I find the Varia very helpful to alerting me when cars are approaching and if they’re coming in too quickly. Works well with my Wahoo Bolt as it shows the car approaching
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I try not to ride solo. Besides, I like the social aspect of cycling. I have front and rear Cycliq cams, but the battery life doesn’t live up to their claims, so they sit in a box, waiting for me to list them on eBay. Overall, drivers in my area are pretty good with cyclists, but there are also spots where we know we’re likely to be coal-rolled even though it’s illegal, and of course, there’s the close pass. We’ve been able to get the highway department to change “share the road” signs to “cyclists can use full lane” which helps with the education aspect.
I’ve decided, for the sake of my sanity and blood pressure, that yelling at the bad drivers isn’t going to change anything. However, saying or gesturing a thank you to the good drivers helps reinforce their behavior and acknowledges that we appreciate them. At least it improves my mood.
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I’ve decided, for the sake of my sanity and blood pressure, that yelling at the bad drivers isn’t going to change anything.
I have noticed that when people in the group loose it with drivers things just get worse and neither side listens to what the other one has to say. In the end is less productive to yell. Plus, when insults are exchanged it just ruins the day…
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My story happened in Hawaii as well (Maui), and the cyclists were tourists.
The cyclists who yell are probably the same way in their cars.
I find the Varia useful when riding in rural areas. When I ride in urban traffic it is pretty useless, and you have to look anyway when changing lanes and making turns. That is when you learn to be able to ride in the direction you wish when not looking in that direction.
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I started riding on city roads years and years ago, before it was popular. I actually felt safer then because all I had to watch out for were pedestrians and cars.
I have found this to be very effective. Most motorists give one a wide berth. Some are ignoran/lazy and don’t bother. And some like to do punishment passes. Taking the lane solves both problems.
My remaining issue is drivers pulling out from.sjde roads in front of me or even into me. They say “I didn’t see you” but they’re just not looking. I find glaring somehow forces eye contact and makes a big difference. In the last month I have been saved from being hit twice by modern smart cars with auto emergency braking. The first time was funny, with a dude in a Tesla not even slowing, nevermind stopping and pulled out in front of me. His car gave him whiplash which I enjoyed. The 2nd incident probably saved me from a very long hospital stay, with a very large SUV driving way too fast through a roundabout, she looked past me for cars and then drove, not even seeing me or realising I would be in front of her car. Heart stopping moment but the car stopped. It was incredibly close. Driver in tears and very upset she nearly hit me. I have reported her to the police, as she was I credibly negligent. She won’t get more than a letter reminding her she has to give way, but seemed the type to take that to heart and will drive will more care to cyclists in future. If it was one of those arrogant defensive types, I would have laid a charge. Am 100% over rubbish drivers. Which is why I love gravel riding
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Yes, making eye contact is very important.
When approaching an intersection, I always check to see if I can notice oncoming cars. When riding on the street, I always try to think like a car. Riding in the road was where I first learned to ride as a child, and it is hard for me to imagine never doing it.
As for roundabouts (or traffic circles for others), I was once riding in the outer lane of the roundabout since I was about to exit it, and a car cut straight through the two lanes at an angle to get to the exit. Fortunately, I saw the car in my peripheral vision, and at that moment I did my first ever “bunny hop”. I never learnt how to do it (I am not a MTB rider). I just did it. I just got out of the driver’s way.
You could see the driver’s delayed reaction time as they only put on the brakes after they passed me.
I always tell this story when people tell me they feel unsafe clipped in. I could only have done this clipped in, if I lost contact with the pedals I might have been dead.
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Couldn’t agree with you more on the importance of cleats and bike handling skills. I can bunny hop something in front of me with no problem, but the parallel hop to the side to get on the kerb has wiped me out more than once, but better than being under a car
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Ooh, on the subject of forced bunny hops, the first bunny hop I ever did (other than messing around over speed bumps) was a couple of months before Christmas; a car decided reversed into the road from a driveway on the opposite side, on a corner, through parked cars and directly into my path. It wasn’t quite sideways, maybe 45 degrees (I was going a decent clip but not dangerously fast), but definitley saved my carbon if not my bacon. Frankly he was lucky I was a cyclist and not a truck.
The driver barely glanced at me before taking off. It was rather odd when I then, unintentionally, caught him up. I refrained from any kind of retaliation, but he deserved a cleat mark down his door.
EDIT: Nailed the landing too - I rather took myself by surpise if I’m honest!
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One thing I always try to do is to make eye contact and smile or say hi at every pedestrian or driver I see while riding. Make them move some part of their body, even if it’s just their eyes, in acknowledgement of your presence as a cyclist. Ninety percent of people automatically smile back if you smile at them, and at some level of semi-consciousness they are registering your existence. You might not think that pedestrians pose a danger to you as a cyclist, but they get into cars, and having them aware that cyclists exist may save a live. It may be yours.
And while you are a rolling billboard proclaiming that cyclists exist, be thoughtful and considerate - if a driver gives you a hard time about a rolling stop, politely point out that you are trying to keep intersections clear so that the cars get through faster, you are on his (such challengers are almost always male) side. And no matter how stupid drivers are, keep your middle finger firmly wrapped around your bars - flipping someone off is never as satisfying as it seems like it should be, and it just makes people who didn’t see the whole story judge you harshly.
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I have a good friend who ended up in the hospital for a week with a pneumothorax when a headphoned pedestrian decided to turn around on the bikepath into my friend as she was passing.
I’ve had more close calls with pedestrians than with cars and learned to treat them with extreme caution. The most ridiculous and dangerous was the woman walking her dog who let her dog run across the bike path, spreading the leash across the path about half way up my wheel after I alerted her that I was coming. I was able to stop, barely, and avoid getting tangled up with her and her dog. While most drivers attend to the road and cyclists most of the time, almost no pedestrians attend to either ever.
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One time, on a bicycle path, parents did not restrain their toddler on small tricycle who turned from the oncoming lane into the path of my bicycle.
The worst are the joggers with headphones on the bicycle paths, or the skateboarders.
I feel safer in the road with the cars.
“As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
I’ve got a little list — I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!”
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Agreed, in cities it beeps constantly and I know I’m surrounded by cars. Most of my issues have been foolish drivers in more rural areas though and they also seem more impatient
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I think they are impatient because they think (and drive) as if they were the only people on the road.
Yes but they forget we typically all own licenced vehicles and pay rates/taxes too and therefore own just as much of the road as they do and are allowed to ride on it too! Possibly we own more of the road given the value of our bicycles is often >>> than their vehicle.
You must own several expensive bicycles. 
If you work it out as $/vehicle weight we almost always win. I had that discussion with a Porche driver and my Canyon JUST pipped his Porche in value/kg. Luckily his was a heavy and relatively cheap Porche hahahaha. He was an accountant and it made him laugh and hopefully realise cyclists are cool people too.
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Shouldn’t the cyclist be included in the calculation? Otherwise, we are comparing a vehicle with an engine, to a vehicle without one.
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