Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Commuting
Discussion
Or, more accurately "How to achieve Zen and the art of...."
I guess we all know that it's best to assume that every other driver on the slog to the office is a potentially-murderous fkwit, and to ride accordingly and just leave them to it. Occasionally however, your zen-like calm leaves you. Like it did this morning when the aforementioned fkwit forced his car between me and the wall of the Blackwall Tunnel approach, coming from behind me, when there really wasn't such a gap. Provoked me into whacking his mirror flat against the car window, at which point he went bananas and I had to use my ninja filtering skillz to leave him frothing behind me.
Point being, I guess I shouldn't have risen. Good friend of mine has commuted for 20 years, and his philosophy, as well as being an island of calm at all times, is "they're in my life for 10 seconds, I'll never see them again, I'm not going to let it bother me".
So, how do YOU remain cool calm collected and gentlemanly at all times?
I guess we all know that it's best to assume that every other driver on the slog to the office is a potentially-murderous fkwit, and to ride accordingly and just leave them to it. Occasionally however, your zen-like calm leaves you. Like it did this morning when the aforementioned fkwit forced his car between me and the wall of the Blackwall Tunnel approach, coming from behind me, when there really wasn't such a gap. Provoked me into whacking his mirror flat against the car window, at which point he went bananas and I had to use my ninja filtering skillz to leave him frothing behind me.
Point being, I guess I shouldn't have risen. Good friend of mine has commuted for 20 years, and his philosophy, as well as being an island of calm at all times, is "they're in my life for 10 seconds, I'll never see them again, I'm not going to let it bother me".
So, how do YOU remain cool calm collected and gentlemanly at all times?
I always have it in my mind that it is better to leave them fuming and me laughing it off and hence calm, so the odd wing mirror adjustment doesn't go amiss in my book and maybe, just maybe, they will think next time they see a gap or decide they want to turn off while in lane 3.
Just make sure there is an escape route.....
Just make sure there is an escape route.....
After 8 years of daily commuting I'm done with the whole red mist, getting angry or getting even thing. Most days I find myself in some sort of "flow" where I find myself able to string together a pretty effective rhythm. Other days I'm all out of sorts and it's much harder work. Can't say what makes the difference but you can definitely tell when you're in the zone.
Be assertive when you have to, courteous when you can and aware of your surroundings always.
Be assertive when you have to, courteous when you can and aware of your surroundings always.
Harby74 said:
I always have it in my mind that it is better to leave them fuming and me laughing it off and hence calm, so the odd wing mirror adjustment doesn't go amiss in my book and maybe, just maybe, they will think next time they see a gap or decide they want to turn off while in lane 3.
Just make sure there is an escape route.....
This.Just make sure there is an escape route.....
Along with always riding faster than cars can keep up. I've trained the drivers on my trip in now, I had half a dozen or so who'd try to make my life hard. One had to loose two mirrors before he stopped being a .
Baryonyx said:
Remain task focused (get to work in one piece, get home in one piece) and keep the safety margin in place.
Same here I have one junction I go have been going past for the last 6yrs and people always pull out of it without looking so I normally just drop my speed on approach and wait for the inevitable to happenCAPP0 said:
Provoked me into whacking his mirror flat against the car window
I wouldn't do that, not now in this age of CCTV and dashcams; if you damage the car doing that then you could be up on a criminal damage charge. There's a reason I know this.The other thing to remember is that even if you are rock hard, harder than Chuck Norris, you're not harder than a car.
Dog Star said:
CAPP0 said:
Provoked me into whacking his mirror flat against the car window
I wouldn't do that, not now in this age of CCTV and dashcams; if you damage the car doing that then you could be up on a criminal damage charge. There's a reason I know this.(Yet )
cat with a hat said:
I just look at them with a very mild cringe and shake my head as if I'm disappointed with them... Then I swiftly but smoothly depart.
Unfortunately, that's not always possible.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
2ono said:
Fortunately I tend to commute at different times so very rarely have to worry about bumping into them the next day;)
That also crossed my mind! Pretty sure I did see him this morning, he's one of those sorts who has his seat massively reclined for maximum coolio, but he was too busy trying to look good to notice me as I passed in a line of a dozen or so bikes.There's always at least one, isn't there?
For me today was a guy on crosstourer with one pannier who refused to look in his mirrors and see hes been blocking me and a guy on r1 for good 10-15mins...
he then proceeds to squeeze through a gap clearly not big enough, scraping a van with his pannier...
Car drivers are usually not that bad on my route, van drivers move out of the way/make space 95% of the time.
For me today was a guy on crosstourer with one pannier who refused to look in his mirrors and see hes been blocking me and a guy on r1 for good 10-15mins...
he then proceeds to squeeze through a gap clearly not big enough, scraping a van with his pannier...
Car drivers are usually not that bad on my route, van drivers move out of the way/make space 95% of the time.
Had my very first bike commute this morning. 2h, M1/25/3. I psyched myself up not to get annoyed by people changing lane without indicating and/or looking into their mirrors before moving out.
It worked quite well despite quite a lot of filtering on the M1 and M25, I still arrived fresh in the office.
It worked quite well despite quite a lot of filtering on the M1 and M25, I still arrived fresh in the office.
I never let anything bother me unless it's a proper case of having to emergency stop/violently swerve to avoid a collision that is entirely the other persons fault.
Everyone makes mistakes and as long as they don't have too much of an impact on me (see above) then i just let it slide. It's not worth worrying about and i'm sure i've made the odd mistake before that's impacted a bit on someone else.
I'd certainly never damage someone's car because they wouldn't let me through/block me from filtering. Annoying, yes, but enough to lash out at someone like that? No. Moronic behaviour in the extreme. Would you punch someone in the head because they get in your way when you're walking round the shopping centre?
Everyone makes mistakes and as long as they don't have too much of an impact on me (see above) then i just let it slide. It's not worth worrying about and i'm sure i've made the odd mistake before that's impacted a bit on someone else.
I'd certainly never damage someone's car because they wouldn't let me through/block me from filtering. Annoying, yes, but enough to lash out at someone like that? No. Moronic behaviour in the extreme. Would you punch someone in the head because they get in your way when you're walking round the shopping centre?
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff