Jaysus cycling! (1 Viewer)

[magicbastarder]

i watched top gear last night for some reason and they had a race across london from the most east part to the most west.

clarkson, in a car, once went up against a marathon runner in a 26 mile race across london and lost by about ten minutes.

 

[Daisy's Dukes]

I'm still really shook up about what happened to me yesterday evening and don't know what to do. I was cycling home and a hiace van which was a taxi overtook me and then pulled right into the kerb so I couldn't pass. I tried to shuffle past with one foot on the kerb and as I was doing so the light turned green and he started moving again. Worried he was going to run me over I tapped lightly on his window to alert him to my presence. We both turned the corner and he proceeded on up the road out of sight. About 5 minutes later I was travelling up the bike lane on the path and I spotted the taxi van coming in the opposite direction. He stopped the van, holding up a load of traffic and starting screaming abuse at me. He said that if he got hold of me he would break my fucking neck for touching his van. He then called me a cunt and a geebag and other assorted names. I asked had he nothing better to do than scream at people on the street and cycled on. I kept cycling and suddenley noticed the van again. He had gone around the roundabout at the end of the road and turned back and was following me. Again he rolled down the window and screamed more abuse at me, while holding up a whole line of traffic again. Worried he would follow me home I stopped where I was, took out my phone and told him I was calling the police. He then drove off. In the heat of the moment I only managed to get the first three digits of his taxi number. This whole thing has really upset me and I don't know what to do. I'm afraid if I report it to the ploice that he will find out where I live and do something to me. The man is clearly unbalanced and the fact that he drives the public around for a living is a scary thought. He was literally screeching and screaming and was bright red with anger. I called the police and explained what happened and the girl said I should make a statement to them and to the carriage office but I'm terrified that this asshole will get hold of my details. What would you guys do?

 

[magicbastarder]

ring the carriage office; the first few digits of the taxi plate with a description of the taxi might be enough. they take these things quite seriously in there, i believe.

 

[classic seanc]

I'm still really shook up about what happened to me yesterday evening and don't know what to do. I was cycling home and a hiace van which was a taxi overtook me and then pulled right into the kerb so I couldn't pass. I tried to shuffle past with one foot on the kerb and as I was doing so the light turned green and he started moving again. Worried he was going to run me over I tapped lightly on his window to alert him to my presence. We both turned the corner and he proceeded on up the road out of sight. About 5 minutes later I was travelling up the bike lane on the path and I spotted the taxi van coming in the opposite direction. He stopped the van, holding up a load of traffic and starting screaming abuse at me. He said that if he got hold of me he would break my fucking neck for touching his van. He then called me a cunt and a geebag and other assorted names. I asked had he nothing better to do than scream at people on the street and cycled on. I kept cycling and suddenley noticed the van again. He had gone around the roundabout at the end of the road and turned back and was following me. Again he rolled down the window and screamed more abuse at me, while holding up a whole line of traffic again. Worried he would follow me home I stopped where I was, took out my phone and told him I was calling the police. He then drove off. In the heat of the moment I only managed to get the first three digits of his taxi number. This whole thing has really upset me and I don't know what to do. I'm afraid if I report it to the ploice that he will find out where I live and do something to me. The man is clearly unbalanced and the fact that he drives the public around for a living is a scary thought. He was literally screeching and screaming and was bright red with anger. I called the police and explained what happened and the girl said I should make a statement to them and to the carriage office but I'm terrified that this asshole will get hold of my details. What would you guys do?

Dear me, that’s really really shit.
You did the right thing contacting the carriage office and the guards. Even with only three digits of the licence and a description of the vehicle they should be able to find out who he was.
Be sure to follow it up with further phone calls.
He’s not going to get your details. He’s not going to track you down. Don’t worry about that. He wouldn’t even know you if he saw you again.

 

[rettucs]

I'm still really shook up about what happened to me yesterday evening and don't know what to do. I was cycling home and a hiace van which was a taxi overtook me and then pulled right into the kerb so I couldn't pass. I tried to shuffle past with one foot on the kerb and as I was doing so the light turned green and he started moving again. Worried he was going to run me over I tapped lightly on his window to alert him to my presence. We both turned the corner and he proceeded on up the road out of sight. About 5 minutes later I was travelling up the bike lane on the path and I spotted the taxi van coming in the opposite direction. He stopped the van, holding up a load of traffic and starting screaming abuse at me. He said that if he got hold of me he would break my fucking neck for touching his van. He then called me a cunt and a geebag and other assorted names. I asked had he nothing better to do than scream at people on the street and cycled on. I kept cycling and suddenley noticed the van again. He had gone around the roundabout at the end of the road and turned back and was following me. Again he rolled down the window and screamed more abuse at me, while holding up a whole line of traffic again. Worried he would follow me home I stopped where I was, took out my phone and told him I was calling the police. He then drove off. In the heat of the moment I only managed to get the first three digits of his taxi number. This whole thing has really upset me and I don't know what to do. I'm afraid if I report it to the ploice that he will find out where I live and do something to me. The man is clearly unbalanced and the fact that he drives the public around for a living is a scary thought. He was literally screeching and screaming and was bright red with anger. I called the police and explained what happened and the girl said I should make a statement to them and to the carriage office but I'm terrified that this asshole will get hold of my details. What would you guys do?

