I truly despair

Kieran_Burns
Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
edited December 2009 in Commuting chat
Driving home tonight (damn' this dragging house sale!)

Pitch black country lane on the approach to Kegworth I can see two pedal reflectors moving up and down and nothing else.

Get closer and am astonished to see a (University!) student with a dinkly little flashing light strapped to the cross member between the rear forks.

I have NO idea how the hell the thing is there, but the upshot is: the tyre is completely obscuring it and there is ZERO light out the back. She was wearing dark clothing and was utterly oblivious.

I tried to tell her numerous times but she just bimbled along with this utterly vacant expression. In truth it was a little scary.



Oh, and to top it all - 400 yards further on: ninja cyclist ALL in black - zero lights and tearing down the road. :roll:
Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
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Comments

  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?
  • Jay dubbleU
    Jay dubbleU Posts: 3,159
    Its called evolution,mate - they don't survive long enough to breed :wink:
  • NGale
    NGale Posts: 1,866
    Theres two words for people like that in the NHS....organ donors.
    Officers don't run, it's undignified and panics the men
  • Not an argument that I necessarily subscribe to but I've heard it quite a bit elsewhere recently so here goes...

    You were presumably riding at an appropriate speed for the conditions and road. You saw the reflectors moving in good time. So, what's your problem? A bit like the anti-helmet argument - would you insist that pedestrians should all wear lights and reflective clothing between dusk and dawn so drivers can see them when crossing the road?

    (Not looking for a fight - just interested in the views of forum members in an argument I'm hearing more and more of. For the record I'm a christmas tree, florescent jacket rider.)
    Pain is only weakness leaving the body
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Ngale, that's two words :)
  • NGale
    NGale Posts: 1,866
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Ngale, that's two words :)

    already sorted :wink:
    Officers don't run, it's undignified and panics the men
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    Girl I like your style :lol:
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,052
    Not an argument that I necessarily subscribe to but I've heard it quite a bit elsewhere recently so here goes...

    You were presumably riding at an appropriate speed for the conditions and road. You saw the reflectors moving in good time. So, what's your problem? A bit like the anti-helmet argument - would you insist that pedestrians should all wear lights and reflective clothing between dusk and dawn so drivers can see them when crossing the road?

    (Not looking for a fight - just interested in the views of forum members in an argument I'm hearing more and more of. For the record I'm a christmas tree, florescent jacket rider.)

    Yes, I almost ran over some dude walking down the wrong side of a pitch black country lane, he was wearing cammo FFS in the dark in the middle of no where on the wrong side of the road, REALLY!!!

    It's a bloody good job I drive so slowly and I know that all along that particular road in St Mary Bourne, Hampshire people just wander along in the dark completely dress as ninjas, it's not even like there's a pub nearby..................

    And relax, vent over :lol:
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    To suggest running someone over, even followed by a smiley, is not a good response.
  • bradford
    bradford Posts: 195
    Lakesman wrote:
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    To suggest running someone over, even followed by a smiley, is not a good response.

    Yeah +1 :? Especially after the disturbing lorry driver thread on here today. :roll:
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    itboffin wrote:
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    Girl I like your style :lol:

    Thank you Master :)
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    Problem?

    You have now put yourself in the same bracket as Jeremy Clarkson et all?

    How do you feel about that?
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • Wow... guys chill. Cafewanda would come up to clarksons knees... maybe... If she had a foot stool. 8)
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Driving home tonight (damn' this dragging house sale!)

    Pitch black country lane on the approach to Kegworth I can see two pedal reflectors moving up and down and nothing else.

    Get closer and am astonished to see a (University!) student with a dinkly little flashing light strapped to the cross member between the rear forks.

    I have NO idea how the hell the thing is there, but the upshot is: the tyre is completely obscuring it and there is ZERO light out the back. She was wearing dark clothing and was utterly oblivious.

    I tried to tell her numerous times but she just bimbled along with this utterly vacant expression. In truth it was a little scary.



    Oh, and to top it all - 400 yards further on: ninja cyclist ALL in black - zero lights and tearing down the road. :roll:

    You saw the pedal relectors!! Thats why they are a legal requirement, they worked!!

    As to having no lights, that is just stupid. Might be a case of no money, out later than thought, but no real excuse, they should be seen.

    As to ninja cyclist, I mean WTF, are they just trying to be cool? Well they will end up very cool, on a morgue slab.
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Wow... guys chill. Cafewanda would come up to clarksons knees... maybe... If she had a foot stool. 8)


    :P :P
  • bradford
    bradford Posts: 195
    edited November 2009
    James Martin eat your heart out! :roll:

    Another Daily Fail reader :?
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    You were presumably riding at an appropriate speed for the conditions and road. You saw the reflectors moving in good time. So, what's your problem? A bit like the anti-helmet argument - would you insist that pedestrians should all wear lights and reflective clothing between dusk and dawn so drivers can see them when crossing the road?

    People in and on vehicles should always be on the lookout for unlit objects in the road.

