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S

Simonb

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Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use the
road!" I wheeled the bike back level with him and said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. Or are you
just having a go because I'm on a bike?", to which he had no reply.

Strange.
 
"Simonb" wrote in message
> Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use
> the road!" I wheeled the bike back level with him
and
> said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. Or are you just having a go because
I'm
> on a bike?", to which he had no reply.
>
> Strange.
>
Were you riding in the "Cyclecraft" manner, that is, using the road as if you had a right to, rather
than timidly and dangerously squeezing out of motorists' way in the gutter? I fear that as more
cyclists ride submissively, those of us who "get out of line" by asserting our right to the road,
will suffer more harassment. I have had similar abuse, which I put down to that reason. Mike Sales
 
"Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use
> the road!".........

Makes a change that a motorist actually wants us to use the ROAD, when it's often along the lines of
"use the bloodi cycle path".
 
Originally posted by Simonb
Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use the road!" I wheeled the bike back level with him and said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. Or are you just having a go because I'm on a bike?", to which he had no reply.

Strange.

Good for you :D Sounds like this particular ******** expected the cyclist to be cowed into submission by some neathanderthal bellowing from the window of his pollution machine.

I agree that too many cyclists content themselves with wobbling along almost in the gutter rather than getting into the road and cycling like they've a right to be there. I always make a point of having a few words with anyone who blocks a cycle way at traffic lights - normally I just get in front of them and then pull away really slowly - always winds 'em up good ;)

My favourites are the ignorant motorists who tell me that it's "illegal" to cycle on the road when there is a pavement available - classic!
 
In article <[email protected]>,
"Simonb" <[email protected]> writes:
> Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use
> the road!"

Behind you?

How do you know who he was shouting at?

Indeed, do you know for certain who was shouting?

> Strange.

I wonder if some driver is right now telling an anecdote about a mad cyclist.

--
Nick Kew
 
McBain_v1 <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Good for you :D Sounds like this particular ******** expected the cyclist to be cowed into
> submission by some neathanderthal bellowing from the window of his pollution machine.

By wheeling his bike back and confronting the driver Simon transformed himself from inferior being
who must be instantly overtaken to obviously fit and confident bloke of superior height invading
portable personal territory. That's why the driver's behaviour changed instantly from aggressive to
submissive. It really is a jungle out there.

--
Dave...
 
On 5 Mar 2004 09:29:53 -0800, [email protected] (Dave Kahn) wrote:

>McBain_v1 <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> Good for you :D Sounds like this particular ******** expected the cyclist to be cowed into
>> submission by some neathanderthal bellowing from the window of his pollution machine.
>
>By wheeling his bike back and confronting the driver Simon transformed himself from inferior being
>who must be instantly overtaken to obviously fit and confident bloke of superior height invading
>portable personal territory. That's why the driver's behaviour changed instantly from aggressive to
>submissive. It really is a jungle out there.

Possibly true. I was once cut up by a smart-**** in a mini (the "proper" one not the BMW lookalike),
who also shouted something at me which I didn't quite hear. He also had a sunroof which was open. A
hundred yards down the road he was stopped at traffic lights and I pulled up alongside.

I was towering above him (given that I am 6 foot 4 inches and was on a mountain bike). Strange how
his attitude changed when I leaned into the sun roof, tapped him on the head and asked him what
exactly was it he had said just before...
--
Paul Lydon Winster, Derbyshire, UK
 
On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 20:38:16 -0000, "Simonb"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Just now, on my way back from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights shouted, "Learn to use
>the road!" I wheeled the bike back level with him and said, "I'm not doing anything wrong. Or are
>you just having a go because I'm on a bike?", to which he had no reply.

Hi Simon

I had a strange one today. The driver of a people carrier honked as he/she overtook me. IMO, there
was no danger in the car's passing so I didn't believe the honking was due to any sort of
frustration on their part. (The vehicle was quite full of kids, FWIW.) I was honked once more as the
car drove ahead so I thought that perhaps I knew either the driver or the passengers.

After a while, when the car was held up by other traffic, I mounted the pavement and looked into the
tinted windows. No matter, I was unable to see precisely who was doing what. All I could see was
several people politely waving and grinning at me.

As a guess, I'm say that the car belonged to some next door neighbours of mine from four or five
years ago, but I cannot really say.

Whatever, it was quite strange.

