Am I Invisible Or What?

Glorious day. Decide to get the bike out and go for a ride - no
objective, just enjoy the day.

Start bike, check all is well, and ride off. Decide to get some
petrol, so take the long way around town via the two-lane blacktop
between the fields of oilseed rape. Two miles of this, take right at
the roundabout to the petrol station. See huge queue of traffic,
decide I can fill up somewhere else. Do U-turn and head away from
town.

The road south has just gone from 40 limit to 30, on the most awkward
spot on top of a rise, and on a bend. Concentrating on line, I almost
miss the limit signs, but ease back on the throttle and apply some
gentle braking. Speed falls from 40 to 30. Glance in mirror, to see a
Ford Focus six inches from my numberplate and driver gesticulating.

Carry on at 30, but Ford Focus squeeezes past, almost taking my mirror
off with his door pillar. Is he close or what. Put arm up to protect
face, he gesticulates again and pulls in to hotel carpark entrance. I
get the impression he wants me to do the same, doubtless to tell me
what I'm doing wrong.

Decide to avoid confrontation, so drive past. Screaming the tyres, he
pulls out behind me, almost colliding with a blue Transit-type van. He
then drives six inches from my numberplate. Seeing plenty of traffic
coming the other way, I put my bike in the centre of my lane, so he
can't get past, glad now that there's at least one witness with a
grandstand view.

This continues for a quarter-mile or so, then the oncoming traffic
clears, and I know what's going to happen next. He screams past, as
close as he can get, but I've left enough room so I brake and move
left. He screams off into the distance, still in the 30 limit. I turn
off through the forest, shaking, and head for the main road.

Five miles later, I fill up with petrol, and chat to an old boy biker
at the next pump (40-year-old 350 Velocette Viper...luvverly). Decide
to head north to next town, so through the traffic lights and on to
the country road.

After about three miles, where the road bends right and the entrance
to the local amenity farm is on the left, see car positioned to pull
out across my front. Driver (young mum with chav male in front seat)
sees me coming and pulls out, stopping across my lane because of
traffic I can't see further round the bend. I control the weaving
rear-end and miss their car. Meanwhile, a taxi has stopped to let them
finish the manouevre.

......I get home later, to find Planet Rock is playing Twisted Sister's
"We're Not Gonna Take It Any More".

About right, I'd say.

 

Did someone post something?

 

Someone trying to blame every driver on the road for their own
shortcomings, I thnk.

Again.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Not quite sure how having someone up your chuff for having the temerity
to do the speed limit is "blaming others".

Care to explain as this happens to me in 30's (okay, without the
apparent road rage and attempts to have me off) but it still happens.

 

Pool ball in a long sock, stored in your outer pocket. The only way to
educate them

 

Shame. Best thing to do in that situation is have a controlled 'crash'.
Hit their door with your front wheel at a few mph, then call the
police. The shock will make "young mum" more careful in future, the
cost of replacing her door will *really* make her more careful, & with
any luck the police will do her for careless driving.


--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

Unfortunately the police around here won't attend unless there is an injury
or the driver is obviously drunk. They are to busy eating donuts and
drinking tea.

Ken
GSXR750

 

"What".

 

Not quite. There are some real cunts out there, for sure.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a
Every post contains Nutri-Ceramide-R and Pre-Biotics
for your reading pleasure.
Folding@Home Team UKRM
http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=47957

 

So in this case it sounds like the OP did the right thing in terms of,
basically, ignoring them.

I guess the other option would have been to pull into somewhere with
people and just let twatty go by.

As we've discussed before, in a lot of cases once people have to step
out of their metal boxes they're not _quite_ so brave.

Slight tangent - since I got punted off I now find myself _very_
circumspect about overtaking (slow moving/old people driving/general
'feeling') cars coming up to junctions where I know I will have to stop
(eg a t-junction/roundabout etc) - I've started thinking "I'd rather
have you where I can see you" than overtake - especially as I can go by
almost immediately after the junction.

 

Kate wrote

Yup.

Although your comments are mostly wasted on this lot, whose majority
experience of biking seems to consist of Mitty like dreams taking place
on sun drenched twisties with a sky full of pink fluffy clouds.

Reality is: some days they (blind/aggressive/stupid cagers) just come at
you in waves on others they seem to miss you entirely and focus on your
buddies elsewhere in the country. Get used to it, or go part time like
the crowd and continue to whinge.

 

Yep. Little to be gained, and a lot to lose. If t'were me, I'd tend
to stop and have a "chat", but I can see where if you're a woman on
her own it could get very scary very quickly.

Actually, screw that, it can get pretty scary even if you're a bloke
on his own; it's all very well being Billy Big Balls, but you never
know the size/number of scrotes liable to jump out of a car, or even
not bother and just run you down. Mate of mine in north Kent got
punted off about a year ago, and to this day he hasn't got a clue why.

Yes, except the trouble with that is if you're not capable of giving
someone a good kicking then again you run a risk. I tend to stop and
check, purely coz they may be telling you there's something wrong
with your bike, you never know.

And in some cases they're even braver, and considerably larger. Bike
gear gives you a reasonable armour against punches, but even so I
wouldn't blame anyone for just taking it easy and (if you know the
area), riding straight to the nearest cop shop.

Overtaking at junctions is a bit of a mug's game anyway.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that's not quite what I meant.

Say you're coming up to a T-junction (obviously had to know the area or
be able to see what's coming) and in front is a car.

If there is enough room (and near me there is an example where there
is) one logical thing to do on a bike is overtake prior to the braking
area, slot in, brake, stop and go.

Having been hit by a car I overtook a good half mile from the
roundabout in question, I now tend to not overtake but rather sit
behind and overtake _after_ the junction.

Does that make it any clearer?

In terms of your other point one of the things DC said on one of the
courses I was on was "once you're past the warning sign it's game over
until you're through the junction" - obviously not set in stone, but
still something I tend to ride to.

TBH I do ride like a girl, but hey it makes me happy

 

mmm, but in my example being hit from behind is specifcally something
happening to you.

By sitting behind them (momentarily - we're not talking about for hours
here) it's taking control back.

<shrug> I know what I mean

 

After 46 years of biking I'm well used to everyday stuff, and I've
been frightened on very few occasions. But this time (with the Ford
Focus) had me shaking. I believe that given the conditions I did the
right thing. I wasn't about to take on a car's (at least) two
occupants in a roadside confrontation, and I didn't have the speed or
road conditions to get away from him. I opted for driving normally
until he made his move, and then took preplanned defensive measures.
What would you have done?

 

Kate wrote

Much the same, probably. Although given the way I tend to ride I
probably wouldn't have been in his sights anyway. I quite like playing
"drag them along faster and faster and see just how fast I can make them
go before they chicken out in a corner and give up on it."

It's a hard one to define, especially if you weren't there, which I
wasn't.

 

Would you be prepared to sleep with Steve?

 

Cane wrote

It's a foolish woman that sleeps with me, most tend to stay wide awake.
I believe it is some sort of prehensile defence mechanism.

 

Go faster and the problem disappears.

 

NSL - sure.

30? I don't think so.

 

"It's only a licence"