Author Topic: DOTD  (Read 210689 times)

Re: DOTD
« Reply #725 on: 15 October, 2018, 09:40:22 am »
To the chap I see riding most weekdays, who has the irritating combination of a pathetically weak rear blinky light and 2x obnoxiously bright lights up front.

Well done on getting one of those fancy Proviz gilets. However, it's about as much use as a chocolate teapot if you wear a huge rucksack over the top of it. And, by not having mudguards, the only part that would be visible from behind was rendered useless by dint of being covered in road-muck.

Top work.

 

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #726 on: 16 October, 2018, 07:37:12 pm »
The rider that passed me at the exit of The Broadway tonight, single lane one way with barriers to the right. I'm behind a car, bus & car waiting for the lights to change. As they go orange the rider passed to my right and continued on to place themselves beside the bus as it begins to move. The bus has been indicating right the whole time, lit up like a big boxy monochromatic Christmas tree.  I'm watching muttering this is gonna be bad as they try to beat the bus then inadequately slow as if not wanting to stop. They manage to drop back just in time.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Torslanda

  • Professional Gobshite
  • Just a tart for retro kit . . .
    • John's Bikes
Re: DOTD
« Reply #727 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:36:41 am »
Any of this lot. Fucking oxygen thieves.

Frankly they deserve to spend the rest of their adult lives being fed thru a tube but sadly with that would go a severely traumatised driver and a shitload of care staff.

VELOMANCER

Well that's the more blunt way of putting it but as usual he's dead right.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #728 on: 17 October, 2018, 10:29:32 am »
Yeah. Mind you, I can think of a few middle-aged sensible audax types who'd do that if they had the skilllz and still had the bouncy bonez. Admittedly most of them would probably at least attempt to avoid a head-on collision and maybe even stop at red.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #729 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:47:36 pm »
Yeabut as activities for the yoof of Chatham to participate in go, it's a relatively harmless one.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #730 on: 17 October, 2018, 12:48:33 pm »
Nearly me for nearly pulling out of a car park in front of a lady cycling pretty much in the gutter and the carpark wall was obscuring the view.

Then her for squeezing past my van the wrong way up a one way exit

Re: DOTD
« Reply #731 on: 18 October, 2018, 12:07:11 pm »
This morning.

Lady pavement cyclist, riding facing oncoming traffic, doing about 15 M.P.H. on an e-bike, riding one handed, holding a dog leash in the other hand attached to a substantially sized dog.
I don't want to grow old gracefully. I want to grow old disgracefully.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #732 on: 22 October, 2018, 07:57:28 am »
To the chap I see riding most weekdays, who has the irritating combination of a pathetically weak rear blinky light and 2x obnoxiously bright lights up front.


Perhaps he posts here? Today a fully reflective backpack and bright rear lights. You could have seen him from the space station! Good work.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #733 on: 22 October, 2018, 09:38:10 am »
Interesting one in Athens last night.
Two dim blinky lights on the front, one white and one red.
On the back a slightly larger but just as dim blue flashing item.

We did wonder if the inhabitants of the nearby police car would take an interest but couldn’t quite see what if anything happened.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: DOTD
« Reply #734 on: 06 December, 2018, 03:28:02 pm »
Last night at about 6.00pm.  Dressed all in very dark blue or black, including a blue baseball cap, riding along the A4 in Newbury.  No lights at all on the bike, not that it would have mattered as he was pulling a wheelie.  Not a good idea on a busy main road at the best of times, certainly not in the dark when practically invisible.  I did laugh though when the inevitable happened and he ended up in a heap in the middle of the road.  Fortunately the car behind him was giving him plenty of space as he presumably had anticipated the unceremonious collapse

Re: DOTD
« Reply #735 on: 07 December, 2018, 11:17:17 am »
I've never actually seen a wheelieing yoof come a cropper on the road; mucking about in the park with their mates, sure, but maybe there's some kind of Darwinian selection effect going on here?

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #736 on: 07 December, 2018, 12:21:06 pm »
On a related note, it's skateboard ninja season again.

I'm all for skateboarding as a form of transport.  And it makes more sense to do it on the road, which is smoother and less busy with pedestrians than the bin-cluttered pavement.  But maybe not dressing entirely in black would be a good idea...

Re: DOTD
« Reply #737 on: 07 December, 2018, 06:20:41 pm »
The bellend going the wrong way up a one-way street with no lights in the dark who then joined a busy 2 lane roundabout without giving way and nearly got flattened by a bus...

