Author Topic: DOTD  (Read 210793 times)

Re: DOTD
« Reply #850 on: 23 October, 2019, 12:43:46 pm »
On Saturday evening, while waiting for the bus, I became aware of a mum and daughter singing team approaching. Turned out that they were cycling slowly towards me up the road (daughter in a bike seat on the back of the mums bike). The only way I could locate them visually was by the glowing end of a cigarette. No light on the back either (don't know about reflectors - no car around to light them up). I'm used to stealth student cyclists in the lit up bits of town. Not so stealth family units on bikes in the dodgy (and dodgily lit) suburbs. Sigh.

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #851 on: 23 October, 2019, 01:56:01 pm »
All in all, I consider this to be a good sign.  People using bikes!  In Birmingham!
Yeah, what is the world Birmingham coming to?  15 years ago it felt like I knew 90% the South Birmingham commuter cyclists (4.5 of them) by name.
25 years ago it was just me (Selly Oak to Northfield, then SO to Corporation Street).
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

yorkie

  • On top of the Galibier
Re: DOTD
« Reply #852 on: 23 October, 2019, 05:26:03 pm »
All in all, I consider this to be a good sign.  People using bikes!  In Birmingham!
Yeah, what is the world Birmingham coming to?  15 years ago it felt like I knew 90% the South Birmingham commuter cyclists (4.5 of them) by name.
25 years ago it was just me (Selly Oak to Northfield, then SO to Corporation Street).


About 22 years ago, I think I was approximately 25 to 33% of the West Birmingham (Hagley Road Chapter) cycle commuting team!  ;)


I lived on Holly Road (just before Edgbaston becomes Bearwood) and worked on Broad Street (Quayside Tower, above the stage of what was then Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club)  Normal route to work: wiggle through the back roads onto Portland Road, left onto Hagley Road, straight down the middle of the 2 lanes of traffic, through the 5 Ways underpass and into work!  :-D
Born to ride my bike, forced to work! ;)

British Cycling Regional A Track Commissaire
British Cycling Regional A Circuit Commissaire
Cycling Attendant, York Sport Village Cycle Circuit and Velodrome

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: DOTD
« Reply #853 on: 23 October, 2019, 06:44:48 pm »
25 years ago I was still in the Pershore Road gang, just before a change of office location changed my commute to Bristol Road.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #854 on: 13 November, 2019, 05:53:44 pm »
Heading down The Annoying Hill At Cotteridge™, another cyclist appears in the right hand lane.  He proceeds down the hill, picking up speed, and places his feet on the toptube, in lieu of a freewheel.  I observe the absence of a rear brake, and speed up a bit to come level, in order to observe the absence of a front brake.  I then notice the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill turn red, and wonder how he's going to handle that.  I slow a little to give room to evade any impending carnage...

(click to show/hide)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: DOTD
« Reply #855 on: 14 November, 2019, 07:51:41 pm »
Which reminds me of this, from Don Camillo:

Quote
City people's bicycles are utterly laughable. With gleaming metal gadgets, electric batteries, gears, baskets, chain-guards, speedometers and so on, they are mere toys and leg-exercisers. A genuine bicycle should weigh at least sixty-five pounds; it should have lost most of its paint and at least one pedal. All that should be left of the remaining pedal is the shaft, rubbed smooth and shiny by the sole of the rider's shoe. Indeed, this should be its only shiny feature. The handlebars (with no rubber tips to them) should not be at the conventional right angle to the wheels, but inclined at least twelve degrees one way or the other. A genuine bicycle has no mudguard over the rear wheel, and hanging before the front mudguard there should be a piece of automobile tire, preferably red, to ward off splashes of water. A rear mud¬guard may be allowed when the rider is excessively disturbed by the streak of mud that accumulates on his back during a rainstorm. But in this case the mudguard must be split open
in such a way that the rider can brake in so-called "American style," that is by pressing his trouser turn-up against the rear wheel.

