Author Topic: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...  (Read 10348 times)

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #50 on: 11 April, 2021, 05:19:30 pm »
If you see a cyclist ahead up a hill you’ll most likely speed up and try and catch and pass them just before the top.  You’ll then think of some reason to stop or turn off before they can pass again. In your head you’ve won a race. Your heart rate tells the truth.

And it will always turn out to be the local grandmother with the shopping onboard (although these days she probably has electric assistance - which she won't be using 'cos she goes too fast!)

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #51 on: 11 April, 2021, 07:19:18 pm »
Cyclist rides up to you and asks where you're going to, or where you're from. You reply, but they
never, automatically, and without prompting, tell you where they're heading to, or where they're from.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #52 on: 12 April, 2021, 07:42:43 am »
On a normally-quiet lane where all the potholes and broken tarmac are in the leftmost three feet, a stream of motor vehicles will appear from behind so you have to plough right through the lot.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

ian

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #53 on: 12 April, 2021, 09:23:10 am »
People hate getting overtaken on hills by someone they consider to be too old, unsuitably dressed, looks less fit than they consider themselves to be, on a bike they think should be slower etc etc.

Phil, do you KNOW this, or are you just hoping?!

If my experience of overtaking riders uphill when on my Brompton or Recumbent is anything to go by I KNOW this.  I had to listen to some verbal diarrhoea this week when, on my recumbent, I overtook a roadie on a 11% hill. Something about overtaking them on that THING, how was it possible etc. Luckily didn’t have to listen long as I pulled away.

When you are on an unconventional bike you get to hear a lot of preconceptions.  People see the bike and not the rider when making judgements on relative performance.

Very true.  5 years ago I climbed Mont Ventoux on my modified Bickerton (conventional bars + Brompton wheels & 8 speed SA hub).  I overtook quite a few carbon bikes with puffing riders who muttered a few things.   Some did then (slowly) overtake me, just to make a point.

You don't need Mt Ventoux, just overtaking them on the little climb to Clapham will trigger the 'proper' cyclists.

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #54 on: 12 April, 2021, 09:57:21 am »
A car driver will overtake just as a lane / road narrows due to parked cars, speed furniture and an oncoming car.  They will be forced to stop which in turn may force you to stop , when without their presence you have been able to quite merrily keep going. This will quite often be on an uphill section of lane / road.

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #55 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:08:57 am »
"I reckon it must have been a pinch flat"

It isn't

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #56 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:31:53 am »
"I reckon it must have been a pinch flat"

It isn't
A couple of years ago, both my riding buddy and I had real front wheel pinch flats on opposite sides of White Horse Hill, within a few months of each other. He did his on a cattle grid and I did mine on a sharp-edged pothole.  Scary on such a steep downhill, as the two holes give quite a rapid deflation.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #57 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:35:30 am »
Anywhere with the word 'down' in its name is, in fact, up.
While places called “Mount Pleasant” are generally a bit tatty and on a small rise.

Also, I only seem to notice them while cycling.
My parents live on a Mount Pleasant, sadly not at no. 57.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #58 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:42:21 am »
On a normally-quiet lane where all the potholes and broken tarmac are in the leftmost three feet, a stream of motor vehicles will appear from behind so you have to plough right through the lot.

There's a related rule involving drivers of oncoming 4x4s being allergic to mud/gravel.

John Stonebridge

  • Has never ridden Ower the Edge
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #59 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:51:39 am »
Somebody will always leave the cafe door open leaving you in a cold draught.   

If you get up and close the door it will immediately be left open by the next person using it. 

 

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #60 on: 12 April, 2021, 11:58:03 am »
Somebody will always leave the cafe door open leaving you in a cold draught.   

If you get up and close the door it will immediately be left open by the next person using it.

Those people need clubbed to death.

Also, When leaving said cafe it's always straight uphill with a belly full of pastry goods  :sick:
Mind of a cyclist, body of a dart player.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #61 on: 12 April, 2021, 12:02:24 pm »
On leaving the cafe, any ride that fails the cycling Bechdel Test[1] will result in a slow queue for the loo while all the men wait impatiently outside in the cold raring to go.  This is compensated for annually at the start of the Dunwich Dynamo.


[1] "Are there more women than people named /Joh?n.*/"

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #62 on: 12 April, 2021, 12:12:57 pm »
Somebody will always leave the cafe door open leaving you in a cold draught.   

If you get up and close the door it will immediately be left open by the next person using it.

Those people need clubbed to death.

Also, When leaving said cafe it's always straight uphill with a belly full of pastry goods  :sick:

Fish and Chips in the Mariner's cafe in New Quay springs to mind here.

If you get away with a sicky burp at Synod's inn you've got off lightly.

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #63 on: 14 June, 2021, 10:40:44 am »
A lot of cafe's now want the door left open to ventilate the covid.

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #64 on: 14 June, 2021, 12:24:44 pm »
On leaving the cafe, any ride that fails the cycling Bechdel Test[1] will result in a slow queue for the loo while all the men wait impatiently outside in the cold raring to go.  This is compensated for annually at the start of the Dunwich Dynamo.


[1] "Are there more women than people named /Joh?n.*/"

Alot of this is down to flawed human behavior. No one thinks about needing to use the loo until they stand up to leave. A cafe can't realistically turn over half of it's sq/ft'age to deal with the irregular peak demand of pee'ers, so people just need to wise up and slide off to the loo at ANY preceding point in their 20min cafe stop.

When I was doing holiday ride leading for a bit, I would sidle off and find the loo at the beginning and make a point of telling people where the loo was mid way through the stop. Once one went, the rest would twig and it became fairly ordily. Otherwise, it wastes loads of time over the course of a 3 stop day.

(I would also go and squidge my riders tyres halfway through the stop. Nothing worse than getting clipped in ready to go and someone forlornly shouting "Hang on, p**ture!")

Graeme

  • @fatherhilarious.blog 🦋
    • Graeme's Blog
Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #65 on: 25 June, 2021, 09:22:13 pm »
There is always someone lighter, stronger, fitter... than you
There is always someone cycling better, further, faster... than you
However, there is only one you... and if you're cycling... you're awesome!

Re: The somewhat unwritten laws of cycling...
« Reply #66 on: 25 June, 2021, 09:39:11 pm »
If there are cyclists coming the other way , just as you crest a hill on your recumbent, one of them will say well done.  You will have no idea why they say this, as the hill is neither particularly long, or steep, nor are you physically limited in some way.

You can only surmise that they incorrectly think recumbents can not climb hills. Which is true, it’s the rider that does it.