Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

How was your cycle commute?

DrRingDing said:
Modified my tactics on a fast stretch downhill. I often get cut up by drivers going around corners so now I've decided to cycle in the middle of the lane so the fuckers can't get past me.
Click to expand...


There's a 90 degree turn on my route to work - if I don't cycle WELL out in the middle of the lane, I'm regularly cut up and nearly knocked off.
 
Next stage camera and a loud horn ;)

So depressing that we have to herd the feckers and point out the bleedin' obvious.
 
Riding defensively is critical. Own the road if you have to. You also paid for it, so fuck anyone without the patience to wait a few seconds.

(but where it isn't any hassle or unsafe, be considerate to those that wish to pass*).

*except Audi drivers. Their Karma is in significant deficit and they deserve no accommodation.
 
BMW drivers have definitely let themselves slide in the thug stakes... when I was riding motorcycles in the 70s and 80s, it was Volvo Estates.....
I wish my camera hadn't died yesterday. One of the cars I horned was an open-top - I might have caught them flinching. I probably ought to build my Fiamm horn into my front light and maybe enlarge the flare.
(a good reason for me to be off-axis and wearing headphones.)
 
DrRingDing said:
Modified my tactics on a fast stretch downhill. I often get cut up by drivers going around corners so now I've decided to cycle in the middle of the lane so the fuckers can't get past me.
Click to expand...

Not exactly clear how they're cutting you up, are they turning left or just taking the corners too close?

Do you visually check over your right shoulder enough? I do this a lot (got in the habit through listening to music and so not being able to rely on my ears), it serves two purposes, first you know exactly what's coming and can be prepared, second it lets cars know you're alert and interacting with them. Nobody cuts me up except on roundabouts, I still haven't found an answer to that one.
 
8115 said:
Not exactly clear how they're cutting you up, are they turning left or just taking the corners too close?

Do you visually check over your right shoulder enough? I do this a lot (got in the habit through listening to music and so not being able to rely on my ears), it serves two purposes, first you know exactly what's coming and can be prepared, second it lets cars know you're alert and interacting with them. Nobody cuts me up except on roundabouts, I still haven't found an answer to that one.
Click to expand...

he (probably) means going round a left hand bend, the car overtakes him and cuts the corner at the same time. So now he moves out so the car can't pass
 
many cyclists complain bitterly, and rightly so, about being judged as a whole based upon the actions of a few, almost to the point where the word 'cyclists' has become a pejorative term. Saying things like 'BMW Drivers do this that and the next thing' is just the other side of the same coin and is equally unhelpful.

We all need to move away from this 'them and us' narrative if we are going to see any meaningful change.
 
pissflaps said:
many cyclists complain bitterly, and rightly so, about being judged as a whole based upon the actions of a few, almost to the point where the word 'cyclists' has become a pejorative term. Saying things like 'BMW Drivers do this that and the next thing' is just the other side of the same coin and is equally unhelpful.

We all need to move away from this 'them and us' narrative if we are going to see any meaningful change.
Click to expand...

FOR FUCK SAKE YOU MASSIVE CUNT..
Stop spouting such sense!
Its a friday and its sunny, everyone is meant to be going a bit stupid and daft.. and there you are typing out something as spot on as that.
 
pissflaps said:
possibly. tho biking is not for everyone.
Click to expand...
I always figure that if someone like me who can't ride a kiddies' roundabout or climb on a ladder to paint a wall can ride one so successfully, almost anyone can.
I've only managed to fall off about 4 times in 25 years and 40,000 miles.
 
joustmaster said:
thats better.

I sometimes drive a BMW, and it annoys me to think that some cyclists might automatically think me a twat.
Click to expand...

My initial comment was knowingly facetious, so relax.

BUT there is some use in expecting certain drivers to behave according to stereotypes, it's part of your instinct if you ride everyday - for example personal plates/fat exhaust/tinted windows are a sign to be a bit more cautious around them at the lights. From experience also, white cars (newish), transit-type pick-up trucks (especially those with landscape gardening equipment in the back), BMW/Audi/Golfs, taxis/private hire (especially taxis/private hire) - all seem to appear more frequently to put you in danger. Not every driver will drive like a twat, and sometimes you'll get nearly run off the road by a 2CV with a nuclear-power-no-thanks sticker in the rear window, but some amount of stereotyping is just part of the processing of information as you read the road ahead, the same way you adopt certain cautions around buses and large lorries. It's something you just pick up if you ride every day (I do about 18 miles cross-city every day).
 
Dogsauce said:
My initial comment was knowingly facetious, so relax.

BUT there is some use in expecting certain drivers to behave according to stereotypes, it's part of your instinct if you ride everyday - for example personal plates/fat exhaust/tinted windows are a sign to be a bit more cautious around them at the lights. From experience also, white cars (newish), transit-type pick-up trucks (especially those with landscape gardening equipment in the back), BMW/Audi/Golfs, taxis/private hire (especially taxis/private hire) - all seem to appear more frequently to put you in danger. Not every driver will drive like a twat, and sometimes you'll get nearly run off the road by a 2CV with a nuclear-power-no-thanks sticker in the rear window, but some amount of stereotyping is just part of the processing of information as you read the road ahead, the same way you adopt certain cautions around buses and large lorries. It's something you just pick up if you ride every day (I do about 18 miles cross-city every day).
Click to expand...

Post office vans seem to be the ones that stick out in my mind..
And suit-wearing folk on boris bikes.
 
i find roads dictate behavior rather than vehicle. Railton road is a choice example of shitty layout and planning resulting in people driving like solid gold cunts regardless of what they're driving.
 
My 'extra caution' list is not just formed from my own experience though - I'm incredibly cautious around skip lorries - not because of any bad experience, but because they've killed quite a few people, including someone quite local to me. I'm sure they're over-represented in casualty statistics. I give them tons of space.

Sometimes it's not just the car, there's something in the behaviour you can pick up, revving, stopping abruptly, driving with apparently too much caution (confused or drunk?) - you pick up signs quickly and react accordingly. It's the same when driving too, sometimes on the motorway I'll speed up to get past someone driving erratically/unpredictable just because I don't want to be behind them if they fuck up, and also don't want to have to give up too much of my concentration second-guessing their next move (e.g. if they change lane without indicating). When cycling I'll also emply the 'getting away from someone' strategy, even changing route. This can be other cyclists too.

Pissflaps is right about road design too, that's something that can encourage bad behaviour. One of the most common on my commute is people overtaking then pulling into sliproads in front of me - happens several places on route. Of course, on the worst of these the council wants me up on the pavement (shared space, poor surface, obstructions) and to cross the sliproad (and a branch off it) on two signalled crossings. If I did this at every location, and followed the meandering off-road routes through various gates, barriers and crossings my commute would be an hour, not 30 minutes.
 
Dogsauce sounds like you know what the fuck you're doing out there.

How many cars can you identify based on engine sound alone? i can pretty much peg a black cab at twenty paces to the rear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TopCat
Ceramic coatings for new cycle
Replies
3
Views
337
TopCat
TopCat
A
First car / how do people afford cars when in low paid work?
2
Replies
59
Views
1K
Chz
Chz
TopCat
Brompton folding cycles
2 3
Replies
74
Views
2K
TopCat
TopCat
fucthest8
Hybrid e-bike for commuting
Replies
12
Views
542
newme
newme
kalidarkone
How much should I sell my van for?
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
kalidarkone
kalidarkone
Back
Top Bottom