I need a favour from you all.

I go cycling as a way of staying fit. For a variety of reasons it seems to be the only way (apart from swimming which I find boring) to keep the pounds under control and keep my choleserol in check. I'll be 36 in feb and I really want to be fit enough to do fun physical things with my kids when they are teenagers. However, while out riding I often have same problem. Idiots in cars who think it's a good idea to hang out the window and yell at me or blow their horn to try and terrify me. I had it happen twice today in a 30km ride. It's not funny. It's bullying and very un-Australian...on Australia day I might add.


What I need for you to do for me is this; if you are doing this. STOP! If you have a mate in your car do this, give him a cuff round the head and tell him to stop. Better still, stop the car and make him walk for a bit. It will give him a chance to apologize to the cyclist.


Thanx for your time and consideration.




p.s. a good mate tells me there are a number of very talented cyclists who get quite aggresive when treated like this. they tend to catch up with the car and sort the boof heads out with little mercy if you get my meaning. let your boof head mates be warned.

you ride on streets in sydney? thats suicide isnt it? i ride in brissy thats bad enough, people flying past with less than 1 inch between you them & an oncoming car they couldnt wait to pass before going around you, from someone else who likes riding but hates drivers, i second the motion

i don't hate drivers, i just want the boof heads to cut out the stupidity.

Yep, I ride 12kms to work every morning too, I havent had this happen yet, but others here have, very stupid.
Keep at it Pete, I just got back on my bike last week, after not touching it for 5 years! I feel your pain, saddles are very hard

Thats bloody dangerous! Sorry to hear that there are people out there who are that insensative and stupid out there.

If i saw it happening I'd give the offending driver a nice little tap up the rear end with my bull bar.

Stay safe.

yeah, i did triathlons for many years but it just got too dangerous. many people seem to lose their sense of humour behind a steering wheel.

the crazy thing is, I find most drivers to be really good. truck drivers in particular. they give you heaps of room. most seem happy to wait and I try to be as considerate as poss, and wave people past if there is enough room. There's only a few idiots. P-platers rank up there too, they think coz they drive they are special = inconsiderate. I've only every had one guy (in 4 years) genuinely abuse me and tell me to "get off the road", he was middle aged and driving 10kay under the speed limit!

Wouldn't have thought you'd have too much trouble with the ACVW crowd though. besides maybe someone in a splitty bus trying to get you into a standing 1/4 drag race. It'd probably be a close race too

I hate people that abuse others for the sake of it.
i think a small part of the blame lies in modern cars. because they handle better and have more power on tap, they give this sense of urgency, which spawns aggression.

People in slower cars are more likely just to kick back and go with the flow.

I feel for you Pete. it's the main reason I don't really ride my bike around here.

I hear you Pete, I have been a road cyclist / triathlete for about 12yrs & have copped all sorts of crap. Have been hit by fruit, spat on, verbally abused, & even had one motorist stop his car & want to fight a group of 4 cylclist for doing nothing more than taking up his valuabe road space (all this on country roads). People need to just relax & realise that we are holding them up for maybe 10 -15 seconds at the most. (but then again we dont pay rego, so guess we deserve it.)

Cheers
Brendan

I guess this would be a good time to ask the question ive been wanting the answer for??? Are the rules for a cyclist that if you are on a single lane road you must ride single file,but if its dual lane you can ride side by side if you know what i mean??? cheers shane.

I ride single file on all but freeways where we ride on the shoulder. I do my best to stay out of the way of traffic and avoid main roads during peak hour.

btw, I don't pay rego on my bike, but I do pay tax. and besides, me riding my bike will save your kids paying my medicare bills in years to come.

I have never had any trouble with cyclist,i dont mind moving over its not that hard to do??? i had the single lane dual lane argument with a mate at work and just wondered what the rules are??? cheers shane.

here are the rules

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/bicycles/cyclingrules.html 

Cyclists are legally allowed on the road, have the same rights as cars and more... so at the end of the day, drivers need to chill out...

Its a shame that only the intelligent people get riding bikes, great for fitness and unreal for the environment... most of the impatient drivers around where i live that get the shits with cyclists are dumb arse wankers, with very little prospect of a successful life...

free to ride...

