The hatred towards cyclists/horse riders etc

[RH1234]

Following on from a conversation on another thread; AIBU to think that the hatred towards all cyclists/other road users I.e. horses is completely atrocious and unjustified.

Lots of people will make comments about “I bet they were in Lycra”, “I dislike road cyclists”, “they don’t even pay road tax”.

My question is not; do you hate cyclists. My question is why do you hate me someone you have not met) as a cyclist?

For perspective:

1. I pay VED (Road tax doesn’t exist) on 3 vehicles.
2. I have insurance for my bikes - which includes public liability etc. My cycle insurance is genuinely more expensive than my car, I also have free insurance through British Cycling.
3. I don’t run red lights (for transparency, I have been through one red light, floor sensors don’t pick up carbon fibre, it was 5am, after waiting a few minutes, with no cars I went through)
4. I cycle an average of 19-23mph, I can overtake tractors near me, I’m smaller than a tractor surely you can pass me.
5. I do ride two abreast if in a group, but if passing is difficult, as per the Highway Code we ensure you can pass when safe.
6. When riding on my own, I wave cars past so they can often go before they can see.
7. Yes I wear Lycra - but you try cycling 100 miles without decent chamois in place. I won’t mention leg hair as that’s a whole different subject for you.
8. My wife use to love cycling, but won’t ride on the road now due to the drivers attitudes.

AIBU to be annoyed that I don’t do any of the things people moan about, yet people will hate me, some people will hurl abuse, some people will literally try and drive me off the road (luckily not that often for the last one)

All I want is, to enjoy the sport I’m love, get fit and then spend the time with my family. Yet my wife has said to me, she is anxious when I’m out and follows me on find my iPhone, because she’s terrified someone will one day leave me for dead in a ditch.

Surely a two minute delay is not unreasonable? I don’t judge based on hobbies or backgrounds, why am I judged?

AIBU in thinking that those who state they hate cyclists clearly are either media influenced or just plain horrible people.

Apologies, this has turned into more of a rant than a AIBU, but I’m sure you get the gist.

Yeah never any excuse for pushing someone into a canal! That path however is very narrow and obviously unsuitable for cyclists.

Perception of speed is just that, your perception and my perception. She didn’t hit them, she stopped before them, therefore she rode safe for her. They made no effort to move, then pushed. There is literally no justification for what happened to her.

As I say, if she was on a bike and running, would you have the same opinion, no. Funny enough the guy would have just stepped to the side, like he should have done in this case.

There is literally no justification.

He shouldn't have pushed her and if he is identified and caught, he will no doubt be prosecuted.

But once again you have a cyclist that believes that they did nothing wrong.
Did they deserve to be pushed in to the canal? once again No, but taking the hierarchy of road usage she should have been more aware of the greater risk that she posed to the pedestrians and acted accordingly.

Whether you think it’s suitable or not:

“Today, this Manchester canal is a green link from the city centre to Ashton-under-Lyne, bordered by an interesting mix of modern and industrial architecture. Improvements to the towpath have made it into a pleasant route, accessible to walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users.” from the River Canal Trust.

Most people don’t want cyclists on the road, shall we magically pedal to make them fly? As you’re literally leaving no options…

Makes you wonder what she would have done if it had been a wheelchair user!

She hit no one, she stopped when they didn’t move over.
He hurled abuse because she’s was a cyclist and then pushed her in the canal.

where’s the justification?

Likely stopped and let them pass… what’s your point?

If you read what I posted you would see that I said that he was wrong.

The difference between you and me is that she clearly scared these people as well, so she was also wrong.

My point is that she would have done the same thing with someone that couldn't move as fast and was taking up the whole path.

She is not a saint and needs to rethink how she rides.

OP no one is trying to justify pushing her in the canal. But surely you can see that there is more to riding safely than just not hitting someone?! I had a near miss with a bus that pulled out in front of me. But it didn't hit me so that's ok, right?

And of course people wouldn't have the same opinion if she hadn't been on a bike because she wouldn't have posed the same risk to other path users.

