Does commuting wind you up?

[Drago]

The A/C has gone wonky on the Pension Book Special - It honest to God only works when driving flat out. I don't think that'll cut much ice with the Magistrate though if I'm caught.

 

[KneesUp]

The A/C has gone wonky on the Pension Book Special - It honest to God only works when driving flat out. I don't think that'll cut much ice with the Magistrate though if I'm caught.

My mother had a colleague who was stopped for doing over 80 in an original Mini during a rainstorm, at a time when original Minis were often rusty heaps. Her explanation to the officer was that she needed to go that fast so the rain was blown off the windscreen because the wipers weren't working.

 

[HLaB]

I commute in Cambridge these days and touch wood I've had no negative interaction with a driver. Its other cyclists there that wind me up there :-/

 

[keithmac]

If I hadn't stopped half way round a roundabout this morning I'd have been ran over.

Agree with the close passes comment as well.

 

[confusedcyclist]

As part of treatment I was having after an accident I was recommended a course of CBT. In the meetings, it was suggested to me that I could not influence other road users and the choices they made, so why worry about it? Why should it make you angry if it is an incident out of your control?

This sounds like stoic philosophy, OP check it out if you wish to learn about how to control your negative emotions. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Good...=UTF8&qid=1530184810&sr=1-5&keywords=Stoicism

 

[Lonestar]

I commute in Cambridge these days and touch wood I've had no negative interaction with a driver. Its other cyclists there that wind me up there :-/

Got to agree...A few bad ones with motorists but some real dickheads on the CS 2 and CS 3 make them no pleasure to use and I generally find it easier on the road when I can avoid those two routes.Many cycling red light jumpers with one today causing me to slam the brakes on and my back wheel going up in the air.Also a cyclist on a mobile phone as he went through a red ped crossing signal with pedestrians on it.People are clueless ignorant and selfish.

Just because you are on two wheels doesn't make you a martyr.Don't get me wrong,there are some real motorist dickheads out there also.

 

[Thomson]

No not really. After spending many years traveling 43 miles to work spending 50pound a week on fuel. Having a now 2.89mile doddle to work is the best. I cycle because it costs me nothing and don't let any idiots take that away from me. I got rid off one car so my 200pound bike has easy paid for itself in the 6 or 7 months I have owned it.

 

[Pumpkin the robot]

This sounds like stoic philosophy, OP check it out if you wish to learn about how to control your negative emotions. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Good...=UTF8&qid=1530184810&sr=1-5&keywords=Stoicism

You are correct, a lot of the cbt is based on the stoic teachings.
I read a book by Derren Brown (Happy) before I had the CBT, and his book was very similar, although the lady taking the CBT disagreed on a few issues that he had. It is one thing knowing how you should be feeling and viewing things, it is another putting them into practice and that is why people doing CBT have a job!

 

[Crankarm]

I have tried to perfect the Jason Statham stare.

 

[the_chilled_cyclist]

Since we sold our second car the bike is my only means of getting to work, which is great - it means I don't have a 'get out'

However, recently I'm finding drivers to be more and more annoying. I don't know if it's because I experience them everyday, or because I now drive less, or because people are driving less considerately.

I only commute c. 3 miles (shortest route, which is always my way in - home is sometimes a longer route) but every single day I will get a lot who pass too close, and a few who pass far to close, and there will be one or two who clearly hadn't seen me. I'm lucky that a lot of the main route has a bus lane, and there are no complex junctions or roundabouts - in fact there are only two right turns on the way in - but in a way the fact that a third of my commute is in a bus lane and it's so relatively risk free everywhere else makes it even more annoying that I still experience thoughtless and/or careless driving so often.

Today I had a van pull out on me whilst the driver was on the phone. I get that sometimes when you're driving the phone rings and you realise it's important, and sometimes if it hadn't connected to the handsfree you might - based on conditions - answer quickly to say 'call me back' - it's not right or legal, but I totally get that it's a risk that sometimes you might judge to be ok - but this guy was on the phone as he pulled out of parking space without looking, and yet he still felt the need to give me a punishment pass and some verbal when he eventually got to an open bit of road - presumably because I did an 'on the phone' mime as I got around him. Thing is I know the mime would have made no difference to his attitude, and I knew it would possibly wind him up so I was waiting for him to pass, which made the time before he did more stressful.

So my question is, how do you remain 'zen' when you start your ride stressed by other stuff (lots of 'other stuff' going on atm) and then people take risks with your health by being thoughtless, careless or deliberately aggressive?

I struggle remaining calm in those situations too but it helps to remember they are probably having a rubbish day themselves so they are probably just dumping their stress on you. It's nothing personal to youyand they will move on, as will you. Keep those wheels turning and smiling!

 

[mjr]

Keep those wheels turning and smiling!

I once made a wheel smile.

The shop called it "buckled" though.

 

[MichaelW2]

Put a highly visible pannier on the off-side. Ride a bit wider. Both may help to nudge passing cars a bit further away.

 

[nickr]

I know there are idiots on both bikes and behind the wheel but I think its incontrovertible that there are a higher percentage on bikes. I can do 2 or 3 commutes without a single complaint about the thousands of motorists I encounter. In those same journeys, I would have come across far fewer cyclist but there would no doubt have been idiots on pavements, idiots going through red lights, idiots treating the roads as a race track. Why has bad behavior among cyclists become the norm? It just seems to be excepted practice for a large minority of cyclists to ride without regard, respect or empathy for others. That really winds me up.

 

[Ciar]

I ride in London, not much i can add to that

 

[mjr]

I know there are idiots on both bikes and behind the wheel but I think its incontrovertible that there are a higher percentage on bikes.

Why do you think that? I mean, I can understand that you might have gotten that impression from experiences in your local area, but why think it's "incontrovertible" and general? I think studies have usually found similar rates of lawbreaking among both groups, which is unsurprising given there's a lot of overlap.

One kills far more than the other, though and it ain't the ones on bikes.