Do be careful with the shoulder - it's a tricky joint. Mine still isn't right after 15 months from a fairly light a/c joint separation despite physio work.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Today's rubbish cycling
(4520 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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And the ceilidh - you're joking right? Work of the devil
Posted 10 years ago # -
@kaputnik, the pavement leading to Inverleith Terrace is actually the council's indicated route on the Family Cycling Network to avoid the right turn there. True, it does say 'get off and push' or something to that effect, but perhaps the cyclist considered that mounted he occupies less pavement width than walking alongside his steed?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Hope your injuries are superficial and the lack of skin doesn't sting too much as it heals.
My prize chump nomination goes to the cyclist heading downhill towards the Cramond Brig riding two abreast round the blind bend before the traffic lights. He was so slow to react to me coming up the path that I had to brakes while climbing to avoid hitting him. As usual though I'm thankful that he chose to cycle this morning rather than come round a blind bend on the wrong side of the road in a car.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I just did an arobcomp in the middle of Dalry rd.
Got through the roadworks and was about to turn off for telfer subway and didn't see the cable going across the road for the temporary lights.
No damage other than skin off elbow, I think.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Good excuse to generate home-based sympathy though
Posted 10 years ago # -
"didn't see the cable"
Just a cable without a little rubber ramp to keep it in place?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yes, rampything there. Guess that's what I hit.
A bit achy but can't believe it wasn't worse. I was flat out in the middle of the road. Lots of nice people stopped too.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Me. Apologies to the girl on the bike with the basket coming the other way when I was overtaking the chap with the messenger bag and Hair Bear hairstyle on the Broomhouse Path. He suddenly veered wildly off his line, forcing me a little too close to you for comfort. I would have apologised as you yelled, but I was too busy concentrating on not clipping you (or him).
Totally my fault. Stupid overtake at totally the wrong time - don't know WHAT I was thinking. Not my usual cycling behaviour at all :-(
Posted 10 years ago # -
Ouch @SRD, hope you are OK.
It is quite a little bump, that ramp thing.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@SRD and @ARobComp - hope you both have speedy recoveries....
Posted 10 years ago # -
Having re-read my post; I didn't mean "the ramp-thing is very small" but "the ramp-thing has quite a bump to it".
I was even more cautious than usual going over it this morning!
Posted 10 years ago # -
....might have been me, but actually on principle I blame the jogger about 8.30 last night on the bridge at Fords Road - I was turning in through the bollards with approx 9 gazillion lumens of (approporately directed) forward lighting.
i.e. I was not exactly unspottable
We had a head on, he ran off saying sorry and I fell off into the other bollard !
I keep thinking that sometimes lights are pointless !!
Posted 10 years ago # -
thanks all.
@fimm my mistake was that I wanted to get past because i had traffic behind me, I was looking for my turn / watching pedestrians, and I had been following a bus. All of which meant that I didn't see the ramp thing at all.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Woman this morning on NEPN escorting a child (both cycling). That wasn't the problem, it was the poodle she was also trying to walk at the same time that was causing the difficulty. As she wobbled along at poodle-pace in the middle of the path, the poodle toddled along on a leash to one side (thereby precluding any passing on that side) and leaving only a small gap to the right for oncoming or overtaking cyclists to pass, who also had to negotiate the free-roaming sprog shortly ahead and to the right of her.
I was 2nd in a tailback of 3 waiting for a safe chance to path when the woman stopped dead in the path (but momentarily forgot to put her feet down and nearly tipped over), followed by 3 other emergency stops (fortunately from poodle bimbling speed). The stop it turned out was so she could scooted across the path in a kind of U-turn manner to get to the foot of the steps.
While I commend her cycling her child to school/nursery, perhaps losing the poodle might allow better bicycle control, the ability to perform hand signals or even just to look over the shoulder and check she isn't about to be rear ended if she stops dead...
