A few days ago I was riding home from work. One part of the route is a non-segregated shared-use
path by the Thames, on which the tarmac is in a bad state of repair.
I was proceeding along this at about 16mph - this being as fast as I felt was a safe speed due to
the amount of potholes at this part of the path, and the presence of an old granny-lady who was
walking along on the opposite side of the path (nearest to the river)
Behind me was a chap on a decent road bike - wearing lid, racers' jacket, b*bt*ghts. Obviously a
"Real Cyclist" - I would expect this chap may even have won a trophy or two!
But he obviously considered 16mph *far too slow* - and decided to overtake me at speed so he could
get ahead on to a better bit of the path, nearly running straight into the granny and having to
swerve sharply to avoid coming off!
Isn't this just *loutish behaviour?* The old lady looked quite intimidated, and had there been a
collision at worst one or both of them could have ended up in the cold, deep and filthy river; at
the least they would both have had a painful crash and he would have bent his forks and front wheel.
There's a good reason why British Waterways warn cyclists to be careful on shared paths via
riverbanks - and *not* to try and "race" other cyclists!
Furthermore he didn't gain *that* much ground on me (following in a street-converted MTB [semi-slick
tyres, rack etc] with loaded panniers), for the risk he took. And he if he was training (hence the
big hurry) he could have gone just 2 miles further into S.Oxfordshire onto an open road where he
could go as fast as he pleased without grannies "in his way" (after all, surely she has a right too
for a walk by the river?(
We moan (rightly) at cagers, but it seems some cyclists are just as bad with their "me first"
personality. Are some people just *incapable* of sharing a community resource (such as a riverside
path) these days?
Alex