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Descending Beacon Hill Lane tonight which as the HampshireTrackWorlders will know, is fast and narrow. Some utter fun sponge behind me blasts his horn hard causing me instinctively to grab a load of brake whilst also close passing me immediately after. He missed me by literally cms at what must have been 50mph (I was doing 40). His girlfriend takes the opportunity to give me the middle finger for good measure.
Catch up with him at the junction at the bottom (obvs) so stop for a quick chat about please giving cyclists space and waiting for a safe place to pass. Cue the usual victim-blaming nonsense, threats, swearing etc. I decide I want to report so take a photo of his reg at which point he gets out and tries to "nut" me, which is a pretty pointless choice of violence against someone wearing a polystyrene hat. He's a scrawny little fella and his girlfriend was dressed in a clown outfit which I found funnier than he did at this point.
He also stank of booze and their car smelt so strongly of weed they must have been growing it in there. Clearly they were leaving the Boomtown festival which ruins this bit of the SDW every year.
Anyway that's a long way of saying, I don't think I can be arsed with this anymore. It's my daughters 7th birthday tomorrow. I'm lucky to be able to wake up at home with her. By the far the worst close pass and scariest incident I've experienced on a bike. The sad thing is that the 4 or 5 lower level incidents that seem to happen on every ride of being cut up, close passed, tail-gated etc are just normal.
Think from now on it's closed road events, track days and off-road for me. I just can't justify the risks anymore. Someone was killed in the new forest at the weekend on a long, straight road in the middle of the day. It's not getting any better 🙁
I came to the same conclusion earlier this year. Transferred my power meter to my CX bike and don't ride on the road anymore.
I'm so much happier now not having to share my life with these angry idiors. It's a calmer, more pleasant way of living.
Yeah. I've got a lovely gravel bike and I'm 20 mins from the new forest. I'll do that.
I gave up road riding for exactly the same reasons. It seemed like every single time I went out someone would do something stupid/reckless/deliberate. The day I decided to knock it on the head I was run off the road on the brow of a blind summit by a f&@king driving instructor!! Enough was enough.
BMX racing and MTB for me now. I fall off and mangle myself frequently but it's my fault!
stop for a quick chat
Life's too short to argue with *****.
Yeah, between the turbo, track duathlons, the odd closed road sportive, the cx and the mtb I can get my fix. Not sure why this hasn't occurred to me before.
Flash you're right but the driving was so terrible I really wanted to try to persuade them to think on it before they do actually kill someone. A pointless exercise though, you're absolutely right.
I did a 30 mile road ride in Wales on Sunday and only saw 2 cars
If he smelt of booze and drugs you should have rung police non emergency straight away if they had free resources they would have probably popped round to say hello to him
I gave up on roadie about 15 years ago, for the reasons above. I think general bike awareness by drivers then was significantly worse than now. I've been drifting back to the dark side over last two years and now hardly ever ride off road. My view is that in general driving has improved a great deal, but I still get one bad pass a week.
I've broken bones twice in bike crashes - both off road !
Hampshire so local plod DGAF. Ordinarily I would suggest sending the pic in with a brief description of the egregious road manners.
I tend to ride on roads more than off road at the moment which upsets me greatly but I break a lot less parts of me and the bike on a road.
Generally speaking I stick to quieter roads and work a path around most of the area I would expect confrontation.
Today seemed really bad for it. Wife got close passed heading up Old Winch Hill & forced into bushes by some grey haired idiot.
We nearly got rammed by a Vectra estate near the Bat & Ball which was screaming down a single track road way too fast, luckily we were close to a farm track & could take evasive action.
To top it off a mile from home in Drayton some utter tool overtook us (we were at circa 19-20 mph in a 30 zone) then promptly stood on the anchors and indicated to turn right.
I just managed to stop before hitting him but my wife didn't stop before hitting me. She hit the deck, then I did, then the car just turned off & disappeared. A couple of other cats just drove round us while we were on the deck too.
Her front wheel trashed, my rear one too plus some scratches & scrapes to bikes & bodies.
It seems to be that summer holidays have spread the muppet drivers out throughout the day & they are also heading off into the countryside. Can't wait until schools go back!