James
 
Dave Kahn wrote:

> Simon transformed himself from inferior being who must be instantly overtaken to obviously fit and
> confident bloke of superior height invading portable personal territory. That's why the driver's
> behaviour changed instantly from aggressive to submissive.

This is correct. Happens a lot. You can see it in their eyes.

Simon
 
James Hodson <[email protected]> wrote: ...
| I had a strange one today. The driver of a people carrier honked as he/she overtook me. IMO, there
| was no danger in the car's passing so I didn't believe the honking was due to any sort of
| frustration on their part. (The vehicle was quite full of kids, FWIW.) I was honked once more as
| the car drove ahead so I thought that perhaps I knew either the driver or the passengers.
|
| After a while, when the car was held up by other traffic, I mounted the pavement and looked into
| the tinted windows. No matter, I was unable to see precisely who was doing what. All I could see
| was several people politely waving and grinning at me.
|
| As a guess, I'm say that the car belonged to some next door neighbours of mine from four or five
| years ago, but I cannot really say.
|
| Whatever, it was quite strange.

Kid: Beep that cyclist Daddy. Dad: <thinks>Hey, I'm a wacky funster kind of dad</thinks><beep> Kid:
<giggle> doesn't he look funny Kid's friend: <thinks>I wish my dad was so cool</thinks>

Doesn't seem so strange, we're just easy targets that's all.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk

Eala Earendel engla beorhtast ofer middangeard monnum sended.
 
McBain_v1 wrote:

> My favourites are the ignorant motorists who tell me that
> it's "illegal" to cycle on the road when there is a
> pavement available - classic!

My favourites:

"Get a real bike!" - from the driver of a LWB Land Rover, in
Camdenm, and "Get off the road!" from the driver of a Toyota
Land Cruiser with all the gangsta accessories that guarantee
zero off-road ability by reducing the ground clearance to
that of a dachshund.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
On Thu, 4 Mar 2004 21:25:14 -0000, "Mike Sales"
<[email protected]> wrote:

:) )"Simonb" wrote in message )> Just now, on my way back
:from Safeway, the driver behind me at the lights )>
:shouted, "Learn to use the road!" I wheeled the bike back
:level with him )and )> said, "I'm not doing anything wrong.
:Or are you just having a go because )I'm )> on a bike?", to
:which he had no reply. )> )> Strange. )> )Were you riding
:in the "Cyclecraft" manner, that is, using the road as if
:)you had a right to, rather than timidly and dangerously
:squeezing out of )motorists' way in the gutter? I fear that
:as more cyclists ride )submissively, those of us who "get
:eek:ut of line" by asserting our right to )the road, will
:suffer more harassment. I have had similar abuse, which I
:put )down to that reason.

The most significant rememberence of anything like this for
me was when with others and was told to ride in single file.
I would have stood my ground if it wasn't dark, some of us
had failed lights and the guy was a policeman !
--
Comm again, Mike.
 
Originally posted by Dave Larrington
My favourites:

"Get a real bike!" - from the driver of a LWB Land Rover, in Camdem, and "Get off the road!" from the driver of a Toyota
Land Cruiser with all the gangsta accessories that guarantee
zero off-road ability by reducing the ground clearance to that of a dachshund.

Now that's some funny $hit :D

I like the Land Cruiser one, why is it that most people who drive these are really short-arses with major "taller people issues" ? Either that or pyschotic women who feel they need a tank to take their little darlings the 100 yards to school?
 
McBain_v1 <[email protected]> wrote in news:NWf3c.57919
[email protected]:

> I like the Land Cruiser one, why is it that most people
> who drive these are really short-arses with major "taller
> people issues" ? Either that or pyschotic women who feel
> they need a tank to take their little darlings the 100
> yards to school?
>

I love these sweeping generalisations. I'm a LC owner and
6'2" and my wife isn't psychotic (I've got to say that or
she'll stab me) nor does she drive our wee one to school
(but he is only 3 momnths old). None of the other
LC/4WD owners I know come under either of those
descriptions.

Graeme
 
On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 10:15:32 GMT, Graeme <[email protected]>
wrote:

> McBain_v1 <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:NWf3c.57919 [email protected]:
>
>> I like the Land Cruiser one, why is it that most people
>> who drive these are really short-arses with major "taller
>> people issues" ? Either that or pyschotic women who feel
>> they need a tank to take their little darlings the 100
>> yards to school?
>>
>
> I love these sweeping generalisations. I'm a LC owner
> and 6'2"

Only 6'2" ?!

