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UPDATE: Police looking into moped rider caught on cam trying to kick London cyclistMoped rider attempts to kick Chi Yong La

UPDATE: Police looking into moped rider caught on cam trying to kick London cyclist

Chi Yong La attacked for taking lane in treacherous conditions
by John Stevenson
Sun, Jan 19, 2014 10:48
63

Police are looking into a moped rider who attacked a cyclist in London this week, attempting to kick him off his bike for taking the lane.

Chi Yong La was riding on New Kent Road between his job as a systems engineer for  publisher Condé Nast and his home in Greenwich.

Conditions were very wet and slippery and the road is notoriously badly potholed so Chi was following Transport for London advice and taking the middle of the lane.

At about 6:45pm, a man on a moped rode up on Chi’s left “shouting something about ‘is the middle of the road yours...’” Chi said on the YouTube video of the incident. (The time stamp on his  cam is an hour out, he says.)

When Chi pointed out the potholes and invited the motorcyclist to pass him properly, on the right, the man attempted to kick him as he pulled away.

Chi told the Metro website: “I was trying to cycle in the middle of my lane because that’s what I’ve been advised when it’s wet and there are potholes.

“The motorcyclist came up beside me and accused me of owning the middle of the lane. I said he could overtake on the right.

“But he suddenly whipped past and kicked out at me – he kicked my front wheel but luckily I managed to cling on.

“It was a close call but very worrying. I hope he can be traced.”

Chi contacted road.cc this weekend to telll us he'd filed a police report under the category of "Road Traffic Collision/Accident". He accompanied his report with the video below.

The police have forwarded the report to the transport department for further investigation.

"I hope they at least have a word with him," he said.

The incident left him unsurprisingly rattled. "I was really shaken up," he said. "I was really holding on for dear life, making sure I didn't topple over."

Shortly after the incident, another rider caught Chi. "The cyclist behind me pulled up [with me]," he said. "I think he was even more rattled than me." 

London
Helmet cam
Chi Yong La
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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