Apology to the road cyclist on the Bristol Railway Path this morning

[captain nemo1701]

Dear Speedy,
I apologise for my audacity in overtaking a pedestrian this morning which caused you to slow down slightly. I did check your position about 50 yards behind me by looking over my shoulder as we approached the flashing ‘Slow Down’ sign in Easton. I thought I pulled out safely and tucked back in with plenty of time and room but it obviously caused you to slightly reduce speed and may have affected your strava time if you have one. My sincere apologies if you arrived at work about 5 seconds late.

I’m so, so sorry that you shouted something at me as you sped past through the ‘Slow down’ sign and weaved your way, at speed, through the pedestrians ahead. They must annoy you also, as you might have to slow down for them.

Actually, I don’t regret anything. Some road bikers on the path are utter nobbers due to the speed at which they cycle. You lot get everyone else a bad name and the police have been out on this section of the path with speed radar guns. You overtake at speed, won’t slow down and treat the path as if it’s a race track or velodrome circuit.
From now on in, I will do all in my power to deliberately annoy you. If I am in front of you, I will wobble slowly all over the place. If you tailgate me, I will lift my butt out of the saddle and drop a whopping fart in your direction.
Slow down you pillocks. It’s a bl**dy commute, not a race. And you are no Bradley Wiggins.
Rant over.

 

[ianrauk]

Top rant!

 

[summerdays]

The problem with the police when they have done their days on the path is they turn up in high vis and about 15 of them so I'm always surprised they manage to catch anyone (though I've seen them giving some a stern talking to and wonder why they were so stupid to get caught! Why don't they do it in a more subtle way? Or use Strava to catch the offenders?

 

[ianrauk]

 

[captain nemo1701]

Dear All,

Thanks for all the likes. Anyone in Bristol who has cycled along this bit of the path would have had the same problem - some guys on road bikes just hammer it and get a tad upset when you get in their way.

 

[summerdays]

Talking of the path, I had an email yesterday informing me there were going to be weekday closures during the middle of the day, not peak commuting times, for the week of the 9th and subsequent weeks IIRC!

 

[young Ed]

for god sake, how ruddy dare you try to slow me down! i was hammering it down there trying to shave half a second off my strava time as my mate jim beat my KOM on it the other day, him beating me made me furious and now you've just pushed it! and as for those blasted peds, well they can go and get lost, don't they realise what i'm doing and that as i'm on a bike and going faster than them they have to move?!
i'm right fumin' now, thanks!
Cheers Ed
P.S oh and if you're interested i didn't beat jims KOM so i will continue to do exactly the same thing but next time just a little faster!

 

[BlackPanther]

A commute can be a race, and I do it safely every day. They're on the footpath, I'm on the road.

Agreed, you cannot ride quickly and safely whilst you're mixing it with other cyclist/peds.

 

[boydj]

I have , in the past, asked for the removal of Strava segments on a shared use path on safety grounds. There are, though, still a small number of a*****les who hammer it, regardless of pedestrians and other cyclists.

 

[summerdays]

A commute can be a race, and I do it safely every day. They're on the footpath, I'm on the road.

Agreed, you cannot ride quickly and safely whilst you're mixing it with other cyclist/peds.

The Bristol and Bath path at peak times is far too busy for racing, but some seem to ignore the fact that they should only pass when safe and expect everyone else to stay out of their way.

 

[Pale Rider]

The problem with the police when they have done their days on the path is they turn up in high vis and about 15 of them so I'm always surprised they manage to catch anyone (though I've seen them giving some a stern talking to and wonder why they were so stupid to get caught! Why don't they do it in a more subtle way? Or use Strava to catch the offenders?

I suspect the idea is to be as visible as possible to act as a deterrent.

This is borne out by the fact you've seen some riders being spoken to.

The problem with trying to nick a fast rider is what do you nick him for?

'Wanton and furious riding' is a possibility, but it's an ancient law and the 'riding' part originally referred to someone astride a horse.

I think there may have been a couple of successful prosecutions in the last few years, but they are not easy to mount for the reasons stated, and arguably not an efficient use of resources.

 

[summerdays]

I suspect the idea is to be as visible as possible to act as a deterrent.

This is borne out by the fact you've seen some riders being spoken to.

The problem with trying to nick a fast rider is what do you nick him for?

'Wanton and furious riding' is a possibility, but it's an ancient law and the 'riding' part originally referred to someone astride a horse.

I think there may have been a couple of successful prosecutions in the last few years, but they are not easy to mount for the reasons stated, and arguably not an efficient use of resources.

Dangerous cycling? The place which they target, actually has a speed activated sign asking cyclists to slow down, and a zebra marked crossing the path as there is a school backing onto the path so lots of crossing children.

 

[Bianchi boy]

Dear Speedy,
I apologise for my audacity in overtaking a pedestrian this morning which caused you to slow down slightly. I did check your position about 50 yards behind me by looking over my shoulder as we approached the flashing ‘Slow Down’ sign in Easton. I thought I pulled out safely and tucked back in with plenty of time and room but it obviously caused you to slightly reduce speed and may have affected your strava time if you have one. My sincere apologies if you arrived at work about 5 seconds late.

I’m so, so sorry that you shouted something at me as you sped past through the ‘Slow down’ sign and weaved your way, at speed, through the pedestrians ahead. They must annoy you also, as you might have to slow down for them.

Actually, I don’t regret anything. Some road bikers on the path are utter nobbers due to the speed at which they cycle. You lot get everyone else a bad name and the police have been out on this section of the path with speed radar guns. You overtake at speed, won’t slow down and treat the path as if it’s a race track or velodrome circuit.
From now on in, I will do all in my power to deliberately annoy you. If I am in front of you, I will wobble slowly all over the place. If you tailgate me, I will lift my butt out of the saddle and drop a whopping fart in your direction.
Slow down you pillocks. It’s a bl**dy commute, not a race. And you are no Bradley Wiggins.
Rant over.

What might appear to be a slow speed to you , may not apply to the person who past you , incidental a cyclist cannot be fined for speeding, so best not to be critical of other users of the highway.

 

[vickster]

Highway or a shared path where pedestrians have priority?

If you want to go fast on a roadbike, best to do it on a road

 

[Pale Rider]

Dangerous cycling? The place which they target, actually has a speed activated sign asking cyclists to slow down, and a zebra marked crossing the path as there is a school backing onto the path so lots of crossing children.

The likes of dangerous and careless cycling are offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988 which, it seems to me, don't apply to a cycle path.

It being the law, there might be an argument the act could apply to a shared use path adjacent to a road, but I doubt the offences could apply to a shared use path with grass/fields either side of it.

You know the patch, so can advise on that.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/part/I/crossheading/cycling-offences-and-cycle-racing