Don't be a pussy, don't be a dick

double post

"Piss off, dickhead"

A cyclist using as little as he needs of the carriageway often needs a whole traffic lane.

Ride with pride not on the side,
when there is no need do not impede,
ride dynamically for all to see,
arrive in style with a smile.

Uh, your bad self
Help me break this down from off the shelf
Here's a music servin' you so use it
Papa's got a brand new funk
Get down (party for your right)
Huh, let's get it on
Like we said before
They say the brothers causin' trouble
Hate to bust their bubble
'Cause we rumble
From our lower level
To condition your condition
(We're gonna do a song)
That you never heard before
Make you all jump along to the education
Brothers gonna work it out
And stop chasin'
Brothers, brothers gonna work it out

[Chorus]

You got it...what it takes
Go get it...where you want it?
Come get it...get involved
'Cause the brothers in the street are willing to work it out

So many of us in limbo
How to get it on, it's quite simple
3 stones from the sun
We need a piece of this rock
Our goal indestructible soul
Answers to this quizzin'
To the Brothers in the streetSchools and the prisons
History shouldn't be a mystery
Our stories real history
Not his story
We gonna work it one day
Till we all get paid
The right way in full, no bull
Talkin', no walkin', drivin', arrivin' in style
Soon you'll see what I'm talkin' 'bout
'Cause one day
The brothers gonna work it out
Brothers, brothers gonna work it out

[Chorus]

You got it ... what it takes
Go get it... where you want it?
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/p/public-enemy-lyrics/brothers-gonna-work-it-out-lyrics.html]
Come get it...get involved
'Cause the brothers in the street
Are willing to work it out
Let's get it on... we are willin'
Let's get it on, let's get it on ... we are willin'
Let's get it on, let's get it on, let's get it on ... we are willin'

Now we are ready if you are ready

In 1995, you'll twist to this
As you raise your fist to the music
United we stand, yes divided we fall
Together we can stand tall
Brothers that try to work it out
They get mad, revolt, revise, realize
They're super bad
Small chance a smart brother's
Gonna be a victim of his own circumstance
Sabotaged, Shellshocked, rocked and ruled
Day in the life of a fool
Like I said before to live it low
Life take you time, time yo go slow
Look here, not a thing to fear
Brother to brother not another as sincere
Teach a man how to be father
To never tell a woman he can't bother
You can't say you don't know
What I'm talkin' 'bout
But one day ... brothers gonna work it out

You got it ... what it takes
Go get it ... where you want it?
Come get it ... get involved
'Cause the brothers in the street
Are willing to work it out

Let's get it on... we are willin'
Let's get it on, let's get it on ... we are willin'
Let's get it on, let's get it on, let's get it on ... we are willin'
Now we are ready if you are ready

(apologies to anyone offended by the post title)

Transport for London have been debating what advice to give to cyclists around the default riding position and there is some discussion, even disagreement around this issue between cycle trainers, road engineers and other parties. A conference is planned later this month for London boroughs to hammer this out and to make recommendations for changes to the National Standard training syllabus.

**I hope to argue the case for a wider acceptance of cyclists in within the traffic stream including showing more cyclists in this position in TfL cycling promotion literature **. It would be good to have some pithy phrase to use and that cycle trainers can use (Like 'see, be seen, communicate') to express the pussy/dick balance without offending anyone.

Any ideas?

"Assertive not antagonistic; cooperative not cocksure".

As you can see, I'm not good with pith, but did manage to get the word "cock" in there.

Good luck with getting more images of cyclists in the primary position in TFL literature. Since the advent of Cycle Superhighways there are more images of cyclists riding to the left, occupying the CS lane and, a concomitant view that this is the rightful/correct place for cyclists on the road.

my boyfriend went to copenhagen and all i got was this lousy blue paint

Don't be a chicken, don't be a cock.

Always wear your shell (...ducking...)

Taxi driver, I'm the eggman, I'm the walrus.

"Assertive not antagonistic

Agnostic not atheist?

Don't be a cock, but don't suck theirs either.

(Beating a dead horse, I know.)

Takin' the "ass" out of "assertive".

Ride like a balloon. Inflate when needed.

U know this inflating thing got me thinking about the infamous CTUK rubber dinghies.

Too often when thinking "shareable width" or "secondary position", the situation is presented cross section wise, a cyclists a point-like roadway obstruction.

While this can be useful pointing out how few lanes are "shareable width" (distance from edge hazards + margin-o-safety + cyclist shoulder width + passing distance + car width, run out of lane width yet?), viewing the situation as point-like situation is a wrong premise.

The idea I got is to describe also cyclists' area of influence as rubber dinghies interacting with the motorists' rubber dinghies. (BTW I'm completely serious now.)
Both can be inflated or deflated according to the situation etc.

But a pithy one-liner or a one-thousand-pager powerpoint isn't going to have much effect. What I would like to see is mr Skylark rolling up his sleeves and saying: "Enough talk gentleman, let's take it outside". Take it to the streets.

A powerpoint slide with big letters:
"Rule no 1: ALWAYS BE ERTIVE"

Silence drops in the drawing room for half a minute, then the lords, gentlemen, ladies, police and their backers turn to Skydancer demanding. "What do U mean mr cyclists-man. What is ERTIVE?"

