Have we become a nation of cycle haters?

[Fetchez la vache]

upsidedownmark said:

Richmond park, saturday early afternoon, sunny day. I'm just back from a training ride, having a coffee. Group of MAMILs roll in tidily enough in a group of about 6, 2x2 with a few cars behind them. No issue.. Exhibit 1 sticks his bike in the back of an audi estate, pulls out of the carpark nearly flattening a cyclist. Pulls in behind and proceeds to honk and yell his head off about 'f***ing cyclists' etc.

Not sure what that proves...

It proves what I we're all thinking - that a dick acts like a dick no matter whether they drive a car, bike or both, walk a dog, ...anything.... I'll take a wild stab in the dark and assume that the Audi driver also acts like a dick when he takes umbridge at something on his bike, as well.

[mybrainhurts]

Fetchez la vache said:

It proves what I we're all thinking - that a dick acts like a dick no matter whether they drive a car, bike or both, walk a dog, ...anything.... I'll take a wild stab in the dark and assume that the Audi driver also acts like a dick when he takes umbridge at something on his bike, as well.

You might be right, but the ratio of dicks : non-dicks is hugely higher among bicyclists than motorists.

[superkartracer]

Odd that, years and YEARS of driving and i've never had one issue from a cyclist, 100's a year from drivers tho, 1000's over the years i'd guess.

[mybrainhurts]

superkartracer said:

Odd that, years and YEARS of driving and i've never had one issue from a cyclist, 100's a year from drivers tho, 1000's over the years i'd guess.

This suggests you might drive like a cyclist....

[IroningMan]

mybrainhurts said:

You might be right, but the ratio of dicks : non-dicks is hugely higher among bicyclists than motorists.

Perhaps so in your experience. It is as nothing compared to the ratio of dicks : non-dicks on Pistonheads, though.

Here, try this cap for size - or should that be chapeau, this being a cycling thread and all.

[BGarside]

mybrainhurts said:

You might be right, but the ratio of dicks : non-dicks is hugely higher among bicyclists than motorists.

Are you sure? I see plenty of dicks driving stupidly on my daily commute to work, occasionally endangering my life as I ride to work.

The idea that somehow the roads are full of sensible, law-abiding drivers seems to be a delusion held by those who drive but don't cycle. I do both.

The basic issues are lack of policing of the roads / law enforcement and the rise and rise of selfish, ignorant behaviour. I'm not sure where it all ends, but I'm losing the will to live (and keep cycling) in the UK.

[anonymous-user]

superkartracer said:

Odd that, years and YEARS of driving and i've never had one issue from a cyclist, 100's a year from drivers tho, 1000's over the years i'd guess.

this

[superkartracer]

mybrainhurts said:

superkartracer said:

Odd that, years and YEARS of driving and i've never had one issue from a cyclist, 100's a year from drivers tho, 1000's over the years i'd guess.

This suggests you might drive like a cyclist....

How does one drive like a cyclist? ( maybe had i mentioned being on a motorcycle you might have a point ) but car/bike.... yep not much difference is there.

Only this am i counted over 10,000 driver issues.

[mybrainhurts]

superkartracer said:

mybrainhurts said:

superkartracer said:

Odd that, years and YEARS of driving and i've never had one issue from a cyclist, 100's a year from drivers tho, 1000's over the years i'd guess.

This suggests you might drive like a cyclist....

How does one drive like a cyclist? ( maybe had i mentioned being on a motorcycle you might have a point ) but car/bike.... yep not much difference is there.

Only this am i counted over 10,000 driver issues.

I meant mental attitude. Sorry to confuse.

[Dammit]

Nope, you're still not making any sense. Try again.

[heebeegeetee]

mybrainhurts said:

You might be right, but the ratio of dicks : non-dicks is hugely higher among bicyclists than motorists.

fk me, I'd strongly disagree with that.

I'd really struggle to recall the last time I ever had a problem with a cyclist - I think I had one in Belgium once, when the utter utter tt delayed me for about 5 solid, whole seconds. I mean it felt like a lifetime!

