Author Topic: DOTD  (Read 210680 times)

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1000 on: 14 July, 2021, 05:33:01 am »
Yesterday, driving Westerly along the A5 just before Weston Park we were talking about how this stretch is still as narrow as it was in our motorcycling days of 50 years ago.
Our lane was clear in front of us and coming East bound was a big lorry.
Suddenly, from a very minor road, a cyclist shot out onto the A5 in front of the lorry.
The lorry braked hard and swerved across the road into our lane to avoid going over the cyclist. I braked very hard and stopped as tucked in the verge as I could get and the lorry managed to slide through the gap.
The cyclist, in a scarlet and black diamond shirt, lived another day.
Still, a miss is as good as a mile although it never felt like that at the time.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

HTFB

  • The Monkey and the Plywood Violin
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1001 on: 14 July, 2021, 10:47:11 am »
Darwin of the Day?
Not especially helpful or mature

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1002 on: 14 July, 2021, 12:35:32 pm »
Dunce of the Day.
Rust never sleeps

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1003 on: 31 July, 2021, 10:28:46 am »
A POB, whom I assume was FORRIN from

(a) his clothing and
(b) the fact that he was hugging the right kerb, causing much consternation among drivers.  And me, as I had* to pass him on a narrow bridge.  On the left.

*traffic light controlled, so no hanging about
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1004 on: 08 August, 2021, 04:58:34 pm »
I'm not sure if DOTD in this case was myself, the other cyclist, both or neither, but in any case, a faintly amusing and vaguely interesting incident. I came to a T junction with a hill. I wanted to turn right, down the hill. I couldn't see what might be coming up the hill because of a tall van parked on the corner, so I did (most of) what you're meant to do: stopped, looked both ways, then pulled out a short way so I could see round the van, stopped again. Except actually I forgot to do the shoulder check you're meant to do before moving, so that's one dick point to me. Having pulled forward in this way, I could now see a a cyclist coming up the hill, just alongside the parked van, with a car behind him. So I waited. The cyclist turned sharp left as soon as he'd cleared the van, looking as if he as going to enter the side street I'd just pulled out of. But no, he rode over the white lines behind me then pulled out round the next parked car and carried up on the hill. Meanwhile the car had overtaken. I'm not sure if he did this deliberately to let the car overtake or what.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1005 on: 08 August, 2021, 08:07:06 pm »
Sounds like no dicks here to me.

Guy

  • Retired
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1006 on: 14 October, 2021, 07:52:18 am »
Walking to work in the fog this morning I saw a flashing red light some way ahead. I normally see the paper boy as he goes on his round so didn't think anything of it. Then I noticed it was getting closer. "I'm not walking *that* fast", thinks I. Enter hoodie onna BSO, flashing red lights front and rear. Pillock doesn't know if he's coming or going.
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

The Movers

  • We just work here
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1007 on: 17 November, 2021, 11:51:25 am »
If Jellylegs is wondrin' where 'is post gorn, we shifted it downstairs into “Today’s motorised moron”, on account of 'ow this thread is for dickish behaviour by them Bloody Cyclists.

We'd string 'em up.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1008 on: 17 November, 2021, 07:00:23 pm »
Oops. Sorry!  And thanks for sorting.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1009 on: 18 November, 2021, 09:22:32 am »
This morning, returning in my car down our local high street from supershopping (@08:15, peak driver miscellany) I stop to allow car ahead to reverse park on the left. She is signalling, and not especially fast. Cyclist who has entered from a side road, goes to pass this car as she starts to reverse (she has stopped with offside across the white line) as the front swings out the cyclist has to swerve to avoid. He then decides to circle round to have a word with the driver. As i pass, I wind the window down and tell him "That's all on you mate, all on you". He shakes his head and rides off. His story will be clearly how he was nearly killed by a motorist and another moton told him it was all his fault.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1010 on: 18 November, 2021, 03:09:08 pm »
You choose to bring a piece of heavy awkward machinery into a busy area, you check your mirrors every time before moving it.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1011 on: 18 November, 2021, 03:34:24 pm »
....which if you read my - albeit abbreviated - account, she had (or at least there's no evidence to show that she didn't) as she had started to manoeuvre.

