Manners please

I think I told you, Paul, I'm a thinker not a believer.

It's thinkerer.

I would never pass you. you should carry a little club to hit people if they try to get by you like that.

My 'twopenniesworth' in this rant is this:
If you are seen to be highly mobile, i.e., you are constantly looking over your shoulder, weaving around obstacles and not hooked up to your ipod (O.k., one ear is fine, but both renders you fucked), motorists behind you will give you a wide berth. They will see you as using that time-old statement: "Cyclists can see 15 seconds into the future". Therefore - we are seen as the best eyes on the road.
Motorists ARE cautious of confident cyclists.
Don't give the traffic behind you a reason to hang off your back wheel.
(Unless a truffle-shuffle is involved - that is funny shit. +1 again Hippy)

Hmm, all this rant and much of it I agree with, i.e. riding wide and not being ion the way of others, sometimes by riding a bit quicker to get out of the way.

But many times when I see how pissed off people get in the street I am with CHUH_IT on "Relax a bit. It's just riding a bike."

People all make mistakes in traffic. It will always be that way. All I'm trying to do is get home / to work safe, and not kill anyone while doing it.

I mean, honestly, from driving a car and riding my bike I can recall so many situations where I'm thinking "oops, my fault", and I bet that's the same for every other road user.
If someone walks across the road and you have the right to go, doesn't mean that U run them over, does it? It means that you forgive them and make sure U both stay safe?

If I see people doing something weird and dangerous I genuinely worry for them. Especially people that look not very confident on their bikes, and ride slowly right next to the curb, or squeeze on the onside of bendy busses even though they risk being kicked into the kerb.
Two or three times I tried to tell people at the next red light that they've done soemthing dangerous to their lives, but istead of "Yeah, right, I better don't do that one again" all I got was "that sucker tried to press me into the kerb", even though the risk was definitely self inflicted.

All I'm trying to say is: Safety first, for everyone, then traffic laws, manners and who's bike is looking better and all the other codes of the road.

Edit: Thanks jonny.

Safety First.

The wanderer returns! How was the trip?

Great post Roxy

Bit more wet weather will soon force fixed and brakeless riders to ride with due care and not for show.
In this current financial hardship i might take the initiative and set up shop repairing holes in skinny jeans and bleaching out the overused skid patch.

It's all about respecting others and reading the road/traffic. It feels so good watching somebody attempt to kill themselves to pass you only for you to coast back past them without interupting stride.

That said i am crawling the streets of London looking for Mr Smith hanging around crossings... look at it like a social experiment...

with regards to 'riding wide' - what do people do when a car (usually minicab) gets pissed off with you and comes really close up behind, half overtakes and pushes you into the gutter?

any techniques for avoiding this?

I find pulling up infront of them at the next set of lights and taking my camera out of my bag and taking a photo of them and their licences and sending it with a complaint to London's licensing authority helps me let of steam...

to tell the truth, so far, the stopping in front of them and taking pictures lets off the steam and I've not bothered sending any pictures in...

but that's off the subject...

can I belateded +1 the overtaking on the inside and the people who only overtake me because I stop at redlights... oh and also +1 to the idiots that overtake, pull over and then slow down... and I will try to get out of the way of all of you that want to shoot the gap... and pascalo's idea is great, when I'm sitting inside I totally see that he is right... when I'm outside and my bodies pumped full of addrenaline from someone cutting me up/stepping in front of me /etc...

Is it wrong to hope cyclists that go through reds get run over?

Oh... and if it's very obvious that I'm faster than you (i.e. I overtook you about 5 minutes ago, and the only reason you caught up with me is because I stopped at a red light), then do not pull out in front of me at said red light, forcing me to have to overtake you again as soon as the light turns green.

+1 OMG... if i had a penny

but seriously - why the fuss, none of you Capital-ists have any manners. you just think you do, but mistake arrogance for politeness. it's an easy mistake to make.

not like you friendly brizzlers eh? tho' sleeping with your cousin might be a tad too 'friendly' for us snooty Londonists

This whole thread is starting to sound like the uptight spleenings of inexperienced city dwellers.

Rage is collective, and even if you feel justified in your sense of misjustice, you're still contributing an unhealthy tension to the molecules which form our shared urban atmosphere.

I'd recommend reading 'Soft City' by Jonathan Raban for an honest insight into the psychology of the city and its inhabitants, and for a peek into how little has changed since the early/mid 70s.

I'm afraid what alot of you are moaning about is called traffic. Sometimes there is someone going slower than you but that the way things are in a congested area I'm afraid.

I have a rant, so I'm putting it here.

Coming up through the city today i stop at some lights, a guy on a really wobbly shopper who i had passed stops right in front (and slightly to the right of me, he then pulls away with the lights, and heads straight for the gutter at the same time, forcing me into it as my front wheel is overlapping his rear. I try to slow down to get out from behind him, he slows down. he makes a few dangerous moves to avoid manholes, wobbling ever closer to me. I again try to slow down to free my wheel, he again slows down. finally we reach the next set of lights, i pull right around him, skid in front of him to express my displeasure, and wait for the green I take off trying to lose him in traffic but get cut off by a guy on a ridge back blocking a massive gap. Fashion boy on his shopper gets in front of me again, as ridge back moves out of the way. Now we are riding in a row, Fashion boy is up front, I'm in the middle, and Fluro on the ridgeback is bring up the rear. Fashion boy keeps slowing down, so we can never get out of between the two buses on either side, I look forward and can see he is holding his brake and pedaling at the same time, what the fuck is that.

Also an old lady walking in a cycle path yelled "Get in the road, bitch!" at me when i told her to watch out, so i yelled back "its a cycle path you old toe rag cunt!"

hahaha

chris that is random.

hahaha

that chris is random.

Fixed.

(Not that I've actually met the chap yet…)

I regularly slip stream people.
I'm not racing people, I'm not faster than other road users, for all I know those slow riders have a 20 mile commute a head of them. Few thing amaze me as much as the "racing mentality" some commuters have. I hope you guys aren't guilty of racing people who aren't racing you. If you are, feel bad about it, not good.

I also think the example of re-overtaking people at each sets of lights demonstrates how badly your flow is. Part of being a good fixed city cyclist is riding with flow, its about high average speed. But give yourselves a pat on the back for being 'faster' than other road users.

Basically I'm sure we all agree on some basic riding principles. Which to my mind all boil down to one concept; Driving/riding/cycling/etc (using the road) is a colaboration, not an individual process. When you ride you are part of an organic whole, the traffic, and you need to be aware of that fact. I suppose that is what the main complaint of this thread is; that too few people realize this collaboration and fuck everything up for other users.

If you are an good rider, even an expert rider these things shouldn't really annoy you, and certainly shouldn't surprise you. They are part of everyday cycling in London. (actually part of any major city I've cycled in). Good safe, preemptive and defencive riding should assist you in not being surprised and/or pissed off with these poor, inconsiderate riders.

Good luck riding out there and hopefully we can set an example for other less experienced, less conscientious riders.

Peace