# I'm giving up on the roads.



## Nigel-YZ1 (5 Jun 2011)

I never thought I'd see the day when I just gave up.

On wednesday evening I was going downhill on the B6090 towards Kilnhurst, a long straight. Repeating a ride I've done hundreds of times.
I was on the road bike, probably going about 30mph. Visibility was excellent.
Two cars were coming up the hill. The back one pulled out to overtake - head on to me. Must have been going about 70.
It's narrow, there's no room, and despite me waving my arm he carried on. I was staring him in the face.
The cars were side by side as they passed me, 2 feet away.
It all happened so fast I never even thought of diving off the road.

I wasn't shocked. I was just damned angry. How could my life mean so little?
I've spent two years recovering from injury. Two years of pain, months of physiotherapy. Just to do what I love. Just to get out and fly.

I've never been so close to my own death before.
I used to shrug near misses off, but it's not worth it any more. I'm 43 and there's someone else in my life now. I'll not go on the roads again.
I'll take the mountain bike to trails on the roof of the car from now on.

Don't really know why I'm posting this here. Perhaps it's a goodbye to 30 years of my life. Perhaps I just want to know if someone gives a damn about what that scum has stolen from me? Make of it what you will.


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## brockers (5 Jun 2011)

I hear you. The thing that springs to mind is not to take events personally. They're just events that happen in (your) impersonal awareness.


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## Highfire (5 Jun 2011)

How sad for you that after all this time you feel pushed off the roads.

However, I can fully empathise. I was knocked off my bike by a car about 17 years ago, and only in the last two months or so have I had the nerve to return to the saddle and the roads.

It's only since I've been cycling again have I become aware of just how close alot of car drivers come to cyclists when overtaking, and how many overtake when it is clearly not safe to do so, for example when a car is coming head on and the car behind you (the cyclists) decides to overtake you at the same time. Very nerve wracking indeed.

I hope you enjoy your mountain biking on the trails.


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## exbfb (5 Jun 2011)

I have come to cycling as a pursuit I want to do as a fully formed adult.
Don't get me wrong, I cycled as a child and in my teens, but nothing more than a kid on a bike, just that no more.

Having now become interested in the bike as something more than that, the fact that I have done so when I had a wife and family has affected how I view things and what I am prepared to do.

I am one of those people who suffer what I believe engineers refer to as "paralysis by analysis."
If I'm going to do something, I'll be pretty sure to think out how to do it right and to imagine the consequences of getting it wrong. I think work makes us a bit like this these days, think about what could go wrong and plan to avoid it.

I'm getting to the point now.

I utterly empathise with your point of view.
Cycling must be a fun and enjoyable activity, whether it's commuting, leisure, exercise or whatever else. It needs to be safe. When you mix in the fact that, as you say, you have someone else in your life, you understandably don't want to put your own personal safety in the hands of random lunatics on the road.

My own personal way to deal with this is to think very carefully about where I'm going, what road I'll have to be on and whether I can do all of this in what I consider to be safe circumstances.

I respect those whose attitude is that the bike has every right to be there and they won't be driven off the roads. I also commend them for their stoicism in the face of what I personally consider to be pretty dangerous circumstances.

Having said all of the above, I'm one who wouldn't argue with your perspective on cycling after this event.
All I would maybe add is that it might be worth considerign if there is anything you can do which involves choosing some different routes. That surely has to be a compromise better than taking away an activity which you actually enjoy.


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## david k (5 Jun 2011)

i know exactly what you mean. i used to ride motorbikes a lot, when i had kids i couldnt do it anymore. i feel ok cycling though, choose my routes carefully, you may feel different in a bit of time


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## zexel (5 Jun 2011)

I have started to wonder if/when this kind of event will happen to me and what I'd do about it, if anything. I'm guessing it's one of them situations where up to the last split second you're thinking, 'no, surely not!'

What a shame, but obviously continuing cycling won't give you what this has taken away from you. Given your previous injuries I would probably make the same decision. 

Sorry if the above doesn't make sense, but what I'm saying is I feel for ya mate.


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## gallego1968 (5 Jun 2011)

I understand how you feel and i would say do not give up something you love because of a few idiot cagers out there. If i gave up something because of someone else i wouldn't go out of the house.
These things happen as we as riders have to be aware out there and carry on. Maybe take a break from road but don't give it up altogether.


