Dig your own grave

[cycleruk]

Enjoy ; Sunday morning club ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUTL3oKO ... re=related

[goatwarden]

Too scary to watch it all!

I assume it was actually an event in a small area, so innocent bystanders were actually more aware than nomal road traffic would be. I do feel that most of the riders should have been placed on spikes around the Tower of London to encourage better road manners, and possibly even good sense and consideration for others.

[cycleruk]

I think it is one of those stupid things that young (?) people do when they are in a pack and to show their bravado.
Like a flock of motorbikers, they take risks just to keep up.
I'm not sure if it was speeded up a bit but there were some very near misses with pedestrians and you can see why they get upset.
Apparently there a few videos of this kind on U-tube which "helps" to influence this kind of riding.

[hubgearfreak]

bankaah. i think that's what the taxi deiver at the end called out.

what's that london speak for ?

[cycleruk]

bankaah. i think that's what the taxi deiver at the end called out.

what's that london speak for ?

Cockney rhyming slang?

[reohn2]

Its those loonies who are killing my credibility on the road,if the taxi at the end had bought those three down (cameraman and the two in front of him) causing serious injury what then?
Its a good title for the thread.

[kwackers]

Its those loonies who are killing my credibility on the road,if the taxi at the end had bought those three down (cameraman and the two in front of him) causing serious injury what then?
Its a good title for the thread.

They're just boy racers on push bikes.
They've about as much relevance to most cyclists as a spotty youth in his tricked up Nova has to motorists.

Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, horses... If it exists then youth will abuse it and so it has ever been.
I guess if there's a question in there it's what do you do to prevent yobbish behaviour by youths? I doubt I was any better when young, perhaps more extreme sports should be made freely available to them, use up the testosterone (and thin the population).

The best you can say is at least it's bicycles and not cars - plus, I wish I was that fit...

[meic]

I believe there is a tradition of these road races in London.
They are more traditionally done in cars and on motorcycles, on the circular road and M25.
It may be embarrassing for us to be associated with them because they are on cycles but it is much safer for the general population than the motorised versions.

Lightweight cycles doing up to 30mph doesnt quite scare me like ZZ10s at 130mph or Subarus at 120mph.

[snibgo]

They are criminals who endanger other people. I hope the video is used as evidence in prosecution.

[reohn2]

Its those loonies who are killing my credibility on the road,if the taxi at the end had bought those three down (cameraman and the two in front of him) causing serious injury what then?
Its a good title for the thread.

They're just boy racers on push bikes.
They've about as much relevance to most cyclists as a spotty youth in his tricked up Nova has to motorists.

Cars, motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, horses... If it exists then youth will abuse it and so it has ever been.
I guess if there's a question in there it's what do you do to prevent yobbish behaviour by youths? I doubt I was any better when young, perhaps more extreme sports should be made freely available to them, use up the testosterone (and thin the population).

I've got upto far worse than that in my youth I'll admit, but it doesn't make it right.They deserve everything they get IMO.
I take you're point about extreme sports,theres one going on in Afganistan at the moment,I'm not so sure they'd be willing to take that risk though.

The best you can say is at least it's bicycles and not cars

Agreed!

- plus, I wish I was that fit...

I'd say you probably are ,just not as daft!

[meic]

It certainly fits the description of "cycling furiously" doesnt it?

However you can be pretty certain that they were never prosecuted over it, I think it is quite likely that they got injured in some RTAs though.

[hubgearfreak]

at least it's bicycles and not cars

Lightweight cycles doing up to 30mph doesnt quite scare me like ZZ10s at 130mph or Subarus at 120mph.

you two have more eloquently put my own thoughts, so +2

meic, i take it that the same opinion stands if (like me) they were riding 19kg machines

[snibgo]

They've about as much relevance to most cyclists as a spotty youth in his tricked up Nova has to motorists.

To the hundred or so people who were present, these were cyclists. They will remember the incident while ignoring more law-abiding cyclists. This adds to the argument that cyclists RLJ, ride on the wrong side of the road, scare drivers and pedestrians witless, and so on.

I don't care if someone endangers himself, on or off a bike. But to deliberately endanger others is wrong.

[kwackers]

They've about as much relevance to most cyclists as a spotty youth in his tricked up Nova has to motorists.

To the hundred or so people who were present, these were cyclists. They will remember the incident while ignoring more law-abiding cyclists. This adds to the argument that cyclists RLJ, ride on the wrong side of the road, scare drivers and pedestrians witless, and so on.

I don't care if someone endangers himself, on or off a bike. But to deliberately endanger others is wrong.

Of course its wrong and they should be caught and punished - as I should have been with some of the dodgy stuff I got up to when I was a youth.

The thing is though you'll never stop youth behaving badly and in terms of bad behaviour there's much worse goes on. The fact they've chosen to give cyclists a bad name is regrettable but ultimately what can you do?
Whenever a "motorist" brings up the issue of RLJ'ing when I mention I cycle then I simply retort with "why do you jump red lights?", invariably they'll deny it and I'll point out that most people who jump red lights are motorists barrelling through them at 30mph plus, and if they don't feel that the action of others applies to them then what makes them think that the actions of other cyclists apply to me.
At this point they usually shut up.

If I had to pick something I hear a lot (in fact more than bad road behaviour) it's people complaining about groups of cyclists that they get 'stuck' behind and can't overtake.
Again doesn't apply to me but a clever retort is always needed and I usually say "In my experience I think motorists need to learn to overtake a single cyclist safely before moving on to the more advanced stuff".

As I said above though, the question isn't really one of cyclists so much as one of what to do with youths who haven't yet found an outlet for excessive testosterone.

[meic]

Back in the late 70s lots of kids a little bit older than me were out killing themselves in noticeable numbers on the new Japanese 250cc motorbikes that could move rather more rapidly than the old British steel.
Because these deaths were statistically noticeable among the small subgroup of motorists classified as motorcyclists, the government felt something had to be done about it.
So they introduced multi-part tests and lowered the size of engines permissible to learners to 125cc.
It was an effective measure and no longer were numbers of X7s, pulling wheelies and racing to hit the ton, seen on the roads of Britain. The number of motorcyclists killing themselves went down too.

However, what happened to those lads who hung up their (newly compulsory) helmets?
Instead of slaughtering themselves by crashing their bikes on sudden corners, they were now out in Ford Capris and XR2s slaughtering OTHER people instead.
The good news is that in a large subgroup of motorists classified as car drivers, the deaths though larger in number were no longer statistically noticeable.