A commute I did yesterday

[bonj2]

HoW come all the buildings near your work place are boarded up btw?

you mean the yellow and white boards about half way? That's not existing buildings boarded up, that's a new development going up and the yellow and white 'boarding' is just the metal makeshift walls they use to protect the building site and keep people out.

 

[bonj2]

Ohhh yes you do!! Look at the first few seconds of your clip. Do I spy some fingerless gloves adorning your hands?

Me thinks you have been rumbled

Do I get a prize

yeah but gloves aren't clothes, pedantic. They've actually seen better days those gloves, I'm going to have to sew them up in a number of places. Which reminds me aswell actually I ordered some full finger gloves and I ordered two sizes and I still haven't sent one of them back.

 

[col]

I gotta say bonj,i was in kinks after a couple of minutes watching .I actually laughed out loud.

 

[John the Monkey]

They pass cyclists a bit bloody close in Sheffield, by the looks of it.

 

[BentMikey]

That'll be more due to bonj's road positioning than anything else, IMO.

 

[bonj2]

oh road positioning my arse. I don't cycle in an aim to achieve theoretical perfection, i cycle for safety and enjoyjment. And no i haven't read CycleLogic or whatever that book you're always banging on about is.

 

[Fab Foodie]

oh road positioning my arse. I don't cycle in an aim to achieve theoretical perfection, i cycle for safety and enjoyjment. And no i haven't read CycleLogic or whatever that book you're always banging on about is.

Well, no surprise there then...

 

[BentMikey]

oh road positioning my arse. I don't cycle in an aim to achieve theoretical perfection, i cycle for safety and enjoyjment.

You might think so, but you don't put as much effort into your safety or enjoyment as you could. OTOH I think your cycling is much more about your "need" to make progress at all costs.

And no i haven't read CycleLogic or whatever that book you're always banging on about is.

LOL, yes, that's pretty obvious.

 

[bonj2]

You might think so, but you don't put as much effort into your safety or enjoyment as you could. OTOH I think your cycling is much more about your "need" to make progress at all costs.

I wouldn't enjoy it any more (or be any safer come to that) if I waited behind cars that I could be filtering past. I'm surprised someone who apparently sees themselves as an experienced cyclist discourages use of an ASL box, I would have thought better of you. You obviously aren't as experienced and road-savvy as I thought.

 

[magnatom]

I wouldn't enjoy it any more (or be any safer come to that) if I waited behind cars that I could be filtering past. I'm surprised someone who apparently sees themselves as an experienced cyclist discourages use of an ASL box, I would have thought better of you. You obviously aren't as experienced and road-savvy as I thought.

Filtering up the left of traffic to reach and ASL box is not always a safe maneuver. Just this morning I saw two cars which were waiting at traffic lights where the passenger door was opened. Can you be sure that a passenger of a car will look behind them to check that it is safe to open the door?

Look at this cyclist who filtered up the left hand side

Can you see where the cyclist was in danger?

Here's a question for you: Would you filter up the left of an HGV or a bus waiting at traffic lights where there was the option of a left turn, but the HGV wasn't indicating or was indicating right?

Bonj you do not cycle in the safest manor. Now I don't think that discussing this with you will change the way you cycle, but I don't want anyone else seeing your cycling and believing that you were cycling safely.

 

[magnatom]

I should add that the majority of ASL's are not there to keep cyclists safe. They are there so that councils can pat themselves on the back.

 

[bonj2]

Filtering up the left of traffic to reach and ASL box is not always a safe maneuver.

If you look at the way I do it, as I approach the ASL I'm actually right in the middle of the left-turn lane, so that I can filter past the cars in the leftmost straight-on (middle) lane, but at the same time I can't be overtaken by cars in the left-turn lane (which there are never many of, as most people are going straight on there, but still there might be one or two and if there are they are less likely to have to wait so are going faster, hence my central positioning in that lane), then once I'm in front of the car at the front of the queue in the leftmost straight-on lane and he can see me I pull over markedly so that he knows I'm going straight on. When I set off, I then take a line that starts off as primary position but soon becomes secondary, such that the car at the front of the leftmost straight on lane can overtake me but only once he's committed to going straight on, thus minimising delay for all users of the junction but also protecting myself from the main danger which is someone turning left in front of me. This is as far as I see it the best way of cycling for all concerned.

 

[bonj2]

Look at this cyclist who filtered up the left hand side

It looks as if he was too far over to the left, possibly almost even in the bus stop, but it looks like the red car was aware of his presence and passed safely.

Here's a question for you: Would you filter up the left of an HGV or a bus waiting at traffic lights where there was the option of a left turn, but the HGV wasn't indicating or was indicating right?

It depends if I knew I could get fully past it before it could possibly set off. If there were two or three vehicles in front of it (and they were no further left than the HGV/bus such that there was space for me to nestle in to the left of them), then the time taken for them to set off would be longer than the time it would take me to get past the HGV/bus, so therefore I could get past it before it could go anywhere and the driver of it could see me while he's still stationary, so yes that would be safe. If on the other hand there was a chance he could set off before I could get fully past, then no, I wouldn't, not unless there was adequate 'refuge'.

Bonj you do not cycle in the safest manor. Now I don't think that discussing this with you will change the way you cycle, but I don't want anyone else seeing your cycling and believing that you were cycling safely.

I cycle in a safe enough manner. You obviously read your cycling handbook for half an hour every night before you turn out the light, which is fine. But it does mean that you've got firmly ingrained in your head a particular way of cycling and a particular thing to do and position to get in at certain junctions, now while that's not wrong or unsafe as such, it's not the only correct way of cycling and more importantly neither does it mean that any other way of cycling is unsafe and wrong. The method you've read about is perfectly correct, but at the end of the day it is only one bloke's opinion. It's good that he's written such a book, as a lot of people have no idea what to do at particular junctions and that gives tham an idea. But it is just that a solution, not necessarily the only solution. I think if you asked him not even he would claim that his method is the only valid method of cycling.

You having read his book (and learnt it off by heart, it would seem) also gives you a platform on which to critique other people's cycling - but remember that you are only critiquing it relative to how well it conforms to that author's methods. That it doesn't conform very well, does not mean it is unsafe or bad.

 

[bonj2]

I don't want anyone else seeing your cycling and believing that you were cycling safely.

I was obviously cycling safely, 'cos I'm still alive and haven't had one crash, in 2 years of cycling!

 

[Arch]

Gosh. Two whole years? No wonder you're an expert.