mental cyclists

[adam23]

i started my new job in oxford at the start of april and have noticed the obvious amount of bikes around town
and just how mental most of them are.
waiting to cross the road last week was almost knocked down by a guy on a bike jumping red light and then
had the cheek to give me abuse even the right of way was mine.
every day you see them doing it and you have to ask its no wonder the world hates us when there is so many
bad cyclists out there.

 

[cloggsy]

Fortunately, I live out in deepest darkest rural North Yorkshire, so 'crazy traffic and cyclists' thing doesn't happen often. I watch the London cyclist videos on You Tube and cringe every time I see them...

I can sympathise with you, but wouldn't want to empathise!

 

[Tynan]

this an Oxford/Cambridge thing isn't it?

loads of students, many foreign in a flat small town?

 

[kedab]

adam23 - i work in cambridge, it's pretty nuts coming through the city here as well. though i must point out it isn't the commuters that cause the problems, more the EFL students who don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to riding through town...actually, you can add to that the following:

*understanding that most british of customs - queuing - they walk to the front every time and don't understand the abuse they get for it.

*occupying an entire footpath with their group while one of them figures out the city map and not batting an eyelid when you ask them to move

*red light jumping is common, you're safer walking out in front of a bus - he's likely to attempt a stop!

*yelling at the tops of their voices when in a group in a restaurant - STFU!!!

....annnnnnd relax - rant over

 

[gaz]

I call them silly cyclists.

 

[kedab]

that's a great website gaz, congrats. i've only watched the first episode, i'm a new commuter myself but even that 2 minute vid had me going 'you've got to be kid'...nooooooo don't do...oh too late'

i shall be catching up with the series and checking out the site properly

 

[kedab]

this an Oxford/Cambridge thing isn't it?

loads of students, many foreign in a flat small town?

yep yep and most definitely yep

 

[fossyant]

Students - we have lots in Manchester, so I avoid their main route into campus, which also is Europe's busiest bus route.

No road awareness.

 

[Camgreen]

adam23 - i work in cambridge, it's pretty nuts coming through the city here as well. though i must point out it isn't the commuters that cause the problems, more the EFL students who don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to riding through town...

....annnnnnd relax - rant over

To be fair I don't think the problem is limited to EFL students, although they certainly add to the problem. Travel into Cambridge to work and back by car (as a passenger) most week days and I've witnessed potentially dangerous manoeuvres by all sorts of age ranges and genders at times. Probably the most mind boggling is the parent (I assume they're the parent) who RLJ's with kiddie in tow!; sadly not an isolated incident.

On balance, I've also witnessed my fair share of crap driving too.

 

[kedab]

RLJ is the norm in town though isn't it and yep, it's not limited to EFL, i think they're just the most obvious.

i've not had too many close calls with the cars/vans/buses in town yet, though the other day a bus dirver did look directly at me, coming out of the Vue Cinema turning and proceeded to pull out, i wasn't surprised but still gave him a cheery 'thanks!'

i had a lovely ride home last night and thanks to the wind easing off, somewhere at some point according to my app' i reached 29.42mph! i was quite astonished

 

[SavageHoutkop]

i started my new job in oxford at the start of april and have noticed the obvious amount of bikes around town
and just how mental most of them are.

Funny - I find Oxford much more sedate cycling wise than Manchester (although like Fossy I've got experience of the main Manchester student drag, which is also the curry mile, and a frequent bus route!).

Where was your previous experience of cyclists?

 

[summerdays]

Mr Summerdays was driving to pick me up at the weekend and saw a lady with a child on the back and another balanced on the crossbar (this wasn't on a quiet side road - but on the busy multilane road immediately outside the BRI hospital. It was a good location in some ways since the child then fell off the cross bar - lots of cars stopped and pedestrians went to help so he didn't see the outcome of the fall.

 

[smiorgan]

Funny - I find Oxford much more sedate cycling wise than Manchester (although like Fossy I've got experience of the main Manchester student drag, which is also the curry mile, and a frequent bus route!).

Where was your previous experience of cyclists?

Agreed, although I rarely cycle around the centre. The tourists wandering around are less courteous than cyclists, although the recent rash of fakengers will front brakes only on their freewheel singlespeed kinda worries me. Only a matter of time before one of those clowns sees a brakeless fixie, and...

It's not an Oxbridge thing. It's a density of cycles thing among a population of people living economically and who haven't learned to drive, therefore less road sense. Nothing to do with foreign visitors either - they just travel in gaggles of 30 on the bus.

I think the OP was unlucky in that they encountered a person with bad manners and a sense of entitlement, which can happen in any vehicle or on foot...

 

[asterix]

Used to cycle to lectures in Manchester, first from Fallowfield, then Whalley Range, later St. Ockport. I found the situation not too bad although I was T-boned by a purblind jogger once - a very minor spill.

Some of my fellow students though I was a bit eccentric using a bicycle - the sort who chatter about what sort of BMW they will get and besiege the merchant bank recruitment stands.