My take is that the cyclist had misread the situation, because of the queue of traffic and because he had just joined the road, and was moving enthusiastically based on his mistaken assumptions and that his observation and road skills  just didn't match up to his own opinion of them. The success of his evasive action he will, no doubt, put down to his fantastic ability and spidey sense.


Re: DOTD
« Reply #1012 on: 18 November, 2021, 05:15:19 pm »
You choose to bring a piece of heavy awkward machinery into a busy area, you check your mirrors every time before moving it.

Trying to watch rear of car and simultaneously watch side mirror for dickheads on bikes is maybe possible if you are Marty Feldmann but otherwise not


Re: DOTD
« Reply #1013 on: 18 November, 2021, 05:22:53 pm »
My take is that the cyclist had misread the situation, because of the queue of traffic and because he had just joined the road, and was moving enthusiastically based on his mistaken assumptions and that his observation and road skills  just didn't match up to his own opinion of them. The success of his evasive action he will, no doubt, put down to his fantastic ability and spidey sense.

I had a colleague friend like that. He used to boast that he had "ridden loads in London".

Sometimes he'd ride back with me after work and what "riding loads in London" turned out to mean was riding like a total dickhead with no recognition whatsoever of other traffic. He'd weave in and out like an arsehole often having near misses when he would appear from behind a car waiting to let someone in or out of a sideroad.

He came to my 50th birthday party, part of which included 2 hours on the Newport velodrome, and many of the other non-cycling guests were nervous about riding on the track. I assured them that they would be fine and that if anybody crashed it would be Ben.

Ben duly obliged.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1014 on: 18 November, 2021, 08:28:25 pm »
Deliver-something rider who leaned his bike against a hedge further up our street, leaving the forward-facing FRIKKIN LAZER in full Super Essex Disco Frenzy mode while handing over his payload of lukewarm comestibles.  I was pushing barakta up the hill in her WSO, and the strobe-o-vision did absolutely nothing for either  a) her banging migraine  or  b) my pothole-avoidance skillz.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1015 on: 19 November, 2021, 04:38:28 pm »
I tend to find that they strangely have e bikes but no lights (and ride on the pavement half the time).
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1016 on: 19 November, 2021, 05:44:56 pm »
I was contemplating the current zeitgeist in bike lighting as I passed various users of the A38 cycleway earlier.  It seems that the Tesco Value 2*AA anaemic glow-worm style lights (with optional disco patterns that serve only to make the light appear less bright at distances greater than about 10 metres) are now out of fashion, with bicycle lighting tending to three main groups:

- Bike (also scooter and skateboard) ninjas.  Might have a pedal reflector, or the glow of their phone screen.
- Good quality European-style static lighting, most usually on off-the-shelf e-bikes that aren't too mountain-bikey, or the few Sensible City Bikes (frequently Bromptons) with dynamo lighting.
- FRIKKIN LAZERS with all the social nicety of a nuclear explosion.  Nearly always on flashing mode[1].  Chinese mountain bike lights from eBay are out, and compact USB-rechargeable be-seen[2] lights are in.  The main practical effect of this technological advancement is that it's greatly increased the scope for mounting them in odd places and at random angles, to better obfuscate the position of the cyclist.


[1] At a frequency that's either seizure-inducing, or low enough for an entire SMIDSY event to take place during the off period.
[2] Mostly as an after-image.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1017 on: 19 November, 2021, 05:56:05 pm »
Seems a reasonable classification. I'd say that group 2, if it includes anything with a static beam that's not too dim nor too bright but doesn't necessarily have a shaped beam, does seem to be increasing in popularity and is probably in the majority now. Probably this is because of better availability, LED and battery technology has brought down prices of decent lights (or made cheap lights decent quality, in terms of light output if not build quality).

E-scooters are worth a special mention. The hire scooters have decent group 2 lights. Most private scooters are group 1, ie no lights, but a few of the fancier models imitate a Spielberg spaceship or articulated lorry, with rows of coloured lights down the sides, fancy disco things shining on the underside and so on. I've never seen lights on a skateboard.

