First Commute of the Year - Slightly Marred
OrbitRider
Posts: 78
Completed my first (10 mile) commute this year. (I've been hibernating on the bus for the last four months owing to Mrs O not liking me commuting in the dark). Beautiful morning: frosty, but clear skies, dry roads, little wind.
There's a roundabout about 7 miles out, with two lanes approaching. This morning, there were 4 cars in the left lane & a lorry & a car in the right lane as I came up. There was also a fellow cyclist just ahead of me. Realising that there was not enough space to safely filter, I took primary at the back of the queue. Not the other cyclist: he filtered up the inside of the first two cars, then switched to the outside & stopped at the head of the queue, between the car in the left lane & the lorry in the right. I thought "that's a dangerous place to be mate: you're right in the kill zone". Sure enough, the lorry pulled out pinning the cyclist between the lorry & the car. I heard a sickening crunch & held my breath, but fortunately the cyclist stayed upright. He managed to carry on across the roundabout. When I got through the roundabout, the cyclist was pulled over & was talking to the driver of the car that had been at the head of the queue. He seemed OK, but his rear MTB mudguard was pulled up & mangled. Even though I wasn't involved, it shook me a little & rather spoilt the commute. Hope the bloke learns some better cycling techniques.
There's a roundabout about 7 miles out, with two lanes approaching. This morning, there were 4 cars in the left lane & a lorry & a car in the right lane as I came up. There was also a fellow cyclist just ahead of me. Realising that there was not enough space to safely filter, I took primary at the back of the queue. Not the other cyclist: he filtered up the inside of the first two cars, then switched to the outside & stopped at the head of the queue, between the car in the left lane & the lorry in the right. I thought "that's a dangerous place to be mate: you're right in the kill zone". Sure enough, the lorry pulled out pinning the cyclist between the lorry & the car. I heard a sickening crunch & held my breath, but fortunately the cyclist stayed upright. He managed to carry on across the roundabout. When I got through the roundabout, the cyclist was pulled over & was talking to the driver of the car that had been at the head of the queue. He seemed OK, but his rear MTB mudguard was pulled up & mangled. Even though I wasn't involved, it shook me a little & rather spoilt the commute. Hope the bloke learns some better cycling techniques.
FCN 7 (4 weekdays)
FCN 11 (1 weekday)
There is an old cyclist called Leigh (not me!)
Who's pedalling's a blur to see
So fast is his action
The Lorenz Contraction
Shortens his bike to a "T"
FCN 11 (1 weekday)
There is an old cyclist called Leigh (not me!)
Who's pedalling's a blur to see
So fast is his action
The Lorenz Contraction
Shortens his bike to a "T"
0
Comments
-
I think that would have scared me a bit too.
You should take heart from the fact that you avoided that position, and then predicted that the other cyclist was in a dangerous situation. Your cycling techniques did you proud.
Might be worth not telling the wife about it if she's already nervous about you riding on the road!
0 -
Graeme_S wrote:Might be worth not telling the wife about it if she's already nervous about you riding on the road!
Quite. Recounting that tale this evening should be right below explaining to your wife that you've decided that you will take your keen-as-mustard-looks-like-she-bangs-like-a-barn-door-in-a-storm secretary for a "business trip" over the Easter weekend.0 -
I cringe whenever I see cyclists going down the inside of lorries. I'll do it when I'm at least 100% certain the lorry won't go anywhere and there's plenty of room to bail out if otherwise, but that's maybe 1 in 100 times.
When I was down in London to see the Tour de France, I was on the walkway above the corner of Northumberland Ave/Embankment the evening after the Prologue when the convoy of trucks which formed the finish line/commentary booths/podium/press rooms/etc. were heading out for Canterbury. An endless line of wagons, all doing the classic swing-wide-to-the-right-to-turn-left manouvre.
Cyclist pootles along, totally oblivious, up the inside of all the lorries and starts to make the left turn as a lorry+trailer closes in on the corner between the lorry and the building on the corner. Now the cyclist, unless blind, *must* have been able to see it. Lorry driver probably oblivious. But he just kept going, on into the gap which was rapidly closing down. Cyclist finally realises "hang on, I'm trapped" but now can't go anywhere. At that point I couldn't watch any longer - I thought he's a gonner. Luckily the gap stopped closing down, biker held in tight as the lorry brushed past and out of the way.
Bloody imbecile :evil:0
