A Quick 5 Episode #3 | Ego 

The last clip is how road use should be, no bullying tactics, no “I am bigger than you”, just simple sharing and getting on with the day

That scooter clip is disgraceful, dude has a bottle of laughing gas and is wearing a balaclava too. How classy

Thank you for featuring me in clip 2, hopefully it’ll show other cyclists how not to engage in ego battles and be the better person.

Worth mentioning the clip by Leicester station. All those cars (mostly minicabs I presume) parked on double reds. I thought you can't even stop on double reds. They aren't exactly helping the traffic flow.

I'm seeing that so many times with E scooters these days, no consideration for the safety of anybody else or themselves

Cycling in a busy town or city centre is like playing snooker you always have to be thinking 2 or more moves ahead and be ready to react with the speed of a fighter pilot.

Praise for the lorry driver!

The first clip. I gotta actually give some major props to the Mercedes. Yes they made a stupid move, but not adding to the situation when the bike said "No I must be first" just makes him the better person imo. It's the people who don't keep adding to the situation that you can tell have the moral high ground imo

“I don’t always complain about pointless and dangerous overtaking. But when I do, I do a dangerous and pointless overtake.” - Cycle Gaz

Cyclegaz trying to squeeze every last bit out of incidents.

Check out the increase in heart rate of the cyclist in clip 1. Starts at 119bpm, ends at 155. A kick of adrenaline and he starts acting like an idiot.

4:28 kudos to the lorry driver. I was in the same situation in my van the other day and did exactly the ssme thing. I do it with pedestrians and horse riders too. Much better to stop and let them past at their pace than risk "running over someones foot".

Scooter incident reminds me of an almost collision, except it was a delivery rider on a moped who came shooting out of a housing estate and into my back wheel! I was very fortunate not to be injured but I'm still wary years later at that particular location.

Tough but fair analysis of CycleGaz... it was his channel that originally led me to your channel, Ashley. And while he made me a lot more aware of the issues cyclists face, you have made me a better driver

I was the cyclist hit by the scooter. I did actually fall to the right, but my bike just went even further. I flipped over landing on the back of my head and my shoulder, resulting in some broken bones. The saddest thing was that the police weren't interested. They simply said he was on an illegal scooter so they wouldn't be able to identify him. I wasn't aware that my video has been shared elsewhere on social media - if it has no one told me!

The clip with the scooter, it appears the cyclist brakes before impact and good job they didn’t swerve to avoid the collision (either purposefully or not enough time to do so) as the collision was inevitable and by swerving they could easily have ended up in the road and underneath something large

Clip 2 good example of not being Cyclegaz.

Not sure if this gets taught by driving schools, but the highway code as well as the insurance policies are all about risk management, not judgement about what is fair and what is not. Fairness (as perceived by the general public) has nothing to do with risk when using the road; I'd dare say fairness is irrelevant.

As cyclists we are mice dancing with elephants. The only way to ensure we get home safely is to be great at dancing.

Been watching CycleGaz for a number of years - that was a fair assessment of he did, but while it's not an excuse for what he did, Gaz doesn't ride like that. Found his videos to be just as informative as yours when it comes to observation, placement and how to avoid putting yourself (or others) in potentially harm's way when on two wheels.

I agree with your analysis in terms of thinking about the correct action in any given scenario, and especially giving good advice about how to avoid conflict and risk. I do think however that with cyclists there is often a significant emotional burden that builds over time as motorist after motorist puts our life at risk through careless and/or dangerous driving. It builds frustration and anger, defensive riding and often the need to prove a point. It's not ok, but I understand the perspective, and we need to always remain mindful that regardless of who is correct this is 2t of motor vehicle vs 100kg of flesh and aluminium.

I’m learning to drive, so it’s interesting to see things from a cyclist’s perspective. It helps me to better understand how to deal with cyclists and other more vulnerable road users.

How badly do you need to drive where even Ashley says "yeh, the blame is actually 100% on the other road user here"? Crazy riding from that scooter.

If the second clip is who I think it is, he’s a really nice guy never see him doing anything silly when I’m in town.

