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I am sorry, where did I say that the driver was justified in trying to kill someone? Most of humanity behaves rationally most of the time, but there are some absolute psychos out there, both full- and part-time, and this needs to be said. I don't feel like I have any anger issues, alfreddo, certainly none that I can express by touch-typing on a laptop, so I'm gonna gently suggest (passive aggressive much?) that that my aggression, self-righteousness and whatever else it is you don't like about me is all in your own head. But if it makes you feel better, just ride up next to me and shake your head, go ahead, knock yourself out.

I have no clue what I'd done to wrong him, only thing I can think of was I shook my head at someone playing obnoxiously loud music. I did shout much abuse after his attempts to knock me off my bike, but I wasn't exactly going to thank him.

Well, then, we can assume it was him who was playing the loud music. While loud music can be tedious, especially if it's not the sort of music you like, there are much, much worse things in the world, and your recherche discomfort was only going to last a few seconds. Essentially you went up to a complete stranger who you knew nothing about and by shaking your head, publicly challenged them. Then, when he didn't whimper sorry and immediately turn the music down -- this is what you wanted, isn't it, or why did you shake your head? -- and became aggressive, instead of quickly weighing up the situation and letting him get far away from you as possible, you shouted at him and cycled up to him again. And once again, you ended up out of your depth, but much further in the shit this time as he was actively chasing you, and it was only luck that allowed you to escape. So, what can we learn from this?

And carry a d-lock, but only for locking up your bike. Do not consider it as a weapon, certainly not against a car, as you will only make tiny dents at best, it will still be able to run you over, and having a weapon to hand will probably only make you even more cocky and get you into even more trouble.

As a member of the cycling community I believe that signalling and moving slowly to the right without looking would be perfectly safe if ever driver drove as they should.

As a member of the cycling community I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky.

Practice drinking more. Or take some tweezers to pick the broken glass out of your liver.

Do not carry glass bottles in a bag strapped to your torso, get some panniers.

You could try going without the germolene for a bit, it doesn't do much anyway, and you may have a mild allergy. Ask at the pharmacy.

Looks like there's room for everyone as it is, and a cycle lane would cause merry hell up at that fork left ahead.

Last night fully wiped out a ped, at about 18/19ish mph. Silly sausage stepped out, clocked me, froze, then BOOM!

He froze, and yet you couldn't swerve around him? Ed may be (i.e. is) right.

If a slower cyclist ahead is indicating a left turn from the primary position, which side should you pass them on? Or should you stop behind them and wait for them to complete the turn?

All created things must pass; strive on, with diligence. And leave a little extra stopping distance.

she isn't like mega unhealthy but I remember in the summer she did streatham to wood green via hackney with me(15miles?) and couldn't/wouldn't cycle back to streatham the next day(so I had to get a bus up and cycle the other bike back for her) part of that was the mtb is a pile of shit but when we had city bikes in antwerp/paris/ghent/places the distance was about the same.

Have you considered that maybe she's just not into cycling?

http://www.bartleby.com/100/420.47.html

TfL are saying that the Emirates Air Line deals with the pedestrian and cyclist demand

To be fair, they say that is 'in addition to existing links at Greenwich and Woolwich', i.e. the 24-hour foot tunnels and free ferry.

Never really felt the need to cycle any of the A12 myself, though I did once accidentally ride along the Limehouse Link. I did not stop.

I don't use a bell myself, I just headbutt the nearest pedestrian and the ringing in my ears alerts everyone to my presence.

Where's the plane going?

Well, Mr Otter, that is an important consideration. It could be taking you to the spaceport for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday on Mars, or it could be the last plane out of a war zone. But let's just say it's taking you to the office.

For all we know, that particular cyclist was good at that and has been cycling frequently for many years without an incident.

Which raises an interesting thought. Let's say someone rides to work every day. Say they are lucky enough to get five weeks' holiday a year, plus Christmas, and a couple of days off with a hangover or whatever. That's 45 weeks x 5 days, or 225 journeys into work a year. Suppose they perform the exact same flashy manoeuvre every morning, and come to absolutely no harm for four years in a row. Clearly then, they are an expert, and their judgement of what is safe is sound.

The thing is, would you fly in a plane, if that plane crashed and burned without warning on average every 901 journeys?

My point is I'm not keen on getting run over by whatever vehicle is behind me because some idiot crosses the road on a green without looking. I'm on a bicycle, I'm not in a car, if I get rear ended it's going to hurt.

Clearly your mind is made up but in the interests of your readers' safety, I would ask them to consider what it would feel like to have a 90kg (say) dead weight catapulted into your face at 30 mph (say). Because that's what it will feel like to hit a pedestrian if you don't brake. You should expect some amounts of injury and death. In practice, the pedestrian is unlikely to run out in front of this hypothetical car behind you, but if they do, the driver will likely be braking too. Head-on impacts are to be avoided; better to take your chances with a possible clip from behind.

A car "overtakes" you, indicating left about to turn into the side road 100m to your left.

100m is roughly the stopping distance for a car travelling at 70mph. Hopefully, you will not be riding that fast in traffic.

No one is guaranteed safe passage anywhere, especially when filtering. A filter lane is a filter lane, it doesn't give you priority over left-turning vehicles.

What am I supposed to do, not be there?

The convention is that you don't attempt to initiate a pass on the side with the flashing lights or the arm sticking out. You can be cheeky if you are sure the vehicle cannot proceed, but you do not have right of way and there is enormous personal risk to yourself if you get it wrong. As you nearly discovered.

Wrong on all counts, except I do own an MTB and a road bike. But your post reads a little dismissive of my taste, setup and maintenance routines. Pour quoi? Are you unhappy? Are you trying to make me unhappy?

Well, the difference is actually only 7kg, maybe the combined weight of a full bidon, a sturdy lock and a decent lunch, but how does that work then? Not even uphill?

Yes, I am familiar with the OED, though I'm assuming that is intended to be a withering rhetorical repost rather than a serious question. What I'm not clear on is how you have proven that the modern, 21st-century usage has no semantic connection with the offensive term for women; even if this is the case, why that connotation should be ignored; and why, assuming that you are correct and it can, conflating cowardice with being gay is any better. I nearly got there, not quite, but nearly, and then you wrote:

the modern-day thrower arounder isn't thinking about cats

So I think that rather proves my point. Also, I quite surprised that the OED has no reference at all to the offensive definition of pussy, which clearly exists. Perhaps you are using an abridged version, or an edition for young people.

There's no etymological information in your citation, nor indeed any reference at all to the term as used offensively, so while I am happy to concede that you are an authority on your second and third assertions, I await a more robust reference for the first.

Or, given that the term is widely understood and used as being offensive, we should just let it go.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pussy