to think cyclists on country lanes are selfish gits

[justonemorethen]

Ok not talking about children,people nipping around town or coming back from the pub.IMHO thats who bikes were designed for.
I just hate those people who use country lanes to do their time trials and cycle up and down the same hill to make their calves bigger than their brains.

Roads surely were designed to get people from A to B. They weren't designed to be a fitness track or a playground. I really resent getting stuck behind some lyric clad arse (and they are ususally in packs) at 20 miles an hour. I can't overtake cos it's a country lane you see. I'm not a speed freak, I am happy to slow down for horses or to be behind a tractor.The differnce is they are meant to be there. I don't think townie gits who have nothing better to do should clog up our country lanes when they could use country parks or dual carriageways.I wouldn't mind if they even appreciated the countryside they go through but I don't think I've ever seen one stopping to have a picnic or looking at the wildlife.It;s head down with those stupid glasses and clothes that would scare the animals

There are so many on a Sunday where I live that it's getting dangerous. Still it'll be the poor motorist blamed for going about their business rather than the cyclist won't it.

I live in 'the first Cycling City' - ie Bristol and can say that this type of attitude (four wheels good, two wheels bad) is very prevalent here.
I have had car drivers change lanes into me after overtaking me (so they definitely knew I was there) and have had verbal abuse hurled from car windows for being 2ft out from the kerb (as I was taught to do on a Cycling City cycle course).
I have had taxicabs overtake so close to me that their wing mirror has brushed my arm.
After one driver followed me up a side road, beeping, swearing, revving and swerving at me after I had the nerve to remain in my lane when pulling up to stop for a red light (rather than getting out of his way and letting him take my place in the queue) I reported the matter to the Avon and Somerset Police. Who did precisely nothing.
I have now stopped cycling in Bristol, despite having a spanking new bike on my employer's cycle scheme.
All because some fuckwit drivers think that they need to get to the next red light two seconds quicker and don't mind who they maim or kill to achieve this.

Y A B V U

OP is obviously being unreasonable, and a complete arse to boot. I commute to work by bike and laugh my merry head off as I whizz past the poor lardy-arsed car drivers stuck in their metal boxes. More people should get out on their bikes, no question. You'll be richer, fitter, slimmer and an altogether cooler, happier person, not eaten up with bitterness, aggression and spite. So there!

I wish drivers would learn not to shout at cyclists. I was just cycling back with my daughter in her bike seat behind me from the park to pick up up my son, and some silly woman in an otherwise empty car shouts as she drives by (the road was wide enough for two 10-tonne trucks to pass, let alone a car and a bicycle) 'Why don't you use the cycle path'.

Usually when this sort of thing happens I'm pedaling hard, trying to keep up with (or overtake) the traffic, working hard, which doesn't make me well-disposed to idiots, so I shouted after her 'FUCK OFF'. Of course in retrospect I should have said 'why don't you use the bus', but it's hard to come up with witty repostes on the spur of the moment....

Anyway I cheered up when I went to pick my son up and a woman there said 'your friend is here for you'

Militant bloody cyclists everywhere are selfish gits. They want it all their own way. They really are a particular breed of unreasonable, pathetic, domgnatic, blinkered idiots.

One minute they're on the road and demand to be treated with the utmost respect by drivers as fellow road users but the minute the traffic lights are red they mount the pavement or just go through them with no regard for anyone.

They make me sick, and if one ploughs into you when they dismount the kerb and join the road again they won't have any insurance.

The really militant cyclists even shun wearing helmets on a point of principle.

They're bloody nuts.

bicycles are less dangerous than dogs, that's why they don't have insurance.

and bicycle helmets don't save lives, studies have shown that they make car drivers pass closer, which offsets they very negligible protection they offer.

Militant bloody motorists everywhere are selfish gits. They want it all their own way. They really are a particular breed of unreasonable, pathetic, domgnatic, blinkered idiots.

One minute they're on the road and demand to be treated with the utmost respect by cyclists as fellow road users but the minute the traffic lights are red they go through on amber and turn right following three cars on red talk on their mobile or just have no regard for anyone.

They make me sick, and if one ploughs into you when you are cycling on the road again they won't have any insurance and the police will not prosecute.

The really militant motorists even shun wearing seatbelts on a point of principle.