We live in a world where the biggest dangers on the road are not speeders, middle lane hoggers, not checking mirrors, dangerous overtakes, inexperienced drivers...But camera wielding content creators who will do anything for footage on any journey. Not just cyclists, but drivers alike. People like Cycle Gaz, Jeremy Vine, and all their copy/paste counter parts get their jolly's on by reporting people for anything and everything, and are genuinely gutted when they get from A to B without incident. Police need to start turning reports around on people deliberately bating or escalating situations for social media clout.

I have ridden Vespa and lambretta scooters for many years ,,those small wheels certainly feel every bump and pot hole,I’ve ridden a lover Europe ,Vietnam and Morocco and I have to say Morocco and Vietnam is some of the worse driving ever ,,come up behind you,,they don’t care about holding youre position,then they will o er Thame you and anyone else holding the, up just to park a few metres later to have gained all of a couple of seconds ,,,is absolute madness

Just for reference these clips was once Amsterdam in the 1960's where cars ruled the road, before cycling was king of the roads food for thought.

I do that with my truck if some random poorly driven SUV comes from opposite direction and there is not enough space for his little shopping boot to get last my big shopping boot. I stay inside my road marking and let them past which is often still a struggle . Why do people buy those big cars when they cannot operate them properly for- or backwards? Reversing a truck takes about 2 years to refine your technique, particularly around blind left side backwards, but - like with pets and children- people don't spend enough time with them to properly direct them safely around difficult situations.. 😅

CycleGaz is an easily triggered, angry piece of work.

I honestly wouldn't feel safe cycling in this country.

I don’t ride anymore and all my travelling is done by foot or from the comfort and safety of my metal box. I do have the same philosophy though as when I was riding, if someone is that desperate to get in front that they are willing to risk life and limb to do so, they can stay in front as they will either do it again worse or be a potential problem from behind I had a recent discussion with someone on from cycling Twitter who went back in front of a bad close pass driver and they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer why they did so

You know what they say about a big ego; it compensates for something else that isn't so big... 🤣🤣

As someone who lives near leicester city, I can assure you it has the worst quality of driving out of ANY city in the UK.

First clip, The car driver should not have overtaken the bike, the Merc had nowhere to go. If you cannot drive off into the sunset, maybe it is not a good idea to overtake. The bike should not have retaliated. This happens to me all the time, I live on a street in Canada which is a 30km/h zone I cycle at 29 to 30km/h, the street is full of speed bumps which I go over at 30km/h, So what happens is the bits between the speed bumps the cars overtake (at 50km/h) then they slow down at the next speed bump. So we end up overtaking each other like 20 times, along the 4 km road. Either overtake and $^&% off or drop back. As a cyclist I do not want 2 ton trucks playing speeds bumps, with me. You can see I am cruising along at 30km/h, just leave me alone.

Complete lack of cycling infrastructure near Leicester station by the looks of it. It looked a terrifying place to be on a bike.

2:34 is anybody surprised by that behaviour? That's what you get with these people: shit order and general chaos.

2:52 someone selling party balloons 🎈 lol

The problem is Gaz has a comment section full of support, so he feels justified and always will.

2:15 car driver sure learned his lesson, some dudes online passively making comments they will never see.

First scene: Instead of driving save, he descides to intentionally ignore his survive reflex and risks losing himself - clearly unable to be on the road even on a bicycle! second scene: There is a bike path on the left, not using it and furthermore even blocking the whole lane without any reason - clearly unable to be on the road even on a bicycle! third scene: Instead of paying attention on the road, he never tried to dodge or slow, even intentionally steered into the danger and ignoring his survival reflexes to create an accident - clearly unable to be on the road even on a bicycle! fourth scene: Clearly the typical two-wheeler-mentality "me, me, me! I always come first, rules and respect don't apply to me! I deserve to break everything and no one else even has the right to complain about it, because then I just act, like they are at fault in my fantasy world!" - clearly unable to be on the road even on a bicycle! For of those fice incidents show people, who should not even be allowed to roam the steets by foot. Still this two-wheeler-community hardly believes, they are always in the right and only faults from others are faults. No respect, no awareness (neither any logical one for rules or reality, nor any senses awareness to get what is happening around them), and no shame. But: Always driving like there is no tomorrow and a big mouth. Perfect example, of why we actually need gas stations back. But not against races, only against general IQ and behaviour!

