To expect cyclists not to ride on the pavement and not expect pedestrians to move out of their way!

[ophelia275]

I am so sick of having to swerve the pushchair or move out of the way so that some idiot on a bicycle can avoid the traffic by cycling on the pavement and expect me to stand aside with my kids/pushchair/shopping so that they can ride past. Sometimes (when I am not with my kids) I stand firm and don't move out of their way so they have to get off or be patient and wait until I have walked past.

When I was quite heavily pregnant I was walking along and this guy on a bike came zooming up and shouted "move" and just pushed past me. Nob.

Grrr. Hate them!

Is the most tossy part of Mog's post the not-even-attempting-a-stealth-boast about driving a Porsche? There's too much choice in that post, I can't decide!

Mog, it is a real PITA that that happened to you, and apart from your boasting I genuinely do sympathise. But please. Enough of the Daily Mail polarising of cyclists. You make it so hard to take you seriously. We're really not all morons and fuckers at all: most of us are rather splendid.

In the end, the OP was about cycling on the pavement, inexcusable in my book. Probably illegal, too.

The widening of the spat to include cyclists being on the road at all needs to think of this; when a cyclist fucks up on the road, they are mostly the one who gets hurt. I've seen some very silly cycling in my time, but nothing to compare with the daily nonsense perpetuated by those in a death-dealing machine: the car.

This thread reminds of the ones where someone complains about a misspelling by a teacher which immediately becomes an AND they get so many holidays.

Type of thing.

Personnally I could careless if a cyclist wants to be on the road or the pavement, but I do wish that once they have made their choice they stuck with it and acted accordingly.

tbh BBJ, environment and context is everything (which makes individual stories a bit opaque). Cyclists are allowed to dominate the lane for short distances (defensive riding), and I am sure he wasn't doing it to wind you personally up. Cyclists don't have a pointless interest in winding people up who can easily kill them.

the thing is tho.

why position himself in front of the car?
why when across the junction did he not get back on the empty path?
and why did he then go through a red light?

He may not have done these things because he wanted to annoy me, but even if he didn't he is still an inconsidserate twunt.

Hey there Pan, if you're still around, whenever you have a spare 5 mins to send me a PM I'd love to hear that Maya story.

Maya - I'll do it in the next day or so - telling it takes 3 mins (with all the flourishes) - typing is about 45 mins! And right now it's pre-match preparations.

Boney - I don't know why he did it, but feckin' annoying maybe. The really steep learning curve for me re road sense was riding a motorbike - I thought I was a good driver until the demands of travelling at speed on two wheels told me I wasn't that good.

I prefer live and let live in most things, so I agree - when you see someone doing something daft it's good to be able to sit back and think 'why did they just do that?', unless it's a threat to one's well-being.

sorry, motorbike thing and driving - you learn to observe everything and everyone on the road at all times - not the same 'threat' felt when you are a 'cager'.(driver).

I try not to get too bothered by bad cyclists, as I think the good ones (like good drivers) all get tarred with the same brush. You couldn't pay me enough to cycle on the main roads round here, I don't fancy trying to avoid certain death every morning.

Saying that, I did nearly hit someone on a bike last week. In my defence, he was biking the wrong way up the main road (so coming directly at me), I had moved over to the right to give him room, and he was looking at his phone in one hand, with the other on the handlebars. the reason I nearly hit him is because he fell off his bike in front of me. It was a really good job the traffic was moving slowly. Scared the crap out of me (and him, I imagine). But part of me did think 'well, that's what you get for using your phone while you bike you utter and complete fuckwit'

Aw, Pan, don't worry about it, that's a huge amount of time to spend writing to a virtual stranger! If I remember I'll try to search for it in the MN archives, otherwise don't worry but thanks for the thought.

Easilybored - Words. Escape. Me. Un-believable. Unbelievable.

pan

I was not a very good biker, I was very aware of those around me and didn't like the vulnerability of it.

Biking taught me alot, I always hang back from bikes (powered or otherwise).

I have two concerns about cyclists.

