The "secret" to a great commute

[jimboalee]

THREE!!! Gordon Bennett and you still RLJ. I once counted the number of sets on my route from Ealing to Whitehall, if I remember correctly it was approx 70+. Might be more now, I'll check again soon.

I do agree that maintaining a steady momentum helps immensely, but what is it with intermittent pedallers?
Sometimes when I'm comfortably cruising along I'll be overtaken by someone pedalling like mad, then they freewheel for a while, by which time I've caught up and positioning to overtake, when they suddenly start pedalling furiously again. This irritating stop go cycle will continue until one or the other turns off. N.B. Roadies & serious cyclists do not appear to do this.

Oh yes we do.

Many flat stretches of Audax are spent on top ratio, coasting and standing on the pedals for four or five pedalstrokes.
Watch the riders in the middle of the peleton. Coasting - Honking - coasting - honking.....

 

[purplepolly]

Only a complete dunce would stop and wait at a red light when there is not a sniff of another roaduser.
.

I clean or dry my glasses when I stop at lights. They're also useful for a breather.

 

[Campfire]

For about 10 years I had the best commute anyone could get - about 4 miles along a couple of farm tracks, then a country road before getting to the A57 - but then only about 1/2 a mile of that. The trouble was that the potholes stretched almost the width of the road until they sent one of those scrapers along & filled it in with rocks. In the snow it was great as sometimes I was the first person along.

It used to knock the bike about so I bought a second hand one which served be very well.

 

[ed_o_brain]

Only a complete dunce would stop and wait at a red light when there is not a sniff of another roaduser.

Thanks for the compliment.

Who is there to see me RLJ? The cat on the fence? Surely she's not going to run to the local plod and meow "Cyclist went over a red light at Warwick Road"....

So RLJ is okay because nobody sees you?
Besides, you said "sod all". I surmise from that sometimes you are seen. My biggest problem with that is, Monkey see monkey do. People get on their bikes. They jump red lights. It's okay because all cyclists do it.

Not only that, but I'm sure if you do it every morning than a few motorist have seen you. Even a dunce will realise that helps reinforces the negative image of cyclists.

Can you really predict a car won't catch you up with you whilst your busy RLJing?

 

[rusky]

I stop at all the red lights unfortunately, the totty doesn't could be a female thing??

I was a bit put out by the girl on a town bike that shot up a 20% hill left me & another commuter for dust!

 

[jimboalee]

Thanks for the compliment.



So RLJ is okay because nobody sees you?
Besides, you said "sod all". I surmise from that sometimes you are seen. My biggest problem with that is, Monkey see monkey do. People get on their bikes. They jump red lights. It's okay because all cyclists do it.

Not only that, but I'm sure if you do it every morning than a few motorist have seen you. Even a dunce will realise that helps reinforces the negative image of cyclists.

Can you really predict a car won't catch you up with you whilst your busy RLJing?

OK, so some mornings a single car goes through the lights. I wait for him to pass and I turn left against the red.
He looks in his mirror and sees me go through the red and thinks "that cyclist went through the red". "Shock - Horror!"
Do you really think he's going to stand at the bar with his mates that evening and tell them all he saw a cyclist go through a red light at quarter to five in the morning in complete loneliness?
His mates are going to call him a twat and laugh. They'll ask "Why didn't you turn round, drive back and knock the ****er off?"

There is a bit of a difference between ONE car & ONE bike at a lonely junction and a busy city street.
I can't for one moment imagine that one of the few motorists who DID see me RLJ would think cyclists RLJ at every junction, not just the deserted ones early in the morning.

Anyway, I don't consider my actions to be "RLJing". I'm checking the safety of the occassional other roaduser and proceding with caution through an empty section of road.
RLJing is where a roaduser procedes through a red within the 1 or 2 seconds before the opposing traffic get their green light. In the old days it was called 'Amber gambling'. Now, its 'Gambling on the red' or RLJing.

That's dangerous and I don't do that.

