Take Care

"Roger Thorpe" wrote in message
...
Pete-the -Bike wrote:

I am puzzled by the personal insults people seem to send each other in
this group. Surely such groups are for information exchange


It used to be that, and sometimes it still is. Unfortunately some posters
here don't ride bikes at all, but enjoy winding people up, provoking
arguments and arguing over semantics. Others have pet issues which ought
not to matter, but since the only cyclists (including me)left here have
become argumentative then it does seem to.
It's a disparate group, so please don't judge us all by the behaviour of
some. Frankly we need more posters like you.

Seconded. Avoid the trolls (they seem to be increasing again, though I'd
hoped the sunny weather would mean they could find something better to do
with their time), and there is secretly some content among the gibberish.
I've been kill-filing a lot more recently, which has helped - I don't get
annoyed by the inane outpourings, and I don't get tempted to reply.

As for your gesture, it seems to me that it may communicate a useful
message to the driver or it may antagonise them. It's a dilemma that we've
all been in and there's no way to predict which way it will go, but I do
think that you were extremely unlucky and probably have the sympathy of
the cyclists here and some of the others too.

I'd assigned the attack on Simon (couple of weeks ago, google groups for
Simon Brooke) to being a symptom of ned-ville, but yours was rather more
remote. That said, I did have an coke can or bottle (can't remember, it was
a few years ago) thrown at me by some numpty annoyed at me riding along in
rural Scotland.

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:17:08 +0100, "mileburner"
wrote:


"James" wrote in message ...

Yesterday, a driver of a Volvo estate overtook me just before turning
left, causing me to "snatch-up". I, too, gave a non-offensive gesture
(wave of arm). First he slowed down in front of me and was looking over
his shoulder. After a few minutes, he's alongside me again (must have
turned around somewhere), deliberately squeezing me into the curb,
Frightened for my life, I took a turning left (lucky for me was just 20
yards away).

Take primary position past junctions even if you are turning left anyway. It
stops this from happening as they cannot pass if you are in the centre of
lane. This manoeuvre is covered in Cyclecraft.



Yes that's right - block other traffic whilst you saunter past at 5
mph

"This manoeuvre is covered in Cyclecraft." - so what?


--

"Primary position" the middle of a traffic lane. To take the "primary position" : to ride a bike in the middle of the lane in order to obstruct other road vehicles from overtaking.

A term invented by and used by psycholists and not recognised in the Highway Code.

On 20 Apr, 14:45, "Clive George" wrote:
"Roger Thorpe" wrote in message




Seconded. Avoid the trolls (they seem to be increasing again, though I'd
hoped the sunny weather would mean they could find something better to do
with their time)

What makes you think it would be something better?

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:06:43 +0100, Roger Thorpe
wrote:

She has already been told that her antics are likely to turn the
group to rat-**** (a prediction - not a threat) but she has chosen to
ignore.

That's a huge steaming great pile of hypocrisy which is beneath even you.

Oh I don't know, we've seen by now that there's not much which is
beneath judith.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/urc | http://www.nohelmetlaw.org.uk/

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

Newsgroup may contain nuts.

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:13:23 -0700 (PDT), Pete-the -Bike
wrote:

For the sake of clarity I will answer these questions as clearly as I
can

What was the gesture?
After he had overtaken me I moved my right hand from left to right to
indicate that he was too close and should have given me more room, he
blasted his horn so I repeated the movement. Even if I had given him
the full fingers and shouted obscenities there was no justification
for his actions.

How much of the road were you taking up?
The amount of room a cyclist normally takes up. Maybe you are asking
my positioning on the road. Although a B road it is narrow, in places
there is only just room for vehicles to pass each other. I was
cycling on the left close to the grass verge.

Did you know he was there and wanted to pass?
The road was quiet, as they all are up here in Scotalnd and I was
aware there were occasional cars passing me, I am don't think I held
him up. Even if I did it is not unreasonable to expect a motorist to
wait a few seconds until it is safe to pass a cyclist. This route is
after all part of the National Cycle Network, it would be nice to
think cyclist using this route might be treated with a bit of courtesy
(respect is probably too much to hope for).

Could you have moved over to the left a bit?
NO

I am puzzled by the personal insults people seem to send each other in
this group. Surely such groups are for information exchange


Thank you - for your sensible answers - they do explain the
circumstances more clearly - as you say information exchange.

