CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Bit of a SMIDGAF this morning from another cyclist as I headed through the Meadows. He was coming down the road that the Bicycle Works is on and clearly looked at me. I was a little back, but I was travelling around 20mph, so within a few yards of the junction I was freewheeling and braking (stationary traffic to the right, no space in the cycle lane to overtake).
Not a major incident, but enough to be mildly annoying (and probably looks like nothing on the camera).
SMIDGAF..?
Sorry Mate I Don't Give A <word omitted to comply with forum rules about swearing>
Usually applied to people who have obviously seen the approaching vehicle but have pulled out anyway. Sometimes I think cyclists get a bit over-cross about some of these, as I think the motorist is sometimes trying to grab a space in a busy flow of traffic where there are not many spaces, and would have pulled out anyway regardless of whether the approaching vehicle was a car or a bike.
Three incidences of oncoming head-down sprint-mode cyclists showing no indication of any inclination to even slow down slightly when approaching small confluences of vari-directioned pedestrians on the NEPN this morning. One incidence of a man with both hands in his pockets dundering along right in the middle of the Chancelot path. One incidence of someone stopping witht their bike diagonally across the path to slightly hitch up their sub-buttock-crest trousers.
"... and would have pulled out anyway regardless of whether the approaching vehicle was a car or a bike"
I think this is undoubtedly true. It's not an excuse though, would be my counter, and if they do it to a car the driver who has been SMIDGAFed would have a right to complain as well.
Put another way the suggestion is that if the traffic is busy and the person trying to join the flow is getting frustrated then poor driving that impacts on people around them is acceptable.
On the other hand (this fence sitting is getting splintery) I do see some videos on YouTube where I think 'Seriously? You're complaining about that? Nothing happened!'.
A man yesterday on the Innocent who took an inordinately long time to wheeze past me at 0.00001mph quicker than me who then pulled in a foot in front of my front wheel and slowed down. I waited until his breathing became so laboured he started going "gah" and rode past. He then attempted a further two count 'em two embarrassing overtakes where he wheezed up along side my back wheel but couldn't actually go fast enough to pass.
Seriously, WTF?
Love how the cyclist in bdellar's video gives the transit driver a dirty look for pulling out and then just casually pulls an RLJ.
Way to perpetuate the "cyclists are smug rule-breaking gits" cliche.
@min sounds like a classic case of the wheelhanger who forgets that as soon as they leave the safety of the other person's slipstream, it suddenly becomes a lot harder to go at the same speed.
"Seriously, WTF?"
Must. Pass. Girl.
Maybe he was just trying to take a turn on the front ;)
@min
'Next' time -
Slow down, tuck in behind for a few minutes.
Then
ACCELERATE
On the rare occasions I've had unknown people 'on my wheel' - usually places like Lothian Road or Bruntsfield Place! - I just stop pedalling.
Is that unkind?
It's not so much 'being annoyed at the free ride' more about discouraging people from being to close. I mean I don't like it when bus drivers do it - though obviously the consequences could be worse.
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@Bhachgen, yeah, I laughed out loud at that too!
Next' time -
Slow down, tuck in behind for a few minutes.
Then
ACCELERATE
That is what I tried to do but had to keep slowing down for tight bends, loose dogs, roads etc whereas twat face of course just barrelled through it all.
Oh Min I used to love waiting for blokes to try and overtake me. Usual routine, overtake man, count to ten and wait for red-face sweaty man to come flying past me. Count to ten and overtake them again for a giggle. Then repeat routine once more. Once I'd decided I'd tortured them enough I'd pull back and give them a bit of space. One particular chap who used to cycle from Oxgangs to Liberton was particularly good fun on a morning.
