i was riding down camberwell road at 4.30, at a fair lick. a chap on a scott road bike gave chase. the road narrowed, and there was a big police van, a bit of a gap, and then a big bendy bus.

i did that thing where you lock up the back wheel and flick it out a bit to sort of skid around the edge of something, kind of with a slight change in direction, to go around the edge of the bus, which was stationary.

next thing, i hear this all mighty clatter. the guy behind totally wiped out. he blamed me, gave me this really harsh look from the floor, his chin on the road. i helped him up and that and checked his bike over, i happened to have all the tools to fix his sti lever that had moved right around. he grazed his leg. it was all fine. he said when i moved the back wheel out he had 'nowhere to go'. and clearly felt it was my fault. i was all smiles and helpful.

i felt kind of bad, but he shouldn't really have been right up my ass. i flicked the wheel across a bit, it wasn't like speedway.

maybe it wouldn't have happened if i was riding gears. maybe i just can't ride for shit.

He should not have been half weeling you. If you hadn't it should like he was trying to overtake and cut you off.

The road is not a fucking race track. He's a muppet.

his bad not yours...what was he doing so close!?

agreed. anyone who rides a bike knows not to ride to close to the person in front of you. its just common sense. its not like you have wing mirrors

then again...this is quite dangerous!

Well shit if you had eyes in the back of your head maybe... the person behind simply cannot blame the person right in front of their fucking eyes for the accident, otherwise we'd all be cycling around backwards.

def not your fault mate, he aint on the track or in a race so he should keep his distance. hopefully he learned his lesson.

awesome

'cos i was thinking, 'that's pretty smart, what i just did', only to hear this seriously ALMIGHTY wallop. the sound of body/metal/road in sudden conjunction.

He is prob at home bitching about some hipster fixie rider who took him out, cylcist are like the rest of the population, most are cunts.

i was pretty nice.

i said "you might want to put some iodine on that graze".

he was stood up, i said, 'i don't think it's broken'. he said "i hope not'.

i said 'the fact that you're standing on it would suggest it's probably not broken'.

i did this purposefully this morning to some numpty on a hybrid, think he shit himself as he stayed well clear :D

hahaha.


i laughed out loud there. this guy looked a bit shocked.

I can sense the motherfsckers behind me... a glance confirms and then it's dropping time..
Some of the fsckers hang on for a while so it becomes switch around time - lets see how silly I can ride before they give up trying..

again silly hybrid rider tried to race me through tufnell park and kentish town, in peak hour traffic. hehe, soon gone after a few intersections. why do they bother?!?

it's the only excitement you get when riding a marin with 4 chainrings.

"i felt kind of bad, but he shouldn't really have been right up my ass."

pj, I think most people would agree with you. He was definitely wrong to be that close.

pj you're just too nice

the other guy is a fool, entirely his fault you should have just not been so nice

i'm still waiting for the day someone with a mountain bike follows me through a narrow gap

seb, they'll probably mistake you for a mountain and try and ride up you ;)

or think you're seatpost is some sort of fireman's pole and slide up.


wait - does that sound a bit 'wrong'?

pj, you know.....a guy races up behind you, and then hurts himself for heading up your tailpipe? C'mon, it is funny.

I don't ride fixed, not got the bits to build one yet, but i do ride a SS, with its well documented seized post scenario!

Couple of times I have followed fixed riders through a gap, and had to lock up, now i am more than capable of handling my bike, but
sometimes i feel some of the fixed riders are being dangerous - i always make sure there is a stopping space, but occasionally it gets tight
especially around stationary vehicles.

I think some common sense is needed, obviously this chap was trying to be flash, but flicking out the back end when riders are behind you
can cause alarm, especially in bad road conditions.

pj you know the answer to that so why ask?

if you're in front, it's your right of way. Slam your brakes on in a car and whoever goes into the back of you is 100% in the wrong. The downslope skier always has right of way.

your gap, not his.

i was just telling a story and checkign to see what people thought.

slide up??

No PJ I was referring to when you said 'does that sound a bit wrong?'

the lesson here is dont ride too close to somebody if you dont know them. i ride very close to people i know but stay away from the back wheel of others, i dont know what there gonna do.

Traffic laws are clear on this - if you drive into the back of someone it's your fault. In my view the same applies to bikes, precisely because no-one has eyes in the back of their heads.

I'm glad he's okay but he needs to learn a lesson from this.

pole dancing?

I do this on purpose when people are right on my ass - it seems to put the shits up people pretty quickly and they drop back. I only do it when some fucking nodding donkey in a fluoro jacket gets TdF on me and hangs on my wheel without asking. Given that I ride brakeless they're gonna get in trouble otherwise so I'd rather they backed off.

I feel a bit sorry for the dude who hit the deck but I also think I'd have been tempted to laugh.

And people wonder why I hate wheel-suckers.

Nowadays I hop-skid occasionally just to shake the fuckers off. I'm not very good at skidding so I'm not sure who it scares most.

it was when he gave me a nasty look, whilst his face was still ON the road.

i was very nice about it. i feel quite smug. normally i'm not nice about these things. i helped him up.

he was lucky i was me, i got all my tools. and i think he thought i was some kind of uber cyclist, so sort of by nearly touching me, he got some of the magic aura.

if i'm hacking along, and someone is up my arse , i throw the back wheel (being also brakeless) out a bit too, just to let them know, don't feel too bad pj. ok, he was too close and hit the deck, he should a been looking out, and not trying to race you.
and fair play to you, for stopping, fixing his bike and making sure he was ok.

Bullshit man... you just crash in front of them when they're close enough so as not to be able to miss you :P

if you can't tell what a fix is from behind, and have the knowledge to know that getting close could cost BOTH of you, then the idiot fuck shouldn't be on a bike to begin with. i'm sick and tired of yuppy fucks with "disposeable" income, buying fancy road bikes with full campy, getting twinkied out from head to toe, and thinking they're on the tour. fucking idiots not knowing the first thing about pack riding, or drafting, and not being able to keep up with the enviornment. if i don't ride with you, then i'm not riding WITH you.