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## zexel (5 Jun 2011)

(sorry double post)


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## corshamjim (5 Jun 2011)

My Dad gave up cycling back in the '70s after coming off at speed down a hill in Bristol. I've never discussed with him what it was that caused the accident - I was only tiny at the time. I do remember the great big bandage on his hip though.

Personally I'm more likely to give up driving than cycling - I seem to suffer more morons when out in the car than when out on the bicycle. I guess that's because I ride different roads to the ones I drive, or maybe it's just the difference in distance covered.

Anyway, you must do what's right for you. fwiw my Dad enjoyed running after he gave up cycling, and now he's 70-odd and has retired to Devon he walks a lot on Dartmoor.


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## Red Light (5 Jun 2011)

exbfb said:


> I also commend them for their stoicism in the face of what I personally consider to be pretty dangerous circumstances.



The problem is its a bit like fear of flying. Objectively the danger is extremely low as has been stated here many times before - similar to that of walking - but subjectively people feel it is highly dangerous. Its exacerbated because the near misses, injuries and deaths tend to get reported here for the whole country yet they are in reality a very very small number of events in a very very large number of journeys. 

The fact is though whatever form of transport you take there are risk associated with it. I've been in near misses on my bike, in my car and had a couple of incidents on aircraft. Tomorrow you could be unlucky enough to be one of the very small number of bicycle fatalities or serious injuries of you could be one of the car ones while driving to the start of your ride with the bikes on the back. If that day has your number on it there's not much you can do.

I tend to take a fatalistic approach that in the very very rare event its going to happen its going to happen, but getting out on my bike is increasing my life expectancy (by twenty times the amount the risk is shortening it), increasing my general health and well being (regular cyclists are reckoned to have a physical age ten year younger than their non-cycling colleagues) which will allow me to enjoy my life more and for longer before the inevitable debilities of old age set in and is doing something I really enjoy. I'd far rather die on my bike than wasting away slowly through infirmity. And whatever the good intentions the OP will never load the car and drive to the trailhead a fraction of the times he would have stepped out the door with his bike so overall his health and life expectancy will suffer as a result of this decision.

As for this particular incident I'm afraid I get bolshy and would pull out into the middle of the lane as soon as I saw them start the manoeuvre. That can be enough occasionally to force them to abandon it but if not I stay there working out my escape route (usually the narrow space down the side as here) until the last moment. That tends to force them to slow and gives them a bloody good scare so at least they are a) going slower when I do pass them rather than accelerating trying to get past quicker and b) they might think twice about doing it again.	I ride on a single track road near home that is a bit of a rat run. If you stay over the cars will not slow down and will pass close at speed but I stay out and force them to slow down to a reasonable speed before passing and stare them out while doing it. Over time the regulars have got to know me and all now slow down and the few that don't are given no choice. My partner was having the same problem there until I suggested what to do and now says its pretty much solved.

So finally, while there are risks don't do a "Hatfield". After the Hatfield rail crash, millions of people abandoned the rail network because of the perceived safety risks and disruption. Doing the calculations, in the two weeks after Hatfield the increase in deaths on the road due to the increased traffic was greater than the deaths in the crash itself, the difference being that Hatfield was a once in a blue moon event while those increased deaths on the road carried on week after week after week. Its the same here, the risk was a rare one off, the health effects of not cycling will go on week after week after week.


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## Riding in Circles (5 Jun 2011)

Do what ever feels best to you, if you are no longer happy cycling on the roads then stop cycling at least on the roads.


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## funnymummy (5 Jun 2011)

So sory you had this experience & it has put you off, there really are some selfish, mindless twits around. Unfortunatly if you are on a bike & encounter these twits, the chnaces are it's the riders who are going to come off worse.
It's a shame that it's put you off, but under the same cicumstances I might think twice too, especilally if I had my children with me


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## Jan Ullrich (5 Jun 2011)

there's so much traffic on the roads these days, and it's getting worse


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## Andy500 (5 Jun 2011)

Sorry to hear about this incident and the impact on you. Fully understand where you are coming from.

It does seem to be that every time I go out on my bike, which is 5 to 6 times / wk, there is at least one incident every time that if circumstances had been slightly different could have led to a major incident or worse.

