Allister

Ah, the ol' Must-Pass-Cyclist-Irrespective-Of-Conitions syndrome. A remarkably common ailment. One of the most prominent symptoms being the ability to somehow blame the cyclist for their own ineptitude.

On a route I used to take to work there was a blind, sharp left hand bend that went down a steepish hill. A bike can outcorner a car any day of the week and I used to take this corner at a round 50km/h. It's truly astonishing the number of drivers that would try and overtake me on this bend only to discover too late that they had overcooked it and had to brake hard just to make it around the bend, often encroaching into the oncoming lane.

I'm utterly amazed that in the two years I took this route I never saw a head on collision. I do wonder sometimes how some people manage to qualify for their licenses.

In your situation Dutchy, a) I wouldn't have been too worried about braking on the bends. I generally slow down for tailgaters anyway. I wouldn't put my own safety in jeopardy by going too fast through a corner purely because of the idea that some moron might run up my date. Even if he did do it there would at least be the possibility of compensation. b) I wouldn't have been in too much of a hurry to move out of the lane either, but that's just the curmudgeon in me coming out. c) depending on my mood I'd probably just laugh at the guy as he went past. I might have given him the bird, but I'm really beginning to wonder why a mere hand gesture would infuriate someone, or why it could be any sort of effective response to vehicular aggression. It seems more like an expression of frustration and impotence really - the sort of thing you do when you know you can't punch someone in their stupid head.