If, like when I was on my way to work this morning, there's someone farting about reversing their car on the other side of the road, taking up all of that lane, then wait a few seconds, rather than try to squeeze past  and push me onto the verge. You utter 4r5e.

ahem.

Other cyclists: don't be tits. I appreciate it is a minority of you run red lights, cycle on pavements and don't use lights, but you're t055ers that aren't going to pay any heed to these pleas anyway, being very similar in attitude to the german car driving idiots that keep coming close to killing me on my way to and from work. For some reason your behaviour translates to what we "all" do on bikes, so I can confidently assert that everyone who drives a german luxury car is a speeding, red light jumping, cyclist squeezing moron I think?

We have a road near where I live. There is a perfectly good and brand new, smooth cycle path next to it. Clearly signed as a cycle path.

Do cyclists use it?

Hell no....

Did they kick up a stink when they put traffic calming on this road?

Hell yes....

So the council put then special cut through lanes at each of the constrictions....talk about wasting money left right and centre....

Anyway rant off....I am a cyclist as well as a motorist I do try my best to give them plenty of room. Not easy when they decide they need to speak to their mate behind them and sit up and twist as they weave all over the road....

 

as for cycling on the pavement- yes I do it, when I'm cycling with my kid.  

Do I stop when I encounter a pedestrian?  yes, religiously, even if I don't need to 'stop'.  I won't blast past them on the grass verge as that could be intimidating.  So I stop.  If there are lots of pedestrians, I stop and get off and push my bike.  

Should I be on the road... no.  Not while there's an empty stretch of pavement, that is safer for me and my child.  Period.

I too cycle whenn i can dig it out the boat jumble called a garage , funnily i use cyclepaths , well ive paid enough for them !!!! Stop at lights and the rest clad in lycra think im a space alien 

 

i also wouldnt use a specific cycle path on my road bike (although use red cycle lanes) as cycle paths often have drop curbs, man hole covers pedestrians etc. etc. These are just unsafe on road bikes.  I happily use cycle paths on my Mountain bike but i would be travelling slower, i have suspension and £500 worth of hoops designed to take the abuse.

I know I've seen city couriers squeezing the near side of buses and lorries on brakeless fixes.... it's trendy apparently, especially if you live in a 'pod' in Hoxton.

Two cyclists side by side however is a different story, the outside one should get a good clattering with the wing mirror by law.

 

In the Highway Code, only parts that are marked MUST or MUST NOT involve definitions of legality. Rule 66 makes a recommendation, but fails to define "narrow" or "busy"- is a narrow road a two lane road with narrow lanes (see my post above for why this should make not the blindest bit of difference to your ability to pass) or is it a single track road (where yes, riding two abreast, especially round bends, is moronic).

If the road is busy (in both directions) with not enough space to pass a single cyclist, then again, two abreast should make no difference. If it is a larger group, then two abreast should in fact make it safer to overtake. Seriously. Think this through.

Packs of cyclists are a danger to ... car drivers.

 

This irks me.

Recently I over took a cyclist

he's a moron

 

 

That way the 'he said, she said' & saddlebags at dawn can be decided by groups of insurance firms and solictors making a pretty packet out of the situation- thus creating jobs, paperwork and soft industry.

If bad cyclists were then consistently unable to get insurance, (poor claims history) then the troublesome little sh*ts would be forced off the road.... just like the troublesome car drivers are who also can't get insurance with their drink driving and dangerous driving convictions.

 

The cyclists that are less likely to have to insurance are those riding clunkers and junkers in town...

 

Riders without lights scare me in winter. Part of my commute goes along unlit, not really wide enough, cycle paths. In nasty weather, all of a sudden out the gloom appears this black shape weaving all over the bloody place...

I'm sure they would, but at least then they could be prosecuted and given community service... maybe washing the buses for the bus w**kers.

In rural areas buses don't really work as they take far too long to get you anywhere.

I used to live 8 miles from work and to get the bus each day would have take 1 hr 45 mins. I could do it in the car in around 20 mins even in rush hour.

In urban locations buses make much more sense as long as the service is reliable.

 

I have a 12 minute drive to work which would take over an hour by bus of which 45 minutes would be walking! And that's assuming I can get one at the right time.

 

the first bit of my new bike has arrived...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22887729" rel="nofollow - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22887729  

Looks good on 23rd and I'd do the 100km but instead I'll be http://www.jollysailorsbrancaster.co.uk/Photos/4th%20TJS%20Beer%20Fest.pdf" rel="nofollow - here .

I'm looking at London -> Southend (July 21st) and Cambridge -> Norwich (Sep 29th). I'd like to do http://www.greatcycle.org/" rel="nofollow - this

but the logistics look tricky.

However, must do some more sailing this year.............

Why would you punish a cyclist without insurance more harshly than a car driver without insurance?

