A Generalisation

[BSRU]

I'm always in top Takes maybe 100 metres to get a decent cadence up. So I should actually be using my gears?!

A long time ago I had a mature time trialer in the CC I was a member of, tell me not to grind the gears. He'd grinded all his life and said you leave yourself open to ankle/knee/hip problems plus varicose veins.
It's alot easier to get up to speed from a standing start if you use a slighter lower gear than you normal cruising gear.

 

[BSRU]

I couldn't generalise RLJs the same way, I see a lot as described, who actually look like a frightened rabbit but others are confident and arrogant.

The one's I see have obviously had lots of practice executing the same manoeuvre.

 

[Daniel T]

There is only one gear. Top.

YES!!!!

 

[Holdsworth]

When I first began commuting (threee years ago) I jumped a lot of lights...or at the least used to straddle the box.

I did this for two reasons

1.Out of pure ignorance, I genuinely assumed it was standard practice (just goes to show how many cyclist do this to set that standard) , this is most probably why I am now such an advocate of stopping for reds.

2 lack of fitness, I would do almost anything to try and keep momentum. Its wasn’t the fact that I had to unclip or change gear, it was purely that I had no strength to get back up to speed (100 times a ride...I have over 170 lights)

These days I have no problem, even after a long break from the bike, in getting started and very quickly getting up to cruise speed.

fitness and ignorance

I believe I had sort of the same mentality as that when I first started cycling last summer. I was guilty of couple of RLJs in my first few weeks pretty much for the reasons you describe.

I was very unfit when I started, hadn't cycled or done any decent exercise for 2-3 years and I weighed in at 15.5-16 stone. I tended to simply cruise through a junction on my commute. The reason I stopped was because I had a near run in committing the ungodly act and it put me in my place, went straight into the path of a 4x4 that was setting off from the stop line to my left, he beeped and it scared the bejesus out of me and I vowed to avoid doing that again. Saying that I have done some amber gambling and RLJ at a set of lights that didn't notice me but no-one's perfect.

 

[SportMonkey]

A long time ago I had a mature time trialer in the CC I was a member of, tell me not to grind the gears. He'd grinded all his life and said you leave yourself open to ankle/knee/hip problems plus varicose veins.
It's alot easier to get up to speed from a standing start if you use a slighter lower gear than you normal cruising gear.

Deciding after you lot had suggested it may be more sensible not to sit in top I used my gears today - the bike hasn't been out of top since it left the shop - and got my commute sub-45 mins....

\o/

 

[DrSquirrel]

I see this type around, spinners and grinders - on full susser BSOs in work boots and all... not that I see many at lights, but I have never seen one jumped yet (or any other kind of obvious illegaly manoveure).

This might be more of a "large amount of lights issue" (cities), being a sign that there are way too many...

Ah, these guys are the opposite; I passed one yesterday riding some MTB from Yarm to Stockton. He was pedalling like buggery and going probably sub-10 mph, I flew past him in despite being on a MTB myself. I was in top (yay), god knows what he was in.

Trying to teach my son about gears at the moment. He's only 7 and has 24 to choose from so it can be frustrating but he is getting there (like I am some great expert )

It can be hard enough to teach other adults! Probably easier to start with telling him not to use the front gears yet... maybe if you had a cadence unit, mount it on there and say "try and keep 60rpm @ 8mph" (and watch them crash into a pothole).

 

[BSRU]

Deciding after you lot had suggested it may be more sensible not to sit in top I used my gears today - the bike hasn't been out of top since it left the shop - and got my commute sub-45 mins....

\o/

You legs should feel alot better for it as well.

 

[BSRU]

The video of the RLJ that resulted in me starting this thread.

[media]

]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KECn-y0CTB4[/media]


The Link

 

[SportMonkey]

You legs should feel alot better for it as well.

My legs hurt, my knees feel better - this is especially good as I noticed that my right knee is a lot more damaged from the last car hit than I thought.

 

[SportMonkey]

The video of the RLJ that resulted in me starting this thread.

I'll admit to jumping some redlights, when I can see, with no traffic and mostly in a cycle lane with a solid curb to my left. I like my risks.

That guy is ****ing insanse though. I'd never do the jump he did. NEVER.

Also, he looks like Mick Hucknall.

 

[Davidc]

Way to much of a generalisation. As I go around I see cycle RLJs from all sorts. I've also been verbally abused by all sorts when I've stopped and got in their way.

I've also seen 2 hit by cars so far this year. Neither badly injured and neither with a working bike afterwards. Gave a statement after one of them too, I have no problem saying that a cyclist is at fault when they're that stupid.

I see far more motor vehicle RLJs, and do view them as far worse. much more likely to hurt someone other than themselves than is a cyclist. Huge increase on a couple of junctions I use since the cameras have gone too.

 

[Jezston]

I'll admit to jumping some redlights, when I can see, with no traffic and mostly in a cycle lane with a solid curb to my left. I like my risks.

That guy is ****ing insanse though. I'd never do the jump he did. NEVER.

Also, he looks like Mick Hucknall.

Yeah but he's wearing a flourescent jacket so will be fine.

It never ceases to bemuse me how so many people think they should be safe and so should be wearing hivis and a helmet, and then ride around paying absolutely no attention to anything around them.

 

[BSRU]

Way to much of a generalisation. As I go around I see cycle RLJs from all sorts. I've also been verbally abused by all sorts when I've stopped and got in their way.

I've also seen 2 hit by cars so far this year. Neither badly injured and neither with a working bike afterwards. Gave a statement after one of them too, I have no problem saying that a cyclist is at fault when they're that stupid.

I see far more motor vehicle RLJs, and do view them as far worse. much more likely to hurt someone other than themselves than is a cyclist. Huge increase on a couple of junctions I use since the cameras have gone too.

Definition - Generalisation
a written or spoken comment in which you say or write something very basic, based on limited facts, that is partly or sometimes true, but not always, or when someone generalises by using such statements.

I do not see many cars RLJ'ing, the ones I do see are almost always failed amber gamblers.
For the type of RLJ where the lights have been red for a long time, I have only seen one WVM and the rest have all been cyclists. These are just my experiences from lovely Swindon.

 

[BSRU]

I'll admit to jumping some redlights, when I can see, with no traffic and mostly in a cycle lane with a solid curb to my left. I like my risks.

That guy is ****ing insanse though. I'd never do the jump he did. NEVER.

Also, he looks like Mick Hucknall.

I thought it was a woman.

 

[Davidc]

Yeah but he's wearing a flourescent jacket so will be fine.

It never ceases to bemuse me how so many people think they should be safe and so should be wearing hivis and a helmet, and then ride around paying absolutely no attention to anything around them.

One of the few things about helmets that's been properly researched - helmets make some cyclists take risks they wouldn't without.

Reasonable (but by no means certain) to extrapolate that to hi-vis doing the same.