Don't do as I do

[magnatom]

Yes we all make mistakes and I hold my hand up and say I made one this morning.

Cycling along I see a large HGV pull out in front of me, having been parked at he side of the road. As it is doing so it is held up by traffic ahead. Not wanting to loose speed I decide (what was I thinking) to go down the left.



Notice the barrier at the side.

As I pass I realise that it has slowed because of a right turning van. There is probably enough space for the HGV to squeeze past if it just pulls back over to the left......

Had it done that I would have been sandwich filler. It didn't and it goes down to experience. I was annoyed with myself as I have an unwritten rule of never going down the left of large vehicles. My brain was just switched off this morning.

I just thought I would post it as a little reminder: DON'T GO DOWN THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF LARGE VEHICLES.

 

[Cab]

Easy to make mistakes, even daft ones like that sometimes

Good on you for being big enough to admit it.

 

[magnatom]

Easy to make mistakes, even daft ones like that sometimes

Good on you for being big enough to admit it.

If I am going to crticise others for their driving/cycling/walking skills I should be willing to criticise myself. Otherwise I would feel hypocritical.

Go on, hands up anyone who is perfect......

 

[BentMikey]

Eeeeeekk!! I've also made an ill-judged overtake of a Royal Mail lorry on a right hand bend, and the driver saw me and made room for me. He was well chuffed when at the lights I looked back and waved and mouthed a sorry and thank you.

 

[Arch]

Go on, hands up anyone who is perfect......

Sir! Sir! Me, Sir!

No, you're right, we all do it. Continuing to learn, and recognising that fact is in my mind the mark of a good driver, well, someone who is good at anything. The day you think you know it all, your mind closes and you may never pick up the one thing that makes a difference...

 

[magnatom]

Eeeeeekk!! I've also made an ill-judged overtake of a Royal Mail lorry on a right hand bend, and the driver saw me and made room for me. He was well chuffed when at the lights I looked back and waved and mouthed a sorry and thank you.

Yes I didn't wave back at all. Probably should have, although I don't know if he noticed what I did or not.

 

[magnatom]

Sir! Sir! Me, Sir!

No, you're right, we all do it. Continuing to learn, and recognising that fact is in my mind the mark of a good driver, well, someone who is good at anything. The day you think you know it all, your mind closes and you may never pick up the one thing that makes a difference...

If I look really close at that post I can almost take it as a compliment. Yes you are right I am good at everything . Oh wait a minute by saying that, it means that I think I'm perfect and so not good at anything......ooooh me head hurts:

 

[Pete]

"...and of course I'm a good driver. A very good driver. No -- wait!"

Isn't it a fact of life, that the two things that no-one will ever admit to are:

• being a bad driver, and
• being a bad parent?

Isn't it refreshing to discover that cyclists don't follow the same mould? I've dropped some clangers, sure I have. Not sure I want to say what. Er ... well. Carrying a bag looped over the handlebar, such that it got caught in the spokes and - wheeeee!!! No teeth! That's one of them.

But in fact I have often filtered down the nearside of a bus or lorry. Without incident, when it's safe to do so. The vehicle must be completely stationary, and I must be confident that it'll remain stationary all the time I'm alongside. Then I'll do it.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

"...Carrying a bag looped over the handlebar, such that it got caught in the spokes and - wheeeee!!! No teeth! That's one of them.

SNAP !
Two top, two bottom just after restarting after 30yr interval.
You don't do it twice do you ?

 

[magnatom]

Oh well. At least I haven't lost any teeth.......yet

 

[domtyler]

Didn't look too bad to me, he was barely moving and you had enough speed to quickly whizz through without incident.

 

[Road Fiddler]

It does not look to bad, he did not turn his front wheels at all which would suggest he was going to wait. His positioning suggested he was a good driver, from pulling away from the side of the road to where he had stopped he created a lot of space down his left side, he may have seen you approaching before he pulled away so made the space for you and you passed him with good speed.

I know what you mean though I put myself in a squeeze with a bus the other day. In Northend, Portsmouth there is a box junction followed by another junction protected by lights. I was going down the line of traffic on the right, I could see the lights were green but no traffic was moving, this is quite normal at this time of the day. I got to the box junction and the traffic was still stationary. There was a bus on the other side of the hatching and from its position it looked to be right up on the centre line. I didn’t want to pass it down the right as this would have put me in conflict with the on coming traffic and I could see in the reflection of the windows beyond the junction that the traffic on my side of the road was stationary for quite away down the road and knew that I would pass the bus before anything started moving so as soon as the box junction was clear I crossed it to shoot down the left hand side of the bus to find the bus was actually at an angle across the whole lane. And I was being funnelled between it and the railings; I braked quite hard lifting my rear wheel and managed to stop just before the railings started. I took the opportunity to bail onto the pavement until the bus moved on and I then got back on the road, by this time the lights had gone red so I just sat there thinking how stupid I had just been. If I hadn’t stopped when I did my bars would have hit the railings and I would have been off into the railings and ended up on the floor about halfway down the side of the bus and probable in an area where his back wheels would have gone over me.

 

[magnatom]

Thanks guys for saying it didn't look too bad. I am sure you are right, and that I did have some extra wriggle room even if he did move. However, from memory I am sure the HGV did start moving, if only a fraction (I agree this doesn't show on the video). It was just enough for me to realise that this was a position I shouldn't have been in.
I am sure you already know I like to help educate others about cycling safely , so what better way of making a point than showing my own mistakes. (I didn't do it on purpose by the way!).

Anyway I didn't make any mistakes at all today .

How about people listing their mistakes like Road Fiddler has done (that could have been nasty, good save!!)

So what is the worst mistake you have made?

 

[Nicko]

Agreed, didn't look too bad. Don't worry about it...
Was on the bus today as work drinks tonight. Could not believe how many people were undertaking the buses on Brixton Hill. I have a bit more respect for the drivers now seeing that.

Anyway back to the worst mistake, several years ago undertaking stationary traffic on the left (I know, I was a bit of a numpty then!). A car decides to turn left down a side road. Next thing I know over the bonnet, had a mangled front end of bike, hurt pride and a lot of road rash!.. Taught me a lesson!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

If it's not too controversial... shouldn't the driver of the lorry have been more aware of you and your speed so as to not pull away from the kerb in the first place???

It didn't look too bad to me, but I agree it could have been potentially fatal had the driver of the truck just swerved back to the left to get by the van as well.

At least you recognised the danger - most cyclists (or MOPs*, more truthfully) I see on the way in to work would have just sailed past obliviously... probably on the right hand side, and probably straight past the turning van too.... and probably through any red light further down the road just to annoy me more.


* Muppets on Bikes