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The Return of the Fair Weather Cyclists..

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  • May 1, 2018 at 11:03 am #28456
    Shades

    Summer’s (almost) back….more people on their bikes…..good!  After toughing it out commuting through what felt like a pretty bleak winter with the usual all-year round die-hards, the roads/bike path cycle traffic has increased with the return of the ‘fair weather gang’.  OK, we’re not all complete saints when it comes to obeying the rules, whether it’s traffic laws or cycle etiquette, but some of the ‘fair weather gang’ have a total disregard for any of it.  Nothing’s off the table; sailing through red lights, cutting across streams of slow moving traffic at cycle crossings, cutting up other cyclists, going against the traffic up one-ways, pavements etc.  Could be blissful ignorance, sheer bloody mindedness or a combination of both.  Watching some ‘Darwinian’ manoeuvre you can see the regulars saying to themselves, “looking forward to seeing how this ends”.  The annoyed look on motorists faces says it all and when most cyclists are behaving, trying to minimise the animosity between drivers and cyclists, you have to sympathise with them.  I’ve seen police ticking cyclists off in London; perhaps we should be ‘policing our own’ but I sense you’d just get a volley of abuse off a miscreant.  Not sure a bit of ‘clean and service your bike and pop some more air in your tyres’ would be well received!

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  • May 2, 2018 at 10:37 am #918425
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    hawkinspeter
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    Perpetual motion cyclist is also another problem in cities. No red lights can stop them, there is no bus or lorry than cannot be squeezed past. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

    It saves having to unclip as some of us can’t track-stand for more than a minute.

    Trackstand, red light creepers are funny to watch. They approach the light, slowing, slowing, hoping for the change that never comes, the trackstand starts, the balance wanes, a small forward move…the balance wanes…again, a movement, again the balance fails, desperation is setting in as they move past the junction, do they unclip and admit defeat or risk the junction of doom, knowing an collision will clearly be their fault….

    And then luckily the lights change.

    Have you been following me?

    (I usually unclip when I start to lose balance but it has to be done in a nonchalant fashion)

    May 2, 2018 at 10:18 am #918423
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    kil0ran

    If I haven’t commuted by bike

    If I haven’t commuted by bike for a while I’ve found it takes me a while to switch mindsets from car-mode to cycling. Mostly that’s a question of absolutely never amber-gambling and switching the default behaviour from “go” to “stop” at roundabouts and junctions.

    Then, once I’ve been racking up the rides on the bike I find I end up driving too cautiously and, somewhat perversely, taking smaller gaps on roundabouts in the car. I’ve always found when cycling that I rarely have to stop at a roundabout – if visibility is good it’s generally quite easy to time your entry because you’re approaching at a slower speed than you would do in a car, and you can see more without that dirty great A-pillar in the way.

    However, seeing as this is a rant about fairweather cyclists I’ll add “no mudguards” to the list, particularly this time of year. Yesterday down here was bone dry and glorious in the morning, and absolutely hooning it down for the ride home in the afternoon. OK, so you’re already soaked within a few minutes but being stuck in the rooster tail of spray off the back of a mudguardless bike is still horrible. On the plus side, you’ve been riding all winter so you can probably pile past quick enough 🙂

     

     

    May 2, 2018 at 10:09 am #918421
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    Anonymous
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    Perpetual motion cyclist is also another problem in cities. No red lights can stop them, there is no bus or lorry than cannot be squeezed past. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

    It saves having to unclip as some of us can’t track-stand for more than a minute.

    Trackstand, red light creepers are funny to watch. They approach the light, slowing, slowing, hoping for the change that never comes, the trackstand starts, the balance wanes, a small forward move…the balance wanes…again, a movement, again the balance fails, desperation is setting in as they move past the junction, do they unclip and admit defeat or risk the junction of doom, knowing an collision will clearly be their fault….

    And then luckily the lights change.

