Two complaints about cyclists from a commuting cyclist

omniscient_toad

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

I'm glad that when I cycled as a young wan, there weren't half as many cycling bores around

To be fair you are the one who started a thread on an online cycling forum in the vague hope of addressing the horrible man who spoke to you in a manner not fit for his mum.

Ranting at pushy yung'uns and reminiscing about the "good old days", you're well on your way to becoming an old cycling bore!

Keep_Her_Lit

Gas thread, enjoying it!

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

"Why do you go to the front of the queue? There's a queue at the lights!"
...
So on the off-chance the rude man is reading this

That was rude?

rp wrote: »

When a cyclists pulls ahead of me at the lights, I interpret that as a challenge, he's effectively saying: The race is on! Eat my dust!
Which is fine by me, I appreciate every opportunity to up my average speed, despite being a middle-aged commuter on a steel bike with only the one gear who is on beta blockers. Bring it!

Yessss! rp, I believe our paths have crossed. Sorry to hear about your recent shunt. I hope you are now kicking ass on the N4 once again. I'll say Hello the next time I overtake you. Please say hello the next time you overtake me.

ThisRegard wrote: »

... some middle aged man tootles by you again to stop at the front, forcing you to sit behind and wait to get by him, again.

How dare you! I am a middle aged man and I do NOT ... tootle.

Lumen wrote: »

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

Better to position yourself square in the middle of the lane. A dozen pedal strokes or so is usually sufficient to dispense with the shoalers, after which you can return promptly to the cycle lane. That's what I do along the canal and I don't get any grief for it.

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

I've been cycling to school and work for about 35 years

You should be fit as a fiddle then. Give it some stick! BTW, I cycle along the (Grand) Canal most mornings and your practice doesn't bother me. You have my permission to continue.

ThisRegard

I take back my what is middle aged question as it appears that I am either middle aged, or right on the verge of, based on most of the calculations here.

Sometimes you just don't ask a question if you think the answer doesn't suit you.

Captain Havoc

Beasty wrote: »

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!!

Take no notice of a whipper-snapper like Beasty.

rp

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

Yessss! rp, I believe our paths have crossed. Sorry to hear about your recent shunt. I hope you are now kicking ass on the N4 once again. I'll say Hello the next time I overtake you. Please say hello the next time you overtake me.

Sure, but how will I know you? Me, I'm the fella in the Holland shirt (no, its not hi-viz); You'd have noticed then that I was lying about the steel frame + fixed gear, I'm goofing off by riding a full carbon with gears at the moment.

daragh_

rp wrote: »

Sure, but how will I know you?

He's the one on the subtle, understated bike.

elduggo

Raam wrote: »

It's as easy as riding a bike.

how do you practice track-standing though?

I mean, you need to make sure you're good at it before trying it in public, in case you can't do it and look foolish. But you have to get out in public and do it, to improve your skills.

I see the difficulty. chicken and egg.

Keep_Her_Lit

rp wrote: »

Sure, but how will I know you? Me, I'm the fella in the Holland shirt (no, its not hi-viz); You'd have noticed then that I was lying about the steel frame + fixed gear, I'm goofing off by riding a full carbon with gears at the moment.

Your fixed gear machine is a sky blue On One Pompino, right? Not sure if we've shared the road recently, I think you're usually heading in to town a bit earlier than me.

I was riding The Wasp Mk I until May, currently on The Wasp Mk II ... don't think you should have too much bother spotting me!

rp

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

Your fixed gear machine is a sky blue On One Pompino, right? Not sure if we've shared the road recently, I think you're usually heading in to town a bit earlier than me.

I was riding The Wasp Mk I until May, currently on The Wasp Mk II ... don't think you should have too much bother spotting me!

Yeah, got you now, back in the winter it was, what is that, insulating tape? Pompino is awaiting a new bottom bracket, but I'll need to get it back running soon, cuz winter is approaching again, and it has the hub dynamo, mudguards and rack. And, technically, the colour is "Trigger's Mum's Bathroom Blue"

doozerie

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!

Alternatively, why don't you just move further to the right and further into that "pink" box yourself ('tis not pink by the way, 'tis more like some terrible variation on terracotta designed with the sole purpose of offending the eye, but I digress)? Just sit there, in front of the line of cars sitting in rush hour traffic, drivers gnawing their steering wheels while they wait for that green light which they believe appears only once every 100 years or so and stays lit for such a brief moment that the accelerator must be pushed through the floor of the car before the green icon disappears.

But don't worry about the odd revving engine and the odd car inching, or sometimes lurching, forward behind you as you wait in front of them for green, the drivers of those cars are mostly lovely people when you meet them in any other setting. In that sense they are much like many commuting cyclists in fact, they wouldn't dream of imposing on others, they just happen to be in a hurry and they are only pushing others around in this instance because they are in such a hurry to be very nice people somewhere else. They have a particular fondness too for cyclists on heavy bikes who are slow to move off, they'll be throwing themselves at you to demonstrate this. And car hugs rock. They really really rock.