HGVs I barely even notice them, but the driving standards of the car drivers here in Brum - every Audi and BMW is driven like st, especially the old sheddy ones, every 4x4 is either driven by a hormonal woman harassed by her kids or a man with severe issues in the trouser department, and the private hire drivers - they all believe god will protect them so no need for mirrors or indicators or any other basic tenant of the HC.

[Gandahar]

Went on my favourite drive today, Sevenoaks to Edenbridge to buy some beer from Waitrose. Brilliant road if anyone has done it, B2042 /B2027.

Millions of cyclists on it today. However I have to take my hat off to them as it is pretty hilly and they were not holding traffic up. Also, it means you concentrate on what might be around the next bend, makes you think more.

The only near incident I had was taking time to overtake them on the other side of the road thinking nobody would be going to fast in the opposite direction, only for someone to scream down at about 60. Another cyclist So big balls as well as big peppers stuffed in their calf muscles.

So although I met a few didn't cause me any problem enjoying the car, made me think ahead more than normal.

However I did see coming the other way two people on horseback trotting along at 3mph. They were so slow a horsebox van got stuck behind them. And then some cars. You know what they needed to overtake?

A bicycle.

[TheLemming]

mybrainhurts said:

You might be right, but the ratio of dicks : non-dicks is hugely higher among bicyclists than motorists.

Nope can't agree with you. Purely because everyone is a motorist pretty much, however only a small percentage identify as cyclists.

Given that's a small self selecting percentage I've got something in common with - I find I get on with cyclists in general very well - the dicks are found in the vast expanse of morons....

[vsonix]

oyster said:

vsonix said:

otolith said:

vsonix said:

but the number of times that cyclists persist on using the road when there is a separate, protected cycle track running PARALLEL

Does it have priority at side roads? Is it shared with pedestrians? Is it suitable for cycling at 20mph on? If they aren't using it, it's probably because it is inferior to the road.

It is a self-contained path that has been provided for their safety and convenience to avoid them from mingling with motorised traffic. Using it "because it is inferior to the road" is a spurious argument. I can't drive on the footpath despite the fact it probably has fewer speed bumps and potholes than the road. And no the two sections in question are not shared with pedestrians, one does not have any side roads to give way to, and the other one I believe has cyclist's priority, although I'd have to check to be sure.

Can you provide a google streetview link to the said cycle track?

It's been a while now cos I didn't check back on this thread but I think this was the one I was thinking of at the time. The road follows on round a bend, there are always many parked cars along this road making it difficult for two cars to pass each other a lot of the time - why one would choose to add to the mess by cycling in it when there is a perfectly good path confuses me.

[gazza285]

vsonix said:

oyster said:

vsonix said:

otolith said:

vsonix said:

but the number of times that cyclists persist on using the road when there is a separate, protected cycle track running PARALLEL

Does it have priority at side roads? Is it shared with pedestrians? Is it suitable for cycling at 20mph on? If they aren't using it, it's probably because it is inferior to the road.

It is a self-contained path that has been provided for their safety and convenience to avoid them from mingling with motorised traffic. Using it "because it is inferior to the road" is a spurious argument. I can't drive on the footpath despite the fact it probably has fewer speed bumps and potholes than the road. And no the two sections in question are not shared with pedestrians, one does not have any side roads to give way to, and the other one I believe has cyclist's priority, although I'd have to check to be sure.

Can you provide a google streetview link to the said cycle track?

It's been a while now cos I didn't check back on this thread but I think this was the one I was thinking of at the time. The road follows on round a bend, there are always many parked cars along this road making it difficult for two cars to pass each other a lot of the time - why one would choose to add to the mess by cycling in it when there is a perfectly good path confuses me.

I wouldn't use that either, it is shared space (there's even a guy walking in it before the corner), it does not have priority over side roads, there's a sign in it 50 yards further down the road and it's not been cleared of the leaf litter. As you say yourself, it is the parked cars making it difficult, so why do you blame the cyclists?

