used by the Ballbuster. Imagine if you've come up Box, you ride along through the village, past Cycles Dauphin then at the junction turn left towards Headley. Past the cricket club, bear left then you have an interesting descent. Just before the bottom there's a left turn and that's Lodgebottom Road. Follow that down to the bottom, turn left over a little hump and you find yourself at the bottom of the Zig Zag road.

If you really want to see the climbs of that area then do the Cheam and Morden CTC Hilly 50 which is normally at the beginning of March. Bring strong wheels and winter tyres. 1,400 metres of climbing in 50km. Hard but my 12 year old son has done it.

Tempting, but the chances of anything beyond the weekly commute between now and then is remote. I wonder if there's some sort of Tour of the North Downs monster Farnham to Dover route that zigzags up and down the escarpment.

cyclingprop

Those mazda6 drivers eh? Always the same with them, it's just Zoom Zoom.

cjcp

SteppenHerring wrote:

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

kelsen wrote:

SteppenHerring wrote:

And you can do as many laps as you like round Little Switzerland and up Box (IIRC about 8 miles). As many as I like is about one.

I like that...Little Switzerland! Is that what it's unofficially referred to as?

I've always referred to it as the Giant of Dorking (cf Ventoux). It shares the standalone quality with Ventoux. It's certainly not part of a range of mountains, err, hills.

I think you're thinking of Ranmore - which is one of those gittish climbs that you start off full bore because it's flattish but it gets steeper and steeper until at the left hairpin you are out the saddle no matter what gear you ride.

Little Switzerland is (checks map) Lodgebottom Road - a rather pleasant gradual descent through a valley. It's the loop used by the Ballbuster. Imagine if you've come up Box, you ride along through the village, past Cycles Dauphin then at the junction turn left towards Headley. Past the cricket club, bear left then you have an interesting descent. Just before the bottom there's a left turn and that's Lodgebottom Road. Follow that down to the bottom, turn left over a little hump and you find yourself at the bottom of the Zig Zag road.

If you really want to see the climbs of that area then do the Cheam and Morden CTC Hilly 50 which is normally at the beginning of March. Bring strong wheels and winter tyres. 1,400 metres of climbing in 50km. Hard but my 12 year old son has done it.

Not a fan of that Lodgebottom bit. I much prefer heading back down Box, back up Ranmore, then right at the junction with Critten Lane (?) so you head back to Effingham.