There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

ian

Re: DOTD
« Reply #856 on: 14 November, 2019, 08:45:50 pm »
Back in my BMX accident youth, that was the established braking technique for when whim and fashion dictated we remove our brakes to perform some reckless stunt or other. Whim and Fashion being the twins of diabolical persuasion. You may resist the whispers of one, but together they're delectably persuasive, and yet neither of them knows the way to the nearest A&E.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #857 on: 14 November, 2019, 10:06:36 pm »
Are Whim and Fashion not best buddies with Finisterre and, er, the other one?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: DOTD
« Reply #858 on: 14 November, 2019, 10:20:34 pm »
You're on the ball, yes, Whim and Fashion are the executive assistants of Finestre, the Demon of All Such Things, and of course, Finestre herself is entirely delectably diabolical. That said, she made a trampoline out of the skin of the last person that called her that and bounced on it all summer, so I'd urge caution.

I'm not sure who the other one is. Jess the vampyric librarian is in Hell at the moment, but that's the fault of a brainwashed angel. I should probably extract her from that predicament before I cook supper. She's quite a sensible vampire though, would certainly only ride a bicycle with adequate braking systems.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #859 on: 15 November, 2019, 08:49:52 am »
Not sure if it's Stockholm Syndrome, but I find myself ever more intrigued by Jess et al.'s adventures. Can't they use their diabolical powers to convince the mothership to put you on gardening leave for a month or two so you can release the tales into the wild...?

ian

Re: DOTD
« Reply #860 on: 15 November, 2019, 12:25:01 pm »
Well, my sort of plan is to take a literary agent hostage. This is somewhat thwarted by the fact merely lying in a wait in a Bloomsbury footwell hasn't really taught me how to identify one. I end up apologizing a lot. Anyway, a project for Christmas, Operation Escape Mothership. Of course, the mothership pays actual money, whereas writing books less so.

In the meantime, Jess is stuck in the underwear section of a Hellish department store fighting off the demonic hoards with nothing other than a borrowed dismembered leg (she doesn't have her powers in Hell, of course). That kind of thing really never happens in my current job.

She still doesn't have a bicycle though, and I wouldn't criticise her riding style if she did. She's trying not to kill humans, but temptation is the fate of any diet.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #861 on: 19 November, 2019, 08:56:31 am »
At a rough estimate, 30% of the cyclists I saw in Oxford yesterday (around 6pm) didn't have lights. A few had lights either on the front or the back. One had a strange rear light that alternated red and white clashes. Special muppet points go to the person with the white light on the back (and no front light), and the other one with a red light on the front (and no back light). WFT?

Re: DOTD
« Reply #862 on: 19 November, 2019, 09:46:56 am »
WFT ?

What a Fucking Tosser ?
Rust never sleeps

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #863 on: 19 November, 2019, 10:15:04 am »
Special muppet points go to the person with the white light on the back (and no front light), and the other one with a red light on the front (and no back light). WFT?
Those are the symmetrical twins, minor Oxford celebrities, known as Tamsin and Tasmin.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #864 on: 19 November, 2019, 11:23:46 am »
WFT ?

What a Fucking Tosser ?
Typo - was intended to be WTF.  ::-)

HTFB

  • The Monkey and the Plywood Violin
Re: DOTD
« Reply #865 on: 19 November, 2019, 12:30:37 pm »
At a rough estimate, 30% of the cyclists I saw in Oxford yesterday (around 6pm) didn't have lights. A few had lights either on the front or the back. One had a strange rear light that alternated red and white clashes. Special muppet points go to the person with the white light on the back (and no front light), and the other one with a red light on the front (and no back light). WFT?
Eight out of nine Oxford students are rowers and more used to going backwards in groups.
Not especially helpful or mature

Re: DOTD
« Reply #866 on: 19 November, 2019, 12:58:11 pm »
London cyclists are similarly unbothered about lighting. And yet there isn't a spate of cyclists being knocked off every autumn when the clocks go back.