Yesterday's rubbish cycling wasn't cycling at all but was rubbish "longboarding" (I think that's the name, a long skateboard-like contrivance with a narrow, low-slung centre board and large-wheeled trucks on pivots at either end. The preferred way to move these things is in a snaking motion, requiring the full width of a cycle path. Not so bad on a quiet path - until the boardist decides to stop by jumping off and attempting to flip the end with his foot so he could grab it by the nose. Alas his ability was less than his intention and the board shot across the 4-way junction at the end of the Chancelot Path at the allotments, causing emergency stops from all comers.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Anticlockwise on the NEPN somewhere around Wardie Road there was someone blocking the path by adopting an about-to-overtake position just behind and to the right of the cyclist in front of them but without following-through with an overtake. They'd previously been happy enough to ding a pedestrian with a dog which was only in their way because they were so far over, but then seemed surprised that them theirself was in the way of me.
Two racing-turnips on Dalry Road heading for Haymarket, who both dived in front of the already-moving bus in front of me as it headed into the single-file roadworky bit. One then further revealed himself to be a pedestrian-buzzing swerving-turnip on his approach to the red light. As he trackstood, it became clear he was wearing earbuds. Despite being a trackstanding racing-turnip he was then really slow away from the lights.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@kaputnik As the "owner" of a small(ish) child and a poodle, I'd like to add that that wasn't me! I have (stupidly) once attempted to multitask in said way, but accepted defeat pretty quickly and deposited poodle back home :)
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm not sure who the rubbish cyclist was...
I got on to the NEPN at the Russell Road zigzag. In front of me was a cyclist on a mountain bike. She wasn't going very fast so I went to overtake but then aborted the overtake when a cyclist came the other way. I then stayed behind her for a while as there wasn't an opportunity to overtake. Actually we were going fast enough (I was only on my Brompton) but I kind of felt I ought to overtake given that I'd tried once (see wheelsuckers passim, and also as a woman I find it a bit disconcerting to be followed even though logically the chance of it being dodgy is extremely small). So at the wide bridge I went to overtake, only to nearly have a head on collision with a cyclist coming the other way who was right in the middle of the bridge - I don't understand way he didn't move to his left when there was plenty of space. I probably shouldn't of gone for the overtake but it seemed a bit odd.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Fimm - some people just refuse to move off their chosen line along the NEPN, no matter how much they may inconvenience or endanger others.
I'm often practically forced off the NEPN onto the verge on my way home some evenings by the same pair of blokes cycling the other way, two-abreast and chatting, taking up the whole path. Not once have they ever shown the slightest inclination to accommodate me (or anyone else) going in the opposite direction.
I've never managed to work out if it's just plain ignorance or a deliberate stuff-anyone-else attitude.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I had a classic small-child-induced tumble at the weekend.
Said small child was riding on the path in the Braidburn Valley Park watched by (I assume) relatives sitting on a nearby bench. She was riding pretty well in a straight line away from me at a reasonble small child speed on the left side of the path, so I went to pass on the right hand side giving her a wide berth.
Naturally, just as I was on her right hand side she decided she'd gone far enough in that direction and turned to her right wihtout looking. We then enjoyed the usual experience of her tightening her cornering to perfectly track my front wheel as I turned it to the right onto the grass. It all ended in an undignified manner for me as I had to throw on the anchors and dismount onto my left hand and left foot, with the bike in a heap behind me, while she sailed on having executed a smooth 180 degree turn.
No damage beyond a bruised knee which bashed my drops as I unclipped/dismounted and, after some prompting from her relatives, I got a "sorry" from her :-), so all's well; however, it got me thinking:
1) It's never too early to teach kids to shoulder-check before manoeuvring; and
2) Is the best tactic in such circumstances to point your own bike directly at the kid's bike, on the assumption that they'll keep moving and so the space will be empty by the time you get there? I supect yes, but the consequences of the kid slamming the anchors on would probably not be pretty.Posted 10 years ago # -
@PS - hope you're ok. I've experienced exactly this situation, although it sounds like you exacted a far more athletic evasion than I managed, which was an ignominious collapse onto arse. I now tend to tell them what I'm about to do when I'm behind them, which tends to cause a panicked wobble and often a halt, which is preferable to what happened to you I think….. I tend to adopt the approach of slowing down and announcing my intentions in general, but have been berated for not simply using a bell instead before, despite my attempts to be polite...
