riding in town

dave02

just been to that London, and spent an hr watching the battle of bikes against the world, its no wonder that we get a bad name, most of the bikers either cut up the cars or ran red lights, were abusive to the drivers and most of the population, its sad when you see it happening befor your eyes.

Mikey23

And I've just spent a day on dartmoor along with hundreds of cyclists and hundreds of motorists peacefully co existing on narrow country lanes, potholes, cattle grids etc. a wonderful example of what is possible. Ok, completely different situation, everybody on their best behaviour and no one in a desperate hurry to get to places. Utopia v dystopia... Discuss...

tapscrew

I don't think it matters where you ride, some riders are just mad and some drivers are just arses! I ride a lot in the country and some drivers give you loads of room and wait on narrow lanes to overtake you, and some just run you off the road. You just have to know that you yourself are ride polite and safe as you can. I always thank those who drive carefully. But I have been knocked off on a country road and the git didn't even stop to see if I was ok (luckily I was) I have found horse riders to be quite rude to me!!

arran77

Mikey23 wrote:

And I've just spent a day on dartmoor along with hundreds of cyclists and hundreds of motorists peacefully co existing on narrow country lanes, potholes, cattle grids etc. a wonderful example of what is possible. Ok, completely different situation, everybody on their best behaviour and no one in a desperate hurry to get to places. Utopia v dystopia... Discuss...

Watching the tour I take it?

Where about's were you watching it, looked great when I watched the highlights 8)

owenlars

dave02 wrote:

just been to that London, and spent an hr watching the battle of bikes against the world, its no wonder that we get a bad name, most of the bikers either cut up the cars or ran red lights, were abusive to the drivers and most of the population, its sad when you see it happening befor your eyes.

I have done 35000 miles on a bike in and around London over the last seven years and whilst it is not most cyclists, you are right a significant minority behave like complete d*c*heads. I suspect none of us are entirely blameless, neither are car drivers. However we won't sort this until, either bikes are totally segregated from other traffic (which I abhor), or we all start behaving as traffic and obeying the rules at least as much as cars do.

I now await the waves of aggression from the significant minority.

Mikey23

@a ... Yup, would have loved to have ridden over but still not possible, so drove to widecome and got the park and ride to the finish at haytor. So got to the 100 m mark and on the same side of the road as the finishing area. Could see the riders coming through the flamme rouge and all the way up the hill. The racing was brill but the vibe was amazing, thousands of people turning up on the middle of nowhere with a common purpose. Restored my faith in humanity. And had something like 100 bikes to overtake on the way back on narrow country lanes. Testing but a pleasure to do and good humoured...

Mikey23

@o.. Absolutely agree. We all need to grow up and get along. Segregation isn't the way. Have never driven in London or any other urban sprawl and can't say that the prospect excites me

gozzy

tapscrew wrote:

I have found horse riders to be quite rude to me!!

Did they have reason to be rude?
Did you slow right down to pass? If approaching from behind, did you call out ahead and give warning?

Marco Panettone

dave02 wrote:

just been to that London, and spent an hr watching the battle of bikes against the world, its no wonder that we get a bad name, most of the bikers either cut up the cars or ran red lights, were abusive to the drivers and most of the population, its sad when you see it happening befor your eyes.

Do you feel that bad male cyclist give all men a bad name? Or bad drivers who happen to be black give all black people a bad name?

Some people behave badly on the road - none of them represent me in any way.

Mikey23

Always a minority... Impatient, uncaring commuter or testosterone fuelled Lycra covered middle aged boy racers, confrontation is never far from the surface

desweller

It's Londoners innit; no-one knows how to drive, no-one knows how to ride. Everyone in that town turns to an arse as soon as they're faced with the road, whether they're in a car or on a bike.

raymondo60

I love riding in London. Commute 3-4 days a week from Surrey into Holborn and have been riding in town since I was a kid, many years ago. Yes of course there are idiots out there - on bikes, in cars, driving taxis/buses, even on foot. We can only be responsible for our own behaviour and attitude. I find cycling in town to be friendly, reasonably safe, and on most days really pleasant. I enjoy a good bit of banter with all other road users, and see many cyclists regularly, as we share similar routes. You get what you give I think; it seems that way for me. Or maybe, in 40+ years of cycling, I've just been lucky....

cookeeemonster

Mikey23 wrote:

@o.. Absolutely agree. We all need to grow up and get along. Segregation isn't the way. Have never driven in London or any other urban sprawl and can't say that the prospect excites me

Segregation isn't the way yet you have no experience of it or riding in the non segregated city?

I ride in London all the time, yes there are idiots that ride/drive badly yet I feel safer there than in the country which is full of d*ckheads that race about on single track roads regardless of the conditions (of course not, but if you can stereotype city people than you can stereotype country people yeah? :P )

notsoblue

Some people can get quite adversarial when riding in London, because they feel really unsafe and constantly under threat. They ride around in full high vis and get jittery every time a bus comes within 10 feet of them. I think its just a matter of attitude. I'm usually pretty chilled and rarely ever feel like I'm in danger. If you ride strong primary, can keep up with traffic (which isn't that fast most of the time, 16-18mph) and make eye contact with the drivers, then London isn't really that scary to cycle around.

I spent this afternoon pootling about Kingston, Richmond, Putney and Hammersmith with a slower rider and it was a lot of fun tbh. Was just nice to be out on the bike

Mikey23

Didn't mean segregation in that sense. I recognise that there has to be cycle lanes etc where appropriate

dai_t75

I just finished a 2 week job in London and some of the riding I witnessed was shocking to say the least, or maybe I am just not used to seeing it?

I lost count of the number of times a person riding a bike (I won't call them cyclists) refused to even slow down for me at a pedestrian crossing let alone stop.

Red light jumping... I know it gets talked about a lot on here, but I personally haven't seen much of it. I think I can say with some confidence that whenever I saw a red light with a few bikes at least 1 would sneak through... and I saw a few red lights on the walk to work. One even did it while a police van sat at the other red light!

Then there was the filtering up the inside of busses/lorries - have these people got a death wish?

All in all it was interesting seeing things from a pedestrian point of view in London. I can also see the benefit of cycling - the tube is horrible and there always seems to be traffic on the roads.

dave02

i think we will never have the answer, but do we have the right questions, its the same the whole world over ,etc.
I still think that all those people were a bit annoyed because the roads were closed off, iam not sure what they were shouting but it was very LOUD, enjoy your riding where ever you do it and sod the rest .