Thanks

 

O.K. I'll go 'Off topic' with you you on this.

I don't know that much about it, but you don't just "Give it a go"
You've got to be a very dedicated individual to get into this. Many hours of patience and training for the privilege of having one of those magnificent birds perch on your gloved hand! At the end of it all you've formed no relationship or attachment with the bird whatsoever, or at least as far as he's concerned. He's just conditioned to come back to the glove for the tit bit or the spinning lure by nature which made him the supreme predator that he is.

Of all the raptors the Peregrine Falcon is the most awesome and it may well be one of those that your man was using. They can fly at many hundreds of feet in the air, but on seeing a flock of pigeons well below them will single one out then fold their wings and fall at great speed like a stone (stoop) striking their talons into the victim with such force that the prey is typically decapitated instantly.

Makes me want to "Give it a go"

 

Back on topic.. I suppose we've got the same problems over here as you have, increasing volumes of traffic and not enough road space to accommodate it all. We're all being encouraged to forsake our cars and take to a public transport system which nowhere meets the standard where people might be prepared to use it.

Bicycles are being positivley encouraged as you might expect, with cycle lanes appearing everywhere, where the roads are wide enough allow for them. Cycling on pavements has always been strictly illegal but that is being encouraged too now, with cycle lanes being marked out on the wider pavements.

As a cyclist and a driver, I can see both sides of the issue. Riding a bike in traffic these days can be a really scary experience with many drivers making no allowances at all for cyclists. My pet hate is drivers who overtake you right on a juction merging from the left then sharply turn left across your bows nearly taking your front wheel off.

Some cyclists on the other hand seem to think that normal road traffic rules don't apply to them at all, ignoring traffic lights on red, riding on the wrong side of the road, turning suuddenly without any signal. The one that really gets me is where they cycle along the pavement and swing straight out, still riding, onto a pedestrian crossing forcing drivers to stand on the brakes to stop. Anyone who hollers at the gets the finger of course... or worse!

Whilst it's obviously not as bad as California yet, you can see how we'll probably get there.

 

he was using a Harris Hawk actually...but he said theres at least 2 pairs of Perigrines nesting on the ledges of Canary Wharf...

 

reminds me of that Toyota Celica commercial where a Celica is parked on the curb with no driver inside, and an old codger across the street yells,

"Slow down! This is a neigborhood!!"

I wish people would yell at Harley riders to "slow down" too... those LOUD ass pipes would be comical if they weren't so damn annoying and painful. Why do people think uselessly noisy is cool? Don't get me started on why they never get ticketed for noise.

My lawnmower is loud... does that mean I'm badass?

 

I believe people think we are going fast because the loud sound of our exhaust. I got the cops called on me by my neighbor because she felt I speed in my prelude. The truth is that she drives faster than I do. I'm in Santa Cruz alot and I'll keep a look out for your attacker. When I was younger I use to keep a small supersoaker in my car any bicyclist that would cut me off, get in my way or whatever I would let them have it. Just another option

 

That bike guy must have just been pissed off because his Boxster was in the shop again...

And it seems like this thread calls into question the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech.... As the old Carlin bit goes: "You don't like what you hear on the radio? Well, did it ever occur to you that there are two knobs on it? One turns it off, an the other changes the station." ...Or something along those lines....

 

Wow - just came across this thread... Pretty disturbing stuff in here. I'm an avid mtber, and I also occasionally ride on the road. A few points I want to make:
1) there are REALLY bad folks on both side of this fence. I've had road cyclists freak out on me twice while driving a car, and in both cases they were WAY off base. On the other hand, while riding a bike on the road myself, I've had cars get real close to me at high speeds way, way too many times - many times obviously on purpose (the swerved to get close, then swerved back, or give me dirty looks, or honk their horn to try to scare me, etc) - and I am VERY cautious about staying in the shoulder/bike-lane/far-right-side-of-a-no-shoulder-road, stopping at lights, etc..
2) There were a lot of hotheads here that talked/joked about taking action against a cyclist while you're in your car - actually bumping into them (!), swerving close to them, sticking stuff in a cyclists spokes, or bouncing a ball off of their head could cause them to crash so hard that they either break their neck, or sustain major head injuries which kill them. That is pre-meditated murder folks. Murder. At the very least, manslaughter. Regardless of if the cyclist is a complete @ss or idiot, do you really want to ruin your life (and your families lives, and their families lives) by actually having someone's death on your hands? Please, please, please, think real hard about that before you do anything stupid.
3) Despite what others have mentioned here, I've ONLY heard of cases where the courts were NOT on the side of the victom cyclist - I've never heard of a case where it was the other way around. It's usually quite the opposite. If the cyclist is not killed, perhaps just permanently paralyzed &/or brain damaged, then sometimes car driver was simply given a slap on the wrist. (even if witnesses are around, how do you prove that the driver intentionally hit the cyclist?). The only times I've heard of anything resembling harsh sentences, were in the case that the offending driver was caught, AND they had a blood alcohol content. Here are some links to back what I'm talking about - most around the Bay Area (Josh, who started this thread, lives in SC, which is close to the BA).:
http://www.rossdillon.com/
http://www.bikecal.com/cyclist-killed-3.htm
http://www.svcn.com/archives/cupertinocour...riefs-9940.html (look for "Trucker sentenced for", and read the story).
Too many more similar stories to list...
http://www.bikekc.org/share.htm

 

I both drive cars and ride mountain bikes on and off road. I've easily done several thousand miles of riding over the years.

I am neither part of the radical bike crowd nor an inconsiderate driver, but I have my reasons to hate cars/trucks:

1. Riding my bike back from work, I was shot at and hit in the spine by a CO2-powered pellet gun fired from a passing vehicle. The pellet embedded in my back and required a trip to the hospital to get it out.

2. Riding in the bike lane, 4x4's (pre-SUV craze days) would consider it "sport" to see how close they can get to my handlebars. They got a wide-ass lane, but have to hug the curb only when passing me?

3. Nearly killed by an old woman while I was travelling at about 20 or so MPH on my bicycle in the bicycle lane. She swung her car into the bike lane and stopped because she "missed" the driveway. She did this without looking giving me several seconds to consider which part of the car I would most like to hit, since I had nowhere else to go. I was vaulted over the hood of the vehicle, and sustained significant road rash, sprains along with nerve damage to one of my hands. The bike cracked the frame and was totalled. The car was hit on the meat of the tire and sustained no damage whatsoever.

4. Asshats driving by in cars with fire extinguishers (water, not CO2) or supersoakers who think they're really cool spraying you down then running away.

5. Drivers who simply swear at you for no reason whatsoever. I always obey every traffic law, and stop for lights & stopsigns. The SPS pedal system makes stopping a no-hassle deal.

As a driver, I always give bicyclists a wide berth. I was also quite peeved at some behavior I observed on my last group drive where one of our group burned out 15-20 feet or so in front of a cyclist (Although I later found out it wasn't deliberate).

 

Lol. That happened to me once driving my old car. I was a little aggressive in first gear, and chirped the wheels a little. (370whp and a dual diaphragm race clutch makes smooth driving a little difficult sometimes).The guy yelled SLOW DOWN!!!! So I rolled on to the throttle in second, and as the boost climbed, the car practically blew the tires off. Hehe.

I dunno what his reaction was, I was too busy watching the road.