Knight of the road

[Wafflydirtycatl]

This morning Nathan & I went out for a morning constitutional 20-miler. We needed to cross the A47
to make a right turn. There's a filter lane for this purpose. So we were in said filter lane, right
arms stuck out to indicate we were going to turn right. HGV in oncoming lane slows, stops traffic
and flashes to allow us to cross safely. Wot a gent - said thanks and waved thanks too.

Of course, later on in the ride, we did get almost side-swiped by ar*ehole in silver 200 series
Merc on a country lane - and for some reason, there's a lot of ar*eholes in silver 200 series Mercs
doing this of late. I suppose it makes a change to Mondeo Man doing it, or the local yoof in 1.0
Nova who thinks he's driving a F1 car doing it. When Nathan & I cycled down to the Mildenhall
Rally, there were three ar*eholes in silver 200 series Mercs who nearly side-swiped us, plus
elderly ar*ehole in a Jag who was not going to have his journey delayed by a nanosecond to slow for
a cyclist and elderly ar*ehole in a Fiesta who only avoided kncoking me off as he overtook me to
then cut-in in front of me whilst his rear wheels were level with my pedals by a bit of sharpish
braking on my own part.

Thank heavens there's the odd Knight of the Road still left out there.

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email Mail sent to it is dumped My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*ol*$*.*$$c$om*$ by getting rid of the
overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

[Succorso]

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:
> This morning Nathan & I went out for a morning constitutional 20-miler. We needed to cross the A47
> to make a right turn. There's a filter lane for this purpose. So we were in said filter lane,
> right arms stuck out to indicate we were going to turn right. HGV in oncoming lane slows, stops
> traffic and flashes to allow us to cross safely. Wot a gent - said thanks and waved thanks too.
>
Uh, goddamn road from hell - I hate the A47. I never cycle on it - and only cross it if I really
have to, to get somewhere. We've banned our kids from cycling on it too - although we did let out
eldest lad (15) cross it today to get to his friends house.

Sadly, because we live "in the middle of nowhere", there's little motivation for DoT to put
sufficient safe crossing points over/under it. They recently put an island half way across the
carriageway at the Necton junction, but standing in the middle with lorries passing within two feet
of you at 60 - 70 mph is unpleasant to say the least.

However, that said - this is still a fantastic part of the world to live in if you are a cycling
fan. There's 1,000's of miles of single track lanes where you hardly ever see a car, right from our
doorstep; and not too many hills (except around Norwich, and near the North Coast).

Hope you enjoyed the ride, and managed to dodge the showers - hoorah, first rain for a month!

--
Succorso

[Wafflydirtycatl]

>Uh, goddamn road from hell - I hate the A47. I never cycle on it - and only cross it if I really
>have to, to get somewhere.

Indeed it can be. I'd never use it to cycle from home to Swaffham or home to Norwich for example.
The problem is the intermittant dualling - so you get traffic straight off a dualled section still
at speed on to a slower single carriageway part (which can extend for miles) but they don't slow
down on these bits.

I, ahem, (blush) did a short 5 mile TT on it on Wednesday - on a dualled bit by North Tuddenham. It
was fine. No sliproads to cross - just doen one sliproad, along a bit of dualled section, up next
sliproad. I would point out here I did the time trial *for fun* and *slowly*. Nicole Cooke has no
worries about me coming along to challenge her ;-) Plus I've been nagged for weeks about doing it,
so I've put a stop to the nags ;-)

>We've banned our kids from cycling on it too - although we did let out eldest lad (15) cross it
>today to get to his friends house.

Nathan isn't allowed to cycle along it unless it's the short section used for club TTs - as then
there's *cyclists* on the road. Have to say on the short section used for the club events there's no
problems experienced. He's not allowed to cross over it either unless there's other *responsible*
cyclists with him (read mother and/or father here).

>Sadly, because we live "in the middle of nowhere", there's little motivation for DoT to put
>sufficient safe crossing points over/under it.

Tell me about it! With the HA naff plans for the road, the situation is only going to get worse.
They've already admitted that parts of the road are past saturation level for traffic, but will do
nothing about it.

>They recently put an island half way across the carriageway at the Necton junction, but standing
>in the middle with lorries passing within two feet of you at 60 - 70 mph is unpleasant to say
>the least.

Ah yes - I know it well. I'm one of the seemingly few motorists who doesn't break the speed limit.
It amazes me when I'm doing under 50 in that section (it's a 50 limit) and I get w**kers on my rear
bumper "encouraging me" to speed up through here...

>However, that said - this is still a fantastic part of the world to live in if you are a cycling
>fan. There's 1,000's of miles of single track lanes where you hardly ever see a car, right from our
>doorstep; and not too many hills (except around Norwich, and near the North Coast).

