Are cyclists generally worse right now?

[Ming the Merciless]

No

 

[Aussie Rider in London]

I must admit to having done a fair bit of fake dry coughing any time I've gone out.

There's a tiny country road nearby that leads up to a reservoir. I think I'd previously seen three or four people there in my entire life, the last time I was out I must have seen 100 people easily in the space of 20 minutes. Idiots.

I of course am beyond reproach in this matter

It's not the quantity of people that's a concern, that was expected. It's the quality of riders that seems to have plummeted.

Much like has been speculated with cars, it seems some people just care less about the rules/etiquette and act like they're the only person on the road.

It definitely happens in "normal" times, but it seems more frequent now.

 

[fossyant]

Just sneeze.

I had a couple not socially distancing from me in a queue - kept moving too close. I had managed one sneeze (i.e. stopped it), but the second came out. The guy nearly shat himself.

I just smirked.

 

[stuarttunstall]

I think in the current situation it is not that cyclists have got worse, the normal/experienced one's are OK, it is the amount of new people that have jumped on the bandwagon and got a bike to get out the house and exercise... lack of experience and road sense is the issue with some of them..

2 years ago I got my bike after 40 years not riding one, I knew I would be unsteady and I was which is why I avoided main roads and traffic...

I came across a group of 4 or 5 last night on my way to Asda all over the road, wobbling all over and that was all of them, I suspect a family who had got bikes as they all looked newish bikes..... and this was a main road luckily they turned down a country lane and as expected the traffic was light..

 

[rogerzilla]

Hey, Aussie Rider...I've got an Aussie bike (a Jim Bundy track iron).

 

[jay clock]

i find swinging a broken bottle round my head at arms length on a 1.60m rope tends to get the message across fast.

 

[fossyant]

Walkers get one 'ding', then a polite excuse me (if they haven't heard). The wobbly bob's get a ding, then a double ding, then a loud 'coming through on your right'... then all chaos ensues, as nobody knows 'right'...

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Can't get any of the good Aussie stuff here,

Most Aussie lager is just piss water, won't touch the stuff myself. I did come across a decent Aussie beer once, got a couple of crates of Cooper's pale ale - from Sainsbury's of all places. This stuff was actually bottle conditioned; i.e. real beer. After trying it I went back and cleared the shelf of all I could get hold of. Have never seen it again since.

 

[boydj]

There are an awful lot of new and returning riders on the roads, paths (and footpaths) at the moment. The lack of experience, awareness and expertise is obvious.

Bike shops have found business booming bringing back to life bikes that have been languishing in sheds and garages for years. At my local LBS they are running an appointment system both to help with social distancing, but also to help manage the flow of work.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Londoners are different.

fixed for you

 

[Mike_P]

Just used that strange 4 wheel thing that costs a lot and drinks expensive stuff for the first time since last Saturday and had to give way at a traffic light controlled T junction to a cyclist going straight on a red, never ever seen that before there.

 

[Profpointy]

Blasphemy. Would never touch the stuff.

In fairness to our colonial cousins, Fosters is regarded by and large with contempt down under, yet sells well over here.
Bearing in mind the Aussies don't really have drinkable beer at all, but even they regard Fosters as piss, yet we in Pommieland have a surfeit of fine ales to choose from yet Fosters, which Ozzies by and large don't drink, is a best seller over here

 

[Aussie Rider in London]

Most Aussie lager is just piss water, won't touch the stuff myself. I did come across a decent Aussie beer once, got a couple of crates of Cooper's pale ale - from Sainsbury's of all places. This stuff was actually bottle conditioned; i.e. real beer. After trying it I went back and cleared the shelf of all I could get hold of. Have never seen it again since.

I mean, you're in the UK...

Aussie beer is great. Our craft beer scene is ahead of the UK by years.

 

[Aussie Rider in London]

In fairness to our colonial cousins, Fosters is regarded by and large with contempt down under, yet sells well over here.
Bearing in mind the Aussies don't really have drinkable beer at all, but even they regard Fosters as piss, yet we in Pommieland have a surfeit of fine ales to choose from yet Fosters, which Ozzies by and large don't drink, is a best seller over here

See above.

The UK globally has a shocking reputation for beer, which I now know differently having lived here for a couple of years. Point is, reputation means jack unless you have a good supply. I've found about 2 of the beers that I would regularly drink in Aus here.

Majority of Aussie beers are excellent.

 

[Slick]

I've never seen as many cyclists on the road as the past few weeks, but I don't think I've had a single issue with any of them. I think the old adage about the mode of transport is irrelevant, arses will always be arses regardless of how they travel.