I find this an interesting counterpoint to the endless light up and reflective geegaws companies push on cyclists to "stay safe".

Re: DOTD
« Reply #867 on: 19 November, 2019, 01:09:48 pm »
London cyclists are similarly unbothered about lighting. And yet there isn't a spate of cyclists being knocked off every autumn when the clocks go back.

I find this an interesting counterpoint to the endless light up and reflective geegaws companies push on cyclists to "stay safe".
I could see them, because they were on well lit city streets. The most confusing were the ones with the wrong way around lights. However, I would prefer it in general if people didn't break the law. I don't know if TVP have had their annual "stop a cyclist" weekend yet (it's where they stop loads of unlit cyclists and ticket them with a special fine that gets cancelled if you show up with lights and a receipt at the police station).

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #868 on: 19 November, 2019, 01:24:43 pm »
I believe there's little if any evidence that bicycle lights make you any less likely to be driven into.

Personally, I find them useful for avoiding single-vehicle crashes, but no doubt risk compensation applies, and without them I'd just slow down.

I know this is the wrong thread, but since we're on the subject, I saw a kevved-up hatchback with red LED rings around the front fog lights yesterday.

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: DOTD
« Reply #869 on: 19 November, 2019, 01:39:01 pm »
There was a handful of dickheads on the Moonrakers audax ride on Friday night.

I've nothing against people who feel that in the first mile or so of the ride they have just GOT to get to the front, but if the people ahead of you are riding in traffic with the cars that are overtaking them straddling the centre lane, and are taking primary to keep clear of the door zone, then riding up on the inside and swerving front of them is not a particularly endearing way to behave.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: DOTD
« Reply #870 on: 20 November, 2019, 09:12:05 am »
I believe there's little if any evidence that bicycle lights make you any less likely to be driven into.

.
That might be the case, but they make a considerable difference on dark cycle paths and towpaths.

Cambridge has a similar proportion of utter muppets to Oxford, some also with red on the front (must the the rowers again). Mixing it with the joggers (so many joggers) on pitch-black cyclepaths is a sodding nightmare in winter.

I'm not sure what I dislike more, the muppets without lights, or the ones with super-bright lights pointing up. Yes, your light is impressively bright. Thank you so much for proving this by completely blinding me.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: DOTD
« Reply #871 on: 20 November, 2019, 12:36:24 pm »
That was one of the things I was thinking of when I said 'risk compensation' in the above post.  If I were to cycle without lights, I wouldn't go anywhere near open water, and I'd avoid a busy unlit path (dogs aside, you can't ride on night-vision if you keep getting blinded by cyclists).

IMHO the cyclists with FRIKKIN LAZERS strobing at your remaining eye are far more annoying than the unlit ones.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #872 on: 20 November, 2019, 12:46:48 pm »
Yes, I think I'd agree with that. If you've got decent lights, you can always see the unlit cyclists. In fact they usually show up much better than runners or dogs due to reflectors. And if you're running (or if you're a dog) you'll have to look out for other runners (and dogs) anyway.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #873 on: 20 November, 2019, 11:41:40 pm »
I believe there's little if any evidence that bicycle lights make you any less likely to be driven into.

I know this is the wrong thread, but since we're on the subject, I saw a kevved-up hatchback with red LED rings around the front fog lights yesterday.

I know that the OP specified Cyclists only, but that was on September 27, 2013, if the thread is DOTD you have to allow for some thread evolution (or rename it DCOTD to be clear).

I think that it depends on the lights, the little ones on constant will not make you much more visible from the side at an intersection or roundabout.  A decent dynamo light or exposure light, with the correct road position, makes a difference.  Not sure how you would get stats on this though.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: DOTD
« Reply #874 on: 20 November, 2019, 11:47:52 pm »
We're well into Ninja season in Furryboottoon  :-\