Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Except for that bit, well spotted.
I haven't pretended I did not take risk. What is risk to one is adrenalin rush to another. I don't hold the riding in the video up as an example of virtuous riding, nor do I seek to educate others. I will however state that the information available to an alert, dialled-in rider is far more than can be gleaned from looking at camera footage with its restricted angles and perspectives. The overtake at the crossing for example. It was perfectly clear to proceed, I could see it was clear to proceed, and I did so. You will see that there is not a pedestrian in sight, nor any junctions for cars to enter immediately after the crossing. It was clear. Had it not been clear I had all the space of the hatched section I was riding in to brake, reduce speed and slot in if necessary. Don't forget the bike has awesome brakes and the conditions were perfect in terms of grip. That you couldn't take in all the necessary information and assimilate it from the video doesn't mean that that information wasn't available to me, and helped me make my plan at the time.
As for the roundabout. I've looked at the footage again, and although it looks like there are two cars waiting to enter from my left, these are in fact both parked in marked bays.
There is nothing at the give way line. I know and can judge my speed and acceleration through the roundabout, and experience tells me the car to my right cannot accelerate fast enough to present a danger to me- I'm going to be past him. By flowing and moderating my speed I can slot into spaces on the roundabout without creating a risk or inconveniencing people. It's all about taking responsibility and using what you have to advantage.
There's the rub. Responsibility. My job is irrelevant as far as I am concerned.
I concede that at one point in the door-zone cycle lane I am pushing my luck, but as a general rule I am far more risk-averse than you make me out to be.
That said, there is no way I would advocate that sort of riding to anyone. It certainly wouldn't have its own chapter in Cyclecraft. However, I will also point out that the sort of on-road experience from many forms of transport and in particular high speed stuff through moving traffic (lawful and perhaps otherwise in my younger days) does indeed give me the confidence to ride hard and fast when the conditions allow. That others perceive it to be full of "mistakes" as you put it is incidental. Not everybody wants to ride like that. I don't always, it's not compulsory, and as my original post still implies, it was during a phase of my life that is now behind me.
The camera's a Veho Muvi