# Shouts of "I love your bike"



## PaulM (8 Sep 2008)

I got three of these today, the schools are back you see. Shame they can't count, it's got 3 wheels.  

Maybe it looks better with the shorter single-piece flag, the two piece puts the flag above a car driver's line of sight anyway.


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## Auntie Helen (9 Sep 2008)

Ah, I have two longish flags, not for drivers' line of sight but to try to show above the hedges on the country lanes on which I cycle. I suppose with winter approaching I can reduce the flag height.

The flags are a big problem with horses so if I spot horses in the distance I have to stop immediately, take the flags down and hide them on my lap. The first time I met horses with riders they bolted across a field (not good, but fortunately a field and not a busy road).

I get lots of shouts of 'I love your bike' too although I also get lots of 'speed up, love' and other charming gentlemanly comments. I also get laughed at quite a lot.


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## xpc316e (9 Sep 2008)

Thanks for highlighting the important flag-horse problem. I shall be out on my trike for the first time this weekend and there are plenty of horses about in rural Suffolk, and I had not thought of how animals might react. In France recently my 'bent seemed to make horses in fields rather curious, with them staring fixedly as I cycled past - but it isn't a lowracer, and could resemble a conventional bike to a short-sighted horse.

We do have a difficulty in Newmarket with racehorses, because they are particularly highly strung. They are taken through the centre of town to the gallops, and many of them are not schooled with respect to traffic as ordinary horses usually are. I can well remember the pandemonium caused one day by a carrier bag stuck in a hedge; it caused mass panic among a whole string of racehorses crossing a busy road.

Given that a fair percentage of the public think that all trike users are disabled in some way, I wonder how many people feel ashamed of their laughs and catcalls when, and if, they later reflect on their actions.


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## BentMikey (9 Sep 2008)

I don't ride with a flag, as I don't think it'll add anything useful to my visibility. Back on the horses, interestingly around here in the country lanes I often have to be very careful, and/or stop and talk to the horses. The horses in Hyde Park, OTOH, are used to my bike now and hardly react at all.


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## Riding in Circles (9 Sep 2008)

xpc316e said:


> We do have a difficulty in Newmarket with racehorses, because they are particularly highly strung. They are taken through the centre of town to the gallops, and many of them are not schooled with respect to traffic as ordinary horses usually are. I can well remember the pandemonium caused one day by a carrier bag stuck in a hedge; it caused mass panic among a whole string of racehorses crossing a busy road.



Horses are hard wired like most animals to view low fast moving things as predators so be careful around them, I make riders well aware of my approach and explain, then wait for them to get well over to the side while giving them a wide berth and passing very slowly.


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## Arch (9 Sep 2008)

xpc316e said:


> Thanks for highlighting the important flag-horse problem. I shall be out on my trike for the first time this weekend and there are plenty of horses about in rural Suffolk, and I had not thought of how animals might react. In France recently my 'bent seemed to make horses in fields rather curious, with them staring fixedly as I cycled past - but it isn't a lowracer, and could resemble a conventional bike to a short-sighted horse.



Interesting. I find that over here most horses bolt to the other side of the field first, and then look. Whereas over in France this summer, several horses watched us, or even came closer to look - in one field, several of them galloped over to watch us go by....

I wonder if French horses are just more accustomed to bicycles of all sorts?

I wouldn't take any chances around horses, I think Catrike is right and a recumbent looks just like a predator to them.


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## xpc316e (10 Sep 2008)

I would have thought that French horses would have been more wary of humans than ours - after all, we don't have a cheval section in the meat aisle of Tesco.


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## Auntie Helen (10 Sep 2008)

When I met horses recently, a day after the horse-bolting episode, I stopped instantly (about 200 metres from them) and took down the flags, putting them flag-side-down in my lap.

As the riders passed me they were very grateful and one of the riders said, "when you came round the corner I thought, 'O God, those flags!'" so she appeared to think the flags were the problem, more than the actual bike, although I am also wary about the actual bike.

I'm a real dog lover and most dogs like me but some decide to lunge at me when I go past on the trike. Others stare at me fixedly (along with their owners). Cats run out of the way very quickly although because the trike is quite quiet I can get fairly near before they notice me.