fuck, thats shit. You have my sympathies. Lets get a bit of perspective here though. This person is clearly an arsehole. A right fucking arsehole. You didn't do anything wrong. I'd have done the same, though I can't imagine being as passive as you were in this situation. What to do about it though. I had an 'encounter' one morning with a taxi driver who nearly knocked me down twice in quick succession. I try to pass off close calls as 'once-offs' that won't happen again (the situation has passed, you've gotten away with it, etc), but when something happens so quickly after the first incident, it fairly rattles you. On that occasion I was so angry that I went after the taxi. He was a lunatic though and I couldn't get anywhere near him to give him a piece of my mind. When I got to work though, 2 things occured to me. Firstly, if this bloke is that big a lunatic, he'd probably have kicked the living shit out of me if I had caught him. Secondly, in my fit of rage, and being so determined to catch up with him, I lost reason for a bit. What I should have done was get the license plate, and report him to the gardai for dangerous driving. At the end of the whole thing I was more annoyed with myself than anything else for losing the run of myself.

Now, to your situation. You're shaken now. In time that'll pass. You're also angry as hell now. In time that'll pass too. Personally I think this individual should be reported to the gardai for dangerous driving/road rage, or whatever. Even if nothing came of it, the next time he does this, someone else could report him too and theres a record of it. I don't think the gardai would give him your details. I'm pretty sure they can't do that, at least short of there being a court case and its hardly likely to come to that. But, seeing as you didn't get the reg and only got part of the taxi license number, I'm not sure if its worth while. It might be no harm to check. You never know, maybe someone else has already rang up about this nacker - someone he's done this to before, or someone sat it traffic behind them.

Not sure what I'd do. I think I'd want to report them for sure. Not so sure I would without full details. I think you need to make that call yourself. But I wouldn't let worrying about them finding out where you live put you off.

 

[Pedronimus]

you did nothing wrong, you tapped his window. he won't come after you. I'd say if you were a bloke of larger proportions than him, he wouldn't have tried to intimidate you.

'He said that if he got hold of me he would break my fucking neck for touching his van.'

This is an idle threat, when people are gonna batter you they generally don't warn you in advance.

edit: oh yeah and report him.

 

[minka]

ring the carriage office; the first few digits of the taxi plate with a description of the taxi might be enough. they take these things quite seriously in there, i believe.

yeah, definitely do.

that's really shit, i'm sorry to hear about it.

 

[Space]

ring the carriage office; the first few digits of the taxi plate with a description of the taxi might be enough. they take these things quite seriously in there, i believe.

Yeah I've said it time and time again. Report them to the carriage office. Golden rule of being a taxi driver: "must polite to the public" or so I'm told by my taxi driving ex housemate.

sounds like a cunt

 

[Daisy's Dukes]

Gah, so I rang the carriage office who now don’t deal with complaints about taxis anymore. They gave me a number for the Taxi Regulator who said that because I wasn’t a passenger in the car there probably wouldn’t be anything they could do but to send my complaint in anyway. I rang back the carriage office and told them that the Regulator couldn’t help and that the guard I spoke to last night told me that I should call the carriage office. The nice lady was mad as heel with the Regulator and said since they have taken over they have been fobbing people off about what they can and can't get involved in. The lady offered to look up their system anyway and went through the list of red vans beginning with the number that I thought I had seen and there are over 50 of them. I have no other details on what exact type of van it was or any of the digits of the reg number so she couldn’t help further. I am going to go to the Guards tomorrow and report it to them at the station. I can give them an accurate description of him and the details of where it happened and hopefully they can make a few enquiries. I’m bitterly disappointed that I didn’t manage to get his full number.

 

[redd]

returning to the realm of the day-to-day cyclist, does anyone know if one can get such a thing as a waterproof saddle cover? or a saddle that doesn't soak up/release rain?

i am heartily sick of returning to my bike if i've locked it outdoors to find that the saddle has absorbed approx. a gallon of icy rain, which then slowly seeps into my trousers as i cycle. the only solution i've come up with is wearing rain leggings, but that looks/feels a bit stupid when it's not actually raining.

edit: or tying a plastic bag over the saddle, but that does kind of require me to have a plastic bag about my person at all times. my imaginary saddle cover would fold up into something attached to the seatpost, though possibly there i'm entering the realm of pure wish-fulfilment.

Brooks saddles aren't water proof, you should really keep them dry. i use one of these. they're cheap and work great. it folds up small enough to fit between the rails of my saddle when I'm cycling.
they have a velcro strap thing that you can use to attach the cover to the saddle rail but you might want to sew it on to stop it being stolen.

