Okay, I exaggerate slightly but had funny encounter on way in. passed the same woman on a hybridy-type bike several times,. not because i was going very fast, but because she kept overtaking and waiting at lights, while I got to lights just as they were changing. each time she overtook me very aggressively. turned out she was locking up just beside me -- she got there first but i finished locking first. i tried to say hello as I locked up, then stopped and commented -- in a smiley way - that she was brave to ride in a miniskirt w/out mudguards. she very grumpily took her earphones out and said 'don't care' then turned back. feeling awkward (hadn't seen the headphones under hair and helmet) I said 'btw, i wasn't racing you' just to be friendly, but got blank look. Obviously just in her own world. Suppose I should not have made contact/attempted to be friendly. But does give some insight into how some people do want to ride like they drive (ie in their own bubble) and how easy it is to interpret that as aggression.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
punishment passes by bike?
(18 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
-
Bikeyface has the same theme today...
I can't say I'm too bothered so perhaps I'm the one doing the scaring?
startle + tonne (or more) + turbulence >> startle
When I cease to get punishment or close passes from motor vehicles, I'll start to worry about bikes.
Robert
(still smarting from last week's statistical anomaly!)Posted 12 years ago # -
SRD, I guess just a stupid and ignorant cow then. I don't like being overtaken too closely by other cyclists, I totally understand the armhair thing that Bikeyface speaks of. I have even had men do it on country roads that are completely empty and thus have so much space that it gets even weirder for them to do it. I have always taken it to mean that is their only chance of any physical contact with a woman. Poor saddos.
Mind you, the bike lanes where Bikeyface lives must actually be pretty wide if people are able to overtake her on the inside. I can't think of any bike lane that is wide enough to do that, even if you ride right up against the white line. Most are not wider than my handlebars.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I have to confess to punishment passes on my bike - on drivers that have occupied the ASL when they could have stopped... (in the circumstances where I would otherwise wait behind them, having nothing to gain from making them pass me again).
Posted 12 years ago # -
I don't think they were actually _meant_ as punishment passes, I think she was just oblivious, probably like most drivers.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Couple of teenagers on mopeds did that to me near East Saltoun last week. Then they waited up a side road until I'd passed and did it again. Two strokes are fecking noisy from two feet away.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Ultimately, it comes down to having a sense of respect for all other road users. No one group has a monopoly no matter their size, majority or speed.
Even in my grouchiest of "fed-up-of-being-treated-like-a-crash-test-dummy" commuting moods, I'm polite enough to share a joke or civil word with a someone else if initiated. Sounds like you got an ignorant one this morning, SRD - shame to hear but good on you for making an attempt anyway.
It's easy to forget that not all cyclists share the camaraderie many of us have. Only the other night, my partner and I overtook a chap on Corstorphine Road a little along from Western Corner crossroads. He drafted my partner until Belgrave Road where we turned off and he shouted a cheery "thought I'd be following you home!" To which we both laughed with him.
Treat people as you'd like to be treated (unless justifiably provoked), I say. <grumph />
Posted 12 years ago # -
Don't mind being drafted and passed by a fresher rider, so long as the road conditions are straight and predictable.
What confuses me are the riders that draft, pass close, then sit up right in front of you, as if the job is done, the race is won, and they can now take a breather, mission accomplished.
Why do they bother? Its a bit like the absent minded left hook motorist who reckons that you cease to exist, straight after the cut up.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I really would like other cyclists who creep up on me on NCN paths, or roads for that matter, to make their existance known to me, by a ting on a bell, or a "on your right", instead of attempting to squeeze past at speed. I am also usually going at a fair pace so think that they are being totally inconsiderate not only to me, but other path/road users.
I had a courier on South Bridge/High Street give me a punishment pass, which scared the beejebuzz out of me.
I particularly like times when cyclists have attempted to undertake me, not once but several times on one stretch, or come up on my inside at lights.
Best of all I just love those drivers that overtake you, signal, park up right in front of you, only to open the door to get out, I really do wonder about their mentalility/awareness, and think that they must realise that they have just overtaken me, and where do they actually think I have gone? Conclusion is that really they have not seen me or been aware of me at all.
Posted 12 years ago # -
how about this for a pass?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Yep, being passed on the left on approach to the lights is a pet hate of mine, actually it really irritates me.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Being undertaken annoys me so much that I am inclined to give the offender a ticking off, or I box them in behind the parked cars that are invariably on the other side of the lights, and make them go behind me...I find it put's paid to their nonsense!
Posted 12 years ago # -
I had some polite words with someone last week because he didn't spit properly.
Horizontally to the right is wrong. It might hit someone passing you on a folder which is faster than your tricked out sporty number.
Under the oxter is the way to do it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
SRD on original post I find wearing headphones makes you oblivious to everything else as you are lost in music
Posted 12 years ago # -
Caught in a trap.
Posted 12 years ago # -
No turning back.
Posted 12 years ago # -
We're lost in music.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@ wee folding bike
always a courtesy check bnefore starting that manoeuvre ;)
I pulled up a roadie for that very offence
only reason I never got a face full, was I had eased off due to pain in my hand!Posted 12 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