1/ Some think that they are indistructable and are danderous to those around them.
2/ If/when a cyclist goes under/over my car it will be seen as my fault even when its not.

1/ yes, some do have a feeling of invincibility...
2/ oh I doubt that. As in anything else, you need evidence and witnesses. I've been involved in 3 collisions, hurt quite badly in one of them. None my fault, but no-one else to indicate so. Being the good driver would otherwise leave people in the clear.

Cyclists are thick and this is a fact.

I know this because when I am out riding my horse, cyclists often sneak up behind me like the silent ninjas they are and scare the shit out of both me and my horse and then claim in total surprise that they "didn't think it would frighten him and didn't want to say anything" umm, no, because coming up silently behind a 1 tonne lump of stupid prey animal is a totally brilliant idea...

I would like to point out that the few who say "good morning/afternoon/hello" don't frighten big horse because he knows there is a person there so it's all cool.

Gosh I am so glad that you pointed out that I am thick - as being thick I would never have known.

next time I am on the opposite side of the road to a horse and rider and a car is hurtling down the road towards the back of the horse and rider with no thought to slowing - I will refrain from waving the car to slow down and let the car frighten the shit out of the horse and watch the rider fall off the horse - as I guess the last time I did slow the car driver down that it was a really stupid idea as I am a thick cyclists - and as you say that is a fact

i do wonder why the horse rider said thank you to me, strange really?

I think i hate horses on the road even more than I hate bikes....

Why?

horses and bikes were on the roads long before motorcars, yet it is the late comer that seems to object, it is often the way things work and the late comers take over and cause far more problems than there ever were before

yeah - but times change eh?

Why would you want to take a horse out on a main road - must be horrible for the horse and very unnerving for motorists too

These threads are like dog poo threads. Just as most dog owners pick up after their dogs, the ones that don't are the ones that get noticed and suddenly all dog owners are selfish, inconsiderate bastards.

I have had to dodge out of the way of cyclists jumping red lights, going the wrong way down one way streets, whizzing through zebra crossings when cars have stopped. I have had to pull my little nephews out of the way when cyclists have shot down hills at break-neck speed on country walks. My poor mum, who is deaf in one ear and only has partial hearing with a hearing aid in the other has been verbally abused by cyclists who have come up behind her on the pavement because she didn't hear them and therefore didn't get out of the way.

BUT I can remember every bad incident I have had with a cyclist, which, given the number of cyclists in the country, indicates to me that there is only a very small proportion who are inconsiderate wankers. Which probably about tallies with the proportion of inconsiderate wankers in society as a whole.

yes, this is a fact. we are all really thick.

I was walking down a footpath a few weeks ago - not a pavement, an off-road footpath, that leads off a bridleway (which has been upgraded for use by cyclists). The footpath is on duckboards - about 1m wide - two pedestrians have to walk to their side to pass. Two cyclists headed down towards me - I was on one side and stopped, but didn't get off the duckboards. The man freewheeled past me successfully. The woman following wobbled a bit, caught my arm with her handlebars and fell off. She clearly thought it was my fault that she had fallen off, so I ensured that she was in no doubt that she was not a legal user of the footpath and asked her not to use words such as she had been using in front of DS who was with me.

Good on you Mistle

Isn't it just about respecting more vulnerable road/pavement users?

A cyclist is more vulnerable than a motorist in their car.
A pedestrian is more vulnerable than a cyclist.
A toddler on their bike is more vulnerable than a jogger.

Someone who doesn't understand that and adapt their behaviour is an arse. An arse in a car, an arse on a bike.... Etc. etc.

The mode of transport has nothing to do with it.

Sorry for thread hijack

I used to ride horses a lot, out on the roads, I avoided main roads where I could and stuck to smaller back roads, but sometimes I had to go on one for a short stretch. Most drivers were lovely and I made sure that I thanked each one for slowing down.

Horses are more difficult, they may shy at something in the hedge or at a noisy, rattley vehicle so should be given room. Most riders were like this, what do you object to about horses on the road, them being there and slowing people down?