Canis Lupus

Middle age: You grunt when getting on and off the bike.

Keep_Her_Lit

rp wrote: »

what is that, insulating tape?

It's relfective vehicle marking tape (3M 9963).

Pompino is awaiting a new bottom bracket, but I'll need to get it back running soon, cuz winter is approaching again, and it has the hub dynamo, mudguards and rack.

Good luck with the overhaul. I'll keep an eye out for you.

robindch

droidus wrote: »

#1 rule of commuting etiquette: Never move in front of another cyclist at a red light if they have already overtaken you.

#0 rule of commuting etiquette: never pass out another cyclist if you're going to dawdle when the next red light goes green.

BostonB

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

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

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

....Without looking, she slotted herself into the bike lane in front of me, forcing me to jam on the brakes. There was heavy traffic so I'd no room for maneovre. ....

Despite people pointing it out already, I don't think you realise you are complaining about someone else doing to you what you just did to someone else.

Pulled out in front of fast traffic, only to slow everyone behind you down. Its selfish, bad manners, and cause conflict where theres no need for any. Its queue skipping and ignorance of the queue is no defence. Considering you complain about the cyclist doing it to you, poor observation etc. It applies to cars also, who pull out in front of faster traffic only to slow down.

Lusk Doyle

You could also, of course, get the bus and avoid all the "hassle" of commuting

BostonB

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

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

Good luck with that.

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Ah lads - as you are now, so once was I. I used to overtake everyone, now everyone overtakes me*. ...

So it makes even less sense to be queue jumping.

BostonB

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

You could also, of course, get the bus and avoid all the "hassle" of commuting

Probably wouldn't see the queue there either.

Lusk Doyle

BostonB wrote: »

Probably wouldn't see the queue there either.

That reminds me of a guy that my wife is always on about barging to the front of the line to get on the bus first in the morning. It also reminds me of when I used to get the train home from work from Pearse station and some people would always try to barge their way on first. I used to love standing there and blocking them for their efforts

rp

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Starting on an incline on my rather heavy commuting bike is a pain in my arse

Take inspiration from the lady in this thread - it only gets easier.
Sorry you touched a raw nerve with this group, but its an interesting thread you kicked-off.
We are all very nice really, so welcome...

Ole Rodrigo

There are a growing number of commuters who don't seem to know good etiquette

Ant

Jawgap wrote: »

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.

I was one of those people who was brought up to follow the golden rule (treat others as you would like to be treated) so I take my turn in the queue. I often encounter shoaling and usually I find it amusing as the shoalers are mostly over-taken within seconds of the lights changing to green.

However, there are times when it's just not possible to safely over-take slower cyclists in front. I've cycled a few times along the Grand Canal (Crumlin to Mount St.) at morning rush-hour and the lanes to the right of the cycle lane are chock-a-block (as AA Roadwatch likes to call it) with cars that are close to stationary. In many sections, the cycle lane isn't wide enough to safely overtake - particularly if the slower cyclist is a bit wobbly.

Also, as Lumen points out, at other junctions you have the opposite problem to cars that are barely moving. Without an advanced stop section (that hasn't had a car stop in it), it's not the safest manoeuvre to be over-taking other cyclists if faster moving vehicles are over-taking you.

nerraw1111

Just throwing it out there, but isn’t this a bit like offering a more senior person your seat on a bus? Sure it's inconvenient but it's made their day that bit easier.

There are steep little bits along the canal, particularly at the lights. It is easier to start off at the front of the queue which is flatter rather than on the incline. I wouldn’t begrudge a senior person, wishing to avoid such a hill start, cycling past me. It’s something I never thought about prior to this thread.

However, if you’re not senior, feck off and queue at the back.

BostonB

They are middle aged and cycling a bike. Not walking with a frame.

doozerie

nerraw1111 wrote:

Just throwing it out there, but isn’t this a bit like offering a more senior person your seat on a bus?

That analogy only works if you are the bus driver, and while sitting at traffic lights you get ousted from your seat, and turn around to find a lorry load of pensioners at the wheel who then proceed to drive the bus at a speed so slow that the bus threatens to topple itself over in protest. You manage to (politely) regain control of the bus only for the very same thing to happen at the next set of lights.

buffalo

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Just throwing it out there, but isn’t this a bit like offering a more senior person your seat on a bus? Sure it's inconvenient but it's made their day that bit easier.

There are steep little bits along the canal, particularly at the lights. It is easier to start off at the front of the queue which is flatter rather than on the incline. I wouldn’t begrudge a senior person, wishing to avoid such a hill start, cycling past me. It’s something I never thought about prior to this thread.

However, if you’re not senior, feck off and queue at the back.

Or they could wait at the bit before the incline starts, then build up momentum before hitting the incline. Though I can't say I've noticed the Alpe d'Huez whenever I've cycled by the canal, but I'm not familiar with the route... maybe OP, you could use the fancy new cycle path? Is that along the stretch you're talking about?

route66

BostonB wrote: »

They are middle aged and cycling a bike. Not walking with a frame.

Or maybe all 3:

CramCycle

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