Posted 10 years ago # -
yeah, i go for a motherly 'hi there, I'm just going to overtake you on your right/left'. of course, there's no guarantee they get left/right, but at least they know you're there.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm fine, thanks. The grass was nice and soft, and dry too! :)
It did cross my mind to say something as I approached, but I've done that in the past and it was such a surprise that the child in question almost crashed.
I guess each situation will have its own circumstances, but if it were to happen again I think I'd give a much wider bearth by going onto the grass. If that wasn't possible, then slow to the same pace and say hello.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Looking before turning or slowing down is something I've been encouraging my daughter to do when out cycling. So far we've not gone near roads, but mostly stick to fairly quiet shared use paths. A couple of times I've had to stop on a sixpence when she's suddenly braked and dumped her bike to examine an interesting flower/butterfly/other example of wildlife. Daughter then wonders why I'm not quite so interested in whatever it is she's just noticed...
However, to be fair, her innate sense of caution does mean that when cyclists come the other way she tends to stick religiously to her side of the path and go in a straight line.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Guy on a Brompton in yellow hi-viz whizzed past me on the inside as I was setting off from ASL from Drumsheugh Pl. onto Queensferry road. I shouted at him as he did so (nothing rude) and he dinged his bell as I overtook him about 10 secs later. Obviously didn't realise that his cycling was obnoxious.
I don't have a problem with any cyclist overtaking me (undertaking another matter) but in this instance Mr. Brompton really took me by surprise and I thought the pass was quite rash. I don't know the rules/etiquette concerning cyclist behaviour in the ASL, but I find 'barging' mentality quite annoying.
Posted 10 years ago # -
On paths I make the following assumptions:-
1. No child will ride in a straight line or look where they are going.
2. No dog will be properly under control. Even those on a leash will leap across your path. They look at their owner (or pack leader) not at you. They're also unbelievably stupid.With (1) I'm fine. On a Saturday afternoon when a little princess is wobbling in front of me on a pink bike, I smile indulgently at her and her minders because she'll grow up and, we hope, will be joining the cycling pool.
With (2) - not so fine.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yesterday morning I annoyed a cyclist by having right of way on the road that follows the river round murrayfield. Clearly she was in a hurry to get out her side street. She then disappeared as I went into the park at the ice rink. Lots of signs written by children to go slow. I am a sucker for signs made by kids so I go slow. I also like to avoid leaf mulch. Next thing I hear is Jesus, can't you keep a straight line. Grumpy cyclist has tried to overtake me on the outside. I had no idea she was there. She must have upped her pace through the park. Oops, sorry I said as we continued in parallel. As we approached the dropped kerb she decided to overtake then cut in forcing me to brake. I then trailed her up to Russell Road right turn which she took through moving traffic in a beautifully choreographed if slightly scary manner. I believe she may have been in a hurry and I hope the Mardy Cat lightened up whenever she arrived at where she was going.
Posted 10 years ago # -
So last night I was like a drowned IWRAT. Tipping down in the Friday night gloom, and stopped at every light for an extra dose of rain. I come to the big junction of Lady Road and Craigmillar Park and await the green light. And what do I see?
A Chinese student blithely walking out into the enraged must-get-to-Innerleithen-for-the-weekend traffic pushing a bicycle with a bulging orange carrier bag on each end of the bars. She's not on the pedestrian crossings, she's not waiting for a green man, she's not even waiting for gaps in the traffic...she's going right through the whole steamed up, enraged mass of them. Reminded me of one of the most beautiful images ever;
http://techie-buzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tank-man.jpg
but I hope she adapts to British traffic some time soon.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Drowned IWRATS see also the Vietcong bicycle rocket launcher, you will have to google as I still can't cut and paste on this iPad.
Posted 10 years ago # -
NEPN wheelsucker, specifically the thin man with a reddish-brown beard, heading east through Five Ways at ten to six. Being close enough to have to make a wee wobbling noise when I gently slow to ensure safe passage through the junction to the Chancelot (on a path covered in wet leaves during evening rush hour) is too close.
Posted 10 years ago #
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