Finally I'd note that the car thief I saw a few nights ago was using his bike light to investigate the interior of the car he'd broken into. He hadn't bothered with a rear light though.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #1018 on: 20 November, 2021, 07:09:14 pm »
When I think scooters and skateboards I think small kids riding on the pavement - and therefore am not in favour of them requiring lights.  It's not back to the future, get your skateboard off the road.
Sadly lazerbeams in the eye are the logical conclusion of SMIDSY and the race to being the biggest schmuck on the road.  I still find car lights dazzling at night so have no special complaint about cyclists (but this is based on my shite eye sight).
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1019 on: 20 November, 2021, 07:20:16 pm »
Agreed about car headlights.  Especially on SUVs (the main reason I don't use the trike more in winter).  Though at least they don't flash.

The thing about the lighting arms race is that many of the pedal-powered participants don't seem to be putting much thought into what actually helps them be seen, other than buying a really bright light.  I'm not convinced a single flashing light on your helmet is particularly helpful at making your position clear to other road users, for example.  Not that that's much different to... [continued in Lift The Lid p94 - Ed]

Which reminds me - followed a cyclist wearing a reflective arm band thing on her left arm earlier.  Presumably a foreign student who's been here just long enough to momentarily forget about the whole wrong-side-of-the-road thing.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1020 on: 22 November, 2021, 10:36:20 am »
Or it could have been one of those phone-holders that runners use and she just prefers it on the left?

As for skateboards, I mostly see them ridden on the road. The pavements aren't wide enough to do tricks or get speed up. But then I live in a sort of proto-LTN; most of the roads don't go anywhere and so have little traffic (at least since they got rid of commuter parking), and it's a hill so good for skateboarders.

Unless we're talking about electric skateboards, hoverboards and the like, which are a different thing again (and may have funky disco lights).
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1021 on: 22 November, 2021, 11:53:09 am »
Or it could have been one of those phone-holders that runners use and she just prefers it on the left?

Ah, good point.  I didn't get a look at the front of it.



Quote
As for skateboards, I mostly see them ridden on the road. The pavements aren't wide enough to do tricks or get speed up. But then I live in a sort of proto-LTN; most of the roads don't go anywhere and so have little traffic (at least since they got rid of commuter parking), and it's a hill so good for skateboarders.

People skateboarding for transport seem to use a mixture of pavement or road as traffic and surface conditions dictate.  They all love the new cycleway, though, as it's a lovely smooth surface with no motorists and a minimum of wandering pedestrians.

Those skateboarding for skateboarding's sake tend to stick to the places that are out-of-the-way or interesting.  Obviously the local skate park, but also assorted car parks and campus cul-de-sacs when they're not in use.  The university security people seem to tolerate this as long as they're not making a nuisance of themselves in the pedestrian bits.

cygnet

  • I'm part of the association
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1022 on: 07 April, 2022, 08:22:59 pm »
Here's a tip, if you must ride down the right hand side of a double queue of cyclists on the bike path waiting at traffic lights.

When you try and turn left, you will have to wait untill that entire queueueueue has passed you no matter how hopefully you stick out your hand to indicate. Next time, just join the back, m'kay.
I Said, I've Got A Big Stick

benborp

  • benbravoorpapa
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1023 on: 29 April, 2022, 05:26:52 pm »
The club rider in my trailer.

Apparently it was because the trailer was wobbling about.

Which must have been pretty serious because I was stopped at a stop line and had been for about four seconds when he ran up the back of me.
A world of bedlam trapped inside a small cyclist.

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #1024 on: 05 June, 2022, 10:21:01 am »
Yesterday, I returned home from Crawley by bus. As is the practice, My driver held the door shut to prevent another older woman from boarding until I was off (narrow aisle)

As she stepped back and I stepped off, a yoof on an MTB shot between us, at speed, missing her by around two inches. She called out that he shouldn't be on the footpath, and the reply was "Fuck off!"

I called after him "Pathetic little boy!", and he stopped in order to offer more gems of sparkling wordplay:
"Fuck off! I'll fucking break your fucking face!"
"You normally fight disabled old women?"
"Fucking smack you you cunt!" (getting off his bike) "You come here and say that!"
"No, you silly little boy, you come back here and try it in front of the buss CCTV! Go on! Be off with you!"

Yes, I actually used that phrase. The driver waited until he had indeed gone off, in which action he was encouraged vocally by a group of people on the other side of the road. I almost regretted him leaving, as I was actually in a mood where punching a young man in his twenties was an attractive idea. I suspect he may have been somewhat surprised at his reception.

Knob.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i