Like It Wasn't They Were leaving Me Behind, Just Bad Cycling At Night!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

HI,
Coming home the other night, slogging up hill at about 25 rpm standing
Guy passes me sitting
I try to keep up and think that after a 1/4 a mile or so I can catch.
Lights turn red at toll house with bridge and blind hill narrow lane, he sails on through the red
I wait a while not too long and lights go green I spy him approaching underpass roundabout.
He moves into middle of road then moves far right and takes the roundabout anticlockwise.
This roundabout which are two in number close together are fast and many motor drivers don't even look as the fly through, indicators are seldom seen.

Its dark.
He has a flashing front light.
Parts are unlighted road.
Rides through a red.
Takes a roundabout because he cant see lights of other motors.
(like I could of been approaching the other way)
A few days later I see him again ( a calculated guess) same flashing light front, emerging through a green, so red his way.

Like its not just I struggled to catch him but that's all we really need for cyclist.
Bit of luck I will chance on him again and clip him round the ear

[The utility cyclist]

Why, let them go on their merry way, they haven't interfered with your cycling (except to dangle a carrot to chase) and has harmed no-one and statistically speaking will harm no-one in the future either. traffic lights and rbts are put in place simply because motons can't behave themselves and get along, the sooner we ditch having to play by motons rules the better, and we can simply remove them from all but 'motor' ways and restricted times in the wee small hours in built up areas.

Mater and I were driving across the city last winter to watch the rugby, she managed to spot the 4 blokes cycling down the unlit back street towards us simply by being able to spot the orange glow of one of their ciggies and the small amount of light her headlights gave in that direction. she found it no big deal to avoid them (they turned left anyways) and so it should be that way.

people get too stressy about what others are doing that quite literally presents next to zero harm to others, no they are not giving me or any other person riding a bike a bad name, the police might go into one as might DM readers but frankly I'm just not that bothered. Now if they were to crash into something/one then that would be a different matter, we already know that so called 'ninja' cyclists are pretty safe as everyone manages to see them at night

[Carlton green]

Without wanting to be antagonistic to others I find myself in agreement with the OP. As a cyclists and as a motorist I share space with other road users and I expect them to behave in a way that allows both of us to use that shared space without injury. If any road user, whatever means of power or size of ’vehicle’ they use, recklessly disregards the common set of rules that keep us all safe then in my opinion they should be removed from the road. It is one thing for them to recklessly put their own life at risk but a completely different (and unacceptable) thing for them to (recklessly) put either my life or wellbeing at risk.

I do accept that people on the forum will have differing views, indeed part of being a forum member is showing tolerance to views conflicting with your own. Others do have the right to hold a differing opinions, but personally I have neither sympathy or the respect for road users that don’t consider how their actions impact on others. Whether riding a bike myself or driving a car I’d be jolly annoyed with any cyclist whose disregard of the Highway Code caused an accident that I was involved in. Including the Highway Code there’s a set of rules of the road that basically apply to us all, regardless of our means of road transport all of us need to simply observe the rules and and act responsibly such that we and other road users avoid injury.

[mjr]

I agree with the original reply. The rules are overwhelmingly designed to benefit motorists, it's their neck as long as they harm no others and anyone blaming one cyclist for the acts of another is not worth listening to.

[reohn2]

NA
After you've given him a "clip round the ear" verbal or otherwise,what if he gives you a black eye(actual)?
I come across idiots all the time when I cycling and driving,if I stopped and complained about their cycling an driving I'd never get anywhere and if I started a thread for every one I came across I'd never be off the forum for starting new threads about it.
I agree with MJR that all motorists can't be tarred with the same brush and likewise neither can cyclists.

[kwackers]

I agree with the original reply. The rules are overwhelmingly designed to benefit motorists, it's their neck as long as they harm no others and anyone blaming one cyclist for the acts of another is not worth listening to.

Can't say I blame other cyclists for my recent accident where a woman knocked me off when she lost her rag because she wasn't willing to sit behind a cyclist through a set of lights.

I'm actually more angered by the apologists for motorists bad behaviour than the fact I once saw a cyclist riding like a cock.

[hemo]

If we had enough plod on the roads/streets doing routine beats then a lot of these idiots would probably comply with the law as spot fines would work out expensive, unfortunately it is no longer the case.

[PH]

If we had enough plod on the roads/streets doing routine beats then a lot of these idiots would probably comply with the law as spot fines would work out expensive, unfortunately it is no longer the case.

Even if that dream were to become a reality, the West Midland force describes errant cyclists as an irritant and rightly points out they're not the ones causing the deaths.
Roads are a public space, yet they've been dedicated to one section of the public, that's the crime.

[Bmblbzzz]

HI,
Coming home the other night, slogging up hill at about 25 rpm standing

25rpm is really low. You must be quite a grinder!

[Bmblbzzz]

As to the point, I once caught up with another cyclist who'd gone the wrong way round a small one way system (almost a roundabout but actually a town square with one-way circulation) (with very little traffic and okay sight lines) asked him why. His answer was quite simple and, I think, satisfactory: "I think cycling should be simpler than driving."

[The utility cyclist]

As to the point, I once caught up with another cyclist who'd gone the wrong way round a small one way system (almost a roundabout but actually a town square with one-way circulation) (with very little traffic and okay sight lines) asked him why. His answer was quite simple and, I think, satisfactory: "I think cycling should be simpler than driving."

Bingo, desire lines, and the reason why some cycle infra even in the best countries in the world fails/doesn't maximise the potential that wide, direct and uninterrupted routes do, these are most often given to motorists people who cycle on roads/don't play by motons rules.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

NA
After you've given him a "clip round the ear" verbal or otherwise,what if he gives you a black eye(actual)?
I come across idiots all the time when I cycling and driving,if I stopped and complained about their cycling an driving I'd never get anywhere and if I started a thread for every one I came across I'd never be off the forum for starting new threads about it.
I agree with MJR that all motorists can't be tarred with the same brush and likewise neither can cyclists.

That's why I included the smiley
Figure of speech, just annoyed at blatant common sense, I admit motors are much worse.
I rant off on less that 1% of dangerous motors to me, some of these cyclist need a ticking off, that's the second cyclist I have seen going wrong way round a roundabout.
This is a place to let off steam without fisticuffs

Last night a motor was impatient to overtake so they made an attempt on a single lane roundabout, I moved into the road more on exiting to make sure that I was not pressed into the kerb, they then screamed past across cross hatching and abruptly swerved in front of me.

[mig]

HI,
Coming home the other night, slogging up hill at about 25 rpm standing

25rpm is really low. You must be quite a grinder!

on my first read i clocked that as '25mph' and was suitably impressed.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

HI,
Coming home the other night, slogging up hill at about 25 rpm standing

25rpm is really low. You must be quite a grinder!

on my first read i clocked that as '25mph' and was suitably impressed.

I have always had a low cadence, but restricted to a minimum 43" gear meant a lot of grinding, problems with my medication of late mean that I cant spin easily but I can push high gears, common of me to finish the last 20 miles on a training ride on a 90+" gear, bike weighs about half a cwt.
Unusual pedal system on the bike I used for ride below also meant an equivalent crank length of 182 between 3 & 6 O'clock.
Ha, 25mph, me and my mate on a audax managed 30 mph up and down hills over 4 miles with a hurricane at our backs
On my devon & cornwall coast and borders route-
43" - 87" gearing
bike and luggage 22-25 kgs
avg cadence 45 - 57
641 Miles
1ST day.