Perhaps I should first of all preface this by saying that I live in York. York is nice. Maybe outside of York, the roads resemble a Mad Max movie, but here I've found riding on the road to be far from the terrifying experience I was expecting.
Recently my wife started reading a whole raft of self-help books about facing fears etc. She got me to read one and it has brought a few things that I already knew into sharper focus. For instance, stop watching the news and you stop worrying about ISIS or whatever financial meltdown is over the horizon or whether Tony Blair is in fact a reptilian overlord (ok, ok, so that's just the internet but you get the idea). Of course, there are down sides to this; you will become a less informed 'citizen of the world' and find it all too easy to ignore the suffering of others or make informed choices about who to vote for. However, you also feel better, happier, more positive and spread a little happiness to others. You can't control or influence what is happening half way round the world, but you can make your immediate environment a more positive and happy place.
By now you're probably thinking, 'Shut up with your hippy bullshit and talk about bikes!' Well there is a point to this. Go on Youtube and search for things cycling related. Sooner or later, you will come across videos of men in white vans punching cyclists, running them off the road and generally abusing them. In the interests of balance, you will also see cyclists chasing after cars, tapping on car windows to tell the occupants they are, 'effing wankers,' then screaming 'You're on Youtube!' When the driver gets out to give them a slap. The comments section below is full of self righteous cyclists with similar tales or motorists spouting off about how all cyclists deserve to be run over. Hit the cycling forums and it's the same thing.
So I took to my bike armed to the teeth and ready for aggro (I didn't really, but I might have done) only to find that the reality is much different. Most drivers are aware, thoughtful and seem to recognise that you are pretty vulnerable on a skinny piece of aluminium/carbon weighing little more than a few bags of sugar. Any cyclists reading this are going to to say that I've only been riding a few weeks and sooner or later, I'm going to be run off the road by Mr Angry because he's going to miss kick off if he doesn't overtake me on a blind bend. I understand that, but I can only call it as I see it. I've probably ridden alongside or been passed by hundreds of cars already. One driver has passed me what I would consider to be too close - and I'm riding a metre out from the kerb - and one did sit right on my back wheel waiting to overtake, but on the whole I have changed lanes, filtered through traffic and navigated roundabouts and traffic lights without a bipped horn or a cross word.
Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself and my next blog isn't written using the tip of my nose from a hospital bed.
