Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To call a cyclist silly

28 replies

bumpyboo · 28/07/2009 10:49

Walking through the park with DD who is still unsteady on her feet as only two. Cyclist comes up from behind her going quite fast, passes really close by thus making her wobble on her feet if you know what I mean.
I was a bit fed up... its a really wide path and we were the only people on it, and so said something to my daughter like "silly man cycling so close" . He then screeches to a halt, comes back and has a go at me. Apparently he doesnt appreciate being called silly and has a right to cycle anywhere he likes at what speed he likes.
AIBU or just PFB?

OP posts:
edam · 28/07/2009 10:54

He's a dick. Good grief, if this is how he reacts when someone calls him 'silly' he'll burst a blood vessel when a driver shouts something FAR less flattering!

GetOrfMoiLand · 28/07/2009 10:56

How stupid of him.

Also, intimidating when it is (presumably) just you and a small child.

What a prat. Agree he has probably been called a lot worse by drivers.

WidowWadman · 28/07/2009 11:00

As a cyclist myself, I think it depends entirely on the situation. I keep having pedestrians stepping out in front of me without looking, and then, weirdly blaming me the cyclist for not paying attention. A collision between a cyclist and a pedestrian can result in serious injuries (including death) for both parties, and also expensive damage to the bike, so the cyclist would naturally want to avoid it.

If your daughter was wobbling on the cycle path, I think he's having a point.

I'm not saying you were, and sometimes cyclists behave like idiots, too, but I frequently see pedestrians walking on cycle paths (when it's a wide path with half of it marked for bikes) and then expecting the cyclists to slow down, pick their way around them etc.

That said, when I see a small child I try to leave a very wide gap between me and the child, same as I try to leave a wide gap between me and a cyclist when driving a car.

edam · 28/07/2009 11:06

What makes you think it was a cycle path, Widow? Bumpy just said a path, in a park. No need for rider to get so close. Seems very likely he was being a dick.

Many cyclists seem to think they have a God-given right to bully pedestrians. I walked through the Greenwich foot tunnel (under the Thames) yesterday with ds. BIG sings saying no cycling, you can only WALK your bike through. Dozens of cyclists ignored it - only saw two who dismounted.

edam · 28/07/2009 11:06

Signs, even! Maybe if there had been a full choir singing VERY loudly the idiot cyclists would have paid more attention?

Original poster
bumpyboo · 28/07/2009 11:09

Widow, I am a cyclist too, however the described incident wasn't on a cycle path, just on an ordinary path through the park that is shared by everyone. Its about about 10 feet wide so plenty of room. Had there been a collision in this instance I think DD would have come off worse!

OP posts:
Original poster
bumpyboo · 28/07/2009 11:12

oo edam, thats given me a good idea, will go to Greenwich park this week with DD. Haven't been for ages, will be a nice change. Hope there's no cyclists tho!

OP posts:
GetOrfMoiLand · 28/07/2009 11:13

When I walked to work, I got sick of cyclists storming their way down the pavement, ringing their bells so I moved out of the way, or in several cases shouting 'Move!. Pissed me off no end.

WidowWadman · 28/07/2009 11:15

Edam - in some parks you get these half and half path/cycle paths situations, that's why I said it depends on the situation. I also said "I'm not saying you were".

There's often a kneejerk reaction to blame cyclists and blame them immediately. I acknowledge that sometimes cyclists are dickheads, too (and did above), but often they're blamed for situations which were not their fault, but the fault of the ones who then shout abuse.

Now with the clarification in the OP's second post, I guess that it was the cyclist who's in the wrong.

KingCanuteIAm · 28/07/2009 11:17

He's an idiot, my dd was run over by a cyclist who was talking to his mate behind him - looking at him whilst talking but cycling forwards... He was a bit cross about the words I used at him but I figured that he deserved everyone of them, especially as we were in a pedestrian area!

Don't worry about it, some people are just to tied up in themselves to see anything outside their own head.

jumpingbeans · 28/07/2009 11:21

If he got the hump being called silly, he would have blown a fuse after i'd thrown a few fucks at him - who in their right minds would cycle that close to a baby toddling.

Rollergirl1 · 28/07/2009 11:58

What is it with cyclists on the pavement these days?! I picked up my kids from nursery last week, had parked outside my house and (admittedly) took rather a long time to get both children and their respective bags out of the car. In the meantime an adult male who was riding on the pavement stopped the other side of my car and waited for me to finish. I didn't thank him when I had finished as was pre-occupied with the kids. The man then preceded to kick off at me for not thanking him for waiting, to which I replied that he wasn't meant to be cycling on the pavement anyway. If it was a pedestrian I would have attempted to get kids out of the way to let them past and thanked them if they waited for me. But seeing as was a cyclist I was bit miffed that he was on the pavement in the first place. Was I BU?

more · 28/07/2009 11:59

Sounds like he was looking for an argument, and you "gave" him a good excuse to let off some steam. It might be that he felt he had to cut through the park because some donkey driver had almost killed him on the road or something of that ilk. However from your story he was in the wrong.