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## arallsopp (17 Sep 2008)

The cats round my way have got a habit of watching me approach, darting out as I near, leaping towards my path causing me to brake sharply, jumping back, counting to two, waiting until just after the last possible microsecond, then leaping unexpectedly back under my wheels. 

I'm not sure why they do it. But they all do. They were the same with my DF too, so at least they don't single the bent out.

Best call I've had from a kid was frozen at the side of the road, mouth gaping, and asking "Daddy. How is that?"

Seems a very good question. Daddy didn't know.


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## Auntie Helen (17 Sep 2008)

Yesterday I trailblazed a new route back from the supermarket (it's a 10 mile round trip but I try to vary it a lot) and the new route took my past a senior school at chucking out time. I had endless shouts of 'Look at that bike' and 'I want one of those' and also a couple of 'I'm going to nick that bike' (which I hear surprisingly frequently!). But one little girl walking along with her Mum asked, "Is it a car?" Funny kind of car if you ask me! Mum said "No, it's a bicycle," so at least she knew what I was riding!


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## Arch (17 Sep 2008)

Someone I know was riding a 







space frame Moulton and a kid he passed remarked to it's dad "look, that bike's still got the scaffolding on!"

I was also once out on a






Pashley Micro - well, no actually, the model it was based on, which had a very short wheel base, and a kid shouted "daddy, look at that man's tiny bike!". I wouldn't have minded if he'd said "lady's"....


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## TheDoctor (17 Sep 2008)

On the horse thing - I always say 'hello' or something to horse riders. Purely for the horses benefit.


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## Arch (17 Sep 2008)

TheDoctor said:


> On the horse thing - I always say 'hello' or something to horse riders. Purely for the horses benefit.



Aye, once the horse hears you speak, it's got much more chance of realising you're just another person on a horse, albeit a very odd shaped one...

Mind you, I also say hello to cows, sheep, rabbits, magpies... I'm a regular chatterbox out in the countryside...


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## palinurus (17 Sep 2008)

Today I got "excuse me!"

then, when I looked around, "your bike is shoot!"

Group of kids. They were right tho', it is shoot.


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## Arch (18 Sep 2008)

I was packing up after a tryout show once and a kid came up as I was dealing with the Pashley Micro. He said "That's a rubbish bike". I looked at his £50 BSO and said "well, I don't think much of yours, but I wouldn't be so rude as to say so..." and folded the Pashley in half. Whereupon he said "oooh, it's one of them cool bikes!". So I said "so why did you say it was rubbish?"

Cue brain melting confusion in kid...


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## PaulM (18 Sep 2008)

*Clown bike*



Arch said:


> Someone I know was riding a
> 
> space frame Moulton and a kid he passed remarked to it's dad "look, that bike's still got the scaffolding on!"
> .



My ex-girlfriend saw me on my Strida III and later mentioned seeing me on my clown bike, you know the kind that goes round and round the circus ring.


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## squeaker (19 Sep 2008)

PaulM said:


> My ex-girlfriend saw me on my Strida III and later mentioned seeing me on my clown bike, you know the kind that goes round and round the circus ring.


Explains the 'ex' then 

FWIW even sans flag, horses frequently take exception to my recumbent bike, so I make a point of slowing down, talking to the rider, and if necessary stopping and standing up (more to show that 'it's a human', although it does give me the option of legging it if things get pair shaped).


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## Amanda P (19 Sep 2008)

After several exchanges along the lines of:

"Hello, don't worry it's only a bike".

"Oh, Hi. I can see it's a bike".

"I was talking to the horse".

I've learned eventually to say:

"Hello, horse, don't worry, it's only a bike".


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## BentMikey (19 Sep 2008)

LOL, it's funny isn't it, how the rider assumes you're talking to them.


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## byegad (19 Sep 2008)

Uncle Phil said:


> After several exchanges along the lines of:
> 
> "Hello, don't worry it's only a bike".
> 
> ...



The time to worry is when the horse replies!


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## ufkacbln (20 Sep 2008)

xpc316e said:


> Thanks for highlighting the important flag-horse problem. I shall be out on my trike for the first time this weekend and there are plenty of horses about in rural Suffolk, and I had not thought of how animals might react. In France recently my 'bent seemed to make horses in fields rather curious, with them staring fixedly as I cycled past - but it isn't a lowracer, and could resemble a conventional bike to a short-sighted horse.
> 
> We do have a difficulty in Newmarket with racehorses, because they are particularly highly strung. They are taken through the centre of town to the gallops, and many of them are not schooled with respect to traffic as ordinary horses usually are. I can well remember the pandemonium caused one day by a carrier bag stuck in a hedge; it caused mass panic among a whole string of racehorses crossing a busy road.
> 
> Given that a fair percentage of the public think that all trike users are disabled in some way, I wonder how many people feel ashamed of their laughs and catcalls when, and if, they later reflect on their actions.



