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Just went for a bike ride approximately 9 miles round trip. On the way there no problems what so ever (about 11am).

On the way home (about 1.30) 3 events happened.

Event 1.

30mph road van zooms past, hear a horn go, couldn't tell whether it was the van or a little car going towards the van panicing (no reason for it plenty of room for both to go past. However the beeping could have been the van at us, we're not sure.

Event 2.

This was just comedy really, nothing to do with motorists hating each other. Guy cycling on the pavement on the other side of the road, coming towards us. Got the army camouflage thing going on. looked like he was wear three beanie hats and a helmet, bad beard, kind of that tramp meets nutter look. Shouts blllurrrrwwawwaa BIKES blllrrruuuurwww. Therefore proving is nutter status.

Event 3.

Citreon Picasso zooms past, just before if passes it beeps. 8 year old kid (could have been 10+ but looked really young) waste upwards hanging out the window, throws what seemed to be a piece of paper and shoves his middle finger up at us while shouting something at us .

It all just makes me wonder what the hell some people are doing and what they're on. And as i'm part of a "motorist community" i was just wondering people's opinion on cyclists.

as a former international biker We are cool (thats cyclists) apart from old guys who shouldnt be out and wear crap kit, ride crap bikes that are worth less than then car (bike should always cost more than car in cycling culture), dont have a good tan, have hairy legs with no definition and make stupid manouvers which p*** car drivers off. Apart from that we are cool! and women love the leg thing.

I'm a reformed cyclist, i don't do that any more....

I don't get that stuff man, its the reason why people on bikes should be licensed to carry firearms, it's just not on.
But with that, also be required to pass a test every 3 years to show that they dont ride like complete mongs.

Some cyclists I hate for doing purely stupid stuff. A good example I think is riding along busy but narrow national-limit commuter routes during rush hour. Sure, I know you're trying to get to work more healthily, but for the love of pete choose a different road!!! (of which i know there are several). You're putting your own life in danger and pissing off a lot of people who have to sit behind you at 10mph looking for a rare overtaking gap.
(addendums to this are that such folk rarely have lights... on an unlit road, at 8am/5pm, in winter, without a helmet or reflective vest! - if they do have the above, then the lights will usually be the retarded flashing LED things WITHOUT "proper" lamps beside them - and none of them ever seem to be putting any effort into the ride, i.e. could be going SO much more faster but instead are setting a pace where they could quite safely stick to the sodding pavement)

Others I feel a lot of pity for, e.g. trying to get through city traffic. Might be a student, might be trying to keep fit, or just saving time by not getting stuck in queues. They're just weaving along, or sticking well out of the way at the side of a fairly broad road, not causing anyone any harm, but still get so much stick and have to cope with idiocy from other road users.

(as such i havent voted because i need a third, or possibly fourth option)

I think the time will come when there's a full scale war gets waged between cyclists and motorists before each one learns to properly respect the other and know when they're doing things that cause danger or irritation to the other, and to try and avoid it.

FYI when driving, I always afford cyclists the maximum of regard and personal space, even if it means compromising a full-speed charge or ending up with lights flashing behind me. Rather that, than to knock someone down. It's best to imagine them as a milk float instead. EG no zipping past and then cutting left down a side street, leaving plenty of space when overtaking, etc etc. No more than I'd expect others to give me when I'm (rarely) on my bike.

When cycling, always helmet, light coloured shirt/coat, and lights if needed. Proper ones with a white halogen bulb at the front (angled downwards slightly, of course) and a bright, constantly lit red light at the rear, with a sizable battery complement and built-in "low" warning lights. Not worth taking the risk. Always keeping good stock of what the traffic around is doing, pedalling as hard as possible if holding people up (on a decent flat road with reasonable gearing i can manage 25mph... well, i used to) --- hell doing it most the time, as i'm rarely out for a cruise but trying to get somewhere sans polo --- and choosing the "keep out of the way" side of the coin rather than "be a precocious git", as one will lose you a couple seconds off the journey, the other is likely to get you killed.

mkay?




ps with the picasso, this is part of the "being fully aware" thing ---- i dunno if the kid was hanging out beforehand, but if you saw him coming... just raise right arm out at about his head height, as if to make a slighlty odd "turning right" signal he'd get what he deserved. no seat belt after all. lets see them report THAT one to the police.

I like you Tahrey

Any how would appear that i buggered up the voting as there was to be a 3rd option as an "Other" which involved a post but hey, i messed that one up!

Any how, those with anger inside them, explain your selves just out of interest .

Some fair points made, the thought of a regular test would be quite good, as yes you do get some idiots out there and we need to seperate these people.

can't really answer the question! u see, some are better than others, i hate the really slow, wobberly all over the place cyclists. however, i used to be a very keen cyclist and i really enjoyed it, but i did get on with it, no slow riding for me!

I went for Love them, although I would have chose dont mind If it was there. I am a cyclist (well sometimes). Maybee this helps you understand some of the things cyclists do.

addendum: the spectrum of their skill is similar to that of drivers...

i think its funny how bus lanes are bus and cycle lanes

as if mixing it up with 1 ton cars aint enought, make cyclist mix it up with 5 ton busses lol

the fact that cyclists think they are immune to traffic laws annoys me, skipping through red lights or taking to the pavement when it suits them.

