On Thu, 9 Sep 2004, Danny Colyer wrote:

POB's tend to be relatively slow cyclists (except for those couriers
that I've read about). So a POB will sail past a Real Cyclist at a red
light, then get in the way when the Real Cyclist catches up after the
lights change. Repeatedly, when there are as many traffic lights as in
London.

I have nothing to add to this; i just wanted to say that THIS DRIVES ME
ABSOLUTELY ****ING INSANE!!! These idiots should not be allowed to ride a
bike. Or to breed. Or, in fact, to live.

It's not just that they're not as quick as me - and i'm not exactly a
speed demon - but that they actually seem to trying to go as slowly as
they can. I think it's the same people who handle any bit of acceleration,
no matter how tiny, by hoisting themselves up off their seats and putting
all their weight on it, like they were ****ing King of the Mountains or
something. IT'S A FLAT ROAD! YOU CAN ACCELERATE SITTING DOWN!

/rant

More seriously, and in the spirit of Hanlon's Razor, i wonder if it's a
gear thing: these people don't realise you need to use a low gear to
accelerate, so they're trying to do everything in top, so they wear
themselves out and don't go very fast. I know it took me a long time to
get the feel for the right cadence, despite years of my dad nagging me to
shift down and speed up *every* time we went biking (or perhaps because of
....), so if people haven't had any teaching at all, maybe they just don't
know.

tom

--
The revolving disc of plagues is particularly fun. -- greengolux