Cycling discussed on a kayak forum!

[Kalgrm]

Someone posted a typical "I hate cyclists" rant on one of the kayak forums I read. I was most proud to see them get shouted down as being intolerant and ignorant of our needs! It has restored my faith in the attitude of most Aussies towards us, especially after that drop-kick got fined only $1200 for bringing a pack down.

One thing I got from the discussions was the prevalence of riders skipping through red lights. Nearly everyone has their ire up over that - maybe you blokes in Sydney should stop doing that little trick? (The forum has mostly Sydney members.) It's the one thing which gives riders a really bad name and which is so easy to stop. (They also don't like us using the road-edge of a bike lane, but we have good reason for that.)

Cheers,
Graeme

(PS - it's at 4 pages of discussion after only 7 hours. It's one hot topic there! Glad I'm not a mod ... )

[seddo]

that sentiment does not suprise me on that forum - ex member

[JV911]

riding 6 abreast?!?!

[m@]

riding 6 abreast?!?!

Read that, and thought, does this person think 'abreast' means in a paceline? Methinks a large part of the old 'cyclists break the law' chestnut is the average person's ignorance of the law...

[lemmiwinks]

Read that, and thought, does this person think 'abreast' means in a paceline? Methinks a large part of the old 'cyclists break the law' chestnut is the average person's ignorance of the law...

...and the English language!

[wintal]

I noticed a fairly typical misunderstanding of the rules there too - I often wonder if your average joe has any idea what the rules _actually_ are.

Nice to see though that a non-cyclist area had a reasonable amount of support for the cyclists, especially the understanding that 'a few bad eggs does not make the whole lot rotten'. This seems to be a concept often forgotten (here as well as in other places ;P)

Cheers,
Leighton....

[Jake]

that sentiment does not suprise me on that forum - ex member

+1 Ex active member here too.

[il padrone]

riding 6 abreast?!?!

Read that, and thought, does this person think 'abreast' means in a paceline? Methinks a large part of the old 'cyclists break the law' chestnut is the average person's ignorance of the law...

On top of that, drivers are viewing a peleton from the rear, where it is very difficult to judge who is abreast and who is in-line but just off the line. In any typical peleton there will be riders riding just to the left or right to get a clearer road view, some who are dodging pothole/glass and the peleton may have an echelon characteristic due to side wind. A good two-abreast buch of 8 or 10 riders may look like four-abreast when viewed from the rear, but actually still be perfectly legal.