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The Return of the Fair Weather Cyclists..
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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31 comments
Noddy hats - come on seriously, we're not kids - and it would be easy to consider whether that had any bearing on your perception. For what it's worth, i'm thinking not but it would not be a stretch to imagine that. Anyway, that's not really the point - it's that you have an opinion, I do, Leviathan does - that's all it is. You ask for acceptance of yours, fair play but you probably need to do the same in return. I don't recognise the behaviour of the group you described being the worst there is, nor remotely that some group like that causes most of the cycling incidents - your experience is way different to mine - so i'll accept your opinion but disagree with it and the continual mentions of helmets as though somehow being a prime motivator in bad behaviour. It ain't. Sorry you live somewhere with a bunch of cocks like that, but it's not the same everywhere.
Nothing wrong with fair weather cyclists. Usually they are made up of commuters who have an alternative mode of travel in Winter rather than cycling in pouring rain, high winds and general unpleasant kakness...or riders out for enjoyment who also don't fancy the British winter...
"Every post you make on this site just drips with barely concealed contempt. It's more than pathetic, it's boring"
Says the womble who wheels out "flat earther/Trump lover/tin foil hatter!" as soon as someone disagrees with him, no matter the topic.
And then something about Star Trek/Wars.
You light this place up, you really do.
Projecting much? You're just jealous you aren't the most pernicious bullshitter on the site anymore.
Riding back from road.cc HQ last winter and a chap went through a red with a small child about to cross. I asked him why and he gave me the answer of a calculated risk. It was dark with wet roads and heavy traffic. Risk your own life, fine. But not that of a child.
Plus it happened at the top of a big hill. I was happy for the breather!
Falling off also needs to be practised so you can do that it in a 'nah, I'm alright, not bothered at all, mate' fashion. Get back on, don't look at your bike because you're not really bothered, ride off trying to look casual and then once all witnesses are out of sight, have a good cry about your bent derailleur, now scruffy looking pedals and jacket you just put a hole in.
Luckily, I've never fallen over due to not un-clipping. However, I have had years of practise of falling off of unicycles (don't use toe-clips) in a suitable manner - the trick is to neatly step off and catch it behind you as if it was planned.
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
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.
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.
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)
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.
You're basically describing every day, year round activities here though?
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.
I'll express collective responsibility for the actions of other cyclists the day that other drivers expresse collective responsibility for close-passing, left-hooking, polluting, aggressive tools in cars.
I'm not holding my breath.
Idiots or arseholes. The idiots are clueless, the arseholes know what they’re doing. Still, as said, at least they’re not in cars.
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.
You may ride at different times to me. I see some of these on a sportive, even the odd one on a Sunday but these are few and often at least have some knowledge of what they're doing.
I often find it's young people or those heading to the warehousing type jobs near where I work with poor bikes. The same ones who don't use lights in the winter. They basically try and cycle as the crow flies and give little consideration to anything or anybody else...
That's the thing though, those types are entirely predictable in their unpredictability, a half decent bike, noddy hat and matching kit and you should expect a modicum of sense/awareness, predictable to follow the rules and not to be selfish, too often it doesn't happen whereas the other groups you describe are simply oblivious and for me entirely predictable in what they do/don't do.
As for lights, I'm from Kingston upon Hull, a city that even into the mid 1980s had a very high modal share of commuters going by bike (around 26%), lights were a luxury, even this March I saw 3 lads on the road coming back from work I would think and abreast of each other and none with a light.
Both mater who was driving (we were off to the rugby) and I saw them no problem at all even without our headlights pointing at them, to me this really isn't a problem and why I still think that the lights thing is a red herring and distracts from the real issues of safety including going too fast for the conditions/see to be clear etc.
Totally. The number of times I've thought while driving, "look at that muppet - black bike, black clothes, no lights"... then thought, hang on, I could still see him.
I've never seen anyone cycling in a Noddy hat. Really BTBS your loathing for fellow cyclists (or just people) is apparent. Every post you make on this site just drips with barely concealed contempt. It's more than pathetic, it's boring. I don't advocate compulsory helmets, but if it were ever to happen the one silver lining would knowing how much it would infuriate you. In fact I would buy a silver chrome skater style helmet and proudly wear it with my civvies on the way to Tesco whilst doing kickflips.
img_onbike.jpg
I see you're still having a sneaky wank in your crusty sock over me, give up, it isn't healthy.
I loath people/groups who act like selfish bastards, IME the groups that act the worst, are selfish and their behaviour causes the most incidents within cycling circles are those as I've described. Clearly you can't accept my opinion and keep on with your cringeworthy sock fest anytime I say something you disagree with but can't or won't actually counter with something sensible.
Act your fucking age.
I can accept your opinion, it's only an opinion after all, but it just bears no relation to the reality I experience - then again we've probably lived in different places. IME that description is very far away from a group that act the 'worst' and cause 'the most incidents within cycling circles'. Interesting that it contains at least one group you seem to have a pretty vocal hatred of, but hey..
Which group do I hate again? As someone who rides hard and as fast as I can pretty much every weekend I can on a decent level road bike I have no beef with any particular groups, it just happens that the behaviour of some types of people on bikes sticks out more than others. These types that are generally far more experienced than fairweather cyclists, should have a better understanding and yet still stick out for their actions in a negative way. Their kit usually comprises of a helmet, a decent spec bike and team copy jersey/jacket/shorts.
That is my experience and for some time, you should expect a better level of riding and a bit of courtesy but too often (hence why it sticks out) that doesn't happen.
it's not hate, I don't think like your average motorist, I get a bit fooked off at the worst offenders but then I move on, the next time (different person) I might well tut/curse under my breath or shout at them but I don't go out my way too harangue another cyclist or contact a club because their members were selfish in their behaviour. One time I was overtaken by a big group at a pedestrian refuge just as I was turning left which was literally 2m after the narrowing and had indicated well before, due to the junction I move to the right of the lane before turning in, they steamed past within a few inches which was totally unecessary and I was well positioned well before they were on top of me, I was a big pissed off about that and saw who the club were but didn't go crying about it. This selfish and sometimes dangerous actions are repeated, not on a daily basis but it is far more regular and at higher speeds than fairweather cyclists, it stands out like a sore thumb hence I mentioned it.
As I said previously even then the threat of harm to me is far less than a motor, Leviathon just went out of his way to make a mountain out of a molehill with his little wankfest.
It’s ‘choppercopolis’ in most cities from now until the clocks go back.
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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