KingCanuteIAm · 28/07/2009 12:00

On a path through the park it is possible he did have the right to be there - however it does not give him the right to leave all his manners and consideration for others at teh gate on the way in!

ShellingPeas · 28/07/2009 12:28

The cyclist was an idiot and should have been more considerate of your toddler.

This guy was a twat but there are lots of responsible cyclists there too. Conversely there are also walkers who endanger themselves and are inconsiderate when using shared paths e.g. those who walk 4 abreast across both the walkers' side and the cyclists' side and then complain if you ask them to move over, and those mad people who let their dogs run loose and run between the spokes of your front wheel.

HerBeatitude · 28/07/2009 12:49

No I think silly was quite restrained in the circumstances.

Reckless, selfish and generally all-round twattish would not be unreasonable

monkeyfeathers · 28/07/2009 13:22

Loads of people insist on cycling on the pavements round here too. I don't know why an adult would want to cycle on the pavement. Weirdly you also get cyclists who insist on cycling on the roads when there's a cycle path running alongside the road (and you can see it). Given that people drive (very badly) at 60 and 70 miles an hour on these roads, I find this extremely odd.

There are cycle paths through loads of the parks here, and they're shared with pedestrians (and not in the half and half way, it's just a free-for-all). It's a nightmare when it's busy. I don't see why they can't just have separate paths.

OtterInaSkoda · 28/07/2009 13:24

Twattish indeed.

I'm a cyclist (as is dp and ds) and we regularly use a shared route however we always slow right down/stop/dismount as appropriate when nearing small children, old folks, people who are clearly walking along with their heads in the clouds and so on.

I do sometimes use non-shared paths - aka pavements (!) - too BUT pedestrians always have priority and I only do so where cycling on the road would be lunacy (uphill on a v.busy road - if motorists could stop doing 50+ in the 30 zone I'm thinking of here I'd get back where I belong)and the pavement is sufficiently wide. And of course I go dead slow/dismount etc if I'm going to pass anyone at all. I know it's against the law and that various people hate me for acting as I do but I am not a danger to anyone.

The twat that had a go at you however is a danger to all. I dread to think what he's like behind the wheel of a car. Pillocks like him give all cyclists a bad name

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 28/07/2009 13:40

YANBU

I'm a cyclist and can't believe the twattish behaviour of some cyclists. I always slow right down for dogs and children regardless of whether I am in a designated cycle lane or it's a shared path. You never know what they are going to do.

I had an incident with another cyclist when cycling along a cycle path with Ds1 (6) on his bike. It was very narrow and typically you cycle on the left and the cyclist coming towards us should have moved over. He didn't, came within inches of DS1 who panicked and fell off his bike

I was much less polite than you op and called him all the names under the sun And even though he turned round and saw DS1 lying on the floor he didn't stop!

The stupid thing is that if DS1 had wobbled at all while the cyclist was passing he would have come off his bike

Original poster
bumpyboo · 28/07/2009 13:53

Doyou, that is horrible, fancy him not stopping to apologize and check if your son was alright... ho hum.

Yes Otter I agree the bad behavior of some does give all a bad name.

OP posts:
KingCanuteIAm · 28/07/2009 13:56

I think the cyclist who ran over dd may have intended to appologise - I am not sure I drew breath long enough to let him though
Poor dd actually had tyre marks up her legs and back and over her shoulder so I was not really bothered about letting him get a word in edgeways!

OtterInaSkoda · 28/07/2009 14:05

Monkeyfeathers a lot of cycle paths are just plain dangerous, which is why cyclists (not to mention motorists and pedestrians) ignore them.

There are some stunners here

silverten · 28/07/2009 14:16

And there are many, many cyclepaths which can only be used safely on a bike if you are prepared to spend all your time slowing down, swerving around walkers/dogs and generally not going much faster than walking pace.

Quite a few people cycle because its faster than walking- and then get shouted at because they are using the road, not the rubbly, pot-holed, shared-use pavement that's full of pensioners, signs and trees.

monkeyfeathers · 28/07/2009 16:26

Those are some impressively bad cycle paths.

The ones I'm thinking about round here are generally fine (OH uses them to get to work and they're a million times better than any of them). What amazes me is that any cyclists round here are willing to go on the roads, which are badly maintained (with most of the potholes etc exactly where the poor cyclists would be) and seem to encourage the most crazy driving. I'm often quite scared of it and glad that I'm inside a car and cyclists really don't have the same protection as I do.

In any case, I think the shared use thing is quite unfair really. Cyclists do go faster than pedestrians and it seems stupid (and not enormously safe) to lump them in together (and more stupid to put obstacles in the way).

sarah293 · 28/07/2009 16:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Swipe left for the next trending thread