Extended Cloak of Invisibility

[Danny Colyer]

It occurred to me this morning that the famed cyclists' cloak of invisibility may not only shield
the cyclist from view, but may extend for some distance in front.

I'm fairly confident I would have been run off the road by a Biffa skip lorry on my way to work this
morning if I hadn't been extremely assertive in my road positioning. We both joined the A420 at the
same time at nearby junctions, with the lorry behind me. Unusually for rush hour, there was a clear
gap of about 150 yards in front of me. So the lorry driver seemed desperate to get past, driving
close behind me and revving his engine.

On this stretch of road there's no way that a car or lorry can safely get past a cyclist unless the
opposite lane is clear, which it wasn't. However, there are times when it is clear that a motorist
will try an unsafe overtaking manoeuvre if I don't dominate the lane. This was one of those times.

So where does the cloak of invisibility come into this? Well, the lorry driver apparently failed to
notice that I was travelling faster than the cars in front and was therefore catching them up. So
even if he had been able to pass me, he would have been stuck in slower moving traffic a few seconds
later. The only reason I can think of that he wouldn't have noticed this was that he couldn't see
the cars in front of me, as seems so common where motorists seem unable to see past a cyclist to the
cars in front.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

 

[Tony Raven]

Danny Colyer wrote:
> It occurred to me this morning that the famed cyclists' cloak of invisibility may not only shield
> the cyclist from view, but may extend for some distance in front.
>

Its known technically as lycra rage myopia

Tony

 

[Dirtylitterboxo]

>Its known technically as lycra rage myopia

or... retarded amoeba visual cortex absence.

Cheers, helen s

--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam-- to get correct one remove dependency on fame &
fortune h*$el*$$e**nd***$o$ts***i*$*$m**m$$o*n**s@$*$a$$o**l.c**$*$om$$

 

[Tony Raven]

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>> Its known technically as lycra rage myopia
>
> or... retarded amoeba visual cortex absence.
>

That's the trouble with amoeba - they only do stimulus (cyclist) response (attack)

Tony

 

[Jeremy Parker]

"Danny Colyer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> It occurred to me this morning that the famed cyclists' cloak of invisibility may not only shield
> the cyclist from view, but may
extend
> for some distance in front.
>

Which reminds me; Scott Munn has put David Martin's well known, but elusive, article "The Theory of
BIG" on his web site, www.bikereader.com. It's well worth reading

Jeremy Parker

 

[Ian Smith]

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, Danny Colyer <[email protected]> wrote:

> So where does the cloak of invisibility come into this? Well, the lorry driver apparently failed
> to notice that I was travelling faster than the cars in front and was therefore catching them up.

I had a mercedes overtake me once when I was braking due to being coming up to teh stationary queue
ahead. He got as far as getting his front doors alongside before he had to stop. At this point, I
was about half-way between primary & secondary position, and he was neatly straddling the white
lines down the middle of the road, blocking oncoming traffic.

Obviously, he did what any self-respectng mercedes driver would, and as soon as the queue moved
forward he did so with full left lock on the steering, barging me out of the road. He then wound
down his windows and swore while threatening to assault me.

That was the most extreme case, but my daily commute features a stop-go queue of cars and even cars
that have been behind me in the queue for some time will sometimes decide to overtake if there's as
much as 1.001 times a car-length of clear tarmac ahead. Often this features revving of engines and
screeching of tyres. I just wait 'till I have eye-contact in the mirrors (about 50% look guiltily in
teh rear-view mirror after their dare-devil manouver) and then shake my head sorrowfully. Sometimes
they wave back, indicating they've only done it once or twice (at least, I assume that's what the
gesture means).

regards, Ian SMith
--
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|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Just zis Guy]

On Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:17:37 +0000 (UTC), Ian Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Obviously, he did what any self-respectng mercedes driver would, and as soon as the queue moved
>forward he did so with full left lock on the steering, barging me out of the road. He then wound
>down his windows and swore while threatening to assault me.

Trouble is, the Plod can never do anythign about these twunts. Funny, though, how it's never their
fault for engaging in a dangerous manoeuvre with inadequate anticipation. Must be something to do
with that road tax we're always hearing about.

Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

 

[Danny Colyer]

Jeremy Parker wrote:
> Which reminds me; Scott Munn has put David Martin's well known, but elusive, article "The Theory
> of BIG" on his web site, www.bikereader.com. It's well worth reading

I like it, thanks. This is the direct link:
http://www.bikereader.com/BikeReader/contributors/misc/big.html

The BIG calculator classifies me as a Road Warrior, which is nice.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine