Helmet-Head
01-12-05, 08:57 PM
I'm not sure I agree with the whole thing, but I find this excerpt from David Martin's "Theory of BIG" (1998) to be a great explanation of how to decide where to ride in a lane. I think it does a fairly good job at capturing the inner view of the vehicular cyclist. At the end of this post is a link to the complete essay (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tibsnjoan/Big.html).
Given the spelling of "kerb" (for "curb"), the usage of "fags" (for cigarettes), and the fact that he discusses the possibility of a LEFT turn signal slapping a pedestrian, I suspect it's a British source. I've made an editorial comment accordingly.
Serge
Be in the way
OK, how much room do you need to ride a bike on the road? The least I have ever used was about four inches from kerb to wheel whilst being brush-passed by a juggernaught at 40+mph. Big laundry bill that day. But how much do you really need to be a law abiding cyclist? Try this. Ride along at your normal distance from the edge of the road. Now open up your Highway code and do a proper left [ed: right in U.S.A.] turn signal. Thats right, arm straight out. If you are really BIG then you won't have slapped the pedestrian waiting to cross at the lights around the face by accident, or wrapped your elbow around the belisha beacon. There you go. A minimum is so you can perform legal signals and still be totally on the road.
OK, so you are now a bit further out, maybe further than you are used to. And now you discover something. BIG things stick out further into the road than little things. And BIG things need more room. And strangely enough, the more room you take up, the more space cars leave for you! Broadly speaking, cars will leave you as much room as you leave yourself so keep out from the edge of the road about the same distance you want cars to keep out from you.
This is only a guideline. Sometimes you will have left just enough room for the driver to sneak through without having to alter course and you still get brush-passed. Not what you want. So move out a bit more. Enough so he has to conciously move around you. If you have to be steered around then you are really BIG and need to be left more space. About level with the front nearside wing, just inside the wheel track that has been nicely swept clean of broken indicator and windscreen glass and other motor effluent that the master race deem the peasant classes worthy of riding over.
Now put the boot on the other foot. Imagine you are the victim of a cruel conspiracy and are forced to transport yourself inside a glass and metal cage everywhere. You come to a road junction where you have to give way. Where are you looking? At the cars of course. So, thankfully reverting to uncaged mode, where do you want to be to be seen? Where people are looking!. Yup, and they are looking at the line of cars so you want to be tucked right up against the pavement ... not! Get into the line of sight and you will be seen. Stay out of it and you won't be. People see BIG things. BIG things are what people see. BIG is in the line of sight.
Now of course one doesn't need to get in the way if the road is plenty wide enough to share, but only when it is uncomfortably narrow for Mr Toad to steer his fume conditioned three-piece-suite-in-a-tin alongside you without giving you the space you need.
Cowering in the dirt and potholes of the gutter, your body language screaming 'I am not worthy, O great infernally combustioned one. Chastise me for presuming to use this road and taking a mere second of your time for that urgent trip down the corner shop for a packet of fags and the sunday paper. It is my just reward if I am left bleeding and injured amongst the remains of my bicycle as you continue your blissful journey onwards.' is not a particularly BIG attitude, but it is what our autocracy would have you believe. Let me tell you a secret. They are not telling the truth.
A link to the complete Theory of BIG (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tibsnjoan/Big.html)
Given the spelling of "kerb" (for "curb"), the usage of "fags" (for cigarettes), and the fact that he discusses the possibility of a LEFT turn signal slapping a pedestrian, I suspect it's a British source. I've made an editorial comment accordingly.
Serge
Be in the way
OK, how much room do you need to ride a bike on the road? The least I have ever used was about four inches from kerb to wheel whilst being brush-passed by a juggernaught at 40+mph. Big laundry bill that day. But how much do you really need to be a law abiding cyclist? Try this. Ride along at your normal distance from the edge of the road. Now open up your Highway code and do a proper left [ed: right in U.S.A.] turn signal. Thats right, arm straight out. If you are really BIG then you won't have slapped the pedestrian waiting to cross at the lights around the face by accident, or wrapped your elbow around the belisha beacon. There you go. A minimum is so you can perform legal signals and still be totally on the road.
OK, so you are now a bit further out, maybe further than you are used to. And now you discover something. BIG things stick out further into the road than little things. And BIG things need more room. And strangely enough, the more room you take up, the more space cars leave for you! Broadly speaking, cars will leave you as much room as you leave yourself so keep out from the edge of the road about the same distance you want cars to keep out from you.
This is only a guideline. Sometimes you will have left just enough room for the driver to sneak through without having to alter course and you still get brush-passed. Not what you want. So move out a bit more. Enough so he has to conciously move around you. If you have to be steered around then you are really BIG and need to be left more space. About level with the front nearside wing, just inside the wheel track that has been nicely swept clean of broken indicator and windscreen glass and other motor effluent that the master race deem the peasant classes worthy of riding over.
Now put the boot on the other foot. Imagine you are the victim of a cruel conspiracy and are forced to transport yourself inside a glass and metal cage everywhere. You come to a road junction where you have to give way. Where are you looking? At the cars of course. So, thankfully reverting to uncaged mode, where do you want to be to be seen? Where people are looking!. Yup, and they are looking at the line of cars so you want to be tucked right up against the pavement ... not! Get into the line of sight and you will be seen. Stay out of it and you won't be. People see BIG things. BIG things are what people see. BIG is in the line of sight.
Now of course one doesn't need to get in the way if the road is plenty wide enough to share, but only when it is uncomfortably narrow for Mr Toad to steer his fume conditioned three-piece-suite-in-a-tin alongside you without giving you the space you need.
Cowering in the dirt and potholes of the gutter, your body language screaming 'I am not worthy, O great infernally combustioned one. Chastise me for presuming to use this road and taking a mere second of your time for that urgent trip down the corner shop for a packet of fags and the sunday paper. It is my just reward if I am left bleeding and injured amongst the remains of my bicycle as you continue your blissful journey onwards.' is not a particularly BIG attitude, but it is what our autocracy would have you believe. Let me tell you a secret. They are not telling the truth.
A link to the complete Theory of BIG (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tibsnjoan/Big.html)