@CycleGaz knows how to ride correctly, but he had to educate the car driver that is why he overtook again. Every chastened driver is a potentially better driver. @CycleGaz is not poor road user. He is in fact a very good road user and a very accomplished cyclist who doesn't hesitate to correct poor driving when the opportunity presents itself.

As a cyclist, I admit I've done what Gaz did and re-overtook a car that overtook me at a stupid time or place, especially when there's a red light up ahead. But there are times when I've just sat behind the overtaker as Ash say's, I'd rather have a potentially dangerous driver in front of me rather than behind. It depends how pig headed I feel at the time. We Cyclists can get belligerent at times to our own risk, but sometimes it comes at after multiple instances happening that we finally lose our calm head and get stubborn. Something I need to work on.

Many who upload cycling footage on X do seem to moan about things when their own road awareness & consideration leave a lot to be desired

Gaz put himself in a fair bit of danger and it was a pointless overtake, but I do like knowing the SL driver would have felt he’d ‘lost’ though and maybe act differently in the future. I wouldn’t have done it myself.

He dribbles about saftey and filters amongst the oncoming traffic...typical hypercite

There is a rhythm to traffic and on a bicycle you get to ride those waves, the key is adapting your speed to the flow, anticipate and don't waste your energy pushing, but use the gaps to get ahead. It helps if you understand the dynamics of how a car or lorry moves, how they accelerate and turn etc. Keep an eye on their brakelights, and check the front wheels of a car to see if they are turning. Oh and always look at the driver.

This is the first time I’ve agreed with everything you’ve said in a cycling compilation clip. As for CycleGaz, I stopped following him on X because of these types of incidents he was putting on there.

"Gaz" should have taken a road position so the Merc couldn't have cut him up in the first place. It would also be safer to be more visible to oncoming traffic.

Imagine you're in a queue at a shop. Some guy just cuts in but you don't say anything. You make it a 'non-event'. How long before queue jumping becomes normal because there are no consequences. You cannot just ignore other people's poor driving and attitudes because these people will just become emboldened.

As a nation we just have to create more safe separated infrastructure, It will cost and take time but I think it's the only way to go. Most of the cyclists you feature are confident to ride on roads with traffic but they are a very small minority, most people do not feel safe outside of the protection of their motor car. If we want get more people out of motor cars and onto scooters and bikes we need them to feel safe, this would lead to the bicycle to be viewed and used as a means of transport, young and old would participate and education from an early age would be easier because it would be mostly by parental example. I look forward to the day you do a special in NL to experience decent infrastructure and transport management. Sorry for the rant, but you have covered pretty much every clip specific thing that needed to be said already.

“Your ego is not your amigo.”

CycleGaz could've gathered sympathy,...but blew it.

The first situation and the second are completely different. Often drivers pass you coming up to traffic lights then stop for the lights. The first situation isnt quite that but its not far from it. The second is entirely different because there are no traffic lights. Two other factors in the first one that you dont mention 1. The safest place for a cyclist at red traffic lights is out at the front where you can be clearly seen by all drivers and having much greater acceleration can get across the lights ahead of any “scrum”. 2. When a car overtakes a cyclist and then stops in front of them for a red light a cyclist who is stuck behind has the breathe their exhaust (not for electrics of course) until the lights change - not a pleasant or healthy experience.

Some of the actions are just petty

...umm, always gets me thinking about men wearing balaclavas on my cycling commute when it's in the mid twenty celcius temps..🤔 However I do myself don one when it's minus zero degrees as I don't like having chilly ears...not because I don't want to be recognised....

2.20 in you talk about if you want to point out bad driving this is how it is done. Same when I take footage to the police, they want my behaviour to have been exemplary and for there to be no verbal input from myself that could be considered to have escalated the problem.

