Prado Alert

On 2006-02-21, Gags (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

On a side note, I had a car go past me on Heidelberg Rd fairly close and as
he went by I realised that he had electric mirrors that fold in because he
folded it back out again once he had passed me. Now call me crazy, but I
never feel the need to retract a mirror in the car so that I can get closer
to a cyclist......

Hoddle street again, last week, I think. I had done a hook turn, and
was riding up to the crest with the slow moving cars happily behind
me. Once I got over the crest, the traffic sped up a little, and I
sped up a lot. Yet the car that was previously happy behind me now
wanted to pass me, now that I was claiming the lane. She hit me with
her mirror, which folded in, and I yelled obscenities at her, and she
put up her hand in the rear view in either a "sorry" motion, or a
"please don't do a road rage on me" motion. She got out of my lane as
soon as she had a gap in another 🙂

I had a few words to say yesterday too -- a roundabout in a back
street next to Camberwell Road (I avoid the uphill city bound section
of that road in the morning for good reason). There was a car coming
up on the right, a while off, so I went through, and there was a ute
coming up to me on the left, which I kept my peripheral vision on him.
I realised he wasn't going to stop when my front wheel was about in
line with his indicator, and did a rather quick stop (I was going
fairly slow up the hill). The yell made him stop damn quickly too 🙂

Short conversation ensued with contents of "[censored], *look* next
time!", and off I went. Unfortunately, it was a rest day (my knees
are still slightly hurting from Terrys Ave on Sunday), and the
adreneline gave me a good kick, so I didn't exactly take it easy into
work from there (although I still don't believe the max HR of 196 --
the sensor is *still* bouncing around on my chest). It also made me
forget to do pillow shopping on the way into work.

--
TimC
Sign on door of computing lecturer: "If your project is 90% right,
I will give you a distinction, your employer will fire you." -- Zebee

Gags said:

Cars really are the enemy.....they are all out to get me.......

It's not the vehicle - it's continual operator error.

Our short tale of woe while riding to tonights YarraBUG meeting. Travelling southwards along Queens Parade, Clifton Hill, stop at the lights near Maccas. At the green light I proceed across the intersection with Heidelberg Road. Twunt in station wagon decides to do a hard right into the service lane opposite the old post office. Missed my front wheel by a meter. Made a snap decision not to chase him down, as it wouldn't of been pretty, or worth it.

Arses. 😠

Dutchy's near miss on Monday. Pull up at lights. Gary Niewand rolls up next to me. Knew i didnt have the form to outsprint him so didnt ask for a urine sample 😄

Gags said:

I told one of the guys at work who comes into the city from St Kilda on a
bike and he said that he had some words with a cab driver who decided to cut
in front of him on the bike lane and then stop.

glad to hear everyone is ok, what is the legality of a car particularly Taxis stopping in the bike lane on St Kilda Boulevarde ? As in are they actually allowed to do that, it just means as a cyclist you stop, or looking to make sure it is ok to move out, I have lost count them number of times I have come to verbal blows with people stopping in that bike lane.

Gags said:

Nearly got wiped out this morning......first near miss in a while.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Cars really are the enemy.....they are all out to get me.......

Gags

Sadly, it's no different from what happens every day of the week. A
little paranoia when dealing with these turkeys is a good idea, but not
too much.
Assume car drivers are idiots. 99 per cent of the time you'll be wrong.
The one per cent of the time you're right you'll f***ing well want to
be. I've worked on this basis for years. The rear vision mirror helps as
well as you can see the [censored] coming.
Cheers,
Ray.

Quoted message said:

glad to hear everyone is ok, what is the legality of a car particularly
Taxis stopping in the bike lane on St Kilda Boulevarde ? As in are they
actually allowed to do that, it just means as a cyclist you stop, or
looking to make sure it is ok to move out, I have lost count them
number of times I have come to verbal blows with people stopping in
that bike lane.

