Giving a bad name...

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Glow worm

Legendary Member
Location
Near Newmarket
The other problem, of course, is that most drivers haven't a scooby what the law is,.

It's depressing, especially when the person telling me I have to use the (utterly crap) cycle path is a magistrate as happened to me the other night.
A magistrate yelling at cyclists for using the road. Probably time to give up folks and just enjoy your riding.
 
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More flies with honey than vinegar ...

I have a neighbour, whom I like a lot, so every time she launches into a - mostly unreasonable** - attack on cyclists, I mildly correct her, and change the subject. She also knows how much I like cycling, but has seen me just after I came off with a broken clavicle and black eye.

This soft approach has paid off! Not that was the reason I was doing it. Anyway, she's lost a great deal of weight, and now she has pulled of bicycle out of the shed and .... we are going riding together!!! On public roads!

If I'd had a fight with her every time she said something negative about cyclists, we wouldn't be friends anymore and she probably wouldn't be going riding this weekend.

**eg she has complained about cyclists breaking the 20 mph speed limit in Richmond Park when I know if I keep to it on the downhills,, I almost always get passed by at least one car. Or complaining about a bike chained to a tree blocking the pavement, when there is literally nowhere else to park in the area. etc
 
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Tim Hall

Guest
Location
Crawley
More flies with honey than vinegar ...

I have a neighbour, whom I like a lot, so every time she launched into a - mostly unreasonable** - attack on cyclists, I mildly correct her, and change the subject. She also knows how much I like cycling, but has seen me just after I came off with a broken clavicle and black eye.

This soft approach has paid off! Not that was the reason I was doing it. Anyway, she's lost a great deal of weight, and now she has pulled of bicycle out of the shed and .... we are going riding together!!! On public roads!

If I'd had a fight with her every time she said something negative about cyclists, we wouldn't be friends anymore and she probably wouldn't be going riding this weekend.

**eg she has complained about cyclists breaking the 20 mph speed limit in Richmond Park when I no if I keep to it on the downhills,, I almost always get passed by at least one car. Or complaining about a bike chained to a tree blocking the pavement, when there is literally nowhere else to park in the area. etc
IIRC the Royal Parks by-law changed a few years back, to "mechanically propelled vehicles", which bikes, in the eyes of the law, are not. But that's a side issue. Let's celebrate the fact that she's getting on her bike! Have a good ride.
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
You boast of shouting obscenities at other road users in the smug belief that you will modify their behaviour and then call me patronising and self righteous???
Lol yeah that's what I was thinking!

Edit: stuff deleted. PS oops what happened there?
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
I gotta say I hate waiting at lights, with nothing happening. The lights are on my side, the lights are on the cross road side, the pedestrian lights are red, no cars are moving, no pedestrians are crossing. What a wasteful inefficient way getting around. If I was a pedestrian, I don't just walk, why wait for the green man? I would even get off the bike and walk it across if I were on the brompton. Not waiting for the implementation of technology to catch up to have better phasing of traffic lights.
 

mustang1

Legendary Member
Location
London, UK
No idea why we have to justify ourselves as cyclists. When traffic is flowing, I move to the left without going in the gutter. If drivers can't pass me, well screw them. If there are cars parked on the left, then I will be way out in the middle of the lane out of the door zone. Drivers don't like it? Well, see my previous answer.

Drivers stuck in traffic? So I will filter past them. They don't like that? Screw them! Some cyclist slowly going past a red light while the green pedestrian man is showing and drivers don't like it? Screw them!

The only thing I really dislike is riding at night with no lights. Heck, I even ride in the daytime with lights blazing. I'm not sure why we need to justify ourselves actions to car drivers: it's not like they own the roads or have more entitlement to it. If they think they do, well screw them.

I really don't give a rat's ass what they think.
 

glasgowcyclist

Charming but somewhat feckless
Location
Scotland
This soft approach has paid off! Not that was the reason I was doing it. Anyway, she's lost a great deal of weight, and now she has pulled of bicycle out of the shed and .... we are going riding together!!! On public roads!


Brilliant. Educate, don't alienate.

I used to swear and curse at drivers who put me in danger, now, if the situation allows, I politely confront them instead. Shouting will only have them throw up a barrier to any message you hope to get across. Discussing the risks (to me) calmly is more likely to achieve an understanding, albeit grudging at times. The ones who ignore the point and tell me to fark off would only have done the same had I shouted in the first place but they're raising their stress levels while I'm able to pootle off calmly.
 
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