Difference in attitudes clip 1 vs clip 2. But also, cyclist 2 didn't have to do anything much to avoid the danger. For all that Gaz behaved assertively rather than looking to his own safety, he was forced into "slow down and let me have the road or else". Whereas, the second rider wasn't forced or squeezed. It COULD have become nasty if a car had appeared around the blind corner in front at the wrong moment, but it didn't.

The cyclist knocked off his bike by that scooter rider 2:32 is absolutely shocking! Either could've been in a life changing injury with the traffic!

First clip should have been a non event but wasn't. Second clip with red Fiesta I didn't see a lot wrong tbh. Scooter rider a ridiculous incident which could have been serious. Fourth one just impatience by cyclist. Fifth is what we all want. Unfortunately some people are idiots so whether it's motorist or a cyclist you will always have them.

in the scooter clip, this is why my state specifies that you must give cyclists enough room to fall over without running over them.

In the first clip, Gaz should have taken a more central position in the road to claim his space instead of staying near the gutter, then likely the Merc wouldn't have tried to overtake.

Clip 1: Getting agitated was not doing the rider’s heart a favour! Check how BPM was elevated for the wrong reason.

Why did the cyclist not take primary position so the driver wouldn't do a close pass? Why did the girl not wear a long skirt so she wouldn't get groped? Does Ashley get the analogy?

Gav is a proper numpty.

I may be wrong, but I feel a lot of the reason for poor scooter riding is the fact that [if they're legal] they're hire scooters. I can't help feeling riders would be more careful of their own scooter.

I think escooters should be completely banned and not even allowed to be imported, there are too many already in the country being ridden illegally and dangerously.

75% if what your stating here is feel is pretty bang on, but, i do feel these videos will land better by acknowledging what its like as a cyclist with so much directed hostility, psychotic drivers using their vehicles as a weapon and worse. In many cases bad cycling behaviour reflects behaviour which has got you of trouble, prevented risks further down the road. Not to take away from the advice of course! Perhaps another video speaking to a cyclist like cyclegaz, and getting into the head of a high performing cyclists. As you have setup another channel on this subject, that would be very interesting (i know you have interviewed viewers before)

2:49 balaclava'd black guy in a hurry... wonder why 😂

2:39, could the cammer have moved to the right on the approach to the side road incase anyone failed to stop before the Red lines? I know the red lines are not give way lines

No point trying logic on a Merc driver.

Was the scooter rider carrying a can of laughing gas?

He's going to come a cropper eventually.

*egos

CycleGaz is one of the most experienced and battle hardened cyclists you will ever meet; he knows how to handle himself on the road and also how to handle idiots who think they are tough. He did observe properly because he's about 7ft tall and nearly as far around the chest.

0:54 another case of cyclists only needing 1.5m distance when it suits them. If a car went past him as close as he was there, he’d be shouting and uploading the video to RU-vid.

Poor show from cycle gaz blocking you.

Why do the most vulnerable road users seem to have little regard for road safety?

Mercedes driver in first clip showed a lot more restraint and control that the knobber on the bike. The only dangerous overtake was the entitled cyclist who gets us all a bad rep and reinforces bad stereotypes! 🤬

cyclegaz always was a bit of an arse

3:36 looks like the grey car is moving right to prevent the cyclist from passing, no? Good example of must stay in front of the cyclist

Why does the cyclist have to race along at speeds competing with motor vehicles.. common sense dictates that the less time spent in close contact with a vehicle the safer the rider. Cycling is for travelling from point A to point B.. Public roads should not be used as a substitute for an exercise machine. A driver being forced to focus on the wobbling idiocies of a cyclist has their attention limited to the arse end of a small metal machine, consequently less able to keep a wider appreciation of what's happening ahead and behind.. less situational awareness.. that's a very uncomfortable situation for drivers. The cyclist can simply allow the car to pass, once the car is ahead the cyclist is in a much safer position.

2:33 Apart from being utter muppets why do cyclists emerge from junctions on the wrong side ofvthe road.....?

2:33 "There is absolutely nothing that the cyclist could have done" - Well, there is absolutely a lot the cyclist could have done. I.e. they could have walked on the sidewalk or driven a car instead. They could have chosen a different route or profession that doesn't require that they cycle thru this place. You people need to calm your tits and start thinking rational.