Skydancer keeps an artistic pause and then drops the bomb: "It means taking the ASS out of ASSERTIVE."

If in doubt cut it out (or up, depending on what kind of rider you are)
:)

Good evening, boys and girls
Welcome to another evening of
"I hate that word called dick"
It goes like this:
I hate that word called "dick"
It sounds so awfully thick
So I think I'll call it "prick"
'Cause I hate that word called "dick".
Ha ha ha ha!
I hate that word called "pussy"
It sounds so awful squishy
So I guess I'll call it "clit"
'Cause I hate that word called "pussy".
Ha ha ha ha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mttSBkBpWxk

[chainwhip;1990425]The idea I got is to describe also cyclists' area of influence as rubber dinghies interacting with the motorists' rubber dinghies. (BTW I'm completely serious now.)
Both can be inflated or deflated according to the situation etc.
That is an excellent idea that would illustrate the dynamic nature of that concept. We are working on animations of road positioning as a resource that CTUK will be offering from our new website soon to be launched. (So catch your screenshots now of the current one for your museum of cycle training Mr Cwhip). I will discuss your idea with our marketing gal and designer guy

But a pithy one-liner or a one-thousand-pager powerpoint isn't going to have much effect. What I would like to see is mr Skylark rolling up his sleeves and saying: "Enough talk gentleman, let's take it outside". Take it to the streets.
Indeed so true, which is why there isn't much need for pithy one liners in a real training situation as riding it teaches it.

make sure i can't reach your wing mirror as you pass...

or i'll rip the cunt off.

too subtle??

yeah a bit out of kilter smiff
...have another go:)

a wider acceptance of cyclists in within the traffic stream

Indeed...

If TFL really want to see this (I have my doubts) they should just come out and say it in the bluntest and most direct way. Something like, "Bikes Belong!" Less "Catch up with the Bike" and more "Make way for the Bike". Let the drivers know what time it is boyeee...

BTW What do the group think the default position for a cyclist is? Is there really any debate between trainers? I would have said Primary but in London one often will be in secondary as it is reasonable to let folks pass lots of the time. I can see that it might feel like secondary was the default but it's not so.... I think

Back in the day, long before I knew anything about cycle training, we just said, "Ride Wide!!". It's still true.

default position is primary....kind of why it's called primary i guess. The step up between level 2 & level 3 is often allowing trainees to develop their own risk assessment skills to decide when it is OK to move into the secondary as most of level 2 training will take place on roads where they are always in primary.

yeah....? more experienced/better cycle trainers agree?

The idea I got is to describe also cyclists' area of influence as rubber dinghies interacting with the motorists' rubber dinghies. (BTW I'm completely serious now.)
Both can be inflated or deflated according to the situation etc.

That was exactly the idea I was trying to get across, cyclists changing size as needed.

@Fausto

Agree...

In Skydancer's first post he says, "disagreement around this issue between cycle trainers, road engineers and other parties".

I just wonder what there can be to dissagree about? What else is there for us to do? The pavement? Anyway, in London it's just too dynamic. I don't tell trainees that there is a "default" position, as such. I prefer to show them how to determine where to be in any situation so they have to keep thinking.

That was exactly the idea I was trying to get across, cyclists changing size as needed.

There's a short film there.

interesting bringing back the first post Londonneur...and then linking road engineers with all this talk about primary position....

Based on my (admittedly not done too often lately) ride home the way road engineers do things they aren't actually considering the issue of primary position (or cyclists at all).

My example (and one that occurs everywhere):Church Road, which runs from Crystal Palace southwards, is wide enough to remain in secondary position the whole way along it - except road engineers have considered only pedestrians and so every 150 metres or so there are narrowings for pedestrians to cross the road in two parts. With speed (and perhaps slow moving traffic) you can hold primary the whole way down but out of peak time or riding slowly you constantly have to move between primary and secondary to avoid any conflict - this is a point just far enough out of central London that drivers expect to be able to go at speed without too much traffic or "obstruction". As an occasional pram pusher, i appreciate these islands that allow me to cross the road pretty easily, but London is full of examples of road engineers who are making life difficult for cyclists.

So....getting to my point....

*"A conference is planned later this month for London boroughs to hammer this out and to make recommendations for changes to the National Standard training syllabus."

*Why are "we" compromising and making the changes? Why aren't we hammering out changes to the Road Engineers Manual/national standards/roadfurnitureability or whatever? Is there anything Skywalker can put them that would make more fundamental changes than just some literature and photos? Is he in a position to make more recommendations than a slowly slowly "culture change" of a few photos that drivers never see/take notice of?

Just a thought...

*edit - further to that, Church Road is on the so called "London Cycle Network".

A while back I did a proposal for Camden that would have seen their engineers and some cycletrainers working together to formulate some compatable solutions. So much of what they build is just nonsense from our perspective. It'll never happen now post cuts

I met some Irish guys from Galway who came specifically to London for a week or so to train as cycle trainers. But not to eventually train but simply to go into a meeting with Galway council engineers as members of the Galway Cycling Campaign (or whatever it was) but also with some kind of "professional" qualifications so they'd be taken seriously when they put their pro-cycling ideas to the council.