"No one cares if you've won three, four, five Vueltas": Geraint Thomas weighs in on Jumbo-Visma leadership debate; "Always been there": CyclingMikey rubbishes claim that camera cyclists cause more hatred + more on the live blog

Me too in the end.  Adds another few minutes to getting ready for a ride and sorting out chargers afterwards.  Fortunately haven't had any incidents that I've needed them for yet, but I also haven't ridden much since getting them.  There has been a marked increase in the amount of traffic on the country roads I generally ride on and a small minority seem to think they are driving the British Rally Championships.

I quite enjoy watching the dashcam compilations on youtube. There will be a 10 minute video with drivers nearly causing massive pile ups on the motorway. Crashing into each other and generally driving appallingly. There will be a single incident of a cyclist doing something silly, often a teenager and I can guarantee that 20-30% of the comments will be direct abuse of the cyclist or general absude of cyclists. Something which is 2% of the clips in the video will have by far and away the most comments. 

Until they sort out driver sentiment towards cycling it will never be safe. Cyclists don't want to have to record their rides. They don't want to have to charge the battery, buy the camera, download and submit the footage. They do it because they are sick of shit driving. They are sick of people putting their lives in danger in order to save a few seconds. They are sick of people putting their lives in danger simply because they don't like cyclists. 

I can have some vague understanding for close passes in built up areas where there is not room but I regularly get people overtaking me within a meter on completely empty roads.  

mctrials23 wrote:

I quite enjoy watching the dashcam compilations on youtube.

......

They do it because they are sick of shit driving.

All those dashcams would suggests drivers are sick of shit driving too!

But I've never felt the need to fit a car dashcam, yet I won't ride a bike, on the same kinds of roads, without one.

Drivers are sick of other people's shit driving, never their own, which is of course impeccable.

Kind of...but I find a good proportion of the videos are of drivers recording their own shit driving.

mctrials23 wrote:

I quite enjoy watching the dashcam compilations on youtube. There will be a 10 minute video with drivers nearly causing massive pile ups on the motorway. Crashing into each other and generally driving appallingly. There will be a single incident of a cyclist doing something silly, often a teenager and I can guarantee that 20-30% of the comments will be direct abuse of the cyclist or general absude of cyclists. Something which is 2% of the clips in the video will have by far and away the most comments.

I think you're being conservative. I had to stop watching them because of the comments. In a 12–15-minute video, crammed end-to-end with short clips of drivers doing insanely dangerous shit, usually resulting in collisions and injuries, if there was a single clip of a cyclist doing something dumb, ~75% of the comments were just shitting on cyclists - not that cyclist, but cyclists in general. Many calling/hoping/wishing for death and injury on cyclists too.

There is such a worrying difference in the way that the public view a driver doing something dangerous, and a cyclist doing something (much less) dangerous.

Pretty sure it's not compulsory to read the comments!

There's probably a small component of the feedback loop going the other way (it allows media to run stories about "vigilantes").

However ... without an existing ready market for that content it wouldn't be worthwhile.

IMHO I think negative things around "image" are mostly down to:

 - Rarity - hence salience.  For example we've learned to mentally filter out lots of similar "concerns" around motor vehicles - that's normal.
 - People cycling are naturally an out group because most people drive / are driven, then do a bit of walking either end.  This is enhanced by some cyclists wearing "odd clothes / big hats / funny shoes".
 - "cheating" - cyclists are in my space (roads are for cars / pavements are for pedestrians) but they're obviously not playing by the same rules e.g. filtering past cars, going faster than walkers.
 - Inconvenience / hazard.  On roads they're "in the way" - they may make cars slow down or they have to manoeuvre to overtake.  Many pedestrians are not used to them (see rarity) so this raises their stress / alertness levels.  They "nearly kill" pedestrians by appearing close to them without much sound and going much faster.  I think most people are surprised how quickly ordinary cyclists can move.

And - it is true - there are a few specific groups of cyclists who stand out e.g. criminal ("yoof", the grey area of delivery cyclists etc.) and "men with strong opinions who are not particularly concerned to be liked".  There are many in those groups who also drive of course...  However they may be over-represented as cyclists due to conditions for cycling in the UK.

Serious question, what is the point of this? Do you feel good at the end of a day of being a twat on Road.cc? Is there a bunch of other forums you also go to and be a twat or is it just this one? Does the attention you get feel good even though it is almost entirely negative attention directed at hateful, pointless posts? 

Would it not feel better to find a community where you can be a positive influence on the conversation? I know it is a lot harder to get people to engage with positivity but spouting negative, hateful shite constantly has got to make a normal person feel bad about themselves over time. 

He just comes for the obscure band references now.  It's really not worth reading anything else in to the comments.

I didn't think anyone took him seriously to be honest.

perce wrote:

I didn't think anyone took him seriously to be honest.

One person here has a grain of common sense. 

It's called bantz 

Left_is_for_Losers wrote:

One person here has a grain of common sense. 

It's called bantz 

ahhh - "bantz"! everything you post is purely for entertainment purposes!

I freely admit I struggle with the nuances of "internet speak", so I have been finding your posts difficult to decode. This clears things up for me.

Go away you ridiculous little troll before I call a policeman. And your mum.

perce wrote:

Go away you ridiculous little troll before I call a policeman. And your mum.

Ooh no need to lose it over that, it was a compliment after all!

Left_is_for_Losers wrote:

perce wrote:

I didn't think anyone took him seriously to be honest.

One person here has a grain of common sense. 

It's called bantz 

You are Rod Liddle/Matthew Parris* and I claim my £5!

*They're interchangeable for the purposes of my own banter.

For me bantz/banter is a nasty little expression, often used by nasty little men as a cover for misogyny, racism or homophobia. (Order does not reflect seriousness/frequency) And it does seem to be men, sometimes policemen, where it has replaced the rather disingenuous "canteen culture"

I agree

Patrick9-32 wrote:

Serious question, what is the point of this? Do you feel good at the end of a day of being a twat on Road.cc? Is there a bunch of other forums you also go to and be a twat or is it just this one? Does the attention you get feel good even though it is almost entirely negative attention directed at hateful, pointless posts? 

Would it not feel better to find a community where you can be a positive influence on the conversation? I know it is a lot harder to get people to engage with positivity but spouting negative, hateful shite constantly has got to make a normal person feel bad about themselves over time. 

Hello - a rare treat to speak to you!

The point of what may I ask? Becuase it sounds like you're being a bit of a twat to me? 

This is a perfect example of the complete lack of social awareness of the road.cc commenters. I mention once about playing road.cc bingo, yet there are many, many references here of people talking about playing "anti-cycling" bingo on other sites - just because this is a "cycling" site doesn't make it worse.

It's not hateful, and certainly not pointless. 

Now, back to your box my boy. 

"Back in your Box My Boy" was on Now 57 I think. It was never an album in it's own right.

Can't remember the artist.  May have been People in Glass Houses, Pigeon on Chessboard or someone like that

I think it may have been Bit of a Twat. He never made it on the club circuit because his mum wanted him back by seven so he was stuck to playing Saturday afternoons at the Top Rank. I think I've heard people say he was a top ranker.

Ah yes.  I agree.

Speaking as a recovering troll-feeder myself: don't feed the troll.