Quite an eventful run out after work. I was going to do either a trip along the Lower Westbound Route and back or a Twycross Bypasser. I deferred the decision until I got to Gallows Lane, whereupon I decided on the Bypasser. Fifteen minutes later, I was nearly wiped out by a Roberts Travel coach.
On returning home I composed the following email to their contact address.
Dear Roberts Travel,
At 3:54pm today while cycling south along Measham Road, north of Snarestone, I was overtaken by one of your coaches, a silver grey model with your branding on the back. Your driver was going far too fast for me to make a mental note of the license plate unfortunately.
Visibility was good. This was a perfectly decent, wide road with plenty of space to overtake. The road was visible in front for at least 700 yards and there was no oncoming traffic.
Despite this, he or she decided to give me about a foot of clearance while passing at an unusually high speed.
In over 37,000 miles of road cycling this was the most aggressive and intimidating driving I’ve ever seen by a person in charge of a motor vehicle. It’s no exaggeration whatever to say that I was nearly killed.
My strong suspicion is that your driver thought it would be funny to frighten a cyclist out of their wits. There was absolutely no reason whatever to pass so closely. Your driver could have given me abundantly adequate space without even slowing down, at no risk whatever to anyone.
Either this or they simply weren’t paying attention to the presence of other road users.
In either case, we can surely agree that the person in charge of your coach this afternoon is clearly not fit to be driving a motor vehicle of any kind on public roads. I would encourage you to ask him or her kindly to return their driving licence to the DVLA, or to offer it to a shredder at an early opportunity.
In the meantime, I will do my best to raise awareness of this matter as publicly as possible – I do think that’s important when it concerns a company entrusted with the safety of its customers on the public roads, let alone innocent road users.
Regards
James
Then about an hour later just as I was approaching Ratcliffe Culey, both pedals jammed up very tightly as if they’d been spot-welded to the frame. WTF? I freewheeled to a convenient grassy spot and inspected the bike. There was plenty of daylight at this point (but by the way, this is why you should always take a head torch if you’re going to be cycling after dark – otherwise you might find yourself doing a narwhal impression with a torch sticking out of your mouth). A section of the chain had somehow got wrapped backward around one of the chainrings and jammed between it and the derailleur cage.
There was no play in the chain at all, no way to get it onto a smaller cog at the back to get a bit of slack to play with. I couldn’t budge it with a tyre lever. But I turned the bike upside down and by the judicious application of brute force, managed to free it by turning the pedals backward with my hands.
The bike seemed OK – it was certainly rideable and I didn’t have much trouble shifting gear at the front, but I did find I needed an extra nudge on the shifter to get it to change up once or twice. I think the cage might be slightly bent, or possibly the cable got stretched a tad. I’m sure it’ll be fine with a bit of fettling.
Went down to Fenny Drayton and came back along Fenn Lanes. Then back up through Bosworth and much the usual way from there. Back on 39.93 miles.
Nice out there – mild. The temperature didn’t seem to drop that much after dark. Windy, though.
I did enter Warwickshire briefly, not sure if I’ve done that already this year. Still haven’t ventured into Staffordshire in 2022.
Saw the helicopter in the field along Gallows Lane again. I must find out what that’s about some time.