I generally wait in queues of traffic now, primary(ish) position. An example is Clerkenwell Rd, heading east, waiting at the Farringdon Road lights. 99.9% of other riders will filter down the left in a desperate bid to be at the front. What's the fucking point?
Usual outcome: a couple of mind-bendingly slow riders with fuck-all riding skill are at the front of the bike queue (more of a gaggle), and people start doing insane evasive manoeuvres to get around them, without looking or signalling to the traffic behind. I'm part of that traffic behind, know what to expect, get in the middle of the lane, and calmly follow the rest of the traffic I've queued behind, passing the majority of knobends who had to get to the front.
Once again. What is the fucking point? Why do it if you're not 100% confident of accelerating away from the lights faster than any of the other must-get-to-the-front riders, which means you've been using some sick observation skills in the stretch of road preceding the lights.
And whilst we're talking about undertaking, don't expect me to shift my line outwards if you've got the gall/disrespect to pass me on my left. I'm not going to punch you or push you, but I'm not going to fucking move. If I have to lean on you, and you crash, fucking good, you idiots.
What, indeed, is the point? I think the truth is the people you are talking about would not have an answer: it is just what you do on a bike. It's hard to overestimate the role that conditioning plays in this. 'Ordinary' cyclists are conditioned by infrastructure that teaches them to filter up the inside and suggests that at the front of the queue is the place to be. They are conditioned by their own fear and ignorance in to thinking that the more they separate themselves from 'traffic' the safer they are. And they are conditioned by seeing other cyclists do this and so it continues in a self-perpetuating process.
I don't believe cyclists are any stupider or cleverer than any other group. In fact I know this to be true. If my job was just to try and rescue people from their stupidity it would be a depressing way to make a living. But it is not. There are consistent reasons cyclists behave the way they do and for those cyclists they are unquestioned and, in a sense, rational (the bulk of cyclists anyway, of course there are some who are simply foolish, reckless, selfish or arrogant).
It takes very little time for them to change the way they see things. It doesn't have to be explained in great detail, a few questions are usually enough for their deeply held ideas to start to crumble. After all they know they have problems riding, they know they get stressed and frightened, they have a suspicion that it surely does not have to be like this. What they do not realise is that the very things they do to be 'good' and 'safe' cyclists - meek, unassertive, obedient, doing what all the other cyclists do - are the very things that are making their journeys so unpleasant.
And tiny little things can make a massive difference; like knowing how to use your gears so you are in the correct one to get away from the lights quickly and steadily so you are not swamped or veer close to passing cars and cyclists.
It may seem stupid that such things are not intuitive but generally people don't think much about cycling; it is just something they do, maybe have always done or have just started doing seeing it as a simple activity. After all, there are no lessons or a license to earn before you can get going on even the busiest roads in London. Given that they then so often find themselves intimidated or overwhelmed it's not that surprising that they find reassurance in doing what they see being done all around them.
What, indeed, is the point? I think the truth is the people you are talking about would not have an answer: it is just what you do on a bike. It's hard to overestimate the role that conditioning plays in this. 'Ordinary' cyclists are conditioned by infrastructure that teaches them to filter up the inside and suggests that at the front of the queue is the place to be. They are conditioned by their own fear and ignorance in to thinking that the more they separate themselves from 'traffic' the safer they are. And they are conditioned by seeing other cyclists do this and so it continues in a self-perpetuating process.
I don't believe cyclists are any stupider or cleverer than any other group. In fact I know this to be true. If my job was just to try and rescue people from their stupidity it would be a depressing way to make a living. But it is not. There are consistent reasons cyclists behave the way they do and for those cyclists they are unquestioned and, in a sense, rational (the bulk of cyclists anyway, of course there are some who are simply foolish, reckless, selfish or arrogant).
It takes very little time for them to change the way they see things. It doesn't have to be explained in great detail, a few questions are usually enough for their deeply held ideas to start to crumble. After all they know they have problems riding, they know they get stressed and frightened, they have a suspicion that it surely does not have to be like this. What they do not realise is that the very things they do to be 'good' and 'safe' cyclists - meek, unassertive, obedient, doing what all the other cyclists do - are the very things that are making their journeys so unpleasant.
And tiny little things can make a massive difference; like knowing how to use your gears so you are in the correct one to get away from the lights quickly and steadily so you are not swamped or veer close to passing cars and cyclists.
It may seem stupid that such things are not intuitive but generally people don't think much about cycling; it is just something they do, maybe have always done or have just started doing seeing it as a simple activity. After all, there are no lessons or a license to earn before you can get going on even the busiest roads in London. Given that they then so often find themselves intimidated or overwhelmed it's not that surprising that they find reassurance in doing what they see being done all around them.