Do certain riders attract trouble?

SteppenHerring

I've noticed that some people are, for want of a better term, Tw*t Magnets. For instance, there's a guy in the club and almost always when he's in my group we will have some sort of confrontation with a motorist. When he's not then it's extremely rare. I can't see anything in his riding that is any more aggressive/assertive/different from anybody else's. The funny thing is though that I think it might be genetic. A couple of times when his daughter has been on a ride with me, she's been sworn at, had a 4x4 swerve at her etc. This could just be bullying because she's small or it could be coincidence.

I don't really get trouble on the roads. I think this might be down to my riding style (best described as "rarely"). I hear horror stories from others though.

Thoughts?

gtvlusso

See; Cyclegaz or any of his 'friends'.....seem to attract more 'issues' than anyone else on the planet. He will, of course, deny this. But in ~20+ years of road cycling I have never seen one person have so many incidents in such a short cycle career :shock: And provide visual evidence of it!

So, yes, I think there are some people that for whatever reason are tw*t magnets. But it won't be their fault.....as they have the footage to prove...lalalalalala, who gives a f*ck.

rick_chasey

Yeah. I attract more than most. I would say more than my fair share but that's not strictly true.

jds_1981

Does wearing short skirts attract...?

MrChuck

I think so. In fact I think it's certain people- my OH and all the women in her family seem to have far more than their fair share of confrontations and run-ins with people whether behind the wheel or in the supermarket. I reckon it's more about how you react to stuff that happens to everybody and blow it up rather than just move on.

spen666

I think to some degree those who use helmet cams and have "incidents" are a bit like those people who "know a little law" and try to assert their rights.

They may be in the right in the strictest theoretical sense of things, but road use and indeed everyday live requires give and take - ie its not always about asserting your rights - sometimes its more sensible to let things go

notsoblue

First victim blaming thread of the new year?

SteppenHerring

MrChuck wrote:

I think so. In fact I think it's certain people- my OH and all the women in her family seem to have far more than their fair share of confrontations and run-ins with people whether behind the wheel or in the supermarket. I reckon it's more about how you react to stuff that happens to everybody and blow it up rather than just move on.

I do wonder if some motorists are that evil that they pick on the vulnerable looking.

One incident with Mr. TM's daughter: we were negotiating a bendy road section as a group of about 10 riding two abreast. Maintaining a good speed (20mph plus) but a couple of vehicles behind. Get to a very short straight and they both pass, the second one (a Mitsubishi 4x4) swerves at Ms. TM (looks the most vulnerable of the group) who is on the right, 2nd wheel for no reason other than to intimidate.

Other stuff I can see why confrontation happens. I am more of a slow, sad shake of the head person than an obscene gesture one. The exception was coming up a bus lane, stationary traffic on my right (yeah, I know, not ideal) and a BMW X5 comes to a junction on the left and carries on across the bus lane in front of me. That got the international sign language for "Put the f*cking phone down" and "you are an habitual self abuser". After I'd just managed to avoid him.

ga02clr

My better half seems to attract more problems on the commute than I do and it’s not down to anything wrong with her riding style as such.
The problems she gets are from other cyclists usually middle aged men. They don’t seem to like the fact that they get overtaken by a lady. This then leads to guys going all guns to try and get passed again usually swinging in front before they are past or just barging past her at the lights. Sometimes they jump the red light, sometimes just they just position themselves in front to regain the damaged ego. No one minds people moving in front at lights but it’s a little annoying when they are doing it just to get in front of a lady and then they hold everyone up being slow.
When she first told me about this I was sceptical. I thought that people would react the same no matter who overtook them. I have now followed her into work just to watch this phenomenon a few times and she is completely right. Damaged ego leads to some very silly manoeuvres and just general stupidity from some men.

clarkey cat

what FCN is your missus?

Origamist

notsoblue wrote:

First victim blaming thread of the new year?

First irrational and sweary anti-helmet cam post of 2013 too?

ga02clr

clarkey cat wrote:

what FCN is your missus?

Road bike, panier, mud guards. - the guys getting upset are not SCR if they are their crap at it....

EKE_38BPM

ga02clr wrote:

clarkey cat wrote:

what FCN is your missus?

Road bike, panier, mud guards. - the guys getting upset are not SCR if they are their crap at it....

Or, your missus is really fast and uses her +1s to try to even up the SCR.

gtvlusso

Origamist wrote:

First factual anti-helmet cam post of 2013 too?

FTFY.

Initialised

gtvlusso wrote:

Origamist wrote:

First factual anti-helmet cam post of 2013 too?

FTFY.

No I got that in yesterday!

ga02clr

EKE_38BPM wrote:

ga02clr wrote:

clarkey cat wrote:

what FCN is your missus?

Road bike, panier, mud guards. - the guys getting upset are not SCR if they are their crap at it....

Or, your missus is really fast and uses her +1s to try to even up the SCR.

Afraid not she dosnt have a clue about SCR more likes to keep dry and hates riding with a rucksack.