 

[Origamist]

Great - a thread about the "secret" to a great commute descends into another piss poor debate about the rights and wrongs of RLJing. Great, great, great, etc

 

[trustysteed]

Anyway, I don't consider my actions to be "RLJing". I'm checking the safety of the occassional other roaduser and proceding with caution through an empty section of road.

+1

There's a spot on my commute where you have to cross a dual carriageway. You can see half a mile in each direction as the road is straight. It amazes me how many people stop, push the pedestrian crossing button and wait till the light goes green before crossing even when there is clearly no traffic on the road in either direction.

 

[jonny jeez]

Great - a thread about the "secret" to a great commute descends into another piss poor debate about the rights and wrongs of RLJing. Great, great, great, etc

My bad...I mentioned the words "red", "light" and even "Jumping"...all in the same sentance on the original post...knew that was a mistake.

Ho Hum

 

[jimboalee]

+1

There's a spot on my commute where you have to cross a dual carriageway. You can see half a mile in each direction as the road is straight. It amazes me how many people stop, push the pedestrian crossing button and wait till the light goes green before crossing even when there is clearly no traffic on the road in either direction.

Ah, there might be a seagull stood on a lamp standard. He might go into town and ceremoniuosly "Squawk, Cycists jump red lights, squawk".

 

[iendicott]

Blah Blah Blah

Who cares if people RLJ. If you want to ride to the highway code don't do it, if your not bothered about getting caught or knocked off then do it.

Who cares to be honest, we are all able to make decisions, what is good for one may not be good for others but who really cares ? Not me !

have to agree with the momentum part of this thread, I try and maintain a high cadence and try to not free wheel anywhere.

 

[ed_o_brain]

I care.

Having seen a motorist completely ignore my partners right to cycle safely on the road by driving at her, and then when confronted froth at the mouth about us all ignoring red lights, not belonging on the road, no road tax, should be locked up etc. etc. I do care.

I've been on the receiving end of enough anti-cyclists rants to get some idea of what the general public think. Even respectable colleagues assume I jump lights because I ride a bike.

And I don't care what name you choose to dress it up as, ignoring a traffic light signal is ignoring a traffic light signal. If we are on the road and not a farcility they apply to us. The only exception is when they are malfunctioning (induction loop not detecting cyclists).

Of course the bloke isn't going to go down the pub and rant about one isolated incident first thing in the morning. But it's going to help reinforce his negative impression. Chances are he is a bus driver on the way to the depot.

It's unfortunate the actions of some affect the rest of us.
The same way BMW drivers get angst because a considerable proportion of them drive like numpties.

 

[purplepolly]

+1

There's a spot on my commute where you have to cross a dual carriageway. You can see half a mile in each direction as the road is straight. It amazes me how many people stop, push the pedestrian crossing button and wait till the light goes green before crossing even when there is clearly no traffic on the road in either direction.

you may be able to see half a mile in each direction but it's entirely possible that the person waiting at the crossing can't, but still have good enough eyesight to not qualify for a white stick or guide dog. Or they may not be able to move very quickly and feel safer with lights on red.

Even with vision, it's not as simple as it sounds. Press the button and then cross before the green man and you risk getting abuse from the driver who has to stop as you get to the other side.

 

[Dan B]

no road tax

You know what? I've been thinking about this since the last road tax thread, and have decided that next time I get the "you don't pay road tax" spiel, I shall simply respond with "I know. Good, isn't it?" Ditto for: riding two abreast, taking primary in pinch points or elsewhere as necessary for safety, filtering to the front in queues, using ASLs, crossing the pavement to get to parking facilities, and cycling in excess of the prevailing speed limit for motor vehicles.

The kind of loudmouth driver who gets upset about this stuff is rarely concerned about my safety or his and is usually acting merely out of a misplaced sense of entitlement fed by too many tabloid editorials. It's no better than the standard "it's not fair!" playground whine, but with the added unattractiveness of being perpetrated by a grown adult who should know better.

 

[purplepolly]

and have decided that next time I get the "you don't pay road tax" spiel, I shall simply respond with "I know. Good, isn't it?".

Might as well, there's really no sane argument that these people want to hear.