This morning as it took me over an hour to get from ashton to moss side (usually 30 mins max even in rush hour) I did wish I was on a bike, be it pedal or motor.

But then next time it rains....

Naturally, I love em (being one), that is until January when I hang up my cycling gloves one last time

I must be a bit of a mentalist cyclist. I find myself getting cycle rage, when I come up behind an old dear on her 25 year old racer complete with baskets front and rear. I just get peeved, as I'm in a hurry to get somewhere, and she is quite blatantly not. The first opportunity I have I will over-take. Had an instance once where I managed to beat a milkfloat that was driving full speed on a reasonably clear bit of road just because I really had to be in high school (being 15 minutes late as was).

Other things that get on my nerves about fellow cyclists are when there are cycle tracks which are effectively one way affairs, and some numpty is racing towards you, the wrong way on this very narrow track.

Then theres car drivers, who have tried to turn me into a cyclist sandwiche between two slices of car. Then there are the others, who are in a hurry to get to that corner, so will over-take me, cut infront of me and be on their merry way (barstewards!) Finally, who can forget the inconsiderate motorist who parks in a cycle lane which forces me into the road, which gets me in trouble with another motorist for taking up his precious road. And I forget SMIDSY, that is Sorry Mate I Didn't See You, as you pick yourself up from the floor as someone so kindly introduces you to their car door, opening it infront of you.

I shall miss this cycling malarky, but not my bike... You thought you had a nail Tahrey...

Karl.

Karl geeza --- been there done that, bike as main mode of transport is something i shall from now on only tolerate as sport, a means of getting fit, or if i am SERIOUSLY cash strapped. (as i was for a while at uni and had to dodge filling the car for a couple weeks)

It just aint worth it unless you're really dedicated. For every warm (not hot) sunny (not blinding) day where the air is blowing the gentlest of breezes, the drivers are courteous, you dont get pedestrians stepping out right in front of you, the bike is working perfectly, and you have plenty of time to get where you need to be and dont have a large weight to carry there... you find a hundred where its boiling, freezing, raining, blowing a gale, everyone is being a nob, you've lost both the largest and smallest gear off your dereilleur and the rear brakes are playing up again, and you have 20lbs of library books to hoik up a quarter mile 1-in-10 hill before the supermarket at the top closes (or a load of practical work folders over several similar hills to a field studies centre).

Mind you there's always traffic, but traffic in a car is still a place where you're not getting soaked, can turn on a heater, or the cooling fans right up, wont get blown literally out of your seat by wind, find yourself knocking teeth out on concrete because of a mere whiff of understeer, huffing like a chronic asthmatic without their blue inhaler at the first sign of air cold enough to form frost just because you wanted to ascent a hill faster than 6mph (having to breathe deeply and often of subzero air is painful even when you manage to override reflex and do it through the nose). Plus you have brake lights, indicators, a horn, effortless load carrying capacity, and presence.

PS my bike is a nail as well. my *previous* bike looked like something out of mad max with all the small "repairs" i'd done to it but mostly ran sweet - it got nicked (one *desperate* chav - they took the lock, too, but left the helmet that the lock was looped through!) and replaced on insurance by a predictable crapper. it's just plain not nice to ride.

I have my reasons for both liking and disliking cyclists, but for the most part I like them. I tend to find motorists' attitudes towards cyclists disgusting.. overtaking around a blind corner leaving barely 2ft for the cyclist seems to be the most common phenomenon around here, or just generally treating cyclists as if they don't exist.. honestly, people give roadkill a wider birth around here than cyclists. Personally I try to treat cyclists as I would an old dear in a metro doing 20mph. If there are no cars coming towards me, I can see the road ahead and it's safe to do so I will overtake, and I will do it quickly as I don't terribly enjoy being on the wrong side of the road for more time than I have to. I will never, ever try to squeeze past a cyclist in any other situation because it's rude, scary and incredibly dangerous. If that means keeping a queue of cars waiting behind me until there's a safe gap in the oncoming traffic, so be it. They're road users and I will treat them as such.

However, on the other side of this particular rant, I have no respect for cyclists who don't regard themselves as road users. If you want me to treat you as if you exist as a road user, you've got to behave like one. This means, no wizzing to the front of the queue at a red light then flying onto the pavement and avoiding the light completely, no switching from road to pavement whenever it suits you, just generally no abusing your position of somewhere in a grey area between pedestrian and road user.

sorry i really hate cyclists because they just generally get in the way at th ewrong time...which is all the time

Ross

what about range rover drivers?

gotta ask after seeing one do an awful parking manoeuver and he didnt seem to give a crap even after getting out and glancing back at it.... ive got a big tank, get out of my way peon... no i dont care that im blocking half the road

must be hell on the cyclists with him around

Mm, range rover drivers can be pretty bad, but BMWs are the worst, especially if you're on a bike.. flying past at 60mph on a blind bend on a small country lane giving about a foot clearance.. but of course, they're coming home after a hard day's bossing people about in an office, it gives them the right to drive like s**t..