[Gizmoish]

gazza285 said:

I wouldn't use that either, it is shared space (there's even a guy walking in it before the corner), it does not have priority over side roads, there's a sign in it 50 yards further down the road and it's not been cleared of the leaf litter. As you say yourself, it is the parked cars making it difficult, so why do you blame the cyclists?

Quite. That cycle path is suitable for children and the elderly, 5-10mph maximum. Which is great - no-one really wants kids tootling along in the road.

But for those of us who average 15-20mph it's completely inappropriate.

[vsonix]

Gizmoish said:

gazza285 said:

I wouldn't use that either, it is shared space (there's even a guy walking in it before the corner), it does not have priority over side roads, there's a sign in it 50 yards further down the road and it's not been cleared of the leaf litter. As you say yourself, it is the parked cars making it difficult, so why do you blame the cyclists?

Quite. That cycle path is suitable for children and the elderly, 5-10mph maximum. Which is great - no-one really wants kids tootling along in the road.

But for those of us who average 15-20mph it's completely inappropriate.

I'm not *blaming* the cyclists, merely wondering why they don't use it, but then I am not a regular cyclist so don't always understand their motivations. So in essence, we'd all be better off if they excised that bit of path altogether and widened the road so that it wasn't quite such a bottleneck?

[heebeegeetee]

vsonix said:

I'm not *blaming* the cyclists, merely wondering why they don't use it, but then I am not a regular cyclist so don't always understand their motivations. So in essence, we'd all be better off if they excised that bit of path altogether and widened the road so that it wasn't quite such a bottleneck?

How about we use roads for y'know, roads, and not storage facilities for cars?

Here we have a classic example of parked cars causing obstruction and delay and forcing oncoming traffic into conflict with each other - but someone wants to blather on about the cyclists.

[paranoid airbag]

vsonix said:

I'm not *blaming* the cyclists, merely wondering why they don't use it, but then I am not a regular cyclist so don't always understand their motivations. So in essence, we'd all be better off if they excised that bit of path altogether and widened the road so that it wasn't quite such a bottleneck?

If you're not a regular cyclist, what makes you think you're qualified to call it "perfectly good", or say that it's there "for your safety and convenience"?

You're not qualified, and you've gotten your answer from people who are: it's not perfectly good at all, it's horribly inconvenient and not particularly safe, for a multitude of reasons, and I really hope it isn't there for cyclist safety or convenience, because the idea that that was "designed" with that aim genuinely in mind by a "professional" is just depressing.

I appreciate you're coming from what seems quite a logical and fair position - but you come across as arrogant when you make statements like that from a position of ignorance as to how those "facilities" actually work. There's nothing wrong with being ignorant - we are all unavoidably ignorant about most things. But there is something wrong with acting as though you aren't.

[RemyMartin]

Would tend to agree with what a few have said. For starters i dont think on the whole we are a nation of cycle haters. You've only got to see the grand depart this years tour for proof.
Furthermore whilst not a mileage demon like some, I do enjoy doing big miles on my roadie. In all the several thousands of miles over many years I've never experienced any road rage directed to me, this may be down to me being bloody courteous and obeying the rules of the road, who knows. Either way I certainly don't ride in the gutter so I should be at more risk from it. I guess your attitude the road translates to others, sure some people are just dicks and always will be, I tend to not worry about it. Most of these people if you peeled away the anger levels are jealous. Jealous of the actions of someone getting off their arse to exercise and either lose weight or just go out for enjoyment.

I guess being a motorcyclist(and car driver) has made me realise the vulnerability of myself and when the shoe is on the other foot,vulnerability of others. Scant believe that other people will deliberately try to hurt another person because of how they choose to live their lives.

I also take comfort from the fact that the young of this generation are growing up in a halycon age for cycling so in a decade or two the arrogant,lazy,jealous,angry other motorists are not around anymore.