Thomk
Guru
- Location
- Warwickshire
I did my normal 40 odd mile training route today, trying to drag myself into some sort of shape for the upcoming Wiggle Stratford Tempest Sportive at the end of this month. I had a bit of an "incident" after the first half an hour when I had a very close pass which pissed me off enough for me to hold my hands out and shout "WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY"? The driver of the battered old car stopped and I pulled up next to his window and said:
Me - "Have you ever ridden a bike before"?
Overweight car driver - "You didn't signal"!
Slim, young looking cyclist - "You were really close. It was very dangerous and very scary"!
Short, slightly sweating and confused 30 something man - "Uggghhhhhhh" before winding (yes, manually with his hand) his window up, shaking his head and driving off.
Ah well. I carried on, following him for a couple of turns before losing sight of him and peddling on my way.........
Anyway, about 4 miles later on a fairly deserted back country lane there were some horn blasts behind me and I looked round to see the aforementioned chap gesturing for me to pull over. What am I supposed to think about that?
1st thought - He's picked up 4 mates and is about to test out my very rusty (OK completely forgotten) 25 year old Jiu Jitsu skills
In other words I was in for a beating 
But on checking the car properly I saw that it was just him.
2nd thought - He's got a weapon and is about to test out my very rusty (OK completely forgotten) 25 year old Jiu Jitsu skills In other words I was in for a beating But as he got out of his car and walked over to me his hands seemed to be empty.
3rd thought - Keep the bike between him and me and stand up tall and look hard.
He smiled, put his hand out and said "Sorry, I just wanted to say sorry for that".
And that was it really. I explained that cyclists find it a bit tricky to signal whilst approaching a junction down hill due to the need to brake and sometimes steer and in any case this can never be an excuse to attempt to "punish" the cyclist by driving dangerously close to them. He agreed with all of it and we parted friends.
Respect to him for manning up.
Me - "Have you ever ridden a bike before"?
Overweight car driver - "You didn't signal"!
Slim, young looking cyclist - "You were really close. It was very dangerous and very scary"!
Short, slightly sweating and confused 30 something man - "Uggghhhhhhh" before winding (yes, manually with his hand) his window up, shaking his head and driving off.
Ah well. I carried on, following him for a couple of turns before losing sight of him and peddling on my way.........
Anyway, about 4 miles later on a fairly deserted back country lane there were some horn blasts behind me and I looked round to see the aforementioned chap gesturing for me to pull over. What am I supposed to think about that?
1st thought - He's picked up 4 mates and is about to test out my very rusty (OK completely forgotten) 25 year old Jiu Jitsu skills
In other words I was in for a beating But on checking the car properly I saw that it was just him.2nd thought - He's got a weapon and is about to test out my very rusty (OK completely forgotten) 25 year old Jiu Jitsu skills
In other words I was in for a beating But as he got out of his car and walked over to me his hands seemed to be empty.3rd thought - Keep the bike between him and me and stand up tall and look hard.
He smiled, put his hand out and said "Sorry, I just wanted to say sorry for that".
And that was it really. I explained that cyclists find it a bit tricky to signal whilst approaching a junction down hill due to the need to brake and sometimes steer and in any case this can never be an excuse to attempt to "punish" the cyclist by driving dangerously close to them. He agreed with all of it and we parted friends.
Respect to him for manning up.