They're bloody nuts.

and if one ploughs into you, you will probably be dead

yes but bikes ploughing into you can kill you too, especially if you are old and frail, or you hit your head when you fall. Still haven't got over that poor girl dying (last year, wasn't it) because some abject wanker refused to brake and ploughed into her - he didn't even have the grace to look apologetic after the court case either. Knobs like him do give other cyclists a bad name, sadly.

Cycle helmets are a bloody nuisance and they rarely save lives. Studies have shown that there is no difference in mortality rates from cycling accidents with or without a helmet, yet they are pushed as being essential for "safe cycling". Here in Australia it's illegal to cycle on the roads without one - but there is no valid research to say they improve the situation.

bikes ploughing into you can kill you, but then so can dogs. My mum got crippled by a boisterous dog knocking her over.

There are a tiny handful of bicycle-related deaths each year, such that each and every case is made into front-page news.

If they did that with motor vehicle deaths, the newspapers would be filled with nothing else.

I was behind a very well behaved (and rather fit looking!) cyclist this evening who was doing about 30, but pulled in slightly when he realised I was behind him.

I pootled along behind him for about 1.5 miles, overtook when I could see a clear stretch ahead and he very courteously waved.

He's a GoodBoyCyclist. It's the nobs driving 4 abreast round blind bends that give a bad name to others.

why won't the police prosecute a driver who ploughs into a cyclist? Are you saying they won't prosecute unless the cyclist dies, even if the cyclist is severely injured? Cos that's bloody wrong, if so.

Someguy - I am not having a go at cyclists. I was one for many years. Even after I got my driving licence.

Three years ago my mum fell off her bike travelling at 25 miles an hour in Indai (she hit some sand on a corner going down a hill). She bounced on her pelvis, fracturing it in multiple places, and then on her head. Her helmet saved her life (you could see how it had compressed), although she still suffered a head injury.

She made probably a 70% recovery.

Unfortunately, she is now suffering early and rapid onset fronto temporal dementia which is where the damage had been and is almost definitely as a result of the accident as that was where the damage had been. Three years ago she was a fit 66 year old with years of active retirement ahead of her. Now she has a prognosis of 2 years and my dad is her full time carer (although I am no sure how much longer he will cope)

The helmet gave her a chance. OK, ultimately, it hasn't worked out - but at least it was a chance.

I had a bad fall a year or so ago (my fault) where I hit the back of my head really hard. I hate to think what might have happened if I had not been wearing a helmet.

Helmets may not protect against cars but they do protect against other accidents.

I blame Jeremy Clarkson for the sort of attitudes expressed by the OP.

He has been to driving, what Rupert Murdoch has been to public discourse and the media.

Can I also point out that road cyclists are clipped into their pedals i.e. it's very difficult for them to stop completely because they'll fall over. I think car drivers would do well to remember that.

OP YABVU.

Oh grow up. Loads of people where I live cycle on country lanes. Wearing stupid lycra, with bums in air. BECAUSE WE ALL DON'T HAVE CARS BECAUSE WE CAN'T BLOODY WELL AFFORD TO DRIVE.

We follow road rules, we don't mind if you overtake us safely.

We wear lycra because commuting 20 or more miles a day on a bike is pretty unpleasant wearing normal clothes. We ride racing bikes because riding a bloody Pashley is ridiculous for the distances we cover. And before you start jeering about expensive bikes, my racing bike is 38 years old and cost me 20 quid.

Goldenticket, it?s not difficult to unclip from your pedals at all, you can do it very quickly. Of course occasionally you are required to make a total arse of yourself and fail to unclip, thus falling over sideways slowly still attached to your bike, usually in front of a large crowd of spectators at some traffic lights.

Thankfully most of the posters here seem to be sensible car drivers/cyclists who think OP's post is disgraceful and the nob-ends who want to tear up the country side (its all about me! me! me! the Tony Blair generation) are in the minority. I'm going to have a cup of tea in a bit and watch the Tour of Switzerland with DS (yet another country where cyclists are welcome and motorists aren't twatty).

Nasty post, justonemorethen- hope my family and I don't live anywhere near you.

I don't think we are either cyclists or motorists, for God's sake - lots of us are both, and those who behave badly on bikes do behind the wheel, in my experience. "Townie gits"??? "Our countryside". Get over yourself.

but without cyclists, we'd miss out on sights like this

YABVU. Roads are for bikes as wells as cars, Also often peaple in cars are not going somewhere important but just out for a deive,

lucykaty - thats good....

I've sent the link on to my dad!