--

Quoted message said:

MikeyOz

I hate google groups. Mikey what do you suggest the cab driver does?
He isnt sitting outside a building on spec you dont do that there. He
either has a radio job or he is dropping off. Now he actually is
allowed to drop of anywhere.. the law specifically allows him to stop
anywhere to drop off.. (I used to be able to cite the act for this one)
But in any case passengers do not react well to being asked to walk an
extra 20 feet when you try and stop in the safest spot.

And if its a radio job.. I can tell you from experience that if you
park a cars length away from directly in front of the building they
will walk past the front of your stealth yellow car into the street and
hail a passing cab, never once glancing in your direction. And then
you have wasted the 15 minutes of the call.. the 10 minutes the
operator stuffs you around and the 10 minutes she spends giving you
another radio job.. not to mention the drive there. Which means that
are not making money that hour, at best you are keeping pace.

So what is your alternative suggestion? Get another job? Ever noticed
that their are no good cabbies anymore? Guess why.

Dave.

Gags wrote:
<snip story>

FSCKING PRADO!

Quoted message said:

Cars really are the enemy.....they are all out to get me.......

Drivers. Not cars.

Had an interesting one this morning myself. Motorbike rider cutting
across into the bike lane to skip the traffic on Wynnum Rd. Didn't
shoulder check and cut me off. Halfway down that road, I jumped onto the
footpath to get away from the traffic (I jump back out where it opens
up) and passed him. W@nker. (This is my first ever incident with a
motorcyclist. I usually find them and scooter riders very aware of the
cyclist's plight).

Tam

ray said:

Gags said:

Nearly got wiped out this morning......first near miss in a while.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Cars really are the enemy.....they are all out to get me.......

Gags

Sadly, it's no different from what happens every day of the week. A
little paranoia when dealing with these turkeys is a good idea, but not
too much.
Assume car drivers are idiots. 99 per cent of the time you'll be wrong.
The one per cent of the time you're right you'll f***ing well want to
be. I've worked on this basis for years. The rear vision mirror helps as
well as you can see the [censored] coming.
Cheers,
Ray.

Hehehe "see the [censored] coming" tee hee.

So one of my calls is "[censored] back", I use this instead of car back when
I can tell it's a redneck/bogan/SDM.

Tam

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:35:09 +1000

Tamyka Bell said:

across into the bike lane to skip the traffic on Wynnum Rd. Didn't
shoulder check and cut me off. Halfway down that road, I jumped onto the
footpath to get away from the traffic (I jump back out where it opens
up) and passed him. W@nker. (This is my first ever incident with a
motorcyclist. I usually find them and scooter riders very aware of the
cyclist's plight).

Yeah, there are idiots in all flavours.

Was a cyclist on the City West today, fairly rare they usually stick
to the bike path. We lined up ahead of the cars, the road was clogged
so I knew we'd both be splitting.

I let him get ahead, it's been my experience that a well ridden pushie
is more manouverable in clogged traffic than I am. As we got to the
slightly uphill section of the "not really a cycle lane but may as well be
one" I was faster but I didn't need to do more than the 30 odd he was
doing so I stayed back. Once the traffic cleared enough I went back
in to a lane and hit the hammer 🙂

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone said:

Yeah, there are idiots in all flavours.

Was a cyclist on the City West today, fairly rare they usually stick
to the bike path. ....

<snip>

Quoted message said:

..... to do more than the 30 odd he was
doing so I stayed back. Once the traffic cleared enough I went back
in to a lane and hit the hammer 🙂

So what was it about this cyclist's behaviour that makes you call him an
idiot?

Cheers
Peter

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:41:10 +1100

Peter Signorini said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

Yeah, there are idiots in all flavours.

Was a cyclist on the City West today, fairly rare they usually stick
to the bike path. ....

<snip>

Quoted message said:

..... to do more than the 30 odd he was
doing so I stayed back. Once the traffic cleared enough I went back
in to a lane and hit the hammer 🙂

So what was it about this cyclist's behaviour that makes you call him an
idiot?

Nothing. I was in fact saying that we both behaved reasonably well.

Just didn't separate the two enough to make the point that it wasn't
usual to meet idiots powered or unpowered.

Zebee

Saw a good bumper sticker today (on an old van):

"One less 4WD"