“Why don’t you apologise? Don’t be so selfish”: CyclingMikey’s latest argument with pedestrian on shared use path sparks discussion; Local angry with cyclist “holding up the road” despite not being in lane; TdF Femmes debrief + more on the live blog
Why should I?
It’s been a little while since we last covered one of CyclingMikey’s encounters with the people of London, but this latest video is a classic of his subgenre, posted to highlight, “The attitude of this pedestrian, not willing to share the shared path whilst I’m riding slowly and considerately.”
And, for what it’s worth, those are all elements of this worth highlighting, a shared use path that the pedestrian presumes he’s exclusively entitled to walk along, despite multiple signs highlighting otherwise.
Once again though, what’s most striking with these videos is the tone. It’s sarky, needless interjection from the pedestrian but Mikey’s response immediately gets into the details of the rules of the shared use path, fuelling a tense conversation clearly built on misinformation, with the pedestrian unaware cyclists were allowed on the path until Mikey stops and drops behind him. There’s also no attempt to engage in the merits of cycling on the other footway, with Mikey only informs us isn’t possible after the exchange.
Admittedly, compared to some of his other exchanges this is all rather tame stuff, there’s no anger or road-rage (path-rage?) and he gets on with his journey soon enough. But you have to wonder who benefits from an exchange like this being posted online, short of the locals who may now actually know where cyclists can ride over the bridge?
The second argument made after the exchange, that “why should” cyclists have to ride in the road when they have access to a shared use path, seems to have been picked up upon by a lot of social media users, the same users who would tend to complain when they see a cyclist riding in the road and not using a cycle lane. Sometimes you can’t win…
> “Everybody hates you!” Fuming phone driver abandons car in traffic and confronts Cycling Mikey
Cringeworthy Cheddar bile
It’s difficult to know where to start with this caption of a police car being held up by a driver who is slowing down to mind a cyclist on the inside of the road near Cheddar Gorge.
The implication from the poster appears to be that “another idiot” is the cyclist, riding “as if he owned the road.”
This is a fascinating suggestion, implying that you only need to hog the tiniest bit of kerb to stake your claim as a rightful road owner. Good news for drains and broken glass everywhere. Thankfully, the Facebook comments are quick to call out this tripe…
“Cyclist isn’t even in the carriageway in either photo. They’re plumb on the white line at the left of the carriageway. If the police car wanted to overtake the cyclist they would. Issue is a car and a blind bend combination. Looks like the car did slow/pull over and it’s unlikely that the police vehicle lost more than a few seconds.”
“All I see I the driver of rhe grey car pointing themselves towards the cyclist in an attempt to get out of the way of the police car.
“How would you prefer this to unfold? The Police car wait until everyone has pulled over safely or perhaps the cyclist should dive into the bushes? Siren on means the same as a car horn. It is an awareness of presence. It is not a demand to loose your mind, change direction or speed.”
“The way taught to vehicles to allow a police car to pass is they should REDUCE their speed GRADUALLY or MAINTAIN it, move left as much is safely possible. It is the police cars job to complete the passing manoeuvre the highway code and police advice videos both say a form of this.”
Weekend at the Femmes:
From a dramatic weekend of racing that saw Demi Vollering ultimately claim her second Tour de France title, here are Ryan’s dispatches if you fancy a chronological recap, starting with Kasia Niewiadoma’s historic Ventoux win to nab yellow from Marlen Reusser:
Saturday’s stage, won with a late Demi Vollering solo move, was overshadowed by allegations of FDJ blocking the yellow jersey from following Vollering’s accelerations. Apparently, the air has since been cleared…
Then yesterday, after Reusser was distanced by the favourites on a crash, Vollering dropped Niewiadoma on the final climb to solo to victory in yellow, leaving our man on the ground to reflect on the Dutchwoman’s place in the sport…
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@sizbut Yeah, I'm not sure why she's dragging that one up and blaming Kasia. Her own team got most of the criticism for poor communication that she went down, and not sending anyone to help, so much so that she left the team at the end of the season.
Nigel "courteous" comments coming in 3...2...1... CM's completely in the right and the pedestrian's a dick. However, as I commented on the Facebook video, it would have been nice to see CM thanking the people earlier who stepped aside without complaint. Every pedestrian and driver who gets a thank you or an after you from a cyclist when appropriate is just that little bit more likely to treat the next cyclist who comes along decently.
l o v e Mikey — keep at it. Hot London day, maybe. A big hello works fine in a cool rainy Edinburgh.
“When I crashed two years ago, she pulled full gas” - Blissfully ignoring the fact that with just 6k to go everyone pulled full gas, including her own team mate who won the stage.
I just bought this light and it is very clever the high and low beam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_74inmIJR-Y
1. Thinking they would do *something* and knowing exactly *what* that something would be in order to counter it are not the same thing, so I don't think that argument stands up. 2. She wasn't attacking - she was riding on Vollering's wheel as Vollering attacked, so that would apply as much, if not more to Vollering.
Not really taking sides here, but: 1. If she "definitely thought that they would do something. They always have a plan, so [she] wasn’t surprised.", that shows poor planning and/or situational awareness. 2. Attacking on the outside of a corner is simply ineffective (I was actually thinking of a stronger word). Not only it makes you vulnerable to what happened here (irrespectful of whether it happened intentionally or accidentally), but also forces the rider to take a longer line, which is obviously disadvantageous. Which goes back to 1. Sorry for her, bt that sounds like a bad case of bad loser.
@Chris RideFar My experience with pulley wheels with bushings is better than with those with bearings. They spin just fine, and I've never had any problem with the. Bearings on the other hand can get very bad sometimes, and I've seen several that were very hard to move because dirt got in.
@Chris RideFar I admire your restraint in calling out what is, quite clearly, BS.
@Jessiethedog Wise decision. When we got rid of our car during Covid and so decided to electrify our spare mountain bikes for shopping, long-distance elderly parents visiting et cetera we ordered two Swytch kits, cancelled them after six months of being promised over and over they were definitely on a boat and on their way. Then we were told if we ordered again we would absolutely definitely get them in three weeks tops...three months later after exactly the same rigmarole we cancelled again. Shame as it looks a good product (if pretty ambitiously priced compared to the competition) and we wanted to buy British (well, you know, British imported from China...) but it was just absurdly frustrating and the communication was abysmal. They should have made the move to UK production years ago, hopefully they can get their act together because from what I hear from people who have managed to get hold of a kit they've got a fundamentally sound product.
2 thoughts on ““Why don’t you apologise? Don’t be so selfish”: CyclingMikey’s latest argument with pedestrian on shared use path sparks discussion; Local angry with cyclist “holding up the road” despite not being in lane; TdF Femmes debrief + more on the live blog”
l o v e Mikey — keep at it. Hot London day, maybe. A big hello works fine in a cool rainy Edinburgh.
Nigel “courteous” comments coming in 3…2…1…
CM’s completely in the right and the pedestrian’s a dick. However, as I commented on the Facebook video, it would have been nice to see CM thanking the people earlier who stepped aside without complaint. Every pedestrian and driver who gets a thank you or an after you from a cyclist when appropriate is just that little bit more likely to treat the next cyclist who comes along decently.