In an ideal world I wouldn't.  But driving without insurance is usually met with a 6 point penalty and a hefty fine.  As cyclists don't have a points based licence, and are obviously too poor to drive a motorcar, it seems ludicrous to penalise them financially and attempt to 'ban' them riding again.

Far better that they performed some civic service... maybe like clearing up dog sh*t in the park.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22905640" rel="nofollow - http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22905640

...the super-cops who arrest all the w*nkers in the middle lane of motorways constantly, or the 80mph+ speeders, or the double-parkers, or the overtakin-in-to-corners-superstars, or the bus-drivers who pull out without looking or the guy who went straight over the mini-roundabout in front of me this morning, or the girl who had the front to look annoyed at him while driving with her mobile clamped to her ear towards both of us?

I am just joe public, but it seems to me the fount of many of the problems on our roads is the total absence of the people who are employed to keep the law of the land... probably filling out forms to get the wing-mirrors fixed on their plod-mobiles in quadruplicate for some desk-jockey somewhere deep in whitehall... allegedly 

  Too poor to drive a motorcar...  I guess that means everyone on this board is too poor to drive a speedboat too.

At least that way the Government dept that is Google (they don't pay corp tax, therefore must be public service) can  plot your journey on google earth to see if you were cycling on the pavement/through a red light.

And a final thought- Speed Awareness Workshops and Cycling Proficiency Tests could be run from a Starbucks.  (Starbucks now the non-corp tax paying government department that provides the country with its required level of calcium and lactose, an inevitability after Maggie stole our milk...)

 

What model is that saddle? I've got a Charge saddle on my MTB, its getting a bit tired now but is by far the best I've had. Beats the Fizik number that was fitted as standard and is considerably cheaper

Honestly, they were a nightmare- no signalling, cycling through the inside of junctions, weaving traffic like it's slalom downhill session...  I used to do a lot of driving in London for work, and there always were cyclists and in the main never had any issues, bar the odd courier bike trying to make a bonus.  However these swarms of (predominantly male cycle nerds) all on superGhey road bikes or uber-uncool fixies with orange wheels, seem to have taken over, even through semi-pedestrianised areas.

Is there a group think going on that says they're:

a) never in the wrong

b) never going to die

c) morally superior due to the green agenda, therefore exist in a different space/time continuum from the rest of the road users?

Honestly, I felt sorry for the cabbies and bus drivers... what a nightmare dealing with them everyday.

I do a huge amount of riding in london, and I agree to some extent - you see some horrendous roadcraft.  Once a month you normally pass someone being scraped off the road and put into an ambulance bit by bit.  But to play devils advocate and add some perspective:

1.  No signalling.  You can always spot the newbies, they ride along and pop their arm out straight like it says in the highway code.  They keep doing it until they get t**tted by a motorbike or a wing mirror, then they stop.

2.  Going up the inside at junctions - I don't do it because I don't have a death wish, but when councils have painted a cycle lane down the left side of a road, and there's stop start traffic so the bikes are making progress through the cars it's not exactly surprising.  The only other option is...

3.  Weaving in and out of cars - sucks that you're stuck in traffic and they're not eh   Also note the massive conflict between moaning about this and moaning about point 2...

I think a healthy dose of realism is needed here - in London driving isn't like driving anywhere else. Nobody follows the rules whether on bike or in car.  If put on your bobby hat and start counting traffic offenses to the letter of the law, you might end up quite shocked.  Roughly 4-5 cars jump every red light on my commute, cars stop over the stop lines every time, motorbikes burn off like they're on an italian racetrack, bikes hop on and off pavements, pedestrians run out in front of approaching traffic.  Massive blinkers required to think that bicycles are the problem.

RE point 2 - If there is a cycle lane fair enough. It is when there is not and you pull away to find someone undertaking you on a bike who then proceed to shout and scream at you when clearly they must have been able to see the traffic moving off yet still elected to try and squeeze down the inside.

RE point 3 - Cyclist who do this in stop start traffic just have a death wish and it is simply a matter of time before their luck runs out and they require scraping off the road. It is, of course, always the car drivers fault as it is when there is a collision between a car and a motorbike.....

Some cyclists might contribute to their own downfall, but IMO they're a 1% contributor to a very large problem.

 

Thing is, we'd been going single file when we were aware of vehicles approaching from behind. This was on a quiet two lane single carriageway- the beeping vehicle was travelling in the opposite direction, and was not impeded in the slightest. Mind boggles. Just rude.

 

I did however feel a pang of sympathy on another stretch for drivers. I was on an organised ride with about 200 or so riders (well strung out by this stage), and for about five miles there was a full bore, larger, sportive going in the opposite direction. There were though plenty of signs, and using the nearby A10 would have added a mere couple of miles or so to their journey- is anything ever that urgent on a Sunday morning?