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Welcome to Stuff - where we are putting the stuff that doesn't have a home yet.

Ride to the right and be safe

New cyclists are often worried, rightly so, about riding on main roads. We recommend riding away from the kerb. Many car drivers complain that cyclists ride to far too the right. There are several good reasons for doing this.

Cars approaching left hand junctions to the road a cyclist is travelling on will see you better, the further you are from the kerb.

We need to ensure at least a car door width between ourselves and parked cars. Too many drivers just don't look for bikes before opening their door.

Sitting away from the kerb stops cars overtaking us and then immediately cutting in and turning left at a corner in front of us. Many incidents are caused by drivers cutting across cyclists in this way.

The gutter has drains and potholes which are dangerous to cyclists.

Remember cars have no right to harass us. The highway code states that cars should give 'motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as they would a car when overtaking' (rule 139).

Bad car drivers... get angry, get even or ignore them?

When car drivers really piss you off by hitting you, cutting you up, and generally abusing you what do you do? Here are some traditional and innovative responses. And of course can always report a driver or incident at rage corner.

Ignore them. This has saved many a life.

Gesticulate and utter profanities. Incredibly therapeutic.

When cars get too close, bang hard on the roof. Never having tried this ( I always think I will fall off), exponents of the art tell me that the driver thinks they've hit you and it has the desired effect of them moving to give you more room.

If a car drives too close, try kicking them, this lets them know you are there. If you hit them they were definitely too close and might have hit you anyway. Caution, some drivers don't like you doing this and have a tendency to aim their cars at you in retaliation.

Black Cab doors. I respect Cabbies. They have a job to do and many are considerate. But have you ever noticed how many cabbies really hate cyclists. Well maybe they don't but their manoeuvres would suggest that we were all better off dead. A response to an incident suggested by some London bike couriers is to approach the back door of the cab and open it. This means the cabbie needs to stop, get out and close it. Although I am sure this is personally gratifying it is also extremely dangerous. The open door could hit some poor unsuspecting cyclist behind you.

Cycle lane crawling. I love this one. A motorist decides that the cycle/bus lane is there for them to use. What do you do... move over and let them pass?. No way, slow to a crawl. I mean like 4 miles an hour. This defeats the purpose of their short cut. You get lots of kudos from the other car drivers that he/she is undertaking and its good for breather on the way home. Trying this one car rammed me so do be careful.

Advanced stop lines at traffic lights. If you find a car sitting in the bike box at traffic lights, move in front of the car and take your own sweet time moving off when the lights change. Great.

Car wrapping - I came across this on the Internet last year and just cannot find a link. Seemed some cyclists got tired of car drivers parking in their bike lanes. Taking matters into their own hands they took some yellow and black 'sticky backed' plastic and wrapped the cars. Causing no lasting damage but lots of hassle the drivers had to take of the tape to gain entry to their cars.