What a difference a day makes...

Mark Tranchant

....er, I mean "month".

A friend went to New Zealand in early December, and I had the use of her
car for commuting to work. My intention was to use this time to rebuild
my rear wheel, but Christmas, kids and rain got in the way, so the
cassette is the same old cone of sludge-coated sharks'-teeth as last year.

This morning was my first time back on the bike, and my legs hurt now.
The actual ride was fine, but I just couldn't get close to the speeds
I'm used to reaching on the commute.

But to make up for it, a nice BMW driver (which I thought was an
oxymoron) following me noticed me looking over my shoulder prior to a
right turn, anticipated that I wanted to turn even before I had
signalled, slowed down and flashed to let me pull across! And he/she
didn't even have the front foglights on!

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

Mark Thompson

> But to make up for it, a nice BMW driver (which I thought was an
> oxymoron) following me noticed me looking over my shoulder prior to a
> right turn, anticipated that I wanted to turn even before I had
> signalled, slowed down and flashed to let me pull across!

Hmm, why would a cager want to stay behind you?

The driver was either female, or a rather snappily attired bloke, and you
were on a raod bike wearing lycra?

MSeries

Mark Thompson wrote:
>>But to make up for it, a nice BMW driver (which I thought was an
>>oxymoron) following me noticed me looking over my shoulder prior to a
>>right turn, anticipated that I wanted to turn even before I had
>>signalled, slowed down and flashed to let me pull across!
>
>
> Hmm, why would a cager want to stay behind you?
>
> The driver was either female, or a rather snappily attired bloke, and you
> were on a raod bike wearing lycra?
Probably rides a bike himself/herself and read the situation from the
cyclist POV. Bang goes my theory regarding drivers of German cars.

Mark Tranchant

Mark Thompson wrote:

> Hmm, why would a cager want to stay behind you?
>
> The driver was either female, or a rather snappily attired bloke, and you
> were on a raod bike wearing lycra?

;-) I don't think I'm that attractive, and I was wearing Ronhill
Bikesters. Maybe they liked the rear view of the Roberts. I didn't get
to see the driver, but I'd guess it was a male based on my experience that:

1) More BMW 5-series drivers are male;
2) Females make fewer "active adjustments" (changing speed or position)
to allow for cyclists' forthcoming manoeuvres. On the plus side, they
tend to be a lot less aggressive and will wait in an opposing queue for
cyclists to turn across them rather than close up the gap.

Sweeping generalizations, I know. As I said, this is from my experience
that men tend to be both most helpful and least helpful with the ladies
in the middle.

The turn comes soon after a roundabout, so the cars are at similar
speeds to me, just beginning to come past. This one waited.

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

weecrackpot

"MSeries" <skankmartin@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:34hqb8F48knu5U1@individual.net...
> Mark Thompson wrote:
> >>But to make up for it, a nice BMW driver (which I thought was an
> >>oxymoron) following me noticed me looking over my shoulder prior to a
> >>right turn, anticipated that I wanted to turn even before I had
> >>signalled, slowed down and flashed to let me pull across!
> >
> >
> > Hmm, why would a cager want to stay behind you?
> >
> > The driver was either female, or a rather snappily attired bloke, and
you
> > were on a raod bike wearing lycra?
> Probably rides a bike himself/herself and read the situation from the
> cyclist POV. Bang goes my theory regarding drivers of German cars.

I tend to agree with you,i am more tolerant
with cyclist than any other road users.

Jon Senior

Mark Tranchant wrote:
> 1) More BMW 5-series drivers are male;
> 2) Females make fewer "active adjustments" (changing speed or position)
> to allow for cyclists' forthcoming manoeuvres. On the plus side, they
> tend to be a lot less aggressive and will wait in an opposing queue for
> cyclists to turn across them rather than close up the gap.

I have a tame female BMW driver at work. She doesn't ride at all, but
gets enough militant anti-car grief from a couple of us that do, to be
quite courteous to cyclists!

Jon

Tony Raven

Jon Senior wrote:
>
>
> I have a tame female BMW driver at work. She doesn't ride at all, but
> gets enough militant anti-car grief from a couple of us that do, to be
> quite courteous to cyclists!
>

....until she's sure you're not watching and then.... ;-)

Tony