Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

Called out/calling out - got told off by a middle aged woman on a Pashley this morning - I didn't look right before pulling out of a side street. Apologised, because she was right, then she huffed off, undertook a left-turning double decker bus, and nearly got squished. I don't think she realised how close it came, or the driver's attempts to avoid her once he'd clocked her. I really don't want to watch someone get run over...

I did this on OKR once and a bloke literally pushed me out of the way to squeeze down the inside of me then inside a bus.

People are scared to come too near me and my wobbly trackstand though :)

2 buses waiting at the lights at the George's Circus end of London road, one going straight ahead to Waterloo Rd, the other turning right for Blackfriars. They are filling th road except for a 1 foot wide gap on the left. I wait behind the bus, deliberately blocking the gap

Oh what's this? Someone pushing at my left leg with their front wheel? Oh lovely, thanks so much? "Excuse me" you say? But where are you going, the gap is tiny? "The front" you say? But the bus will want to pass you and then stop at the bus stop just ahead, so it's actually better to be behind it and pass the bus while it's stopped. "oh, I'd never thought of that"

A lesson learned perhaps?

This question goes out to those that ride drops. When do you "need" to drop on them? Acceleration? Climbs?
Which makes me ask, why do a lot of people insist on using them when just cruising? It's a very wobbly affair. Emphasis on cool London types riding "vintage" bikes and being unable to hold a straight line.
Also...should I get some...

I use them when there is a headwind, sometimes when I am descending and when I am gunning it on a nice flat section

If you were to pull up behind the van on the left and idiotblock, the driver might notice you and remember you with a degree of fondness.

Doesn't work, they tut, mutter, hop onto the pavement to pass and occasionally ask you to move. The last one is fine as it gives you a chance to set them right without being accused of being a busybody.

why do a lot of people insist on using them when just cruising?

I think a lot of people think it's the only way they can reach the brake levers.

^this I'm pretty sure, at least with a good proportion of them

also tho a lot of people I see always in the drops on shitty old geared bikes are riding a frame way too big for them, which is surely made even worse by staying in the drops the whole time...

First time I've ever felt compelled to call someone out today. A guy on a flat barred single speed/fixed jumped every light along Camberwell Road and then up through Oval and Kennington Road, always doing that pointless waiting in the middle of the junction as traffic goes by in the wrong direction. Not exactly new behaviour, but definitely riding like an absolute cunny and putting himself in harms way whenever he could.

I think though the fact he had a toddler straddling his top tube the whole time he was doing this was what left me absolutely fucking fuming.

I think a lot of people think it's the only way they can reach the brake levers.

Well it's pretty much the only way to get the brakes on old road bikes to work. The braking from the hoods is truly shite!

Absolute clusterfuck of twats at the bottom of Regents Park this morning.

The lights were red for a good 60 seconds while I was waiting behind the offside of a left-indicating Sainsburys van, during which time fucking loads of completely self-absorbed 'me first' cretins attempted to get as close to the lights as possible, despite the ASL being obviously full, and access to it blocked by motorbikes and scooters.

The van driver showed remarkable patience, first allowing the half-dozen clueless idiots who'd stopped on his nearside to get ahead of him, and then still waiting while people continued to ride up his nearside after the lights had changed and he was trying to turn left.

I'd like to think that cyclists with a bit of common sense might stand out against such incompetence, but sadly I reckon we're more likely to be associated with it. Summer hasn't even started yet.

Email the company and compliment him/her on their driving. This always goes down well and will help reinforce the positive behaviours the driver was displaying.

First time I've ever felt compelled to call someone out today. A guy on a flat barred single speed/fixed jumped every light along Camberwell Road and then up through Oval and Kennington Road, always doing that pointless waiting in the middle of the junction as traffic goes by in the wrong direction. Not exactly new behaviour, but definitely riding like an absolute cunny and putting himself in harms way whenever he could.

I think though the fact he had a toddler straddling his top tube the whole time he was doing this was what left me absolutely fucking fuming.

They'll never learn. Next time just punch the kid and once you have his attention clamly explain how much worse it would have been had the bus hit him. I think he'll see sense and shake your hand.

Then punch the kid again.

I did this on OKR once and a bloke literally pushed me out of the way to squeeze down the inside of me then inside a bus.

A simple "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" with a Death Stare™ usually resolves that kind of behaviour.

First time I've ever felt compelled to call someone out today. A guy on a flat barred single speed/fixed jumped every light along Camberwell Road and then up through Oval and Kennington Road, always doing that pointless waiting in the middle of the junction as traffic goes by in the wrong direction. Not exactly new behaviour, but definitely riding like an absolute cunny and putting himself in harms way whenever he could.

I think though the fact he had a toddler straddling his top tube the whole time he was doing this was what left me absolutely fucking fuming.

there was a guy last night - all the way from st johns st right the way along upper street who was riding like a total fucking idiot - weaving all over the place caring neither for people nor red lights just going as fast as he could regardless - he had a childs seat on the back of his bike.

thankfully the seat was empty, but i couldn't help wondering if he still rides like a twat if he has his kid on the back.

Ahh, the old cockstare™ eh?

no no no you're doing it wrong.. the cockpunch™ is only employed if the death stare™ fails to stop a speeding car™.

I wish I knew another ascii char other than ™ but this is such fun™

kidneypunch™ = x
cockpunch™ = ■
cockstare™ = o
deathstate™ = */*

Cock stare?

Lollollol....

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

not to be confused with #crotchwatch

not to be confused with #crotchwatch

Oh !

Probably me, I have to admit I said "live with that" and cackled, somewhat, after a more-childish-than-normal episode of commuter racing over London Bridge.

The dickhead undertaking the left turning scaffoldign lorry on CS8 just before Tate Britain.

Everyone had seen it and had slowed down to let it cross the lane (he did some great signalling). You, however, thought it would be a great idea to weave through the gaps thinking you were Mark Cavendish racing for the line and pass all those who had stopped causing the driver to abort his turn. Twat!

If you want to kill yourself do it in your bedroom whilst having a cry wank - at least that way the 20 cyclists who stopped and the driver won't suffer the trauma of winessing a needless death.

^^ The London Bridge sprint southbound is my morning treat. In my head the other cyclists are thinking 'I wish I could be as awesome as that dude!'.

pah, southbound is easy, spin to win, it's going north when you've had to stop at the lights just before and there's 5 buses parked at the beginning so you're out in the middle lane and there's a taxi revving away on your rear wheel that's the challenge.

Having changed office address and therefore commute route (to one with startling quantities of chumps), I have realised that not only do we have our own nicely marked out advanced stopping zones, but there are also these amazing invisible ASLs ahead of the painted ones, clearly for elite cyclists. Bottom of Rosebery Avenue this morning, I was the only cyclist within the ASL while 12 others were in the new invisible one. What a fool I felt. When were these introduced?