Different skill sets

[totallyfixed]

I am always intrigued when reading posts from urban commuters at the different ways they ride and react to problems they encounter. I am a rural cyclist and quite recently had my attention drawn to a new guy who has started riding with our club. I should say right away that he is a very pleasant chap but when he rides he does so in what most of us perceive as an unusually disruptive way. He is alway jumping off the front of the bunch, riding furiously for a few minutes, then the next time you look he is hanging off the back somewhere.


After a few casual exchanges with him it turns out he has moved here out of the smoke. Is his behaviour therefore related to jumping from one set of lights to the next? I then got to thinking that it would be no bad thing for cyclists from the smoke to invite ruralites [new made up word] to ride round their patch with them and vice versa. I would think two totally different skill sets.

In some cases I think the types of riding are so different as to put opposite viewpoints on many of the subjects that regularly come up on the forum. An example of this I can think of quickly is headphones, I cannot understand anyone wanting to wear them on a quiet country lane, but maybe not so bad in a noisy environment? This could be applied from almost everything to do with a bike to what you wear.

Anyone up for doing a swap?

 

[snorri]

I am always intrigued when reading posts from urban commuters at the different ways they ride and react to problems they encounter.

As another mainly rural cyclist I don't think I had ever heard of a cyclist surviving a bike/car collision, it came as quite a shock after first signing up to a cycle forum to discover some people regard collisions and falling off, with a degree of inevitability. As for verbal communications from motor vehicle drivers, closed car windows are the norm throughout the year in my locality, but even if opened any attempt at communication would be lost in the slipstream at 60 mph.

 

[montage]

Just him being a bit of a competitive nonce if you ask me

 

[oliglynn]

on the subject of headphones I'm a rural rider/commuter and would only ever contemplate using headphones on quiet country lanes where it doesn't matter so much if I can't hear what's going on around me. Having said that I don't use them that often - only if I need some music to egg me on.

 

[summerdays]

I don't know ... something GregCollins said on the thread on "Don't do as I do" https://www.cyclechat.net/
where he said

Novices cycling in London..... or anywhere.... (son is 23 daughter 21 btw) - Helping them develop those oh so necessary skills it not something it is practical for me to do so I'd suggest getting professional training and certainly would not assist them say by taking a bike to their digs for them until that had been done. If they tried to liberated it from the shed themselves I would remonstrate in the strongest possible terms. Cycling in Horsham where we live and in London are two totally different experiences and the former does nothing to prepare you for the latter. imo anyway.

was making me think ... I've never cycled in London and somehow always imagine it to be far busier (worse?) than cycling in Bristol for example and have wondered if I would be out of my depth.

 

[HelenD123]

I don't know ... something GregCollins said on the thread on "Don't do as I do" http://www.cyclechat...ont-do-as-i-do/
where he said

was making me think ... I've never cycled in London and somehow always imagine it to be far busier (worse?) than cycling in Bristol for example and have wondered if I would be out of my depth.

I cycled in London once and the thing that got me was the rough road surface! I think the thing with London is that you need local knowledge (in my very limited experience). For the return journey to Kings Cross my brother-in-law took me on lovely, quiet back roads.

 

[CharlieB]

It is certainly different skill sets needed.
I think the reason for this is that the dangers are, although different in nature, of equal magnitude.

I ride rurally where I live in my free time, but commute through London surburbia to the centre in the week, and find the type of riding skills completely different.

Wish I had a rural commute, though!

 

[summerdays]

I cycled in London once and the thing that got me was the rough road surface! I think the thing with London is that you need local knowledge (in my very limited experience). For the return journey to Kings Cross my brother-in-law took me on lovely, quiet back roads.

But I think local knowledge is what we want where ever we cycle ... in a city there is the added complication of which lane you need to be in where there is multiple lanes whereas outside the city you may be cycling with much higher passing speeds and motorists who are less likely to expect to see cyclists? I knew Bristol before I started cycling in it - would I be so confident in a city I didn't know - I'm not sure. (I now know a lot more of it as a result of cycling as well).

