Thread: Cyclists.

Wow this weekend was bad for window lickers wearing bright shiny costumes. Friday I'm driving back to work. There is a fully separated bike path, a service road, the actual road has a 1meter wide smooth edge ...... Now where do you think a couple of window lickers on expensive brand name bikes wearing bright shiny costumes would ride ?? Yep, you guessed it ... lane sharing up hill .... at probably 10km/h on the road with the cars in a 70km/h zone.

I realised later that day there was a window licker convension out at Bunninyong. A huge bloody costume party of these fools riding there expensive brand name bikes.

Now riding in events is smart... I'm serious, the roads are closed, they can wear there costumes and ride there expensive brand name bikes all they like in complete safety ... This is far to intelligent for most that would wear lycra though.... That's why they were out on the roads that were not closed ****ing off motorists outside of the event

seeya,
shane L.

Originally Posted by d2dave

If you re-read my last post No. 882 and the cyclist had a warning device and if he had any brains, he would realise that the rear approaching car probably has limited opportunity to avoid him,
due to the narrow road and the oncoming car, so although the cyclist has right of way, it is in his best interests, for his survival, to move off the road.

You heard of things called 'brakes'?

Originally Posted by d2dave

If you re-read my last post No. 882 and the cyclist had a warning device and if he had any brains, he would realise that the rear approaching car probably has limited opportunity to avoid him,
due to the narrow road and the oncoming car, so although the cyclist has right of way, it is in his best interests, for his survival, to move off the road.

So what you're saying is that the cyclist, while legally riding along the road, has to have eyes in the back of his head and take defensive action because of a motorist (you) who is driving without due care and attention.

As has been mentioned the posted speed is a limit, not a requirement. All road users, particularly motorised road users, have to drive to the road conditions, other road users and prevailing weather. What would have happened had the cyclist been a permitted tractor walking from one paddock to another? The tractor would have taken up the whole lane and you would have had to use the brakes. What if it was a vehicle breakdown or crash, same scenario exists. If you can't see more than your braking distance then you should be travelling at a speed where you can stop within your visible range.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

So what you're saying is that the cyclist, while legally riding along the road, has to have eyes in the back of his head and take defensive action because of a motorist (you) who is driving without due care and attention.....
.

Absolutely, if he isn't saying it then I am. I see motorists driving without due care and attention every day. I dodged a car that drifted over the centre line on a straight stretch at Emu Plains today, I mean almost all the way over. Are you saying I should have held my ground because I was in the right, maybe teach him a lesson? I ended up in the gravel and we all got home....well maybe, I don't know about him further up the road. There's who's right and who's dead. Sometimes they are the same person, especially if they are on a bike.

Originally Posted by London Boy

You heard of things called 'brakes'?

Ah, I've heard of those - Land Rover made an attempt at putting them in my 101 but they weren't very successful...

The OP was about the bad attitude of many Australian drivers toward cyclists. This thread is surely not about the ridiculous notion that cyclists should have eyes in the back of their heads to avoid these idiot drivers, or just get off the road.

This is a blogsite primarily written by people who guide 2 tonne missiles along roads and tracks every day. Courtesy towards more vulnerable road users is one of our shared responsibilities. It's not a good look guys to be defending the idiot drivers who think cyclists should just get off the road. Especially if its veiled in 'well that's just the real world deal with it' type attitudes.

Why does everyone else have to drive defensively, but a cyclist doesn't?!

I dun geddit.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Wow this weekend was bad for window lickers wearing bright shiny costumes. Friday I'm driving back to work. There is a fully separated bike path, a service road, the actual road has a 1meter wide smooth edge ...... Now where do you think a couple of window lickers on expensive brand name bikes wearing bright shiny costumes would ride ?? Yep, you guessed it ... lane sharing up hill .... at probably 10km/h on the road with the cars in a 70km/h zone.

I realised later that day there was a window licker convension out at Bunninyong. A huge bloody costume party of these fools riding there expensive brand name bikes.

Now riding in events is smart... I'm serious, the roads are closed, they can wear there costumes and ride there expensive brand name bikes all they like in complete safety ... This is far to intelligent for most that would wear lycra though.... That's why they were out on the roads that were not closed ****ing off motorists outside of the event

seeya,
shane L.

I hope you passed these cyclists with a sufficient amount of room without honking angrily and screaming insults out of your window, like the dumber bogans do.

Anyway, on the subject of verges and bike paths, they tend to be the collecting zone for all the tek screws, broken bottles, busted crates, rocks, tree branches, tripwires, old chairs, furniture tacks etc that the thoughtful bogans amongst us feel the need to deposit there. Car and truck tyres tend to sweep the sharper bits up. I can fully understand why a road bike rider (seriously, "window lickers", grow up) would prefer to trust the drivers on the carriageway to know the road rules and hope to get to their destination without a zillion flats. My trusty MTB has armour plated tyres, thornproof tubes WITH slime in them so I can survive these zones but I can understand the riders who like a lighter and more nimble steed.

Fed-up Melbourne cyclists turn private investigators in bid to catch Yarra Boulevard tack culprit - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Oh and on the subject of bogans, I have a fairly reliable technique for recognising them on my travels around the local hills. It's the engine note. If I hear a vehicle momentarily slow I know that they've acknowledged my presence and will give me space. This is 90% of the drivers I meet. Boneheads in soft roaders (the 9%) don't slow down and the bogans just roar past as fast and close as possible. Ute tray rattle is a bad sign too. It's not a perfectly reliable technique but it helps forward planning. It also changes my hand signals to them from a friendly wave to nothing then to a two finger salute.

Surprising the best behaved motor bikers are the Harley riders, probably because they can't manage the corners too well and just like cruising. I give them all a cheery thumbs up as they thunder by, they are pretty friendly as a rule. Worst are the Ninja Warriors, some of these death wish stinkers are really dense. Luckily you can hear them coming for miles and I can look for a safe spot on the verge to wait them out.

Share the road people, it's not that hard.