I couldn't give it up. Took a kicking from my faster team mates in a team time trial on Saturday, enjoyed an easy short spin around the back roads on Sunday and back to commuting by bike today. The enjoyment I get from the different facets of road cycling, and the benefits to my health and way of life still far outweigh the risks and the bad behaviour of some drivers. I'd hate to end up just exploring the roads from inside a car.
I think Boomtown was a big factor this afternoon. Lots of extra traffic made up generally of young, hungover people. Plus locals using the back roads to avoid the gridlock. Time they canned it tbh. Couple of years ago there were still tents and stuff strewn along the SDW several weeks afterwards
That's shite, i get more anxious now dragging the road bike out than I do at the Start of a mass start race. Had a couple ofclattering into the side of cars that can't judge a closing speed of 20mph as they pull out of a side road. But not too bothered.
Last road ride of any distance, 16th July, a small van sized horse box overtook with nothing coming the other way for miles on a straight wide road pulled back into the curb as the passenger mirror just passed me. A bit of off road for me and nearly very painful, scared me quite badly. Shook me up more than actual crashes I've had.
Since then nothing more than a couple of miles on the road.
Hampshire
I visit Winchester every other month or so for work.
With the volume of traffic I there, I do wonder why anyone would ride a bike down there. 😕
Matt, Winchester itself is a traffic mess.
The lanes and surrounding countryside side, however...... 8)
After 40+ yrs of regular riding I am now questioning the wisdom road cycling in the UK Recently a bus deliberately crosses the road and drove straight at me. (first eastern ****s)
I rang to complain they said they would call me back, they didnt. I rang the police they sighed and said i needed to fill out some online form and where generally unhelpful.
Riding abroad is just so different you cant help but conclude the UK is just a country of idiots.
We were told by our local police that if you suspect a driver is smoking weed, call 999 immediately.
Bunch of loud teenagers smoking, drinking and shouting outside our window at midnight were our first test of this advice - The 2 police cars, 1 van and an unmarked X5 that turned up in minutes, took their car to pieces and nicked a few of them showed us that it works 🙂
They might take that phone call more seriously than the close pass, so could be worth a go.
Dave
Riding abroad is just so different you cant help but conclude the UK is just a country of idiots.
Unless its the good old us of a as I'm currently finding!
I'm so lucky I just don't get these kind of situations that make me feel like quitting. Had a very bad overtake on a club ride a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't occur to me to not ride in the road.
Had one message Saturday night from someone who'd been on one of my beginners rides, saying she'd just bought a road bike and entered her first event as she felt more confident on the road now. Another lady did the club beginners ride for the first time on Sunday and thanked the ride leaders for helping her feel safe on the road.
Bad experiences are awful, I'm well aware of the possible consequences, but I've never felt so intimidated that I'd want to quit.
Oddly it wasn't far from that location that I had the last of the close passes on this ride, the result of which may resonate somewhat:
https://beyondthekerb.org.uk/that-friday-feeling/
Having been hit 4 times by cars on the road (not my fault, one was a double decker bus and boy did it hurt) I honestly cant see why anyone, ever, rides on a road in the UK when you can ride off road. Yes Ive been there, done that (for many years) and will never go back 😉
Roads are too dangerous to me. I never took up the dark side for this reason, and moved to a New Town with cycle paths to pootle along on my town bike.
Glad you are ok, that could have been game over.
I too have drifted away from the road. I used to mix both road and mtb, but was averaging 1 close pass or near miss per ride. Just not worth it, and the mental benefit of the ride disappears if I end up wound up. So stick to the trails now.
I ride on roads to get places but even then I try to go as off-road as possible. I'm sure road riding is fine in less densely populated places but I'm not doing it here!
Glad you got away unscathed OP.
Unfortunately, I think a lot of this does depend on where you live. I moved from Essex to Somerset at the end of last year and the roads here are definitely quieter and my impressions whilst both riding and driving are that a lot of drivers around here are simply of a less aggressive mindset when behind the wheel.
It saddens me to say that because I grew up in Essex and am very fond of the place, but the South East is just so busy these days and a good number of people are mindlessly rushing or just itching to find a reason to have a go at other road users, cyclist or not.
This happened on what used to be a local loop for me. You couldn't find a more tranquil place. The bloke had his while family in the car!
I tried road riding 15 years ago, 2 accidents, and one fight(I was young) and I gave up. It just ended up, every time I heard a car approaching, I'd think "is this it?" Tempted by a gravel bike though, and road riding abroad.
