Tuesday, January 11, 2011


CYCLING IN GLASGOW RANT

Can I rant (again) about cycling in Glasgow?

Most days I manage to get to and from work with little incident. Some days you get the odd cat call from men and some days you get the assholes in Mercedes/ BMWs/ White vans who barrel past you - mere inches away - at 50 kilometres an hour. Other days, it's a relaxing and
refreshing ride; I love cycling (most days).

That said, yesterday I wiped out on my bike (a first). Before all the rain melted it away, yesterday was unbelievably icy - not to mention wet due to said rain - so it was pretty lethal out there. I was on my usual route to work and cutting through a back lane when the ice got the better of me. I ended up falling at a sharp 90degree angle onto my left side. Thankfully, a lot of the blow was cushioned by my butt (lots of cushioning to spare in that department). However, I was slightly stunned by it all - one minute I was upright and the next, on the cold wet ice on my ass.

Tonight, however, I almost went mental. I'm starting to understand how some cyclists hit the road with dirt/ gravel/ eggs at hand, ready to toss at inconsiderate and/or dangerous drivers.

Behold:

WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

I love this tiny stretch of my commute - an actual dedicated bike lane, separated by a curb, that allows cyclists to cut through a one-way street.

And yet, what is the point when you have total dicks like the above, actually MOUNTING the fucking curb to park his douchebag car? Unbelievable!

When I saw this master of douche-ry, I actually screamed/ growled. I stopped, got off my bike and was going to write a note, "Hey asshole, you've actually parked in a bike lane" but sadly, I didn't have a pen or paper to hand. So, I took some pictures instead and posted their shitty car on the interwebs.

Good night!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fuck him/her should have reported him to the polis!!!, besides, looks like a green loving Volvo driver to me!

Dumbwit Tellher said...

I love your blog. I had to read your post to my Scottish/cycling husband who goes through this 'shite' each day cycling to work here in Houston. I told him this is what he'll still have to put up with once we move to Scotland. Our home is for sale & just playing the waiting game. Then off to Aberdeen.

You are a brave woman to pick-up & move, yet my kind of gal.

Stay safe & I'll be back!
Cheers ~ Deb

Ricky said...

your blog is brilliant, i am a foreign student in Dundee and it's great to see someone writing about the Scottish mentality as a foreigner, because i think it's really really hard to get close emotionally with scottish sometimes, so i don't know how to read their meanings sometimes.

B Dunn said...

In these situations I would normally exact revenge by stealing their tyre dust caps! Haha. Justice is served.

acrossthepond said...

Hi! I'm a Canadian girl from Toronto who's recently moved to Glasgow. A friend of mine sent me the link to your blog. I have a similar one (well it's more general travel than Glasgow-Toronto) http://www.acrossthepondmagazine.com
It's a travel collective which means that I post my own blog posts, as well as articles by other people. I'd love to use an excerpt from here and link it back to you! Let me know what you think. Regardless, I'll probably post a quick review of your blog on my blog :)
-Caitlin

acrossthepond said...

also I can totally relate to dating Scottish men vs. Canadian men because I'm currently living with a Scottish boyfriend!

Jennifer said...

Hi Caitlin

Thanks! And you're more than welcome to use some posts with links. I haven't updated in a while - because I've been too busy with personal crap - but I've just updated the noo!