Two complaints about cyclists from a commuting cyclist

Lumen

lennymc wrote: »

are yis not blowing this out of proportion a bit? so the OP passes stopped people coming up to lights. Big deal. HTFU and pass him again

When you have vehicles to the right accelerating away from the lights it's not a great idea to cycle two abreast.

JuliusCaesar

Ok. However, as the bikes spread out at the front at red traffic lights, there being a pink box, there's room for usually about 10 bikes there. Please use it! Plenty of people are either beside me or overtake me. It's not that I'm so wide that nobody can get there.

I've been cycling to school and work for about 35 years, and never noticed any queuing. I also had a motorcycle for some years in my youth, ditto. So it must only be among a certain population... I'd say a survey amongst the commuters would say the same.

As for getting stuck behind me, I usually try to allow overtaking space next to me; and I've got stuck behind slower cyclists too. What are you going to do? It happens driving too. Patience is the only answer - it's not a racetrack.

RacoonQueen

Except for the fact it's fairly easy to drive slowly, trying to keep your bike under control at an unaturally slow speed isn't that easy...

Never mind after hours. Fairly annoying thread in ranting and raving about cyclists. Can't even argue with peoples stupid comments in there.

C3PO

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

..... it's not a racetrack.

Since when???

fenris

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Patience is the only answer - it's not a racetrack.

So what is the problem with waiting your turn then?

Maciej_D

This thread will keep me amused for the rest of the day. Thanks!

buffalo

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Ok. However, as the bikes spread out at the front at red traffic lights, there being a pink box, there's room for usually about 10 bikes there. Please use it! Plenty of people are either beside me or overtake me. It's not that I'm so wide that nobody can get there.

You're the one barging to the top of the queue (yes, it's a queue), so I would suggest the onus is on you to plonk yourself in the right of the advanced stop box. Then you can let the faster guys undertake you as you pedal off slowly.

monkeybutter

Why would you stop at the red light in the first place? That's your mistake right there.

lennymc

Lumen wrote: »

When you have vehicles to the right accelerating away from the lights it's not a great idea to cycle two abreast.

thats true i suppose. TBH its something that has never bothered me.

route66

ThisRegard wrote: »

<SNIP>

What constitutes middle aged these days anyway ? I'd say a lot of the regulars here are.

Using UN-sourced data for Ireland (Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women)) and dividing by 2 gives 39 or 42 for men and women respectively :eek:

Raam

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Etrying to keep your bike under control at an unaturally slow speed isn't that easy...

It's as easy as riding a bike.

manwithaplan

You can discount childhood, which makes middle-age around 60

Edit: 50 - dang brain ain't what it used to be

sav1980

Look on the positive side... cycling is now so popular that we all have to jostle for position

monkeybutter

route66 wrote: »

Using UN-sourced data for Ireland (Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women)) and dividing by 2 gives 39 or 42 for men and women respectively :eek:

Yes, but what is middle aged though? all you have done is highlight what the middle point in life is. if you live to 78 and it's the middle third of your life then you are middle aged from 26 on. My guess would be it''s the second third of your life from 18, so it'd start at 38.

manwithaplan

sav1980 wrote: »

Look on the positive side... cycling is now so popular that we all have to jostle for position

Cycling has sold out. It's gone all stadium now.

rp

route66 wrote: »

Using UN-sourced data for Ireland (Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women)) and dividing by 2 gives 39 or 42 for men and women respectively :eek:

yeahbut, cycling regularly increases your lifespace, so lets bump those numbers by ten years, say?

Lumen

monkeybutter wrote: »

Yes, but what is middle aged though?

It's the period in a man's life when dancing with an 18 year old woman is considered creepy. You'll know when you've hit old age when it becomes acceptable again.

Vélo

Lumen wrote: »

It's the period in a man's life when dancing with an 18 year old woman is considered creepy. You'll know when you've hit old age when it becomes acceptable again.

It's never creepy to dance with an 18 year old woman.


Well it depends what she looks like

smacl

Lumen wrote: »

You'll know when you've hit old age when it becomes acceptable again.