 

[minka]

Brooks saddles aren't water proof, you should really keep them dry. i use one of these. they're cheap and work great. it folds up small enough to fit between the rails of my saddle when I'm cycling.
they have a velcro strap thing that you can use to attach the cover to the saddle rail but you might want to sew it on to stop it being stolen.

oh my goodness, that's exactly the sort of thing i was thinking of! it is as if they READ MY VERY MIND. did you order it from the website or are there bike shops in dublin that sell them?

i still probably need a new saddle, mind.

 

[snotrag]

just got on the other halves bike after 4 weeks of no cycling due to my wonky wheel that wont accept any tyre i try to put on it. sigh... it felt so good cycling cycled all around ballsbridge looking at flowers and even got stopped by gardai in a merc for looking a bit too closely at an embassy flower mind you i was on the path so who knows,. anywho cycling is such a rush

 

[redd]

oh my goodness, that's exactly the sort of thing i was thinking of! it is as if they READ MY VERY MIND. did you order it from the website or are there bike shops in dublin that sell them?

i still probably need a new saddle, mind.

the Internet's a spooky place all right. i got mine from that website, they're based in the north and they do free delivery so yo can't go wrong really. I've gotten a fair few bits and pieces from them and never had a problem. not sure who might sell them in Dublin. Cyclelogical sells brooks saddles so they might have them in stock but they can be a bit pricey.

you can get a brooks B17 saddle from the same site for around €39. it's a great all round saddle. i think they sell them for about 50-55 in town. or you could get the brooks flyer for a few quid more, that's a very comfy saddle all together.

some shops in town will sell you a gel cover to put on your saddle. i'm not sure how waterproof they are but they'd be fairly cheap. squarewheel used to have them i'm not sure if they still do though.

 

[redd]

just got on the other halves bike after 4 weeks of no cycling due to my wonky wheel that wont accept any tyre i try to put on it. sigh... it felt so good cycling cycled all around ballsbridge looking at flowers and even got stopped by gardai in a merc for looking a bit too closely at an embassy flower mind you i was on the path so who knows,. anywho cycling is such a rush

is your bike an old road bike by any chance? it might have 27" wheels instead of the more common 700c wheels modern road bikes have. they're just slightly larger in diameter. if you have the old tyre it should have the size printed on the sidewall if you take the old tyre or wheel to a shop they should be able to sort you out. not much choice for 27" wheels though.

 

[snotrag]

it is a 27 wheel and has 38 printed on the side when i brought the wheel to the bike shop he said it was a 43. so i swapped it for that when i got home. i pumped it first outside of wheel see if it was ok then i talced the wheel and put it in did it pump up did it fuck im going to bring it back later on today the whole wheel this time ... so annoying

 

[inspector horse]

this sunday! also ghent wevelgem and paris roubaix, its a good week

anyone ever make it over to see this??, didn't get my act together in time this year but definitely have to do it, stood on the champs elysees last year for six hours and it was great but i wanna get to some of the classics and some tour/giro mountain stages

YouTube - Koppenberg 2006

 

[snotrag]

that looks absolutely deadly, always wanted to go to some sort of race it was cars for ages but now i have a dream

 

[IFF]

in irish cycling news, daniel martin was 6th today in a 1.1 ranked race in france route adelie i think and yesterday paidi o'brien was rd on stage 2 of the tour of majorca

 

[IFF]

Fans who thought that global warming had ruined the Classics and all the hard men of Flanders had grown soft, have no fear. This Sunday's 92nd Ronde van Vlaanderen is shaping up to be a race of epic proportions, the likes of which have not been seen since 1989 edition. Instead of the nearly summer like conditions seen last year, this season's Ronde should evoke memories of the legendary 70 kilometre escape of Eddy Merckx in the wind and rain of 1969.
Riders will be chilled by temperatures between 2°C and 6°C, and with rain, hail and a possibility of even snow, Sunday's battle will provide a true Classics spectacle unlike anything the current crop of professionals has experienced in the one-day race.

weather from cyclingnews for Flanders

nice. shame eurosport has such sucky coverage. why interrupt coverage for an hour for superbikes which everyone can see on bbc anyway



hell eurosport have world superbikes on one station and british superbikes on eurosport 2?

 

[inspector horse]

weather from cyclingnews for Flanders

nice. shame eurosport has such sucky coverage. why interrupt coverage for an hour for superbikes which everyone can see on bbc anyway



hell eurosport have world superbikes on one station and british superbikes on eurosport 2?

yeh its shit, an hour of the race, then an hour and a half of something else and then the last half hour. so when the last half hour comes on you haven't a clue of the shape of the race then it ends and you feel as if you didn't even see it.

anywhere online that it is streamed??. i used to watch the giro on rai when eurosport would nip off to the indoor ice sweeping championships for hours but i had trouble the other week finding the milan san remo.

edit: some links here but they dont always work http://www.cyclingfans.com/