Riding along a fast country road at 60 or maybe a bit more…see a white van coming in from the left…made eye contact and he pulled out anyway…Couldn’t ride around him so braked very hard and slowed behind him only to just miss being T-boned by an idiot on a bike (no really) who decided to follow him onto the main road.:w00t:
30 mins later following a car which indicated left…I indicated right and overtook…he turned right just as I passed his front bumper…missed me by a foot or so…I stopped to have a word but he reckoned it was my fault as I had no right to overtake him…
This is in Spain so allow for the right and left thing;)
Must admit, the more i hear about u guys having to ride around london every day and experiencing some of it, when i have to venture that way myself, i have to say a “hats off” to you ALL…albeit if you work OR live there i just dont know how you lot do it day in day out…(in other words “day and night” ha ha) “day in day out” why do people change sayings ???
End of the day (in day out)…its a pure nightmare…its like all the people that have no road sense, head to london…is that cos its the capital and sightseers have to go there? dunno but hats off anyway !! i know i HATE it…and im glad to get back to the “sticks”
Been riding around Athens quite a lot past few months (wedding planning) and must say that London is not as bad.mainly because there are not that many cars (c charge) and less motorbikes.
But i guess compaired to spanish/english countryside it can be intimidating.
Back on topic tho Whistler youve been in spain long enough to know that indicating and doing are not always related did you atleast give some twofingered indicating of your own?
had similar the other night on my way home. Seemed like everyone out there was on a mission to take me out.
Strange how I can feel myself change. Start off really sedate and calm just poodling along and then ill not so much loose it for whatever reason but more like go into warrior mode. Just get far more assertive and make my presence known.
Yesterdays ride home was one of the worst I’ve had in years. People jumping red lights, cutting me up and generally trying to kill me.
This morning was bliss, a fast ride through heavy traffic when things just clicked and there was always a space when I was moving forwards. Riding in heavy traffic is all about getting the balance of speed/space/timing right. Sometimes it pays off to go slow, you end up going faster.
I did a stoopid. 2 lanes both busy. im behind white van doing 25ish?. Gap in left lane, so i start to accelerate to undertake him - i know thats the stoopid. He starts changing into left lane to go into the same gap too - I should have anticipated. I open throttle to ensure im in there first and out the way. As i come out ahead of him in the left lane, there’s a stationary queue of traffic that i couldnt see!! Man i dont know how i didnt lock up the front. It was close. Why did the van who could see there was no where to go change lanes too!?
A2 near Falconwood, looked like a car had changed lanes or the bike had rear ended, but rider was sitting up on the kerb with peeps in attendance.
And another at the lights on Commercial Rd & Cannon St Rd (the ones no one ever stops on red for) Could not suss that one, but the guy rider was on all fours (looked winded) with a few other bikers in attendance.
I have to get the overground and then the tube to work this week - waiting for parts to arrive so I can fix my bike. I fecking hate it, but it’s only for this week and it makes me appreciate being able to ride a bike when it’s running.
Your not alone there mate…been there…done that ! Dont ask me why, sometimes i think they do it cos they just dont like us !! Glad u managed to avoid a smash though…another day and someone wouldnt have been so lucky and ive seen that happen as well…some have got away with it and a couple werent so lucky…mate died in similar circumstances…lorry was poodling about going from lane to lane, mate sat there not really bothering, then it got on his nerves so he went to over take the lorry, when he pulled in to the middle lane again, sat right in front of the lorry was a small fiat or some such car, he didnt realise it was there, caught the back of it and the impact threw him up off his bike, he went across the outside lane, without his bike, and hit a lamp post over the barrier on other side of the road…died instantly. That was on the way to Tilbury.
Another mate, similar thing, but he managed to keep on his bike…shook the life out of him cos he just managed to stay ahead of the lorry behind that was coming up when hed overtook it and there was a car poodling along in front that he didnt realise was there when he overtook and pulled in again…like i said, he was “lucky”…what i didnt get then was, if the lorry driver knew there was a small car in front of him, why was he hurtling along towards it…i mean ok my mate over took him…but when he pulled in front of the lorry (so he was now behind the car, that he nearly smashed into) why was the lorry bearing down too fast on HIM now…was it going to be doing the same to the small car, had he just stayed in the outside lane instead?..probably…who knows ?
I find Spanish drivers pull in way too soon after an overtake…Ok if you c0ck up and overtake and have to dive for cover thats one thing but pulling in just a few feet in front as a matter of course(sometimes with very little speed difference) is just not on.
No need for it and not nice in a car never mind a bike.
As some of you know on monday night i got knocked off by a polish guy who cut across my lane in piccidilly to go straight on when he was supposed to go right.
He hit my front tyre and caused me to drop the bike left.
I think im just not going to ride my bigger bike in town, im thinking about getting a vespa (for as cheap as possible) that can be dinged now and again. Daily people cut you up and its so dangerous, i cycle in 2/3 days a week and its just as bad.
We need to start some sort of “city Motorclycle” awareness campaign, i just dont think drivers in london are aware enough. They get frustrated and change lanes without thinking or checking the blind spots and to often we are next to them and come “close” to a mayjor accident.
Im actually half serious and feel like 5 or 6 of us should commute daily for a month and record our journeys and present them to MCN or someone as it is frightfully ridiculose out there and it might make bikers more careful and highlight the dangerous driving of bus drivers/van drivers and people on there mobiles.
Maybe it would push the police into some sort of “crack Down”.
Just an idea! Obviously im keen as my new blade sits cracked and scratched. But it is without doubt dangerous, and makes us good, very aware riders, but i think there needs to be some sort of city awareness campaign.
I like the sound of this. Not sure on how it would work in practice without ending up as a rant, but I do 10 miles straight across town daily and would happily write a log or join in in whatever way.
did you atleast give some twofingered indicating of your own? 
