Here's an incident that happened on Arbury Road a little while ago. Its a common or garden stupid overtake - she's passed rather too close and then has nowhere to go when she's past, so she slams on the anchors in a narrowing road space where there are parked cars. Stupid, pointless, and I catch her up at the junction.
Now its a bad overtake but its not a world class embarrassing incident for the driver. I think my cycling was okay - I'm out from the kerb to avoid the parked cars, until I'm forced a bit closer by a driver who's braking while passing me, in a 20mph zone she can't get anywhere fast in anyway.
So I was surprised by this.
Worse bit of cycling I have ever seen in cambridge https://t.co/ykZgQrDdwi
— fatbird (@journeyfromfat) August 13, 2015
Yes, apparently this is the worst bit of cycling ever seen by someone calling herself 'fatbird'. Naturally I (and others) enquired what I'd been doing wrong, and apparently 'opinions vary' but I'll not find out any more because I'm blocked.
If there's criticism, make it. But the worst cycling you've seen in Cambridge? Back that up or retract, Fatbird. Your criticism is plain stupid.
At 0:58 in the video, you entered an area of white diagonal stripes bordered by a broken white line. Highway Code rule 130 says "you should not enter the area unless it is necessary". It did not seem to be necessary. (But I would have done the same myself.)
ReplyDeleteIts necessary. If I don't enter that I end up with cars queuing in it to my right, making my right turn impossible. Its a dreadful design that necessitates misuse unless you want to end up stuck in the wrong lane with an angry motorist to your right and another right behind you as you sit there like a lemon unable to turn right where your'e meant to.
DeleteOf course, that's not what "necessary" means in the context of the Highway Code.
DeleteTo be more explicit, I think your cycling is perfectly fine, but defending it like you do in this post is an admission of weakness. It's always possible to nit-pick, and it reveals the extent to which you were stung by the criticism. Why do you care about what "fatbird" thinks about your cycling anyway? They probably know little or nothing about cycling. Why does their approval matter to you?
By contrast, nearly all the motorists in your video are blatantly breaking the law (Arbury Road has a 20 mph speed limit) but they don't give a shit what you think. My advice is to be more like them.
In fairness the highway code is vague on what 'necessary' means, and I'll continue to interpret that as 'necessary to avoid angry motorists wanting to squeeze me out between two moving streams of traffic rather than let me turn at a junction'. I think thats a perfectly valid interpretation.
DeleteDefending that isn't an admission of weakness, its an admission that the road design is dreadful for a cyclist turning at that junction. In truth its pretty bad for the motorists too, and they invariably fill the white hatched area by the time the lights change.
I was, and am, bemused by 'Fatbird' which is why I wrote the blog post above. It was both a funny ha-ha and funny peculiar response, which is why I chose to share it in a blog post. It isn't out of any thought that she may be right or that her criticism is cutting, its because its both silly and funny.
If I wrote a blog post about every bit of criticism, because said criticism stings, you'd see a heck of a lot more output here than I currently produce...
https://youtu.be/YMnHRYj5tmg
ReplyDeleteThis is why
1) You shouldn't drive close behind
2) You shouldn't overtake close
3) You shouldn't open a car door without looking - use your left hand, not your foot !
4) Cyclists should not ride close to parked cars, even when the painted lane permits them to.