A couple of weeks ago was going down a steep hill at 30mph +++++ when a driver overtook me so close his wing mirror just missed my right elbow. Unfortunately as he was right next to me a large pot hole appeared directly in my path, i swerved very slightly to avoid it and only just managed to avoid impacting the side of his car. He took great offence to this and once he had over taken me he then pulled directly into my path and slammed on his brakes. I hit my brakes so hard my back wheel left the ground, just as I'm about to hit the back of his car he then pulls away whilst staring at me in his rear view mirror. Even though I've now slowed right down he still slams on his brakes on a further two occasions before I reach the bottom of the steep hill. Fortunately for me he then turns right and heads off into a housing estate. I came away from this incident with a very strong impression that he was deliberately attempting to kill me.

I really can't understand what is going through these peoples heads, probably better not to know.


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## Dayvo (5 Jun 2011)

That must have been a very difficult decision to make, but it's fully understandable.

Unfortunately there's no way of knowing where and when these fu*kwits are going to be out on the road, endangering other innocent road users for the sake of their own 'entertainment'.

By all means they can kill or maim themselves or each other, that's no great loss, but to play with the lives of vulnerable cyclists/pedestrians is just beyond a joke.

Unless magistrates get tough on this 'driving' mentality, I fear more cyclists will stop going out on the road!

Hope you find peace off the road!


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## Arch (5 Jun 2011)

Nigel-YZ1 said:


> Repeating a ride I've done hundreds of times.
> 
> 
> I've never been so close to my own death before.



I understand your feelings (I have a phobia of cattle grids after an accident on one, could ride them fine before, have to walk now, unless I'm on the trike), but look at the bits I've selected from your post.

How many times have you done this ride and not had a near miss?

The stats are on your side. Avoid that stretch for a while, if it brings back bad memories, but don't give up entirely, Don't give the self-gratification artists the satisfaction. 

If we all gave up when we encountered a nutter, none of us would leave the house to do anything. Actually, the majority of folk aren't nutters, and most of them aren't even 'just careless'.

Slightly off topic, but with regard to overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic. We were driving behind a cyclist yesterday, up a hill, he was doing pretty well but labouring in the heat (road bike, lycra kit etc). At the top, he waved us to pass, but there was a car coming in the other direction. We're both cyclists and careful drivers, so we hung back until we could give him decent room. Many would have pushed through, and had to skim far too close. The annoying thing was the irritated look the cyclist gave us as we did pass, as if to say "I told you to go through!" So there's lack of sense in all quarters.


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## ColinJ (5 Jun 2011)

I had the same thing happen to me about 15 years ago as I was descending the A6033 into Hebden Bridge, except that the driver decided to overtake _10_ vehicles towards me, and because it was winter, the edge of the road was covered with snow and ice. All the other drivers sounded their horns to warn me and the overtaking driver. I was emergency braking, but he just floored the throttle and aimed straight at me. I took a chance at the last possible moment and dived left into the snow. My bike snaked about and I shot back into the road just after the car passed. It was as close as it was possible to be without the car actually hitting me.

So ... I understand exactly how you feel. I didn't ride for a couple of weeks after that, but eventually I decided that to stay off the roads was to let the bastard win.

If they don't get you on your bike, they might get you in your car, or when you are walking. A woman in Hebden Bridge was horribly injured when an idiot van driver looked down to change a cassette, mounted the pavement, and pinned her against a wall.

It's understandable that you might not want to ride the road any more but you can't guarantee that you will be safe off it. I'd be more inclined to avoid certain roads at certain times, ride as safely as you can and trust the statistics - you'd be unlucky to be one of the few cyclists that get badly hurt or killed in a given area every year.


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## The Jogger (5 Jun 2011)

They are a bunch of morons that don't know the value of life, unless of course it is theirs or one of the family. You are right in doing what you think is best for you.


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## stevetailor125 (5 Jun 2011)

I can fully understand what you are saying, I stayed off a bike for 24 years after a bad accident, I have a young daughter now but still ride. I have also had a bad car crash when a lady drove straight through a red light side impacting the car, I can still see her face coming towards me and the look on her young sons face when her car came to rest buried in the side of my front wing. I still drive but I must admit I don't enjoy driving at all anymore, always looking out for what other drivers are going to do, so have every sympathy with you


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## HLaB (5 Jun 2011)

I've had a few similar but touch wood I've spotted them before it was an issue, although I have had them giving me a dirty look like I was supposed to instantly stop at 30mph and giveway  The worse I've had for a car pulling out on me was when some speeding idiot decided to overtake a L driver that was slowing down in a village. I felt sorry for the kid in the car (the L driver) his face was in shock he thought he was going to witness a tragedy! I would say however don't let the barstewards grind you down, but if you've made your decision I can understand and Good Luck.