Looking forward to it already

route66

monkeybutter wrote: »

Yes, but what is middle aged though? all you have done is highlight what the middle point in life is. if you live to 78 and it's the middle third of your life then you are middle aged from 26 on. My guess would be it''s the second third of your life from 18, so it'd start at 38.

Eh?

Why divide it into thirds - why not into 11ths?

Then 78 / 11 *5 = 35.45 so you are middle aged once you you are > 35.45 years old. Add a bit of lycra and you're a mamil

Or, maybe Lumen is right - maybe it's a more subjective measurement. Only thing is, what's old age? I'm thinking even 70 is too young. :eek:

route66

route66 wrote: »

Eh?

Why divide it into thirds - why not into 11ths?

Then 78 / 11 *5 = 35.45 so you are middle aged once you you are > 35.45 years old. Add a bit of lycra and you're a mamil

Or, maybe Lumen is right - maybe it's a more subjective measurement. Only thing is, what's old age? I'm thinking even 70 is too young. :eek:

Or maybe old age starts when:

• You start quoting your own posts
• You forget what the original post was about

buffalo

You old people have turned what could've been a fantastic Friday thread into a discussion about middle age and maths.

Sometimes I hate boards.

Jawgap

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

.......There is NO queue of cyclists who stay in line as they arrive, in the same way as cars do. The cars do it because they have to. The bikes - well, if you want to stop at the back of the bunch, fine, but if you want to go to the front, also fine......

A real life shoaler!! I thought they only existed in legend as no one ever admits to being one when questioned directly.

Keep doing what your doing OP - if the 'shoal of idiocy' is good enough in NYC, it's good enough for Dublin.

I don't know what the first guy was complaining about, though, shoaling is mildly amusing to watch, it's not worth getting upset over.

Beasty

buffalo wrote: »

You old people have turned what could've been a fantastic Friday thread into a discussion about middle age and maths.

Sometimes I hate boards.

Well given I've a maths degree, and I'm probably one of the few people around here who could properly consider themeselves middle-aged, I'm all for it. Better than red light and cycle lane discussions any day - certainly a lot easier to mod (yellows for anyone unable to do basic arithmetic mind;))

Hermy

route66 wrote: »

Eh?

Why divide it into thirds - why not into 11ths?

Then 78 / 11 *5 = 35.45 so you are middle aged once you you are > 35.45 years old. Add a bit of lycra and you're a mamil

Or, maybe Lumen is right - maybe it's a more subjective measurement. Only thing is, what's old age? I'm thinking even 70 is too young. :eek:

Elevenths! What about the seven ages of man?

jinkypolly

When you start shaving your ear hair = middle aged

JuliusCaesar

jinkypolly wrote: »

When you start shaving your ear hair = middle aged

I'll be waiting a long time so! (I'm a woman.)

Ah lads - as you are now, so once was I. I used to overtake everyone, now everyone overtakes me*. I'm glad that when I cycled as a young wan, there weren't half as many cycling bores around and that there was much more space on the roads - even though we complained about the lack of bike lanes. On the other hand, drunk driving was pretty socially acceptable. Give it another 30 years and you'll all be reminising yourselves. And the youngsters will be shouting at you to get off the road.



Shoaling? Is that in the Rules of the Road now?




*not entirely true...

ciotog

route66 wrote: »

Eh?

Why divide it into thirds - why not into 11ths?

Then 78 / 11 *5 = 35.45 so you are middle aged once you you are > 35.45 years old. Add a bit of lycra and you're a mamil

Or, maybe Lumen is right - maybe it's a more subjective measurement. Only thing is, what's old age? I'm thinking even 70 is too young. :eek:

That explains why I've started to have desires for a road bike in the past month (and have been hanging on to every word of entry-level-road-bike related posts): I was 35 in April.

crumliniano

jinkypolly wrote: »

When you start shaving your ear hair = middle aged

D'Oh

Beasty

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

I'll be waiting a long time so! (I'm a woman.)

You mean you're just going to let it grow? Ugh!!