You would have thought I'd have learned the lesson by now: arguing with cagers is a waste of time.
This morning I was hooted as I approached a pinch-point on the Reading-Henley road. As lucjk would
have it the offending driver stoped at the lights shortly after (the two in front went through on
red, but other traffic was entering the junction by the time she reached it). I knocked on her
window and asked if she had been hooting at me. She had.
Apparently if I'm "going to do that" (i.e. ride my bike) I should get out of the middle of the road.
Which is odd, because I wasn't even in the primary riding position. It's not necessary at that
point, the pinch point is so narrow that there is less than a car's width to my right even in the
secondary position. So apparently I was actually suposed to be in the gutter, with the slush and
ice, so she could squeeze past. There is a wide bit of road after the pinch point where overtaking
is relatively safe, so waiting reduced her speed by a third for slightly under ten seconds.
Apparently she wants me to ride in the gutter so she can endanger my life for the sake of an extra
three seconds waiting at the lights.
I told her she should try reading the Highway Code and Cyclecraft. She muttered something
unintelligible and drove off.
On the plus side, later in the ride I was overtaken by a Pickfords driver in a biiiiiig truck. His
driving was exemplary, I was not in the least discomfited. Maybe I should stop referring to them as
Rhinestone Removals ;-)
--
Guy
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WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
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