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## Wardy (6 Jun 2011)

I can understand how you feel about the situation, but what I would say is don't let the blighters win! If it's something you really enjoy doing then why should you alter your lifestyle based on isolated incidents? I don't know if you have a car yourself but if you did, what about using a bike rack to get to quieter areas?


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## jethro10 (6 Jun 2011)

I see your point, we only have one chance at life.

Cars are bigger than bikes and a car hitting a bike will more likely do more harm to you than a car hitting a car.

Trails are nice, and fun, and can be so much more social.

Take a picnic, take friends, take the kids and see the countryside - still great exercise.

Jeff


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## evilclive (6 Jun 2011)

Arch said:


> Slightly off topic, but with regard to overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic. We were driving behind a cyclist yesterday, up a hill, he was doing pretty well but labouring in the heat (road bike, lycra kit etc). At the top, he waved us to pass, but there was a car coming in the other direction. We're both cyclists and careful drivers, so we hung back until we could give him decent room. Many would have pushed through, and had to skim far too close. The annoying thing was the irritated look the cyclist gave us as we did pass, as if to say "I told you to go through!" So there's lack of sense in all quarters.



Was driving through the local lanes in the dales, came up to a cyclist. Didn't overtake because I couldn't see enough, and given the twistiness, I couldn't overtake for a while, but he tried to wave me past. Eventually the cyclist apparently got pissed off and pulled over.

I'm not sure if he realised that whereas he might have been able to see over the walls, I couldn't. He might have been able to hear cars coming the other way, but I couldn't. And there's no way I'm going past him without being able to see for myself that it's safe.

While I'm ranting about inappropriate giving way, there was the guy flashing the lorry out as I came down the hill in Coniston Cold. The lorry driver ignored the first flash, the guy flashed again. The lorry driver carried on ignoring it - he'd looked and seen me, which is rather more than the guy flashing had. I passed the junction, letting the lorry go, then went and had a word with the car driver, who didn't have the faintest idea that he'd been doing something rather dangerous.


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## Dan B (6 Jun 2011)

The "please overtake me" thing is annoying from both sides. As the driver you don't know if it's clear and obviously aren't going to take a punt on it; as the cyclist you don't know if a presently-patient driver is going to get bored and attempt a stupid overtake further down the road having refused your offer of a sensible one.


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## 400bhp (6 Jun 2011)

exbfb said:


> I utterly empathise with your point of view.
> 
> 
> My own personal way to deal with this is to think very carefully about where I'm going, what road I'll have to be on and whether I can do all of this in what I consider to be safe circumstances.



Pretty much the same here.


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## HLaB (6 Jun 2011)

evilclive said:


> Was driving through the local lanes in the dales, came up to a cyclist. Didn't overtake because I couldn't see enough, and given the twistiness, I couldn't overtake for a while, but he tried to wave me past. Eventually the cyclist apparently got pissed off and pulled over.



When a car sits behind me for a bit I'm happy to look for the first gap and pull off, its nothing to do with getting p1$$ed off.


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## evilclive (6 Jun 2011)

HLaB said:


> When a car sits behind me for a bit I'm happy to look for the first gap and pull off, its nothing to do with getting p1$$ed off.



Wasn't the case for this cyclist, as he made clear.


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## Nigel-YZ1 (7 Jun 2011)

Thanks for all the replies.

Fortunately my primary outlet before the injuries was offroad, usually Trans-Pennine Trail. My girlfriend is a new recruit to cycling and we're in the habit of sticking the carriers on the car and going places - so I'll concentrate on that, we'll do what Jeff suggests in his post above.
For the training/evening runs I'll eventually pick some quiet roads to get to the TPT at Manvers. So I'm not hanging up the lycra yet!!

I'll resist the urge to rant about driving standards, other than to say they're abysmal and getting worse. Too many people have realised that they can do what they like with impunity (like the pair of total morons I followed down the Stocksbridge bypass on sunday night that were tailgating and brake testing each other).

Looking on the bright side - I'd promised myself a new carbon fibre road bike if the knees ever healed (an incentive considering I'd been told I may never ride again), looks like I've saved some money! Spend it on an MTB instead!! :-)

As for anyone still riding the roads, I'm one BMW driver that will give you all the space and respect you'll ever want!


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