Tribalism - base human nature. Hatred of other. Hatred of different.

coupled with a little guilt at the exercise and low carbon footprint that they don’t care about at all but it still niggles in their brain

and in many cases a feeling of inadequacy with a pumped ego when they get in a car

of course the cyclist must recall that not all drivers are idiots and it’s only the dangerous aggressive idiots that you notice

What risk?

The two sets of people were able to see each other, the cyclist was not going particularly quickly to start with and slowed down as she approached and went past the dog walker.

Absolutely no justification for what happened at all.

For a brief second, I thought I’d watched a different video to above comments, then you replied.

Thankfully, whilst I admitted to being “nuts” and “annoying” in earlier posts, at least I still appear to have my marbles haha

from the article

"Footage from the cyclist's bike camera shows Klaudia braking in front of the couple as one of them appears to shout for her to 'slow down'. The 34-year-old can be heard protesting that they have a dog but the man angrily retorted 'yeah but you're on a f**king bike'."

So she was going fast enough and did not slow down quick enough for the pedestrian to believe he was at risk, and at no point did she stop.

As for risk.
Width of the path.
Speed of the bike.
Width of the handle bars and pedals.
The dog.
Her position on the path.
His position of the path.

There are more. but if you think that this situation was risk free then I hope that you don't ride a bike or drive a car.

and again I haven't justified what he did, he was wrong.

The cyclist was going far too fast and stopped far too close to the pedestrians. I would have been terrified in that situation. It’s not the pedestrians job to jump out of her way. She should not have been assaulted, but she isn’t an innocent victim in this incident.

Is it a wide path, we have a path which is narrow and not many walkers , l have a westie and walkers only one or two, why push someone into the canel they might not be able to swim . With cyclists on the Oxford to Banbury canal near oxford cyclist slow and stop , even ask where they are, get off and walk , this is nice a shared space

Dh has cycled in many countries- it’s only the English that aggressive and awful to cyclists 😳. He cycled the length of France without one incident from a driver not one. In England it’s vile abuse and swerving at him. So depressing.

I don’t hate cyclists when I’m driving but don’t get me started on cyclists when I’m walking along my local canal towpath. Everyday some twat will shout or ring a bell (if I’m lucky) and expect me and my kids to jump into the nearest bush so as to avoid the cyclist having to adjust their speed or god forbid even stop. Can you imagine if a car refused to slow down and just honked their horn obnoxiously behind a bike and expected them to get off the road.

I lived in Spain for a while, cycled all the time, as your DH, never had a problem on any road.

I was hit by a car once, they gave me a lift home with my bike and paid for all the bike repairs (around £500), not once did they say, sorry you were a hazard.

As soon as a person identifies as a cyclist, they are the problem apparently, as demonstrated in this thread by many people.

So maybe, whilst I am a cyclist, a MAMIL (just short of middle aged but I’ll take it), a Lycra warrior, and all the others, maybe I should just identify as a car, that will solve it all.

How about, instead of jumping into bushes, you just calmly move to one side and allow them to pass?

Agreed there are bad cyclists, and awful for you and your kids. I don’t actually ride towpaths as I know I ride too fast for them.

Just to point out your last sentence, thats an extremely common occurrence on the roads… hence my thread.

so we can agree then that some drivers and some cyclists are dickheads. Therefore it’s not that there’s a vendetta against cyclists but that just humans in general can be pretty shitty 🤷‍♀️

if a bike is travelling quickly with no intention of slowing down then there isn’t time to ‘calmly’ do anything especially manoeuvring small kids and a buggy. How about the cyclist “calmly” adjusts their speed to accommodate other users in the same way I would in my car around bikes/horses on a road?

That was never a question really, it’s very obvious that there’s good and bad on both sides.

My original post was more around, why when I do everything in my power to be courteous, safe and rule abiding do people still actively become abusing and suddenly want to kill be in their metal box.

I just wanted to understand the justification behind why I deserved to not see my wife and daughter ever again, and the most common denominator is because I might delay someone briefly.