I always beat myself up over tiny little mistakes.

[vickster]

You dos nothing wrong, but I only use a bell rarely and always way before I am close, I will slow right down. Ultimately on a shred path, the ped always has priority. For a commute rather than a dawdle, I would try to avoid places with lots of foot / paw traffic if you can

 

[young Ed]

and as for bell/horn usage, i have one on my shitty commuter/hack bike but not on the nice roadie. and i pretty much never use the one on the commuter/hack instead i prefer a friendly morning/afternoon or how do you do? i tend to avoid shouting/saying 'cyclist' as i find people tend to find this and bells/horns obnoxious and rude and don't often react well
Cheers Ed

 

[Katherine]

I can totally understand that as a caring person you would be bothered by someone shouting at you. You will forget about it until the next time as there always is.
I rang my bell behind a jogger I wanted to pass but got no response. He was going quite fast and the path narrowed further up so I decided to try again when the path widened. Again no response, so, thinking he had earphones in, I shouted " hi, please can I pass you?" several times getting louder each time until eventually I was yelling at the top of my voice "HELLO?". At which point, he turned around, without making room for me to pass and swore at me at the top of his voice - horrible. I could see he had nothing in his ears and was deliberately ignoring me. As this told me that he knew I was there I forced my way past and rode away. He made me feel small and it took me a while to stop dwelling on it but it hasn't stopped me using the route or from asking joggers to let me pass.
Most of the time, I don't have any trouble with other people who share the path, even meeting friendly people who exchange smiles /greetings.

 

[heavens]

even meeting friendly people who exchange smiles /greetings.

That's one of my favorite things about commuting. There are nutters out there, glad I'm not on my own! Thank you Katherine!

 

[heavens]

This just shows you are a very considerate person and there's nothing wrong in that.

This! Thank you!

 

[Saluki]

sorry, but i almost certain Saluki is a lass? doubt she'll take much offence though :P
Cheers Ed

Lass might be pushing it a bit but definitely of the female persuasion. I didn't like to mention it.

 

[coco69]

Dont worry about it, that incident is very very very minor compared to other incidents cyclist have had to deal with....move on.

 

[Osprey]

You conducted yourself well and portrayed cyclists in a good way.

 

[Tin Pot]

You beat yourself up over tiny little things because you don't have any huge things to fret over.

I'm the same. Try to see the upside

 

[Hip Priest]

I can empathise.

I dislike confrontation, and tend to avoid it, as it can ruin my day. You did the right thing in calmly pointing out that it was a shared path. If you'd lost your temper and raised your voice or swore, you'd feel a lot worse.

 

[young Ed]

Lass might be pushing it a bit but definitely of the female persuasion. I didn't like to mention it.

sorry, just the way i speak normally 'lads and lasses' rather than 'ladies and gentlemen'. this is of course unless i am putting on a formal, smart tone
Cheers Ed

 

[Saluki]

sorry, just the way i speak normally 'lads and lasses' rather than 'ladies and gentlemen'. this is of course unless i am putting on a formal, smart tone
Cheers Ed

I know. I was just teasing. If I could roll the clock back to being a lass again, I would. In a heartbeat

 

[mjr]

somehow sense that some people consider it rude to use either. Either go around them or slow down for them to hear you approaching.

Go around if there's space, but otherwise ring the bell. Get a traditional ring ring or ding dong if you can (can't get them easily for oversize or aero bars?) because people seem to recognise them more easily and seem less scared by it.

If you slow down and then they hear you, many jump out of the way, swear at you and/or ask why you haven't got a bell!

Sympathies to the OP. There's a few undersigned mixed paths near me and a few busybodies who try to enforce their misunderstandings by walking all across the width and playing deaf. Thankfully most people are friendly.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I was cycling on a cycle path and I rang my bell to give a lady attention of my presence, then she turned around and said to me that bike's should be on the road. I pointed to a cycling sign and she told me that that was for down on another path, so I then cycled further a little more and I pointed to another sign that was clearly intended for the path I was on. At this moment she told me to "shut up" - to which I reminded her that she was the one who started the conversation with me in the first place - to which she had no reply.

I didn't curse or shout back because she had a little boy with her. I was really cautious during the conversation as I didn't want to scare or upset the poor little lad. I could tell he was a little shaken with his mother shouting at me. Also shouting or cursing back wouldn't make the situation any better anyway.

I just can't stop thinking about the incident. Even though she was in the wrong I still feel really bad. It happened at 8:00-ish and it's 5:19 and it's bothered me all day. It's not just incidents like this that bother me. Even when for example I indicate maybe a little too late when I should of rang my bell a little earlier - these incidents don't effect anyone else but they still bother me. I do my best to learn from them and to use them to my advantage but they still bother me a lot.

Can anyone else relate?

Thank you very much for your time.

Yeah, I don't let it get to me. If they are too ignorant to understand a simple sign, or want to get on their high horse, I say balls to 'em, they aren't worth the stress. I had one on my ride home last night. I was coming down a steep hill into a right turn. My rear brake is attached to my right shifter. I slowed right down and moved to primary, there was a car at the GIVE WAY, to my right, who couldn't have seen any signal I could have given, even if I was a magician / contortionist. He thought he'd share his thoughts that I should have kept my right arm out through the turn ( down a steep hill with my rear brake on the right shifter, on frost, and a bumpy road). It didn't end well for him, I didn't lose any sleep over it. That's the thing, you have to just let it slide and move on.

 

[heavens]

Lass might be pushing it a bit but definitely of the female persuasion. I didn't like to me

Go around if there's space, but otherwise ring the bell. Get a traditional ring ring or ding dong if you can (can't get them easily for oversize or aero bars?) because people seem to recognise them more easily and seem less scared by it.

If you slow down and then they hear you, many jump out of the way, swear at you and/or ask why you haven't got a bell!

Sympathies to the OP. There's a few undersigned mixed paths near me and a few busybodies who try to enforce their misunderstandings by walking all across the width and playing deaf. Thankfully most people are friendly.

Thanks. I had an incident awhile back when I went around someone slowly (without any bell but giving lots of room) and they stepped out all of a sudden. The mother of the boy shouted at me to get a bell. Legally, it wasn't anyone's fault since I was prepared to stop, but morally since pedestrians have priority the blame is passed to me. The Highway Code says doesn't mention anything about giving an audible warning it just says to slow down. "Take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and allow them plenty of room. Always be prepared to slow down and stop if necessary." - but I dwelled over that for a long time and now I have a bell. I'd rather warn them and they get upset, than run into them and they get upset.

Thanks mjray for the sympathy!