Interested to read about your experiences of commuting. What’s the cycling infrastructure like where you live? What are drivers’ attitudes towards cyclists like?
Bit of a rant: I don’t ride on the road if I can help it. Today I had to take my van to get fixed though so I took the bike to ride home. Mixture of main roads and side streets through a busy town - the usual smattering of not-fit-for-purpose cycling infrastructure you get in any UK town or city outside London.
Traffic was stopped at a red light. I filtered (safely) past a line of stationary cars and stopped in the cycle box at the front, taking up a position on the right hand side of the lane. Karen behind beeps her horn at me and leans out the window “erm excuse me what do you think you’re doing?!”
“Huh?”
“You can’t just jump ahead of everyone and now you’re blocking the lane.”
“I can and I’m turning right. And this is where I’m supposed to be (I gesture to the bicycle symbol which is literally painted on the ground).”
“Well I think you need to read the bloody Highway Code (she winds her window back up).”
I just shook my head and turned around. I hope she does actually go home and read the Highway Code.
Not 5 minutes later I’m on a quiet side street and approaching a junction. There’s a car a good 100ft behind me. I indicate to turn right and pull into the middle of the road. He floors it to try and get past me before the turn and ends up alongside me as I begin turning. I brake. He brakes. He looks at me and mouths something angrily. I just shake my head and he zooms off down this tiny one way street, only to get stuck in traffic at the bottom.
Both incidents on a 15 minute ride and it’s not the first time. I don’t know how people commute on bikes. I’d end up kicking someone’s window through.
Bit of a rant: I don’t ride on the road if I can help it. Today I had to take my van to get fixed though so I took the bike to ride home. Mixture of main roads and side streets through a busy town - the usual smattering of not-fit-for-purpose cycling infrastructure you get in any UK town or city outside London.
Traffic was stopped at a red light. I filtered (safely) past a line of stationary cars and stopped in the cycle box at the front, taking up a position on the right hand side of the lane. Karen behind beeps her horn at me and leans out the window “erm excuse me what do you think you’re doing?!”
“Huh?”
“You can’t just jump ahead of everyone and now you’re blocking the lane.”
“I can and I’m turning right. And this is where I’m supposed to be (I gesture to the bicycle symbol which is literally painted on the ground).”
“Well I think you need to read the bloody Highway Code (she winds her window back up).”
I just shook my head and turned around. I hope she does actually go home and read the Highway Code.
Not 5 minutes later I’m on a quiet side street and approaching a junction. There’s a car a good 100ft behind me. I indicate to turn right and pull into the middle of the road. He floors it to try and get past me before the turn and ends up alongside me as I begin turning. I brake. He brakes. He looks at me and mouths something angrily. I just shake my head and he zooms off down this tiny one way street, only to get stuck in traffic at the bottom.
Both incidents on a 15 minute ride and it’s not the first time. I don’t know how people commute on bikes. I’d end up kicking someone’s window through.