    I wear lights because I know there are people around that DO NOT drive carefully enough, but a good careful driver/rider should be able to not strike an unlit cyclist/ped/sheep.
  • Motorists take it for granted that everything else is lit up for their convenience, so they can speed down the road at night without paying due care and attention. Changing this attitude is difficult enough without cyclists themselves buying into it.
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    snailracer wrote:
    Motorists take it for granted that everything else is lit up for their convenience, so they can speed down the road at night without paying due care and attention. Changing this attitude is difficult enough without cyclists themselves buying into it.

    +1

    Going to take my lights off tonight.
  • will3
    will3 Posts: 2,173
    I was cycling home the other night and a deer crossed the road right in front of me. Not only was it unlit, it didn't look before stepping out and was dressed in a low key brown fur suit that blended right in.
    What's the world coming to?
  • will3 wrote:
    I was cycling home the other night and a deer crossed the road right in front of me. Not only was it unlit, it didn't look before stepping out and was dressed in a low key brown fur suit that blended right in.
    What's the world coming to?

    thats happens quite often to me as I commute home late though Bushy Park and the deer do just step out, quite good encouragment to keep speed to what I can see though!
  • Many years ago nipped out to a job on farm on my fast road bike thinking that I could race back without needing lights. Well it's pitch black in the countryside, had all black clothes and bike, no lights-nothing :oops: . Had to bike home using what you would call mental sat-nav nowadays. Since then ALWAYS have a full set of very bright lights on all my bikes. Oh! Please try and use a Sam Browne!!!
  • will3 wrote:
    I was cycling home the other night and a deer crossed the road right in front of me. Not only was it unlit, it didn't look before stepping out and was dressed in a low key brown fur suit that blended right in.
    What's the world coming to?
    I was driving home one night and a massive tree with no lights or even reflectors stepped onto the road. It just sat there, refusing to move even though I honked my horn and flashed my headlights. The cheek of it! They don't pay road tax, either.
  • snailracer wrote:
    will3 wrote:
    I was cycling home the other night and a deer crossed the road right in front of me. Not only was it unlit, it didn't look before stepping out and was dressed in a low key brown fur suit that blended right in.
    What's the world coming to?
    I was driving home at night and a massive tree with no lights or reflectors stepped onto the road. It just sat there, refusing to move even though I honked my horn and flashed my headlights. The cheek of it! They don't pay road tax, either.

    one of the hazards of old stone walled lanes is the odd stone does fall and if you don't see it, car or bike it can do a lot of damage, and are suprisingly hard to spot even with modern headlights, ie dark rock against dark road.
  • snailracer wrote:
    I was driving home one night and a massive tree with no lights or even reflectors stepped onto the road. It just sat there, refusing to move even though I honked my horn and flashed my headlights. The cheek of it! They don't pay road tax, either.

    Did you d-lock the c*nt?
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    I come from Devon and spent many hours cyclin round country lanes.

    The only problem was that a minority of road users thought they could drive like incompetent rally drivers round blind bends at high speed. Inevitably - walkers and farm animals were periodically taken out - and quite a few head on smashes occured.

    So anything that forces motorists to think about their speed is a good thing in my book. People who ride in the dark without lights may be idiots, or they may be thrill seekers, but to me they are doing sterling work putting their lives on the line, so that we don;t have to.

    :P
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    prj45 wrote:
    snailracer wrote:
    Motorists take it for granted that everything else is lit up for their convenience, so they can speed down the road at night without paying due care and attention. Changing this attitude is difficult enough without cyclists themselves buying into it.

    +1

    Going to take my lights off tonight.

    Can I have your stuff?
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • would you insist that pedestrians should all wear lights and reflective clothing between dusk and dawn so drivers can see them when crossing the road?

    My daughter's school have been handing out little reflectors to hang from coats or school bags quoting some research from Finland that pedestrians are x times safer when they are wearing reflective clothing than when not. I don't think it's a new concept - If you're out at night - BE SEEN. Why wouldn't someone make the effort to be seen by motorists?
  • Greg T
    Greg T Posts: 3,266
    Lakesman wrote:
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    To suggest running someone over, even followed by a smiley, is not a good response.

    Perhaps if they'd followed up by suggesting post mortem mutiliation and shallow graving would have raised more of a titter from beneath your mother superior cowl?
    Fixed gear for wet weather / hairy roadie for posing in the sun.

    What would Thora Hurd do?
  • Greg T wrote:
    Lakesman wrote:
    Cafewanda wrote:
    Simples: D-lock the dozy female and run down (and over) the ninja. No witnesses :wink:

    Home for a relaxing shower, meal and wine/beer.

    Problem?

    To suggest running someone over, even followed by a smiley, is not a good response.

    Perhaps if they'd followed up by suggesting post mortem mutiliation and shallow graving would have raised more of a titter from beneath your mother superior cowl?

    Good to have you back Mr T :D
    Le Cannon [98 Cannondale M400] [FCN: 8]
    The Mad Monkey [2013 Hoy 003] [FCN: 4]