Soldato
I don't stop, they usually move.
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2009
- Posts
- 8,026
It isn't just yoofs though thats a given I once had this businesswoman type quite young walk very determinedly down the street and she wasn't moving aside for anyone. Normally I just step aside but for reason, probably because I'd doubled the distance I had to walk with all the diversionary tactics I thought sod it and just continued. Needless to say I got quite a shoulder thump for such a small woman, quite impressive.
A personal favorite is when a couple of them are walking two abrest down a narrow pavement and expect you to flatten yourself against a wall or step into the road. In that case I'll barrel through and take a shoulder impact. Absolutely no reason why they can't go single file
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 6,016
One thing about cyclists that bother me is lack of bell use. Should all be fitted with one and used if on the pavement. The art of using hand signals seems to have disappeared too. I try to indicate the best I can but on small wheeled Brompton it's not easy (take one hand off the bars and it's waahaay, all over the place). A high % of cyclists don't even bother.
I walk fast so slow walkers do bother me. I'm getting knee problems so a bit slower these days but damn do some people walk/waddle along slowly. Sometimes I think "if you walk a bit faster you might actually lose some weight". Bad thoughts I know, and would never say it
Man of Honour
Apparently it is the law that bikes should come with one fitted and that has been the case with my 6 bikes in the last 6 years but all got removed. For a joke on my 60th somebody fitted a Thomas the Tank bell to my bike so I tried to use it instead of shouting. I found the bell caused more pedestrian confusion than shouting.
Ah the mass confusion of a bell ring. They stop. Turn around. (By which time you're upon them). They move left. Then right. Then just stand where they were anyways.
Soldato
This is why I never cycle on paths or dual use areas. Pedestrians are a bit like cattle, slow moving and yet seemingly completely unpredictable when startled by unusual noises.
I keep seeing a guy out running near my house that's decided to run along the side of the road. Despite an empty pavement beside him. Why? It's the same terrain surely so can't be easier to run on. Perhaps he makes car noises in his head as he runs.
Soldato
He is 3 inches lower, oxygen is way more plentiful down there. Got to take any advantage you can get when you're trying to smash Terry from the accounts department on Strava.
Its the same with road cyclists. SC section of the Farnborough road. Double white lines down most of its length, and busy with it. HGV/Busses have no chance of passing.
Perfectly satisfactory segregated cycle path (Shared, but on this occasion devoid of pedestrians.)
But still insists on cycling in the road holding everybody up.
Of course! Why didn't I see it before haha
Cyclists in general are morons though, absolutely zero sense of self preservation and scream like little bitches when they get squashed because excercising their right to be a road user is more important than getting home in one piece.Its the same with road cyclists. SC section of the Farnborough road. Double white lines down most of its length, and busy with it. HGV/Busses have no chance of passing.
Perfectly satisfactory segregated cycle path (Shared, but on this occasion devoid of pedestrians.)
But still insists on cycling in the road holding everybody up.
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2013
- Posts
- 12,440
I did, once, on that whole Cycle To Work thing. Biggest problem was other cyclists - It's like giving a bunch of Scooter Boys a Kawasaki Ninja each and telling them there are no rules on the road any more!
Decided I'd rather walk!!!
Probably people that used to walk fast, but damaged their knees doing so and ended up getting fat because they can't walk fast any more... You'll be one of them too, don't worry.
Only if they have their little cameras to capture everything... although my favourite is the group who tried to undercut a truck from within a left turn feeder lane, and then argued that he should still have seen them in his blind spot down the side, how they got it all on camera, etc etc...
Thats why you put a can in the back wheel of your bike.... Vroom Vroom, sounds like a motorbike.
Seriously though, that's why on my bicycle I have a horn instead of a bell, it is loud, people do get scared but it gets the job done (London daily commuter).
Seriously though, that's why on my bicycle I have a horn instead of a bell, it is loud, people do get scared but it gets the job done (London daily commuter).
Might be so he has priority over side roads rather than having to stop at junctions etc.
That's why a lot of cyclists will stay on the road rather than using a cycle path on the pavement next to it so I'm assuming he's doing the same.
You do get some odd fellas while out walking though, have a really elaborate swagger as they walk right towards you as if they are trying to claim the pavement as their territory. I've moved somewhere quieter now so only obstacle I have these days is the glacial pace of the elderly but we can all end up that way eventually so a bit of patience doesn't hurt.
Had that a few years ago; bloke walking along with his girlfriend refused to go down to single file on a narrow pavement, so I just did the old Richard Ashcroft shoulder on him. Cue him whining and trying to say that I was on the pavement on the 'wrong' side of the road (going against oncoming traffic rather than with it) but then couldn't back up his argument when I asked where in the highway code it stated that and just retreated whining about me being 'argumentative'
Soldato
It's cyclists on the pavement that do my nut in. I go out of my way to annoy those *****.
Soldato
Looks like there's a law coming to deal with the problem cyclists. Not before time, cyclists want the same rights to the road as drivers (without paying the tax, I might add) but no driver would have their licence very long if they held the same attitude toward pedestrians.
If we need to pass a test and hold a licence to drive a car on the road, then why do we let all sorts of morons loose with their bikes?
'Death by dangerous cycling' law considered - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45154708
I do this on less busy side roads as the pavement is very uneven due to the driveways leading down to the curbs. If you run in the road it tends to be flatter and less up/down.