Indeed you are correct. The ride Nathan & I did yesterday was Wendling - Beeston - Fransham - Dunham
- Sporle - Swaffham. Lovely ride, quiet roads, friendly people in the villages who say "Morning!" as
you cycle by. Even most drivers are courteous - giving plenty of room, unless they happen to be
driving a silver 200 series Merc...

>Hope you enjoyed the ride, and managed to dodge the showers - hoorah, first rain for a month!

Did! And even managed to miss the showers - they started within 5 mins of getting back home. Great
timing :-)

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email Mail sent to it is dumped My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*ol*$*.*$$c$om*$ by getting rid of the
overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

[Succorso]

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:
>
> Indeed you are correct. The ride Nathan & I did yesterday was Wendling - Beeston - Fransham -
> Dunham - Sporle - Swaffham. Lovely ride, quiet roads, friendly people in the villages who say
> "Morning!" as you cycle by. Even most drivers are courteous - giving plenty of room, unless they
> happen to be driving a silver 200 series Merc...
>
>

ah yes, forgot to mention - I drive a Rover... ;)

you have to watch out for BMW's too - must be something about German cars.

--
Succorso

[Cupra]

wafflyDIRTYcatLITTERhcsBOX wrote:
>> This morning Nathan & I went out for a morning constitutional 20-miler. We needed to cross the
>> A47 to make a right turn. There's a filter lane for this purpose. So we were in said filter lane,
>> right arms stuck out to indicate we were going to turn right. HGV in oncoming lane slows, stops
>> traffic and flashes to allow us to cross safely. Wot a gent - said thanks and waved thanks too.
>>
>> Of course, later on in the ride, we did get almost side-swiped by ar*ehole in silver 200 series
>> Merc on a country lane - and for some reason, there's a lot of ar*eholes in silver 200 series
>> Mercs doing this of late. I suppose it makes a change to Mondeo Man doing it, or the local yoof
>> in 1.0 Nova who thinks he's driving a F1 car doing
>> it. When Nathan & I cycled down to the Mildenhall Rally, there were three ar*eholes in silver 200
>> series Mercs who nearly side-swiped us, plus elderly ar*ehole in a Jag who was not going to
>> have his journey delayed by a nanosecond to slow for a cyclist and elderly ar*ehole in a
>> Fiesta who only avoided kncoking me off as he overtook me to then cut-in in front of me
>> whilst his rear wheels were level with my pedals by a bit of sharpish braking on my own part.
>>
>> Thank heavens there's the odd Knight of the Road still left out there.
>>
>> Cheers, helen s
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~

In my recent experience it's the HGVs and White Vans that seem to give me the widest berth - bit of
a departure from the usual cliche!

[Pyromancer]

Once upon a time, Cupra <k2168NOSPAM@f2s.com> wrote:

>In my recent experience it's the HGVs and White Vans that seem to give me the widest berth - bit of
>a departure from the usual cliche!

You'll generally find the HGV drivers hate "car driving morons" even more than cyclists do. Think
what it's like to be in charge of 38 tons which takes a while to stop, when some nutter in a silver
200 series Merc overtakes on a blind bend on a single carriageway road, then stands on the brakes in
order to turn right a couple of hundred yards later on...

White van man is a bit of a surprise though!

--
- Pyromancer Stormshadow http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk (http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk/) <-- Pagan Gothic Rock!
http://www.littlematchgirl.co.uk (http://www.littlematchgirl.co.uk/) <-- Electronic Metal! http://www.revival.stormshadow.com (http://www.revival.stormshadow.com/) <-- The
Gothic Revival.

[James Hodson]

On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 21:59:43 +0100, Pyromancer <pyromancer@beeching.stormshadow.com> wrote:

>You'll generally find the HGV drivers hate "car driving morons" even more than cyclists do. Think
>what it's like to be in charge of 38 tons which takes a while to stop, when some nutter in a silver
>200 series Merc overtakes on a blind bend on a single carriageway road, then stands on the brakes
>in order to turn right a couple of hundred yards later on.
>

HGV drivers seem to be aware that their vehicles extend just a tad behind the driver's seat. Some
car drivers appear not to understand this. (Black Merc SUV/estate, reg. DH2 5571 (or similar)
springs to mind for some painful reason.)

I always do my best to get out of the way of HGVs trying to overtake me ASAP. Ages ago, I heard that
it cost an HGV driver loadsa pounds if he was made to stop then accelerate again. So, I'm only doing
my bit for the economy. My local HGVers are extremely polite, if somewhat noisy. Having given way,
I'm often answered by an earth-shaking, ear drum busting, thankyouing BEEEEEEEPPP!!!

>White van man is a bit of a surprise though!
>
There's always the one exception that proves the rule.

James

--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.