This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Tonight, I was on my way home from the City towards Kingston and on Putney Bridge I got kicked while I was on my bike by a guy riding on the back of a scooter trying to knock me down.
Luckily, I managed to avoid falling.
No provocation, they just rode from behind, doing it for fun. I guess part of the wider problem with youths(I assume) on motorised scooters wrecking havoc in London.

Just putting this here for people to be extra careful when riding late in the area.

Glad you are ok

Scary stuff - glad you're OK.

feral little cunts want drowning in a burlap sack.

I set of this morning in the glorious sunshine, my heavy upright utility bike and big cream wooly jumper making me look more like a Nordic fisherman on his way from his cottage to the harbour than a City drone going from his Zone 3 houseshare to Cannon Street.

Was feeling pretty zen, and was actually prepared to forgive the close-pass by a van on Patmos Road (which of course gained him all of about 10 metres).

My"Please don't pass me that close" as I filtered by, however, unleashed such a torrent of anger and abuse as to make me feel genuinely unsafe. He used his van to aggressively block my filtering, all the while yelling about some motorbike rider that had 'forced' him to pass me that close. He had his bumper on the curb by this point, so I hopped off the bike onto the pavement and rolled my bike to the ASL, shaking my head (which he loudly took great objection too).

Did a quick risk assessment as I pulled away, and concluded that I was unsafe on the road in front of him - so pulled over (realising at this point that I was quite shaken), and walked the bike until he had passed.

Of course, he wasn't finished. He pulled over to draw me into an argument, and no amount of 'I don't want to argue with you, mate, please drive on' was going to stop him trying. Lots of comments about how quiet I'd gone, a recommendation to get a helmet and high-viz (funny how concerned he was about my safety...), you all know the sort of thing. Finally he did get going, which was a huge relief.

Shout out to the ped lady who took a moment to make sure I was OK after he had gone. You were right, he certainly did have anger issues...

I have never had an encounter on the road so disproportionate to the initial trigger (a very polite request not to pass so close).

It was such a nice day, too...

Similar events happened to me twice in the past. Always a white van and an angry brainless driver who think they own the road. Whenever it happens I always get out of their way, pulling over because you never know what those morons can do. They would screw you and their own life over a little bit of disagreement on the road...not worth it. For that reason I started riding with a camera but most of the time I forget to charge or switch it on....

It always when you just want to trundle along and be relaxed with people that the true scabbards appear, isn't it? Often, being zen and "move along" about it just infuriates them more as you aren't engaging in the manner they want.

Still - what an arse.

Yeah... luckily I was only a couple of minutes from Kennington Park, and the gentle roll through the park set me right.

Honestly, anyone with that amount of anger in them can have my sympathy...

There is something about putney bridge and twaty kids on scooters. I've twice witnessed the full on scooter joy riding pricks carving all over the road and then jumping the lights to turn right across two lanes of traffic to head down putney embankment.

Last time, twat no 1 just about made it across while twat 2 was inches from being squashed by a tipper truck who just stopped in time. Twat 2 just flipped him the bird before accelerating off down the narrow pavement. Madness.

Sounds aweful. In this kind of situation I console myself by thinking about how shit their life must be if they deal with this kind of issue in this manner. They litterally must spend their entire life pissed off at something. Imagine how exhausting that must be. He'll be dead soon of a heart attack too, which is nice.

Absolutely. Can you imagine constantly being in that state?

I told the story to a colleague this morning and he can't understand why I "antagonise" people - he thinks the moment I object to being close-passed (however calmly) I have been complicit in escalating the situation.

In his view the risk of being attacked by some hot-headed moron (after making the decsion to call them out) outweighs the benefits of making drivers aware of how scary and dangerous a manoeuvre like that can be.

I'm still not so sure.

Nah you've got to call out cunty behaviour otherwise it will never stop

Nothing to stop you doing it in a nice way of course although that probably winds them up even more

Last time, twat no 1 just about made it across while twat 2 was inches from being squashed by a tipper truck who just stopped in time. Twat 2 just flipped him the bird before accelerating off down the narrow pavement. Madness.

New Dr Seuss book?

I'm always nice. ;)

Anyone know whats up with the convoy of 4/5 unmarked police cars that have been bombing about the last couple of days?

Past the shop on Newington Green twice so far today, Absolutely gunning it.

I have also stopped for them twice yesterday.

Weird as there is a people carrier in there too everytime.

Where do you search for public pumps?

I just Googled it and a couple of clicks later found they were on Google Maps

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1EpSXO20QcKOKnkVNhnGWxOLA7k4&ll=51.51044414239453%2C-0.19846389999997882&z=11

awkward for you, bet he loved it.

Surely any petrol station with air n water too?

That is cool though, just tried it for leeds. 2. Its a start and tbh I can think of a few more decent guys whod let you pump up in the shop

Darwinism.

It's the people just pootling along that are killed by trucks that I give a fuck about.

It is extremely tiring. Now imagine being in that state but also being on the receiving end of arsehole driving. Now you know why I drink...

http://www.dogging.co.uk

Ha, cool.

I don't carry a schrader to presta converter but why not.

Also, just in case you hadn't worked out, that's specifically for Cyclehoops installed pumps/repair stations.