In the space of 5 miles the other day, a woman in a BMW pulled out of a parking space in front of me while I was doing 30 mph down hill, jammed my brakes on as she then pootled along at 20 mph whilst flouncing her hair. Then I had a bloke in a BMW beeping and swearing at me for not riding across an uphill junction fast enough for him.
I've been road riding in Hampshire for 20+ years, in all that time I've probably had 4 "incidents"
Beacon Hill is steep and tight yes, but stopping at the bottom to pick a fight with a nob end was never going to end well was it. Stay clear, enjoy your ride and if the incident had ended up badly [i]then[/i] report it.
I'm surprised you didn't get buzzed by Motorbikers at the Exton crossroad tbh.
Plenty of lanes and small roads to enjoy the countryside...
If you do give up, it means more space for folks like me.
I think you do get used to the idiot drivers you share the road with - and only the truly scary incidents make you question the sanity of road riding.
Things are not really improving either. All they have done is encourage cyclists to wear helmets ... and basically done nothing to discourage car drivers to not drive like impatient idiots.
Cycling should not be sold as a dangerous hobby/sport/mode of transport which requires you to wear a helmet at all times ... it's only the idiots in cars/vans which make it so (and also a few idiot cyclists with more ambition than ability too)
I've never even nearly crashed on Watopia!
I hire out bikes to tourists from all over the world - including the Dutch and Danish. Almost without exception they tell us how courteous the drivers in the Highlands and Islands are.
Scot believe me if I could ride the Hebridean way every week I would. Only south to north though 😉
😆
Metalheart is off up there in a couple of weeks. I've told him that it's not always a Sou'Westerly.
I'll never forget the day I rode back from Uist to Castlebay. At least twice as hard as the Bealach na Ba loop. Every mile took about an hour!
Just spent a week riding in the dordogne, no potholes, about 4 cars spotted on 60is mile rides, when the do appear they take there time and actually cheer you on. AMAZING. back here, one ride in and already disparing!
I used to live around Manchester for a decade, until moving to Aberdeenshire a few years ago. Typically would get a close/dangerous pass most rides when down there, and hated road cycling as a result.
By comparison, rarely meet any cars up here, and when I do, they seem much more courteous. I realised how quiet the roads here are on a spin on Sunday, when I stopped to take a few photos, ended up phoning MrsB about something and 10 mins later was still there stood in the middle of the same road without seeing a single car (about 5 mins from Kincardine O'Neil).
Life's too short to argue with *****.
This is one of the reasons the world still has these idiots in it. Makes for a snappy line on a forum, but only by confronting them with their behaviour can you hope to change it
weeksy - Member
I've never even nearly crashed on Watopia!
I surprised they haven't made an app so imaginary cyclists can have an imaginary near miss ... Zwift, the Nintendo Wii alternative for pretend cyclists
yep - that's why I MTB. Hate the traffic in the UK while road riding. There is zero enjoyment for me.
I rode 30 miles on the road bike to work this morning and only had a couple of mouth breathers to contend with. Mind you I left home before the masses make their dash to work and was sat drinking coffee in Milton Keynes before 8am. I am dreading the first week in September when the kids go back to school though. That will be like Death Race for a few days.
Its a real shame, I like the variety of road riding occaisonally and [saddo alert] its better for steady fitness training [/saddo alert] but the risk of cars and the percieved risk causing my wife stress isnt worth it apart from a few roads on the way to work.
On the plus side on sunday I cycled 70km entirely on cyclepaths, they were well maintained for the most part and empty of other users (I was home by 9am).
Pretty much all of my riding has been on the roads over the last year or so.
I've noticed a big difference in (perceived) danger between country lanes/back roads and fast A-roads.
I use a very bright rear light (Smart R1) set to flash mode all the time (day and night) and have started using my Exposure Strada on flash mode for daytime rides on busy roads due to having a couple of close shaves with people turning right across in front of me.
Since I've been using the light this hasn't happened.
I actually feel safer riding at night sometimes because I think people actually see cyclists, whereas sometimes I feel invisible during daylight hours.
I also ride as much cycle path/park etc as possible.
Yup,sadly it depends where you live/ride.
After years of fighting with the traffic Doon Sooth I really,really appreciate my road riding up here.