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Cycling log - random events in the day of a cyclist II

I think the fact that the guy was straight-up and didn't disappear helped the police decide that verbal encouragement to be more careful in future would suffice. I've now spoken with his insurance provider and they'll be back in touch tomorrow once they've had a chat with the guy. It should be a no-brainer that I get some sort of compensation but you never know.

@TheDecameron

Yeah, the junction at Crow Road can be mental. If everyone plays nice and sticks to the rules you can get from one side to the next just fine. But it does feel risky as no-one seems to know which lane they need to be in to get through it and so all sorts of chaos ensues, often at speed as you say as it's a fairly open junction with room to give it some welly.

The roundabout at Seaward Street is always busy and with a motorway off-ramp on one side, the potential for high-speed contact is always there. I never feel safe going through it until I can see for sure that no cars are coming off the motorway and I'm safely out the other side.
IME Direct Line are very good, I was hit by one of their drivers (I was in a car) & they handled everything including a compensation claim for whiplash.
 
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Exactly this. The accident hotspot on my former route into work is where oncoming traffic turns right across two lanes, bus/ bike lane on inside. Big van or suv in middle lanes flashes driver waiting to turn and hey presto he kills you as you proceed obscured from view until too late in the bus lane.

Used to see it once a month. Which given it takes only 30 seconds for me to ride past each day is a pretty damn high incident rate.
 
Whenever I'm out on the roads (and especially when on 2 wheels, powered or unpowered) I definitely don't allow whether I'm in the right of it or not to determine if I'll take avoiding action of drive/ride defensively. I'd rather avoid hospital (or worse!) if it's in my power to do so, by anticipating etc. Certainly my motorbike training (standard, advanced and when I was trained by the police) stressed the need to anticipate and ride defensively, even if you were riding within the law etc.

There is something in the highway code about having a duty of care to other road users even if they've made a mistake and/or are breaking the law. That's been tested in court as well - i.e. if someone steps out into the road in front of you and you should have had time to avoid hitting them but didn't, then you can still be held at least partially responsible (and people have gone to jail in those situations).

I'm a pretty confident and experienced cyclist but there are some roads (mostly fast/busy single carriageway A-roads) that I try and avoid if possible, and some junctions that I try to avoid if I think they're are significant safety concerns.
 
I bunged the Stages power meter onto my Soul earlier. It's very similar to the 4iiii one I have for the roads bikes i.e. it replaces the non-drive side arm of a Shimano HollowTech II chainset (sadly the road and MTB set-ups are different so I can't share one across all the bikes). Initial impressions from the first ride with are about what I expected i.e. power outputs are similar but I average quite a bit higher on the road bike - possibly because I spend more time free-wheeling on the MTB when it runs out of gears on faster sections. The MTB ride is bit more of an interval workout i.e. lower overall average but quite spiky due to more short, steep climbs. I didn't do any of the bigger climbs tonight but it'll be interested to have the power meter confirm just how puny I am on those!

I wasn't in all that much of a hurry tonight but did have a go at one of the segments I'd already placed quite well on (I think I was 5th overall) and managed to improve to 3rd overall on that, which was nice. I need to find another 3 seconds to KOM it and think I might be able to although it'll need to be a bike with higher gears as I was pretty much maxed out on the Soul. Also moved up to 10th overall on another segment (and an off-road, gravel uphill at that) which was nice as I wasn't really trying on that so should be able to go a fair bit quicker if I tried. Not the tiniest chance of taking the KOM on that one though as they guy that holds it serious quick (he's a lot lighter than me and has more power!).
 
Sorry, tone, let me explain. Man is cycling on flat road, no other traffic at about 8 kmh. Ahead is a road coming in from the left which has a sign on it saying "Stop". Stop is French for come to a halt.

Does that help?

I think it just confirms my post above that the sentiment has been lost in translation. What Tony is saying (I think) is that if you saw a car approaching that stop sign who looked like they weren't going to stop, then better to anticipate and take action on that basis than go sailing on into an accident that you could potentially avoided - even if that accident was the drivers fault and not yours. I don't think he's saying that you should always stop and give way to someone coming from the side road - just that you should keep your wits about you even if you have right of way.
 
