I Hate Summer Commuting

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

KneesUp

Guru
I commute on my road bike, in cleats and clobber, and at this time of year often find myself being passed by younger chaps pedalling furiously in trainers, on creaking bikes with rusty chains, as if to prove some sort of point.

I always hope it really irritates them when I pass them a little further up the road once they’ve run out of puff.
I commute all year in trainers, on a squeaky bike, that looks old because it is. I can advise your summer acquaintances that the most effective way to annoy a cyclist with 'all the gear' and a road bike is to draught them on a 29-year-old mountain bike with panniers.
 
Last edited:
That has nothingto do with their competence as a cyclist. That is to do with their understanding of the ( predominantley legal) framework in which road users operate!

You could be a worlkd champion cyclist and not understand the Highway code.

similarily, you could be the slowest, wobbliest cyclist going, but have a great knowledge and understanding of the highway code

See, I'd disagree with what you're classing as competence there. For me competence as a cyclist on the road would be combining the ability to ride and control a bike with the knowledge and understanding of how to do so appropriately on the public highway.
 
U

User65906

Guest
I used to commute in my work boots and work clothes, but I was an enthusiastic club rider at the time, I would find it mildly amusing to pass someone in all the gear and have them come past a few moments later then run out of puff a hundred yards down the road and I'd then go past again.
I like that, nothing like a little entertainment to pass the time.
 
OP
OP
spen666

spen666

Legendary Member
[QUOTE 5248289, member: 45"]Your bumbling cyclist who doesn't know the rules is by definition incompetent.

Now, you may have noticed that I took it past this silliness to prompt a conversation about different cultures of acceptance. Others bought into that and it had legs, you just pulled it back to you again.

Give it a rest. I'll not be responding to any more of your posts about what you said but pretend that you didn't. As someone who is keen to be so pedantic, you'd do well to take a but more care that what you actually write says what you intend it to.[/QUOTE]


Have it your way

I have told you exactly what I mean and still you refuse to accept it and try to twist my words.

If you are happy with dangerous selfish road users aggressively riding/waljinw/ driving thinking only of themselves and their desire to get to their destination ahead of others, then you clearly want a different world to me

Don't ever expect any sympathy from me when you are the victim of such a road user
 
I have told you exactly what I mean and still you refuse to accept it and try to twist my words.
And various people have told you how they interpreted, with zero ill intent, your words to mean something different from what you intended. And still you refuse to accept that your words were capable of being understood in a different way to that which you intended, and assume that people who interpreted what you said differently are twisting your words.

There is an easier option, you know. You can just say "oh, clearly you think I meant {foo}.... what I was trying to say was {bar}".

View attachment 409848
(Image shows a graphic of an American highway with the text "Communication is a two-way street on a 6 lane divided highway with exit ramps every few feet", citing Monica L Wofford as the source).
 

Slick

Guru
I love summer commuting. Sun shining, shorts, fingerless gloves, shades and quiet roads is just bliss and I'm determined to make the most of it this summer as the winter felt long and harsh and the longest day is only a month away. I do see a few more cyclists, but certainly not enough to effect my enjoyment of the day either way.

One huge thing that did annoy the hell out of me was the Audi R8 driver that floored it from the roundabout I'd just negotiated to the next set of lights and probably hit around a guesstimated 80 mph in a 30 zone, passing me very close in the face of oncoming traffic.
 
U

User65906

Guest
@Slick, my next purchase will be cameras, to record my journey
and the antics of lunatic drivers.
It is only when these careless people are showing up on youtube
and in their local papers and court rooms they will get the message,
cameras really are a must for cyclists, its easy to dump footage when
nothing has gone wrong, and keep what matters to put these road
terrorists off the road, they might wise up when the courts take their
license and leave them to cycle.

Two friends of mine would have been killed only for a man not alone
waved them down, but pushed them completely into the hedge at
the road side, a nut was racing from the law and came around the corner
on the wrong side of the road as hard as he could go, the stinger on the same
corner stopped him, but those cyclists would be dead only for the man who
saw the stinger being placed rushed towards the cyclists and put them into
the hedge. We need new laws to protect cyclists, its as simple as that.
 

Slick

Guru
@Slick, my next purchase will be cameras, to record my journey
and the antics of lunatic drivers.
It is only when these careless people are showing up on youtube
and in their local papers and court rooms they will get the message,
cameras really are a must for cyclists, its easy to dump footage when
nothing has gone wrong, and keep what matters to put these road
terrorists off the road, they might wise up when the courts take their
license and leave them to cycle.

Two friends of mine would have been killed only for a man not alone
waved them down, but pushed them completely into the hedge at
the road side, a nut was racing from the law and came around the corner
on the wrong side of the road as hard as he could go, the stinger on the same
corner stopped him, but those cyclists would be dead only for the man who
saw the stinger being placed rushed towards the cyclists and put them into
the hedge. We need new laws to protect cyclists, its as simple as that.
I do agree with you, there are far too many nutters on the roads. I have a bit of a confession re the cameras though. I have both front and rear facing cameras, pretty good ones at that but I do tend to get very lazy and rarely switch them on. As soon as I heard the roar of that Audi engine coming behind me, I immediately wished I had, then again about 6 miles from home, I passed what seemed a never ending and certainly never moving que of traffic that stretched the entire length of the town. Me passing them all did feel rather good and would have made some awesome footage.
 

swansonj

Guru
[QUOTE 5248292, member: 45"]So, what do people think about the idea of just leaving cyclists to it and letting go things that they might do which are annoying?

I think that by complaining about things that really aren't that important enables the view of cycling that we really want to get away from.[/QUOTE]
I quite often find myself driving with people who are quick to expostulate at cyclists breaking the Highway Code, behaving invonsiderately etc. Hell, when driving, I find myself doing the same. I set myself the challenge of noting how many of the observed behaviours were actually dangerous. The answer is hardly any at all. (Your) point proven.
 

Tizme

Veteran
Location
Somerset
I find it disappointing that more adults that are cycling in the summer cycle on the pavement. Not that they are "wrong" to do it, but that they feel it is unsafe to ride on the road.
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
There are some very mean-spirited attitudes on display in this thread. Disappointing.

Summer commuting is one of the things I miss about no longer commuting. I always loved the fact that it's light earlier, and warm enough that I didn't have to dress like an eskimo, so could leave the house half an hour earlier and take the long route and get in a lovely ride before work. Makes you feel good about the world and less likely to take a confrontational view of other road users or be offended by their failings.

Not much I can do to modify the behaviour of others so at times when I know to expect more idiots on the road, I try to modify my own riding to mitigate the risks. Shouting rude words at them doesn't generally achieve much.
 
Top Bottom