Colin
--
 
in message <[email protected]>, McBain_v1
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Dave Larrington wrote:
> > My favourites: "Get a real bike!" - from the driver of
> > a LWB Land Rover, in Camdem, and "Get off the road!"
> > from the driver of a Toyota Land Cruiser with all the
> > gangsta accessories that guarantee zero off-road
> > ability by reducing the ground clearance to that of a
> > dachshund.
>
> Now that's some funny $hit :D
>
> I like the Land Cruiser one, why is it that most people
> who drive these are really short-arses with major "taller
> people issues" ? Either that or pyschotic women who feel
> they need a tank to take their little darlings the 100
> yards to school?

And if you drive down a single-track road round here in the
summer you're bound to pass two or three suburban families
on their holidays or out for a run in the country to see how
the queer and primitive peasants live. You'll recognise them
by the fact that they drive their very new, very large and
very clean 4x4s down the very centre of the road, and expect
everyone else to get completely off the road for them -
because, of course, they're terrified of getting their
beautiful new (and very, very expensive) 4x4 anywhere near
any nasty mud...

The other, much rarer, breed of suburban 4x4 driver causes
even more hilarity in the summer. There's usually one a
year. He (always he) drives his new 4x4 out onto the sand at
low tide. And gets it stuck. And the tide comes in. This
year's Suzuki Grand Vitara was three *days* old when it was
immersed...

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

to err is human, to lisp divine ;; attributed to Kim
Philby, oddly enough.
 
Originally posted by Simon Brooke

And if you drive down a single-track road round here in the
summer you're bound to pass two or three suburban families
on their holidays or out for a run in the country to see how the queer and primitive peasants live. You'll recognise them by the fact that they drive their very new, very large and very clean 4x4s down the very centre of the road, and expect everyone else to get completely off the road for them - because, of course, they're terrified of getting their beautiful new (and very, very expensive) 4x4 anywhere near any nasty mud...

The other, much rarer, breed of suburban 4x4 driver causes
even more hilarity in the summer. There's usually one a year. He (always he) drives his new 4x4 out onto the sand at low tide. And gets it stuck. And the tide comes in. This year's Suzuki Grand Vitara was three *days* old when it was immersed...

You got that right. Most 4x4 owners probably have no idea what the crawler gears are for, never mind how to select one. And as for actually seeing one of those monstrous Mercedes or BMW X5's actually off road you can forget it. The jumped up ponces who convince themselves that their area is so "bad ass" that they need one of these would have kittens if some cow **** got sprayed onto the wheel arches :mad:

As for immersing a Suzuki Grand Vitara - that's the best place for them :)
 
Simon Brooke wrote:

> The other, much rarer, breed of suburban 4x4 driver causes
> even more hilarity in the summer. There's usually one a
> year. He (always he) drives his new 4x4 out onto the sand
> at low tide. And gets it stuck. And the tide comes in.
> This year's Suzuki Grand Vitara was three *days* old when
> it was immersed...

Snk! Of course, if the Vitardiot had bought a Toyota Hi-Lux
pickup instead, it'd still work afterwards.

A FOAF managed this trick with a rented Sierra, made trebly
complicated by the fact that:

o it was in the south of France, and they didn't tell the
rental company they were going abroad (they had originally
planned to go to Blackpool but decided, on a whim, to go to
the Bol d'Or motorcycle race instead), and o on the return
trip, they managed to knock the sump off

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================
 
Simon Brooke wrote:

> The other, much rarer, breed of suburban 4x4 driver causes
> even more hilarity in the summer. There's usually one a
> year. He (always he) drives his new 4x4 out onto the sand
> at low tide. And gets it stuck.

We had a variation of that one last year. Some fool drove a
car out onto the beach at Broughty Ferry, and lo! it got
stuck. So someone dutifully went along with a Landy tow
truck to haul it out... and lo! it got stuck. Don't think
they were actually below the tide line so not quite as
amusing as it might have been.

An interesting wheeze on the tide front was over at St A's
where there was some major earthmoving equipment parked at
the top of the beach, supposedly out of harm's way. Nobody
had thought to check in advance if the day we were over
there surfing might just be the highest spring tide of the
year with a helping wind blowing from offshore, and some
anxious looking chaps appeared as the tracks were getting
their first does of brine to drive them to safety.

> This year's Suzuki Grand Vitara was three *days* old when
> it was immersed...

<chortle!>

Pete.

--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext.
33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177
Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/