Several years ago there was a "Disabled games" held in Portsmouth. Two kids spent ten minutes explaining a project they had done at school and how they looked forward to seeing me race my "Wheelchair"


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## ufkacbln (20 Sep 2008)

It's not the flags with Horses, it's the shape.

I have found that even without flags my recumbents (Especially the Hurrican and Catrike) freak horses.

An animal pyschologist explained to me that horses are a "prey" animal and therefore are "programmed" to avoid predators.

In the animal world predators are low sleek and fast. In the cycle world low sleek and fast is a recumbent!

Hence the horse thinks you are a predator and will be spooked!


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## BentMikey (20 Sep 2008)

My thoughts exactly, Cunobelin!


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## CopperBrompton (20 Sep 2008)

The talking thing has always worked for me. I stop, then say hello to the rider, and not had any problems.


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## Aperitif (21 Sep 2008)

Ben Lovejoy said:


> The talking thing has always worked for me. I stop, then say hello to the rider, and not had any problems.



"The Trike Whisperer..." 
Enjoy Sunday Ben - might see you there if I get time...


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## B13 (2 Oct 2008)

Cunobelin said:


> An animal pyschologist explained to me that horses are a "prey" animal and therefore are "programmed" to avoid predators.



I'm a horse-rider as well as a cyclist and yep, I can confirm this. Horses - as prey animals - perceive _everything_ they don't understand (or anything they haven't experienced before) as a potential threat and their instinctive reaction is to get away from that threat as fast as possible. Their flight instinct is SO strong, they simply cannot override it - they are running for their very lives.

Horses don't _know_ what bikes, flags and plastic bags are. We humans do coz we _invented_ them. So to a horse, something whizzing rapidly towards them can only be a predator - and it's best to run first and ask questions later.

That said, a horse can _learn_ that a bike isn't dangerous if it's allowed to calmly inspect it. It will look at the bike first from a safe distance, then come forward and sniff it. OK, the horse might be a bit spooky, but don't worry, it's unlikely to kick The Big Scarey Horse-Eating Monster, it will save all it's energy to make a quick exit!! (You only kick something if it attacks you first!!)

So as a horse-rider, can I say a HUGE "Thank you!!" to you fellow cyclists who have the good sense to stop if a horse spies a bike and panics. It may be a young horse who's never _seen_ a bike before and simply doesn't know what the hell it is! (If you've got the time and don't mind doing a bit of freebie Horse Education, a good trick is to ask the rider if the horse can 'chase' you (i.e. walk or trot behind you) that way, the horse has chased 'The Big Scarey Horse-Eating Monster' away.)



Also, if the rider _doesn't_ say "Thank you" when you slow or stop, just remember that you've just done so for the_ horse's_ benefit, not the rider's. The horse can't thank you, but because his experience with the bike has been _positive_ he will always remember that positive experience, thus making the horse more confident and therefore _safer_ around us cyclists. I ALWAYS thank cyclists who stop when I'm on a horse, and I always slow down and/or stop for horses if I'm on a bike.

B)

P.S. I'm new here, so here's a big "HELLOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" from me!!


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## BentMikey (2 Oct 2008)

Yes, it's annoying when the horse rider isn't appreciative, but I guess no different from the few rude cyclists.


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## Arch (2 Oct 2008)

BentMikey said:


> Yes, it's annoying when the horse rider isn't appreciative, but I guess no different from the few rude cyclists.



I agree to some extent, but having been in the equine saddle myself, sometimes you are just concentrating on being on the horse. At least I always was, being a bit of a novice. Just the same as being on a bike, sometimes I'm thinking more about the road ahead than acknowledging other people.

That said, there are bound to be rude folk, but no more than any other group of people....


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## TheDoctor (2 Oct 2008)

Well, ultimately (as others have said) we're saying hello to the horse really...