Sorry, tone, let me explain. Man is cycling on flat road, no other traffic at about 8 kmh. Ahead is a road coming in from the left which has a sign on it saying "Stop". Stop is French for come to a halt.

Does that help?
What Tony is saying is that wherever you are in the world, even if you have just cycled past the yellow and white sign that says "vous avez priorité" and you know that the car coming from the side has a "STOP" sign, you should always be on the qui vive for the person who may not be about to stop.
 
Well, there was no need for the abusive retort but the guy has bean knocked off his bike, perhaps he is not in a reflective mood. He wasn’t at fault so now is not the time to advise him what he should have done, no matter how valid the observation may be.
 
Well, there was no need for the abusive retort but the guy has bean knocked off his bike, perhaps he is not in a reflective mood. He wasn’t at fault so now is not the time to advise him what he should have done, no matter how valid the observation may be.

He said he fell off?
 
Sorry to hear about your crash, and sorry to see this thread has went a bit pear-shaped - hopefully, we'll all be friends again tomorrow after a good night's sleep :)
 
Well, there was no need for the abusive retort but the guy has bean knocked off his bike, perhaps he is not in a reflective mood. He wasn’t at fault so now is not the time to advise him what he should have done, no matter how valid the observation may be.

I agree, and looking back I can see how Tony's original post could be seen as somewhat insensitive. More sensitive might have been to ask if there had been any clues as to the intention of the pr*ck in the car prior to the accident that might help avoid a repeat. I really like my rear view bike mirror for these types of situations as you can see the cars coming from behind and it often helps to anticipate these kinds of situations.

It does bear repeating though, that on a bike it really doesn't matter who is in the wrong - you WILL lose a confrontation with a car, so ride as though all drivers WILL try to kill you, and be constantly aware of where danger may come from. Never rely on other drivers obeying the rules of the road.
 
It does bear repeating though, that on a bike it really doesn't matter who is in the wrong - you WILL lose a confrontation with a car, so ride as though all drivers WILL try to kill you, and be constantly aware of where danger may come from. Never rely on other drivers obeying the rules of the road.
We all know this, however we also know there are some situations where you are screwed. In my case the guy was coming the other way and turned right in front of me into a minor road. Now unless you are in the gutter and travelling at walking pace this gives you 3 choices, all of which you have to evaluate in a split second. Go left into the closing gap and risk going under the front of his car, go over his bonnet, or go right into the oncoming traffic in the other carriageway. 1 and 3 involve a substantial risk of death, 2 is going to hurt. I can't remember but I apparently chose, or was forced to take, Option 2. After bouncing off the car's windscreen I had a little lie down and stopped breathing. A spot of CPR later I decided that breathing was a better idea than not, and the police and ambulance took over.

I have been through this a thousand times, without being able to remember any of the actual incident or the rest of that day. Other than crawling along in the gutter at 5 mph I can't see how you avoid it. Once you clock that he isn't going to stay at the white line but is going to turn the wheel and boot it, you are faced with those 3 choices. Otherwise what? Every time you see a car signalling right you slow to a crawl? How about if they aren't indicating? Every time they come up to the white line then, we slow to a crawl. Hardly.
 
I didn’t say all accidents are avoidable, and I’m not aiming this at any posters on PFM but there is a core of militant cyclists who seem to believe that their right to use the road somehow magically shields them from harm.
 
I went to pump up my tyres and the rubber bit that seals against the valve was too chewed out, and I struggled to get a good seal.

I thought I'd need a new pump, but then remembered I have a 3D printer and a roll of TPU. Five minutes in Fusion 360 and 13 minutes printing and it's as good as new.
 
Hope you are on the mend Windhoek, which bike were you on? The new one?

Yeah, the single-speed. It was fun while it lasted lol. But compared to your big incident, my injuries are minor in all regards. Glad you decided to start breathing again - good choice!
 
Hi all, having sent the night meditating on the subject, I accept my incident did not deserve any anger I felt at the time and if I insulted anybody by including the description of mine then I do apologise sincerely - right thought sometimes does not come quickly enough :)

To windhoek, steve 67 and mamil I doff my cap: you show a kindness and generosity which I admire, and have hopefully learnt from.
 


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