cowardy custards

mudface · July 2007

now then, i posted this on another forum a while back, but i'm interested on hearing your experiences too...

on part of my ride there is a big hill i have to ride up which has very short sections on it where, when cars are parked, there is not enough room for a car and a bike side by side. after an incident where a car ploughed into my handlebar trying to pass, i started taking the central position on the road on two, very short sections - after all it's not a busy road and it's only for about a couple of car lengths. anyway, my bf and i ride this every day. there has not been an incident when we have been riding together when a driver has done anything but drive patiently behind us at these sections. however, today i was riding alone. i always used to ride alone, and i forgot what it could be like - at one section a car nearly knocked me off trying to squeeze past, and at the next one the driver was swearing and beeping at me.

anyway, to the question - do any of you commuter type guys ever get this, or do these blokes only pick on lone women? it has NEVER happened when i've been riding with my bf, and i'm getting a bit sick of it.

AndyGates · July 2007

Yeah, I get it sometimes - so I take the lane and give them filthy looks if they try anything.

Jacomus-rides-Gen · July 2007

I find the same thing, I am very slight at 6'0" and 11st, and other "men" will often be aggressive and threatening to me simply because they are bigger. I have a cycling buddy at my office who is a gym nut, 6'3" and 16st7lbs of pure muscle, he almost never gets abuse out on the road.

When we ride together - no abuse.

We both wear lycra, so I'm assuming that the "men" who will happily abuse me, make a different decision when faced with someone who looks like he could bench press their car.

I had a horrible journey in this morning, and posted about it. I would be willing to bet this months salary that if 'T' had been with me, those two bullys wouldn't have dreamed of getting out of their car.

mudface · July 2007

Jacomus-rides-Gen wrote:

I find the same thing, I am very slight at 6'0" and 11st[

you think that YOU are slight? try being a 5ft6" lady at 8st7lbs.

chivalry is definitely dead.

interesting to read that if you are on a bike, you cease to be being a fellow human being and are just seen as an annoyance (so long as you are small enough to lose the fight).

i hate these idiots.

ChrisLS · July 2007

...I think people that drive with this attidude are probably bullies which is the reason they don't have a go when there is two of you.

At the moment on part of my commute down a single track lane I come across a builders van which drives straight at me. I more or less have to throw myself in the hedge to get out of this leering idiots way. I only hope the fat slob has his heart attack soon and leaves the roads safer in his absence...I'm not wishing death on him, just a scare and a spell in hospital. Who knows, perhaps he will be advised to exercise as part of his recovery and ride a bike himself

BentMikey · July 2007

I'm much the same, 5'10" and 10.5 stone. I do like AndyGates though, and take the lane. Stuff them when it's my safety versus their convenience, but I will often pull in and wave cars past when there's a gap. That seems to create enough goodwill to keep everyone happy most of the time.

mudface · July 2007

i do tend to find that it's usually van/taxi/bus drivers or city boys in beemers who tend to behave like this. the vast majority of other road users are usually pretty considerate.

i am a pretty agressive rider though, which i think you have to be in central london in order to get anywhere and command any space in the traffic. i'm a mtb rider, so am used to riding through lots of obstacles.

Teuchter · July 2007

I'd be willing to accept that as a woman you may suffer more of this but it's a sad fact that road rage and a general lack of respect for everyone outside of their little cocoon is a common thing on our roads today.

I've had some minor hassle in the time I've been cycling. I'm only 5'10" but I'm told look quite intimidating when I'm in 'the wrong mood', in part perhaps due to my beard, shaved head and tattoos (most of which are visible when I cycle).

What has often surprised me in the past has been driver's reactions to filtering past them on my motorbike. On one occasion I had filtered to near the head of a stationary queue of cars and pulled into the ample space in front of one of them. The car driver proceeded to blast their horn, rev the engine and ram into the back of my bike! I figured that someone who would do that to a big bloke (I look big in my armoured leathers at least!) on an equally big, black motorbike must consider themselves to be a bit handy so it was with a little trepidation that I got off the bike and approached them.

I was shocked to see not some burly bloke but a middle aged woman behind the wheel! I admit I gave her a torrent of fairly colourful language and then reached through her open window, pulled her car keys from the ignition and lobbed them down the road before getting back on the bike and riding off.

Her face was a picture

There was a point there somewhere. Oh yeah, looking big and tough won't always stop these idiots!

Totalnewbie · July 2007

It's very interesting to compare the attitudes of the WVM.

Me walking along the street: blokes in white vans wolf whistling/shouting suggestive comments (not that I am anything special you understand, it does not take much to please these types I know)

Me on the bike: blokes in white vans shouting abuse and hooting me out the way/trying to sideswipe me.

I don't particularly appreciate either of course, but it does prove my transformation into insignificant nuisance (in their perception) once I get on my bike.

mudface · July 2007

that is EXACTLY what i'm trying to say, totalnewbie. somehow being on a bike prevents you from being treated like a human being, merely an annoyance.

the second you get off of the bike, they're nice as pie (well, as nice as they get). sometimes when i get shouted/wolfwhistled at i feel like telling them to keep their eyes on the road and concentrate on their extremely dubious driving skills.

a taxi driver tried to drive into my leg when i was filtering once. i was just riding in my own space, that's all. he just decided that he wanted to drive where i was riding and i ended up partially on to his bonnet while he hurled abuse at me. so i got back on my bike and stood in front of him in the middle of the road and told him (loudly in front of a load of other road users) to run over me and my bike, if that's what he really wanted to do. he went very quiet. i rode off hoping he wasn't the type for revenge...

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