Cyclists in control

The whole concept of cycling puts a person on a bike raised up above fishermen, walkers and boaters and this ‘being above' idea seems to mean most, writes Ruth Cragg.

And that includes the majority of 'nice cyclists' who don't want to dismount when confronted with us ground hogs. Whether they ting ting or yell or just push past, cyclists expect other towpath users to get out of their way—very few stop for a chat or stuff like that.

Won't dismount

In my experience most cyclists want to travel fast enough not to fall off—and they certainly don't want to put a foot on the ground or dismount when they encounter a pedestrian who doesn't move quickly enough or is actually engaged in something that means they are using the towpath and the cyclist should, if they had manners, wait.

At this stage we have just talked about cyclists in general and not included those racing to/from work or Lycra louts out enjoying a fast ride. Even a family—with little kid flying along in front and the rest trying to keep up can be very dangerous to a pedestrian not seeing them or who can only dodge slowly.

Mental thing

Its a mental thing with cyclists—bikes don't have square wheels and are meant to be ridden a 10mph plus. 10 mph is four yards a second closing speed. To a pedestrian wandering the towpath that means they are often on you before you realise they are there.

And, of course you must give way to them—not them to you. That is what they expect no matter how much the cycle codes bleats about dismounting at bridge holes and passing pedestrians. Cyclists don't do that sort of thing unless they perceive danger to themselves, and they all know its the pedestrians duty to get out of the way of cyclists and not spoil their enjoyment. That is the real cyclists code in a sentence.

Ralph Freeman

On a different subject we enjoyed Ralph's comments on the change of seasons—a pleasant plus. And a minus—for we cannot understand how people can say that CART will be okay in almost blind faith, and we should not complain now as that is being negative. The point in creating any new structure is to get the foundations right. But the donkeys in the government and those overpaid British Waterways sharks are not interested in doing that as long as CART lasts until they have got their needs sorted. Trouble is by the time we are proved right it will be too late.