Big Steve the workman...

[Eoin Rua]

What a day...

Cycle to and from work on George St., lost count at the amount of pedestrians just walking out into the road, no looks or nothing - and then of course I'm in the wrong for being on the road - definitely festival time!

Best one was coming back onto Princes St., guy in hi-vis orange jacket crossing the road eyeballs me, I start to swerve and he moves to stop right in front of me and says 'what are you going to do?' - now I'm not exactly the most confrontational person in the world, and this guy looked like an absolute scumbag so I didn't say a whole lot. He grabbed my handlebars and I managed to get clipped out so as to not fall over. Luckily (for him ) he walked away - after reminding me that 'all you cyclists are c**ts' but I saw he had STEVE written on the back on his jacket in huge letters, what a moron. He was a scumbag though, with crazy eyes...so if anyone sees him you have my permission to abuse him!

Also had a German female bus driver go mental at me, although in fairness I had a go at her first after she nearly hit me...oh the joys of cycling!

 

[MajorMantra]

It is a bit mental come festival time. My ride to work takes me across the Mile and down North Bridge and you really have to keep your wits about you. There are pedestrians everywhere and sometimes they seem to halt traffic by weight of numbers, regardless of whether the lights are green for you.

 

[HLaB]

Sounds like a mental pr@t. I doubt he was an actual workman though, lust a lunatic, a workman on the street would wear a yello hi viz, orange is reserved for working on the railways. Take care out there, especially with pr@ts like that about.

 

[HJ]

Ah the joys of Festival time

 

[rosscbrown]

Try going through the Cowgate at any sort of speed. Peds, those rickshaw/bike-taxi type things, festival construction and idiot drivers. All jolly good fun. I swear I'm going to get killed between the Grassmarket and the back end of the Scottish Parliament building. Still, jolly good fun... until someone (me) gets killed! :-)

 

[GFamily]

Try going through the Cowgate at any sort of speed. Peds, those rickshaw/bike-taxi type things, festival construction and idiot drivers. All jolly good fun. I swear I'm going to get killed between the Grassmarket and the back end of the Scottish Parliament building. Still, jolly good fun... until someone (me) gets killed! :-)

Have you thought of going at a speed appropriate to the circumstances rather than trying to go at 'any sort of speed'?

 

[Halfmanhalfbike]

Have you thought of going at a speed appropriate to the circumstances rather than trying to go at 'any sort of speed'?

That would be 0mph sometimes

Also due to the festival there's a lot of drivers who have never been here before trying to read roadmaps at the same time as driving. Nearly got left hooked on Lothian Road as someone tried to cut across 2 lanes of traffic to get onto the western approach road. Road map was open on his lap.

 

[snorri]

There are pedestrians everywhere and sometimes they seem to halt traffic by weight of numbers.

Now that's my kind of city.

 

[rosscbrown]

Have you thought of going at a speed appropriate to the circumstances rather than trying to go at 'any sort of speed'?

I have, but not for a wee while now. :-)

 

[JoysOfSight]

I come up over the bridges too, and it is a nightmare in festival time. I don't know why, the drivers must be largely the same people, but they just lose all lane discipline when the calendar ticks to August!

Fortunately the special bike still does for most of them. A couple of others have had my knuckles on the bodywork though

 

[Grendel]

What a day...

Cycle to and from work on George St., lost count at the amount of pedestrians just walking out into the road, no looks or nothing - and then of course I'm in the wrong for being on the road - definitely festival time!

Best one was coming back onto Princes St., guy in hi-vis orange jacket crossing the road eyeballs me, I start to swerve and he moves to stop right in front of me and says 'what are you going to do?' - now I'm not exactly the most confrontational person in the world, and this guy looked like an absolute scumbag so I didn't say a whole lot. He grabbed my handlebars and I managed to get clipped out so as to not fall over. Luckily (for him ) he walked away - after reminding me that 'all you cyclists are c**ts' but I saw he had STEVE written on the back on his jacket in huge letters, what a moron. He was a scumbag though, with crazy eyes...so if anyone sees him you have my permission to abuse him!

Also had a German female bus driver go mental at me, although in fairness I had a go at her first after she nearly hit me...oh the joys of cycling!

The festival 'helpers' are dressed in orange hi-vis, was it one of them?
I was up there on Saturday and thought that this is one place to avoid with a bike. You will probably get a bit of room if you dress like a student and try and hand out flyers as you go.