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## Arch (13 Oct 2008)

TheDoctor said:


> Well, ultimately (as others have said) we're saying hello to the horse really...



True, although I've met some fairly rude horses... Well, they wouldn't do what I wanted, anyway... And man, they fart a lot...


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## palinurus (13 Oct 2008)

I had another odd one today. I was riding down the cyclepath in the town, this kid coming the other way shouts, "you haven't got any brakes, you dickhead!".

Wha?

I was riding this


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## palinurus (15 Oct 2008)

And at the weekend when I was towing the trailer through the park- same bike- another kid said "sick bike".

No way is that bike sick. It's got a mudguards and friggin' bar-end mirror.


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## palinurus (15 Oct 2008)

There's an outside chance he was being sarcastic of course.


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## marc-triker (18 Oct 2008)

i'd stopped at the side of the road when i was passed by 2 DF's 1 shouted at me 2 get a real bike and the other said something about wheelchairs...... about 15minuites later i had the pleasure of wizzing passed them with the trice n trailer. 2day i saw the 2 cyclists and they both made a point of speaking to me and saying that they are sorry for shouting at me and asked if they are only for the disabled or could they buy 1... 

the other thing i've noticed alot is walkers will open gates for me but give dirty looks when they see me later at the tea room walking around. i've even had an elderly lady say i should be ashamed of myself pretending to be disabled. i had a carer out with me at the time luckily coz i didn't know what to say 2 her. my T.S. was not as well controlled then as it is now.


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## Riding in Circles (19 Oct 2008)

I had one the other day, "are you disabled", me, "yes I have no legs", them, "ok". I could see them looking at my feet on the pedals and their brain really struggling to make sense of things, I despair at peoples intelligence or lack of at times.


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## ComedyPilot (19 Oct 2008)

Catrike UK said:


> I had one the other day, "are you disabled", me, "yes I have no legs", them, "ok". I could see them looking at my feet on the pedals and their brain really struggling to make sense of things, I despair at peoples intelligence or lack of at times.



t'is very murky at their end of the 'gene-pool', it might have affected their vision!


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## Auntie Helen (19 Oct 2008)

Weirdly I've never had anyone ask me if I'm disabled - and I am! I've also always found other cyclists very courteous although random pedestrians can shout various things which can get a bit irritating after a while.


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## BentMikey (19 Oct 2008)

Riding past a pub in Beckenham, one guy shouted to me lucky saddle. Funny thing that, I was on a seat, and I guess he must have been gay. I was still flattered.


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## Auntie Helen (19 Oct 2008)

Sadly I never get chaps shouting things like that at me either. All round a disappointment for me as a girlie - I'm clearly seriously lacking!


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## LLB (20 Oct 2008)

xpc316e said:


> Thanks for highlighting the important flag-horse problem. I shall be out on my trike for the first time this weekend and there are plenty of horses about in rural Suffolk, and I had not thought of how animals might react. In France recently my 'bent seemed to make horses in fields rather curious, with them staring fixedly as I cycled past - but it isn't a lowracer, and could resemble a conventional bike to a short-sighted horse.
> 
> *We do have a difficulty in Newmarket with racehorses, because they are particularly highly strung. They are taken through the centre of town to the gallops, and many of them are not schooled with respect to traffic as ordinary horses usually are. I can well remember the pandemonium caused one day by a carrier bag stuck in a hedge; it caused mass panic among a whole string of racehorses crossing a busy road.*
> 
> Given that a fair percentage of the public think that all trike users are disabled in some way, I wonder how many people feel ashamed of their laughs and catcalls when, and if, they later reflect on their actions.



These horses are 2-5 years old (they are mostly knackered at 5). Realistically no one would expect a 2 year old child with far more intelligence to have any roadsense, so it is a lot to ask of a horse of this age. 

Carrier bags blowing around would scare most horses, but they can be conditioned (trained) to realise them for what they are. The older ones have usually figured it out, but it takes a while for the penny to drop.


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## peter_streetmachineGT (12 Nov 2008)

Yeah, I'll never tire of all the "cool bike" comments. But what can I say? They're 100% right!