Thanks rose,now i know the answer, Not the answer i thought it would be???

i feel for you guys trying to use the roads, however when i see every day cyclists breaking the law on the road, running red lights, cycling 4-5 bikes wide on single lane roads.... just pisses off motorists even more.. best of luck on Sydney roads.

im with you pete, there are some idiots out there. ive just taken up riding again and even though im on the quiet streets of my area, im still constantly harrassed. tell you what though next time it happens im going to stop take down the number plate and ring the cops. lets see if this gets a better reaction than me stopping and abusing back.

I find it funny when Cyclists give me filthy looks when I use the cycling lane at intersections.
I ride a Cycle with a 1200cc engine and like their lane for lane splitting Amazing thing that $500+ rego on a motorbike. It pays for things that people otherwise take for granted Yeah, yeah, ya pay ya taxes, car reg etc, etc.... So what?? I'll just take off my bike rego plate cos I pay car reg. Whats the difference? Using the same infastructure? Oh....I'm expected to be identifiable and accountable for the laws I break and pay the penalties, pay for insurance, pay the motorcycle levy etc etc so you can use the same piece of road that I pay for with the rego etc that cost as much as a car and does "minimal" impact on that infastructure that cyclists keep banging on about. Boo hoo. So cyclists want to use the roads. Fine. Make them pay rego.....Insurance......Safety levies (cos all that fluro lycra on fat middle aged men is causing my retinas to have cataracts) then they can be entitled to the same rights as motorists.
Until that day comes, drive your VW and if you want to cycle to keep fit, use the excercise bike.

i cant believe this cr#p gets onto a vw website, suck it in and harden up fellas, i get the sh#ts when cyclists take up the whole lane and slow the traffic down, untill you guys pay rego you should keep to the side and not winge, and im sure you guys were all young once and gave other people a bit of cr#p along the road with your mates in the car at some stage!(no offence intended)

I pay taxes, and rego on 3 cars so will ride within the laws, and ride so as not to endanger myself and other road users. (not paying rego on a car has nothing to do with someones right to ride on the road either) Being in a car does not give you the ultimate rights to the road! I always laugh at people hiding in a metal box on the road telling riders to harden up....get out on a bike for a while and then you can tell me who needs to harden up!

im on the fence with this argument.

A couple of things i don't like - When riders use the road and the footpath. If your riding on the road, stay there, don't use pedestrian lights to your advantage.

- I dislike it when you pass a guy on a bike (in a controlled and polite way) and then when you hit the lights they come to the front and you have to pass them again, thats not on in my book.

-i dislike it when they do not follow the red lights, or stop signs or give way signs - when they zoom past at stop or red lights and take a left hand turn at the intersection.

Sometimes i think they need their own demerit system.

In saying all that some driver are idiots and intolerant - the above mentioned are the equivalent idiots in the biking world.

any offensive cyclists should be fined like anyone else.

I understand a few people pay 3 regos, i personally pay more than that but it doesnt excuse the fact that no one on a pushbike pays rego which is what i was originally stating.
on another note, if you never yelled something at someone on the side of the road before then you are either not being honest or you have missed a really good laugh, egging or use of water blasters is also a lot of fun, i know many people have at some stage of their teenage years,of course that was many years ago now

you know what, I don't care what you say, just stay the heck in Qld.

when i was 13 or so we were in the family car driving through Canberra and there was a man riding his bike on the road ( a road bike) - i don't know if i was high on sugar or something, but i wound down the window and yelled at him while we drove by - scared the crap out of him, he got the death wobbles and almost fell. The lights turned red and we stopped at the lights - suddenly this guy was at the sprint stage of his run and bolting to get to us while we were stationary - he was so determined to get to us - luckily (for me) the lights changed and he just missed us - my old man told me i would of deserved a punch in the head....Fair call.

Water blasters - yeh, when we first got our p's we had a super soaker, but it was a $200 mega cannon super soaker - lots of fun, but pretty stupid. We never got a cyclist though - just youngens on the side of the road - pretty funny, i'd call someone an idiot for doing it now - but yeh, i guess you grow up.

I still feel bad about yelling at the cyclist.

thats it mick 58, many people have done it, i also never done it at a cyclist but it was funny, and yes you grow up and may feel like you shouldnt have later in life but hey, teenagers have to amuse themselves sometimes or learn the hard way