     

    May 2, 2018 at 9:40 am #918419
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    hawkinspeter
    Yorkshire wallet wrote:
    Perpetual motion cyclist is also another problem in cities. No red lights can stop them, there is no bus or lorry than cannot be squeezed past. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

    It saves having to unclip as some of us can’t track-stand for more than a minute.

    May 2, 2018 at 9:11 am #918417
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    peted76

    And to add in some balance to

    And to add in some balance to the hordes of deliveroo teenagers and self important fair weather city cyclists….. for us non city commuters, this time of year is about making sure our ‘beginner’ and ‘social’ rides are helping those fair weather cyclists be aware of safe and responsible riding. On the beginner rides, my club shows how to do basic bike checks and running road saftey/group ride sessions also. 

    We may not always ride by the ‘rules’, but we do our best to know our club members are aware of them.

    Beyond utility riding, it’s another reason to join a well established local club. 

    May 2, 2018 at 9:08 am #918415
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    Anonymous

    Worst ones imo are the heroin

    Worst ones imo are the heroin addict cyclist and the student woman with basket on bike.

    If you ever cycle into any city centre, both can be found in abundance, getting the way at low speed and clueless placement or moving with gay abandon from pavement to road in a seemingly random manner.

    Perpetual motion cyclist is also another problem in cities. No red lights can stop them, there is no bus or lorry than cannot be squeezed past. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

    May 2, 2018 at 8:38 am #918413
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    hawkinspeter

    I’ve been cycling all through

    I’ve been cycling all through the winter and I’m guilty of weaving through slow moving traffic and being quick off the mark through red lights.

    Maybe we should welcome and celebrate all the cyclists – it’s much better that us idiots are on bikes than in cars.

    May 2, 2018 at 8:06 am #918411
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    Rapha Nadal

    You’re basically describing

    You’re basically describing every day, year round activities here though?

    May 2, 2018 at 8:04 am #918409
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    Htc
    Fish_n_Chips wrote:
    Been turboing over winter but now outdoors and don’t ride like a moron or through red lights.

     

    Police have every right to fine/ticket any road users who break the law.

     

    This ^^ and they should too. We all share collective moral responsibility for the actions of others around us – that’s part of humane society as a whole. 

    May 2, 2018 at 7:37 am #918407
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    Fish_n_Chips

    Been turboing over winter but

    Been turboing over winter but now outdoors and don’t ride like a moron or through red lights.

     

    Police have every right to fine/ticket any road users who break the law.

    May 2, 2018 at 4:31 am #918405
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    Beecho

    Idiots or arseholes. The

    Idiots or arseholes. The idiots are clueless, the arseholes know what they’re doing. Still, as said, at least they’re not in cars.

    May 2, 2018 at 12:45 am #918403
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    Anonymous
    ktache wrote:
    Better on bicycles than in cars.

    This, each and every time, are there some people on bikes you wince at, even shout at, absolutely, the times that they actually put you in harms way is such an infintessimally number compared to the tin canners it really isn’t something to stress about when the sun/longer days arrive.

    And you never know, they might learn and improve and they might, just might keep doing it. If the opportunity arises I’ll try and give a friendly tip. IME the biggest idiots/selfish types/someone riding like a dick it’s usually a noddy hat wearing strava wanker who should know better but still isn’t anything like the feeling of what virtually every other car driver induces in terms of safety/fear of harm.

    May 1, 2018 at 9:01 pm #918401
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    ktache

    Better on bicycles than in

    Better on bicycles than in cars.

    May 1, 2018 at 8:49 pm #918399
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    Judge dreadful

    It’s ‘choppercopolis’ in most

    It’s ‘choppercopolis’ in most cities from now until the clocks go back.

    May 1, 2018 at 1:01 pm #918397
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    Simon E

    I saw far worse while driving

    I saw far worse while driving on the A55 several times last week – speeding, tailgating, undertaking, cutting back in and people pulling out from slip roads without giving way.

    I’m not into this so-called ‘policing our own’ as those people are definitely not my responsibility regardless of whether they’re peds, cyclists, drivers or aliens in a UFO.

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