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #738 on: 18 December, 2018, 08:28:46 pm »
I was Glared at tonight, note the capital G.  Paddington would have been impressed by that level of glare. I was driving and my crime was to edge forward with the wheels on full lock entirely within a parking bay left of the road. Entirely within the parking bay. Whilst indicating.
Y' see, despite looking over my shoulder I did not have a clear view of traffic approaching from behind. So I moved carefully to improve my view.
Mr Glareee thought I was going to pull out on him. Wrongly. Sure I didn't see him until I'd moved but that was the point of the movement. I wouldn't have seen him any sooner if he'd had lights on his bike nor if it were fitted with reflectors. His lack of being seen was not down to wearing only black nor the all black bike he rode. His lack of being seen was due to the large van parked behind me.  See, I don't drive an Audi so I don't believe I can see through inanimate objects nor round corners (I digress).
The fact that the only non black surface of the whole mobile ensemble was the logo on the black JDSports bag swinging from the handlebars did not delay me seeing Mr Glareypants at all. Just physics.
I can still feel the glare now.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Steph

  • Fast. Fast and bulbous. But fluffy.
Re: DOTD
« Reply #739 on: 29 December, 2018, 06:32:53 pm »
Going to work on a night shift on Wednesday, going down a badly lit street while overtaking parked cars, and meeting a POB coming towards me.
Me: 8-LED rear light, one row set to flashing. Cateye rechargeable decent front light. Headtorch. Yellow and reflective winter jacket. Matching gloves. Reflective trim on bib03/4s.

Him (from his voice): all black clothing. Hood up. No lights at all. Sitting bolt upright on the BSO as he needed both hands for the phone he was using, the glow from the screen being the first thing I actually saw of him as he rode up the centre of the road.

Me: "Idiot"
Him: [Doesn't really matter. No great invention employed in his invective]

Me: "Get some sodding lights, dickhead"


The only thing that would have made the event a full bingo card would have been a Magic Plastic Hat worn on the back of his hood.
Mae angen arnaf i byw, a fe fydda'i

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #740 on: 29 December, 2018, 07:26:54 pm »
To be fair, the glow from the smartphone screen has done wonders for the nocturnal visibility of BSOists.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #741 on: 08 January, 2019, 09:08:39 am »
The unlit idiot who turned right across my path last night causing a full emergency stop with the comment "Sorry, I thought you were a motorbike". WTF?  ???

Re: DOTD
« Reply #742 on: 08 January, 2019, 02:28:06 pm »
I assume he meant that he thought you were a far away motorbike by dint of not hearing your engine.

Either way....foolish.

Redlight

  • Enjoying life in the slow lane
Re: DOTD
« Reply #743 on: 17 January, 2019, 10:20:30 pm »
The half dozen or so who thought it would be sensible to ride against the flow of traffic through the temporary contraflow in Greenwich this evening, despite the fact that the vehicles coming the other way had priority (the red light at one end and the green at the other should have given it away).  The contraflow is in place because the roadworks are taking up more than one lane and the remaining bit of road is very narrow.  Luckily for you, I tend to be considerate towards fellow-cyclists, even when they are acting like complete dicks.  Other drivers may not be so tolerant.
Why should anybody steal a watch when they can steal a bicycle?

Re: DOTD
« Reply #744 on: 18 January, 2019, 08:02:33 am »
Not sure if it was dickery or just innocent ignorance. Rush hour yesterday evening in Leicester A47 heavy with moving traffic.
Cyclist with a front flashing light, but the flash pattern was «on /off/ on - long off - repeat» the long off phase was long enough to mask the rider's presence at side roads.
If the rider had been going my way I might have warned them (and maybe got a mouthful?)

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #745 on: 18 January, 2019, 02:35:26 pm »
Blink-blink-pause is probably the optimal attention-getting flashing pattern, as the first flash catches your eye in time to be looking at the second flash.  Hence its use for beacons on aircraft etc.  But it's still a flashing light and should IMHO only be used to supplement a static one, even if the flash frequency meets the 1-4Hz RVLR requirement (which presumably exists to avoid this very issue).

Anyway, front flashing lights are a work of Stan, and should only be used in daylight during thick fog or for impersonating police officers.   :hand:

Re: DOTD
« Reply #746 on: 19 January, 2019, 04:06:30 pm »
Not sure if it was dickery or just innocent ignorance. Rush hour yesterday evening in Leicester A47 heavy with moving traffic.
Cyclist with a front flashing light, but the flash pattern was «on /off/ on - long off - repeat» the long off phase was long enough to mask the rider's presence at side roads.
If the rider had been going my way I might have warned them (and maybe got a mouthful?)

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

For my hope front light that is the low battery pattern. which basically means get home quick.

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #747 on: 19 January, 2019, 10:39:38 pm »
Yeah, dying battery is another good reason for flashing, on the basis that it's better than the alternative.

Re: DOTD
« Reply #748 on: 19 January, 2019, 11:04:52 pm »
There were some people with crazy bright flashing front lights on the Dunwich Dynamo last year, which had the joy of not only doing your head in when behind them but for a *long* time after you’d overtaken them. It didn’t help that I encountered them at the peak “why TF am I still awake” brain melting phase of the ride.

Kim

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Re: DOTD
« Reply #749 on: 20 January, 2019, 12:08:23 am »
There were some people with crazy bright flashing front lights on the Dunwich Dynamo last year, which had the joy of not only doing your head in when behind them but for a *long* time after you’d overtaken them. It didn’t help that I encountered them at the peak “why TF am I still awake” brain melting phase of the ride.

Sadly I think this counts as an integral part of the DunRun experience.  You get loads of riders who've either never ridden on properly dark roads, or who've yet to discover[1] that it's easier to see where you're going when it's not in strobe-o-vision.


[1] Given the ones you meet on the towpath at commuter o'clock in winter, I'm suspicious that some of them consider that warding off cars that aren't there is more important than seeing where they're going.