Many people here think that posters are here by invitation only. If
you come in here and ask difficult questions then you must be a troll.

--

"Primary position" the middle of a traffic lane. To take the "primary position" : to ride a bike in the middle of the lane in order to obstruct other road vehicles from overtaking.

A term invented by and used by psycholists and not recognised in the Highway Code.

"Roger Thorpe" wrote in message
...
Pete-the -Bike wrote:

As for your gesture, it seems to me that it may communicate a useful
message to the driver or it may antagonise them. It's a dilemma that we've
all been in and there's no way to predict which way it will go, but I do
think that you were extremely unlucky and probably have the sympathy of
the cyclists here and some of the others too.

I suspect that any gesture that a cyclist gives an aggressive driver,
however innocent it might be, is likely to be interpreted as aggression. The
best thing is to ignore them, not gesture anything unless you actually want
the driver to stop for a fight.

There is as much point in telling them anything, as there is in trying to
explain to Judith about good road positioning. If they were reasonable
people, they would have given more space anyway.

In article , Clive George wrote:
Avoid the trolls (they seem to be increasing again, though I'd
hoped the sunny weather would mean they could find something better to do
with their time)

Well, it's not as if they would be off cycling....

We had a fun family ride in Thetford Forest yesterday, which was very
pleasant in the sunshine. (The dog was quite pleased there was a pond
to cool off in half way round.)

I need to acquire some basic off-road skills though, if we're going to
try the black track again (we didn't all).

Alan Braggins twisted the electrons to say:
I need to acquire some basic off-road skills though, if we're going to
try the black track again (we didn't all).

nods Seeing as how I'm now living in the mountains, I decided that
actually having a mountain bike might be a good idea. Then I got all
over enthusiastic beyond my skill level, and thus won't be using it for
about 3-4 weeks whilst I wait for the healing process to end! :-(
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:08:07 +0100, "mileburner"
wrote:


"Roger Thorpe" wrote in message
...
Pete-the -Bike wrote:

As for your gesture, it seems to me that it may communicate a useful
message to the driver or it may antagonise them. It's a dilemma that we've
all been in and there's no way to predict which way it will go, but I do
think that you were extremely unlucky and probably have the sympathy of
the cyclists here and some of the others too.

I suspect that any gesture that a cyclist gives an aggressive driver,
however innocent it might be, is likely to be interpreted as aggression. The
best thing is to ignore them, not gesture anything unless you actually want
the driver to stop for a fight.

There is as much point in telling them anything, as there is in trying to
explain to Judith about good road positioning. If they were reasonable
people, they would have given more space anyway.


I do in fact understand about road positioning:

"The closer a driver is to the cyclist, the greater chance of a
collision."

"Drivers passed closer to the rider the further out into the road he
was."

Therefore - keep well to the left.

--

"Primary position" the middle of a traffic lane. To take the "primary position" : to ride a bike in the middle of the lane in order to obstruct other road vehicles from overtaking.

A term invented by and used by psycholists and not recognised in the Highway Code.

Light of Aria wrote:
"Pete-the -Bike" wrote in message
...
I hope this tale will encourage other cyclists to consider how they
will respond if they find themselves in a similar situation to the one
I encountered last week. I was assaulted by a motorist on the B970,
near Aviemore, about 1.7 miles south-west of Inverdruie. I got away
lightly, though badly shaken, with only cuts & bruises. I have
reported the incident to the police. Looking back over what happened,
I have drawn two conclusions:

1. When he passed me (very close) I made what I considered to be a
‘non-offensive’ gesture, but, with hindsight, I can see that I
shouldn’t have made any sort of gesture; as long as you are still
upright there is no point. At best it will achieve nothing; at worst
it could lead to assault, injury, or worse.

2. When he stopped his car, got out, and stood in the middle of the
road, why on earth did I stupidly think I could safely cycle past
him? At that point I should have stopped and waited, ready for a
rapid turn around if approached. If anyone stops and waits for you,
keep your distance (unless you are big, strong, and young or there are
more than one of you!)

Although well aware of this sort of thing happening to others in other
parts of the country, it never crossed my mind that it might happen
here and to me. At my age and with my long cycling experience I
should have known better.






I'm sorry to hear this.

Peace and "chill-out" is the best for everyone.

I'm sorry to hear this as well. I was planning a summer break in Aviemore
intending to bring the Birdy with me.