Assassination Attempts

I have a new game! Riding home tonight, a car passed me as I was approaching a set of red traffic lights. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the unmistakable shine of a mobile phone’s screen in the driver’s hand. Sure enough, when I pulled alongside, he was texting. Naturally, I...
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Turns out it was quite cold last night. I’ve been caught out by this before - as we live right next to the sea, we experience a maritime microclimate. What that means is that it’s a couple of degrees warmer than it is just a mile or so inland. So I left home thinking it...
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In March this year, cyclist Donald MacLeod was hit by a car, suffering serious injuries. He’s probably going to need care for the rest of his life. The issue is complicated by the fact that the driver & passengers of the car involved claim one set of circumstances (which puts the ...
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With the weather this week I’ve been a bit of a wuss. I admit it - I really don’t enjoy riding in torrential rain and a 30+ mph headwind. Maybe it’s a getting older kind of thing. Or maybe I’m just going soft. The trouble is that if I don’t ride I get irritable....
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In the last week or so there’s been quite a discussion going about what people should campaign for if we’re to get more people in the UK to ride bikes rather than drive cars. The discussion can be summarised as, in the blue corner : Cyclists and so-called cyclists’ groups should stop being such a...
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I went along to Newcastle’s Critical Mass this evening - the first time I’ve attended one of these events. There are two reasons for this - firstly, there wasn’t one in Newcastle until recently. Secondly . . . I do have my doubts over the effectiveness of these gatherings in either bringing the plight...
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You’re riding along in traffic, and a car overtakes you: Sometimes they don’t even completely pass you before continuing on their Very Important Journey: If you’re lucky, it’ll be an ambulance that cuts you up like this - they’ll be able to scrape you off the road and take you to the hospital after: And don’t think...
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Yesterday I was riding Siegfried, my Pashley. It’s not a fast bike, but it’s elegant (positively suave, in fact!), and ideal for taking luggage - I’d run out of clean shirts at work, and needed to re-supply without turning up looking like I’d already slept in them. Anyway, I had a meeting to go to...
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I’m not sure if this was a bungled assassination attempt, or if it was an expertly performed damned-near-thing, instigated on behalf of the car Mafia in an effort to warn me off. Here’s what happened… Riding home through Blyth, my route takes me through a series of five roundabouts. The third of these includes a traffic...
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That was the parting shot from the driver who’d almost run straight into me yesterday as they drove up the wrong side of the road. In fairness, I’d probably not got the conversation off to the best start - when someone’s just made a passable attempt to kill me, I sometimes use some rather...
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