So this morning I reach the top of the Royal Mile (well, almost, I wasn't going to the castle). Turning left to Johnstone Terrace. The cobble surface is awful at that point so I'm a little out. I make the left about mid-lane - there's a pedestrian island narrowing the road, so nothing can go past if I'm left anyway. I can feel the van behind me.
The right sweep is off-camber, with a terrible road surface, and at least one manhole cover to boot. Oh, and there are parked cars ahead. I stay mid-lane. Van accelerates, passes quite closely, I turn and the driver has both hands off the wheel shouting and indicating I should be left. I point at the parked cars in disgust. He cuts me up.
He's in sight all the way down, and up to Bread Street. I get held up slightly by traffic, but head to East Fountabridge (Breadt Street is closed in the contraflow direction at the moment). He's there, at the red light at the junction with Lothian Road (not in the ASL remarkably, though two cyclists are). Window is down.
I lean back to see if he's looking, he leans out, "It's not worth arguing about mate."
"I'm not going to argue, but it's just there were parked cars so I was staying out for them."
"Aye, but you were in the middle all onto Johnstone Terrace, you were doing it on purpose."
I try to explain about the road surface and the parked cars, but his mind is closed. I'm getting in his way 'on purpose'.
Anyway, lights go green, he passes very close to one cyclist while still having a go at me, then completely cuts up the other cyclist to go through the road narrowing ahead as I turn right into Semple Street.
Seriously, how did we come to the point where cyclists are viewed as actually deliberately trying to get in the way of traffic? I don't know anyone (save for critical mass) who does it in order to hold people up and make their life difficult. For safety reasons mebbes, but for kicks? That would be frankly insane on our part given how squishy we are if hit. Frustrating, too, that they can't see why I was riding where I was...
Argh! Grr! etc etc etc
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