OT: Rant - pedestrians and bus drivers.

I need a rant. What is it with pedestrians, bus and car drivers?

Last year I was attacked when commuting home on the towpath. It was unprovoked at 6pm on a nice summers evening in a well populated cosmopolitan basin. The guy physically pushed me off my bike on purpose and told me I shouldn’t be on the towpath. I am quite assertive so squared up and corrected him, ‘actually it’s part of the national cycle network and furthermore I have a permit from British Waterways’. At this point he started to punch me with a knuckle duster and tell me bikes are ‘archaic’. The guy was clearly on something.

Last week on a dark part of the towpath two guys stepped out from the bushes into my path. He was dressed in black with his hood up. Despite having a 13 and a half stone bloke cycling towards him at 17mph lit up like a Christmas tree he thinks it’s a good idea to just stand there. I had no chance and hit him. I came off the worse and had gravel rash on my right hip which I couldn’t sleep on for a few days.

Most people I meet on the towpath are OK. The best (with a few exceptions) are other bikers, runners and dog walkers who carry lights or reflective strips.

I had two incidents on the way in this morning. Firstly a bus decided to pull out in front of me. Normally I’d curse under my breathe but today I snapped and out accelerated the bus to smack on the drivers window then pull in front of him to give him some more abuse. I have thought about logging all the times buses pull out on me. I am sure they either don’t look or if they do see me think I am only a bike and aren’t moving that fast. In reality on my route where there is good tarmac I can achieve 20 – 30 mph on the flat and faster downhill. The only trouble with reporting it is I might be target for drivers on the bus routes I use.

Secondly on the towpath this morning a well presented middle aged gentlemen listening to his headphones saw me approaching and failed to step aside. I went as close to the waters edge as I could be he still didn’t move over so we brushed elbows. Whilst thinking about raising my hand or saying sorry I thought the moment had passed until he shouted abuse back at me. That was it especially after the bus incident. I went back and corrected him, it wasn’t just a footpath, it was a towpath and actually it was part of the national cycle network and either in part or in full maintained by SusTrans the charity for sustainable transport which I contribute towards and I hold a permit from British Waterways. Therefore I have as much right to be there as he does and if he doesn’t want to be considerate and move over as I did then he has to accept that these things will happen. I had given way as much as I could.

….. and another thing why is it always the other persons fault when someone plugged into an iPod, MP3 player or their mobile phone gets startled because they aren’t aware of their surroundings.

Rant over but still not chuffed….

Blimey, you have your fair share of incidents, remind me not to ride with you

Note to self: Buy a bubble wrap suit.

... a sumo suit. Now imagine that on the towpath. No worries about falling in the canal.