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Someone’s been reading too many forums

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  • January 14, 2013 at 10:00 am #17662
    nostromo

    Was out on Saturday and still trying to come to terms with how much the Christmas break has affected my ‘performance’.

    Anyway, I’m trundling up some 5% behind my co-rider, Kev, when I hear voices behind. Soon the first guy gets up to me and starts chattering away about “dayglo black” and “you can’t be seen”. I realise he’s referring to the fact that both me and Kev are wearing black jackets, whereas he’s wearing some kind of dull red colour.

    I hear another guy get in behind me and exclaim: “I’m going to stick behind this!”- obviously a reference to me being a sizeable unit on the bike.

    So my mood isn’t exactly great and it gets worse as I reach the next junction behind them all and hear red-jacket giving a perplexed Kev yet more words of wisdom about “Can’t be seen”, “dangerous”, “SMIDSY” etc. He’s an older guy and probably means well so manfully I resist the urge to tell him to butt out and spotting a gap in the traffic, decide to be very zen about the whole thing and ride on.

    Kev catches up and says: “That guy’s been at the forums a bit,” which cracked me up.

    So, here I am, on the forum trying to figure out if there is a bit of anti-black jacket angst out there. Personally, I don’t see that wearing black is inherently dangerous and I only ride in daylight on quiet roads anyway. If it’s particularly dull or overcast I put my lights on. TBH I’m the size of a small car so if a driver can’t see me then there’s no hope for any of us, daglo jackets or no.

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  • January 14, 2013 at 5:10 pm #711813
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    pdows47

    I’m mainly in black and blue
    I’m mainly in black and blue coloured kit, cos I like the way it looks. My club kit is white, as are my summer jerseys, which I reckon looks cool and keeps you from getting too warm when its sunny

    January 14, 2013 at 4:38 pm #711811
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    OldRidgeback

    notfastenough wrote:My best

    notfastenough wrote:
    My best rain jacket (ie. for terrible weather conditions) is black. As for the fact that they sound like bike snobs, pick one:

    a: “funny, I’m carrying all this extra weight, but I don’t see you guys flying past me”

    b: “yeah, but after a few thousand miles I’ll be lighter, but you’ll still be a cock!”

    c: point out the next pothole and tell him to fix it

    d: point out some kids and ask him if he’s brought his lollipop

    .

    I think notfastenough has got some good responses – the last is my favourite – better these than the short Anglo Saxon words he probably deserves for being a self-righteous twunt.

    January 14, 2013 at 4:19 pm #711809
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    Tony Farrelly

    I pretty much only wear black
    I pretty much only wear black – a lot of my riding is in the dark so I tend to go for jackets with plenty of reflective material and that’s it – and whatever time of day these day I tend to ride with my back light on.

    Like SimonE I do check what other riders are wearing, my view is it different colours are more or less visible in different situations – in my experience none of them though make you invisible.

    January 14, 2013 at 4:02 pm #711807
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    Simon E

    There are less patronising
    There are less patronising ways of giving advice, even when you hadn’t asked for his ‘expert’ opinion. It suggests your rather new-found ‘pal’ is a bit of a knob.

    I stopped wearing dark colours for riding after a colleague mentioned how I blended in with the hedgerow from a distance behind. Most of my commute is out of town so traffic speed is higher and standing out from the surroundings is important (though I’m allergic to hi-viz). However, I wear a black fleece if I’m riding into town and I don’t appear to be any less visible than normal.

    I’ve also spent time checking visibility of other cyclists. Orange is the most visible colour, followed by yellow then red. Black is OK only when the area behind the cyclist is a lighter colour, otherwise they blend in all to easily.

    January 14, 2013 at 3:29 pm #711805
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    nostromo

    Nah, not really. It was the
    Nah, not really. It was the way in which the guy was spouting off all his “SMIDSY’ talk that set me to thinking maybe black is a big problem for some people in the cycling ‘community’.

    I go riding for fitness, fun and a bit of calm. Last thing I need is some mouthy, opinionated (albeit well-intentioned) blow-hard trying to tell me off.

    I was annoyed for a while but then I had other things to worry about, like being able to breathe …

    January 14, 2013 at 2:57 pm #711803
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    spongebob

    The fact you’ve posted makes
    The fact you’ve posted makes me think you may be doubting your black attire!

    January 14, 2013 at 1:32 pm #711801
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    notfastenough

    Oh, and I also seem to recall
    Oh, and I also seem to recall teachings from the military that people see things for the following reasons:

    Shape, shine, silhouette, shadow, movement, contrast.

    Of those, hi-vis accounts for just one.

    January 14, 2013 at 1:19 pm #711799
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    notfastenough

    My best rain jacket (ie. for
    My best rain jacket (ie. for terrible weather conditions) is black. As for the fact that they sound like bike snobs, pick one:

    a: “funny, I’m carrying all this extra weight, but I don’t see you guys flying past me”

    b: “yeah, but after a few thousand miles I’ll be lighter, but you’ll still be a cock!”

    c: point out the next pothole and tell him to fix it

    d: point out some kids and ask him if he’s brought his lollipop

    When everyone is hi-vis, no-one is. I reckon I’m most visible when out with the club and we’re all in the same kit – regardless of colours, the uniformity amongst the surrounding random array of landscape, cars etc catches the eye.

    January 14, 2013 at 1:17 pm #711797
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    hurns

    I wonder what will happen
    I wonder what will happen when the new sky kit hits the roads?

    I agree with most on here and have some very colourful wear for the summer, mainly becouse I love retro jerseys but in the winter tend to wear black or dark red. The correct placement of lights and riding far outways the colour of your jersey.

    January 14, 2013 at 1:11 pm #711795
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    Anonymous

    I try to avoid black top half
    I try to avoid black top half clothing and mainly go for white although I have just bought a waterproof jacket which is black, mainly due to it’s price and performance so I’m clearly not that bothered about it.
    As for the old boy chat I think you did well to hold back.

    January 14, 2013 at 12:57 pm #711793
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    Bob's Bikes

    Alternatively you could…
    Alternatively you could… just put your headphones on that way you won’t hear what the morons are saying 😕

    January 14, 2013 at 12:48 pm #711791
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    MattT53

    I’d say having something
    I’d say having something relatively brightly coloured on dull winter days is a fairly sensible shout. Doesn’t need to be a full on flouro jacket, I got a nice yellow softshell this winter just to stand out a bit more and it looks pretty decent as well. I guess if you’ve got lights on anyway you don’t need to worry though. Personal choice anyhow.

    January 14, 2013 at 12:43 pm #711789
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    TheHound

    I guess these things are like
    I guess these things are like anything, it’s just common sense. If I was riding at night or poor visibility I’d certainly wear something a bit brighter.

    Having said that I did get caught out in some fog last week in all black with no lights.

    January 14, 2013 at 12:42 pm #711787
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    Yorkshie Whippet

    I always thought that cold
    I always thought that cold weather gear was black to absorb heat and keep you toasty or so the huge amount of muck doesn’t show.

    Got to admit it’s fun destroying one of those “flashing budgies” after they’ve given you a mouthful about being dangerous.

    In motorsport it’s the movement not always the colour that alerts drivers to a situation.

    January 14, 2013 at 11:52 am #711785
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    Richthornton

    Here’s another article that
    Here’s another article that you’ll find interesting, basically suggesting that in the wrong weather conditions (bright low sun for instance) hi-vis clothing can blend into the scenery.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2013/jan/10/cycling-high-visibility-safe-fluorescent

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