 

[gbb]

Classic example of the two different styles came home to roost the other day.
99% of my riding in winter is extended commutes in the city...wits about you, concentration, looking for gaps, watching cars, junctions etc etc etc. I ride quite aggressively when commuting.

Last week i did a country loop of 18 miles for the first time in ages. Hardly any traffic, nice and quiet. About 1 mile from home i have to negotiate a large fast'ish R/A. I was so switched off, i failed to look behind me early enough to make my manoever, car too close...and it caused problems for both of us. Nothing bad....but i thought then, if i rode like that commuting, i'd never make it

I guess if you do one or the other (commuting or rural) , but not both, you fail to learn the other skillset.

 

[subaqua]

doesn't matter where you ride. there will always be the occasional nobber in a car and sadly the occasional nobber cyclist.

I grew up in rural N Wales and did most of my cycling there, cycling in London is no different really. Less tractors and pi**ed farmers in landrovers though :0

 

[2Loose]

Riding defensively\aggressively is definitely far more pronounced in an urban setting.


Although the skills used are the same in a rural situation, there is far less time to relax in the urban setting... I think that cruising on the motorway versus dicing with other racers on a racetrack is a similar comparison.

No wonder there are so many cyclists heading out of town at the weekends!

 

[vernon]

I don't know ... something GregCollins said on the thread on "Don't do as I do" http://www.cyclechat...ont-do-as-i-do/
where he said

was making me think ... I've never cycled in London and somehow always imagine it to be far busier (worse?) than cycling in Bristol for example and have wondered if I would be out of my depth.

I've cycled between Kings Cross and Waterloo twice with a fully laden tourer on both occasions on busy Saturday afternoons. I didn't find the experience daunting much to my surprise. I was anxious on behalf of some of the locals who pedalled their way into positions where their safety, in my opinion, was compromised.

 

[marinyork]

was making me think ... I've never cycled in London and somehow always imagine it to be far busier (worse?) than cycling in Bristol for example and have wondered if I would be out of my depth.

I found the reverse. I thought London was pretty easy. Providing you could stand a lot of noise and traffic (not everyone's cup of tea) it was probably easier than other places. It was mad but a very predictable mad. A lot of the main roads and particularly side roads in central london are so straight and generously wide compared to other places and the road surface is a dream come true. The only bits I thought were a bit bad were Park Lane and the Hangar Lane Gyratory.

 

[GrasB]

I should say right away that he is a very pleasant chap but when he rides he does so in what most of us perceive as an unusually disruptive way. He is alway jumping off the front of the bunch, riding furiously for a few minutes, then the next time you look he is hanging off the back somewhere.

Just him being a bit of a competitive nonce if you ask me

I'd half agree, I know a number of very swift riders who do 90% of their riding in town. The one thing that epitomises these guys is they don't have a clue what it's like & how to hold a hard pace for mile after mile after mile which results in them showing similar traits to noted here. That said these guys quickly learn how to ride in a group & settle down, though often they're the quicker riders when it comes to the climbing around here (lots of short sharp shocks).

 

[MacB]

I agree with Marin, London is very doable but daunting to begin with, as others have mentioned my biggest problems there have been knowing where I'm going and the state of the roads(ability to avoid potholes). Part of the problem is that most of my London riding has been done in the company of knowledgeable others, though it makes it easier you don't learn the routes the same. Though when I had to cycle to Kings X I managed to get directions from another cyclist and by knocking on a taxi drivers window. They were both really helpful though maybe the cabbie was taken aback by my bare faced cheek!!

When I know where I'm going I actually feel safer in dense, slowish, traffic than some of the fast A and B roads out of towns. Both environments present potential dangers but I feel I'm more likely to be able to walk away from an 'in town' incident than one around here. You do get used to the fast, and close, passes but they can still get you by surprise, especially if it's been a quiet run up to that point.