The problem is that if you don't pass you're a wheelhanger, and if you do pass, you're a sweaty red-faced old man causing a nuisance (I know, I have been that sweaty, red-faced old man). The etiquette is sometimes confusing
I find, if I'm in the position of going incrementally faster than someone at my 'normal' pace, I'll either ride 5-10 yards back to avoid wheel hanging; or crucify myself for five minutes to get by and then get far enough ahead that I can slow back down to normal pace and it not look like I was just speeding up to go past.
Its worse on a single speed I find. When the comfortable cadence/speed is approximately the same as the person in front you either knock your pan in trying to get some distance or do your knees in going to slow.
Aye, Mr Cow, that's normally my solution - but it's a tad embarassing a few minutes later when you're found half a mile ahead gasping for breath...
One additional point, I wouldn't be so stupid as to try and race Min....
The cyclist belting down Bruntsfield Links path this morning who decided to 'punishment pass' a pedestrian who was walking down the white line.
Me, yesterday, cycling through Holyrood Park. I tried to put my gloves on while cycling, lost it, and half-ran half-rode into a pile. I seriously injured my pride, but everything else was fine. Thanks to all the passers by who stopped to help!
Heading home on Friday I left just before another guy in our work bike park (flat-barred 700c skinny bike, full lycra leg-ins, reflective bands on the ankles, helmet, good light, bright yellow tabard). He proceeded to run around 5 red lights (that I saw) and embark on the pavement at one point. And these weren't just ped crossings, but a very early green from Morrison Street over Lothian Road; through the ped phase at the bottom of the Cowgate going over the Pleasance; and remarkably at Jock's Lodge.
Thing is, red light jumpers always seem really slow. After the Pleasance jump I sat through the crossing traffic getting its sequence before I got to go, and still caught him by Jock's Lodge, and I'm not fast. I was about to catch him again before I had to turn off at Morrison's on a beer mission.
Tempted to take a still from the camera and make up a poster along the lines of:
Oi! Muppet!
Red light jumping and pavement cycling
makes it harder for us campaigning for
better and safer provision for cyclists.
Stop doing it.
p.s. You're also REALLY slow.
Girl between Meadow Place and Argyle Place: I wasn't recognition/greeting-waving at you, I was making the "slow down and stop duckingweavingaccelerating through the cloud of pedestrians" gesture.
Lady in super luminescent clothing and terrible saddle hight who looked like she was struggling to see past the end of her nose riding down the middle of the cycle lane on the east-west meadows path. I moved early and clearly to the left and she plowed straight taking up 80% of the cycle lane meaning we very nearly clipped each other. If I hadn't executed a left frame rock at the right time I'd have been in the mud.
Just inconsiderate. She did it to the guy behind me too!
@WC I think you've got a good idea, but it needs to be less overtly "OI!" confrontational and a lot more sinisterly passive agressive.
I noticed that Lesley Hinds Tweeted this morning about some bad cycling (cyclist swerved in front of a bus then went onto the pavement).
Fair enough, but she doesn't Tweet very often (probably less than 50 thread-starting tweets at a guess), so to highlight this gives me the impression that she doesn't care much for cyclists.
Could be wrong - what do others think?
@LAHinds:
Cyclist crosses over the path of the bus, causing bus to brake and then he goes on to the pavement at speed!
@earthowned:
@LAHinds I perhaps see one bad cyclist per day. On the other hand I see half a dozen bad car drivers and pedestrians to balance it out.
@LAHinds:
@earthowned I agree there are bad drivers and pedestrians but this cyclist was particularly bad this morning.
@earthowned:
@LAHinds It's a shame that one bad apple stains the reputation of all the other good cyclists. Just wanted to say we're not all idiots!
@Wilmingtons Cow...
"Heading home on Friday I left just before another guy in our work bike park (flat-barred 700c skinny bike, full lycra leg-ins, reflective bands on the ankles, helmet, good light, bright yellow tabard"
You described me to a tee there...started to panic when you went onto describe the RLJing and was protesting my innocence when slow-starting brain engages and confirms you're talking about someone else. :S
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