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## redflightuk (28 Dec 2008)

I like all the comment's i get when i'm out & about. Waves and smiles from motorists and loads of room, some cars are almost climbing the banks the other side of the road. I don't have the kmx any more, i've got a trice qnt now with a radical trailer and when i go into town shopping all i hear is "i want one of those" or "is it comfortable"
I've only had one person say that they thought those things were for disabled peep's,as i was coming out of the village shop. He then went on to say he'd seen loads of bikes like it in Australia. On the horse topic as you can see i have my own. When i first bought the kmx to the yard they all freeked (some more than other's) any way we soon worked out it was the flag more than the stupid human lying on his back and moving his feet. Now they're used to the trike i can ride up to the stable door and they reach down to see if i've got any food. When i'm out and i see other's i'm slowing down and watching the horses reactions, most of the time we have no problems. One rider the other day comforted her horse with a pat on the neck and said to him "it's ok i'ts only a recumbent".


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## squeaker (29 Dec 2008)

redflightuk said:


> When i first bought the kmx to the yard they all freeked (some more than other's) any way we soon worked out it was the flag more than the stupid human lying on his back and moving his feet.


IME horses can still freak without the flag (I don't use one on my Grasshopper). Mind you, humans can react in stupid / silly ways too


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## BentMikey (29 Dec 2008)

Funnily enough two girls were laughing at me yesterday, I just told them to have a salad.


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## Amanda P (29 Dec 2008)

Unfortunately, a few months back I think Mrs Uncle Phil and I caused an accident on recumbents.

We were cycling along, one behind the other, on a bit of dual carriageway that runs into Monks Cross shopping park. A driver overtook us, and as she did so, slowed down to have a good look. A motorcyclist used the remaining space in the outside lane to pass her, and as he passed, she decided she'd seen enough of us and moved fully into the outside lane, colliding with him.

He braked and paddled frantically at the ground with his feet, and despite bouncing off the side of the car several times, managed to stay upright. All the panels on the right hand side of the car were dented, and the motorbike had various broken bits of fairing. Also its left hand side alloy footpeg snapped off. No-one was hurt, and the driver and motorcyclist seemed to sort themselves out reasonably amicably. We waited in case they wanted our details as witnesses (they did, but no-one's ever contacted us about it since).

They were both to blame, I think. But none of it would have happened if we'd been riding "normal bikes" that didn't make people stare! And two of them together seems to square the "stare with open mouth factor" rather than just double it.


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## Riding in Circles (29 Dec 2008)

Uncle Phil said:


> Unfortunately, a few months back I think Mrs Uncle Phil and I caused an accident on recumbents.
> 
> We were cycling along, one behind the other, on a bit of dual carriageway that runs into Monks Cross shopping park. A driver overtook us, and as she did so, slowed down to have a good look. A motorcyclist used the remaining space in the outside lane to pass her, and as he passed, she decided she'd seen enough of us and moved fully into the outside lane, colliding with him.
> 
> ...



Trouble makers, hangings to good for you.


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## Amanda P (29 Dec 2008)

I knew I could count on your sympathy.


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## LeeW (29 Dec 2008)

Horses don't seem to react as badly to the Quest as they do to the Trice or fujin. Maybe as they cannot see my moving legs?


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## Andy in Sig (30 Dec 2008)

From your avatar they probably just think you are a fast moving banana but not being predators they are too thick to chase after you.


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## Old PDQ (31 Dec 2008)

Auntie Helen said:


> Ah, I have two longish flags, not for drivers' line of sight but to try to show above the hedges on the country lanes on which I cycle. I suppose with winter approaching I can reduce the flag height.


Most wise. One reason why I have not gone Trike, at least part time. The high stone walls, narrow single track lanes and drivers that know the roads make a trike's extra width more dangerous than my SMGT(IMHO) which I can lean in against the walls and gain precious inches.
Horses do react more nervously to recumbents probably for reasons already stated. I find talking to them (reassuringly and loudly!)effective.


Auntie Helen said:


> I had endless shouts of 'Look at that bike' and 'I want one of those' and also a couple of 'I'm going to nick that bike' (which I hear surprisingly frequently!).


Some parts of the land have gone to the dogs!

Happy New Year to All


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## Arch (5 Jan 2009)

Uncle Phil said:


> They were both to blame, I think. But none of it would have happened if we'd been riding "normal bikes" that didn't make people stare! And two of them together seems to square the "stare with open mouth factor" rather than just double it.



Imagine 9 of us in France! We had people coming out into their front gardens shouting "allez!" and "chapeau!"


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