or have assholes try to run you off the road.. no doubt there are cyclists who are disrespectful.. but every cyclist puts their life on the line every time they clip in...
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useful advice, for a change: http://www.slobc.org/safety/document...ival-guide.pdf
Oh yeah, your life is on the line. Might as well be a marine. Just a reminder that more people die in car accidents than riding their toys in traffic. Try riding on bike paths if you don't like getting hit by cars. Road bikes in NYC for 15 years - usually in between and against traffic. Got hit by cars all the time, 'cause they're like, driving on the road and stuff. Roads are for cars. They're not for pedestrians, and their not for your obnoxious little hobby. Every time you go out and don't get flattened, you should be grateful to all those drivers who were so forgiving of your lack of self awareness and preservation.
Are you really this starved for attention?
In all seriousness, being on a bicycle in an urban area is fuckin scary. Over probably 40k miles of road riding in the Portland metro area, I got doored, went over the rear deck of a car and over the hood twice (broke clavicle on one) - all due to driver error while I was riding in a bike lane. Only street riding I do now is 8 minutes to and from the local trailhead in a very small town, and even that is scary as hell on a summer weekend
This thread has a nice calming influence. It helped inject a moment of Zen yesterday when a group of dog walkers wandered into the road in front of me, apologized, then proceeded to fill the road right up. Cost me at least a second, maybe two. For a moment I had an urge to buzz the last one at close range, but then I thought of all the angry frustrated motorists who've been reduced to posting in this thread because they couldn't afford the tires for a track day or a more effective strain of weed and a sudden calm just washed over me: it's only a second. Be nice. Say hi.
Saw two good ones today driving over squaw pass. One lady just standing with her bike in the middle of the eastbound lane down by the evergreen side, forcing cars to drive around her while she fiddled with her bike. Then driving westbound up the pass, had to buzz one bike in the right lane when another bike came down the hill around the corner, crossing over the line into oncoming traffic. Would have loved to just let him run into me, but would have hated for him to damage my car. That dude could use to fear for his life a little more than he apparently does.
^^that is a much more common accident of car vs motorcycle....
Were you racing a wrx in your faux Porsche or trying not to flip your faux g-lander?[emoji14]
GI Joe says be safe biking!
Not all cyclists have a bad attitude. When I was a kid two little brothers were arguing about something. The older one straddled is bike across the middle of the street. The younger one rode down to the end of the block, turned around, and peddled as fast as he could, up out of the seat, leaning forward, wild look in his eye, into his brother.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...rges-1.3748285
and they are are not even American
but one looks like a terrorist
No doubt if the same caliber motorcyclist as Olympic bicyclist was on that course it wouldn't be close. Also in the video from Cali the bikers are clearly being reigned in by the traffic in front of them. Shit - the one guy only has one hand on his bars and none of them are tucked in.
I was just wondering if in the real world the bicyclist could have been ticketed for illegally passing or speeding.
It was a m135 or something similar. Looked like a fun car to drive. Made the R seem pretty heavy (and fast) in comparison. Doubt I could have kept up with him over Guanella pass, and I would have ditched him going over Loveland. It was extremely close over Squaw. So many good roads around here. Will go out for the 119/46/93/74/119 loop tomorrow. So if you were thinking about stopping to take a water break behind a blind corner in the middle of the lane on of one of those roads tomorrow, be forewarned. Probably eastbound 46 and westbound 72. Choose your own adventure.
I am all for biker safety but I just wanted to point out how hilarious the thought process of "oh there may be some loose gravel over there, could be dangerous- better get out in traffic with the moving cars instead" really is in terms of actual danger mitigation.
Ended up driving the P2P up to Ft Collins and hanging there for the day with the fam. Very few assholes. Of course the occasional prick who's on a mission to make everyone drive slow, but all things considered, especially for labor day, people were pretty well behaved. Beautiful day for a drive!
When I've seen cyclists lying there getting scraped off the pavement I generally assume it's because of all the inane shit they pull while cycling. I have to laugh at the people claiming cyclists follow any sorts of rules of the road--if I went to any intersection in midtown and took video for 10 minutes during the day I guarantee you I'd have a few dozen shots of cyclists blowing through red lights at full speed, weaving through crowded crosswalks (against the light), merging into traffic (making a rolling, full speed, right on red--even though any kind of right on red is illegal always here, even for cars) without taking a look over their shoulders, and probably a few other things that defy belief but are routine. They basically bank on the fact that cars will always yield to them, regardless of what they do--which 99+ percent of the time they do.
Oh, and riding against traffic, which they do--constantly (I often see cyclists going with traffic having to weave around oncoming cyclists).
I've actually been hit--twice--while driving by cyclists (one guy on my bumper in slow traffic when the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes, forcing me to stop short, which then had the idiot cyclist run into my bumper, and the other some daydreaming chick riding up (wrong way) 5th Ave as I turned left with the light, and she just ran into the side of my car as she tried to ride through the red light going the wrong way on the one way street).
Thing that stands out for me in this thread is the person (or people) saying cyclists can't use the shared bike path because too many other people are going too slow for them. So cyclists can't be expected to do exactly what the cyclists are saying the cars must do? The cyclists could just deal with the traffic and go slower, which is what they're saying drivers have to do. But even with a separate roadway the world still needs to cater to the cyclist. Sorry, that makes no sense. If there's a separate path the bikes should be on it--too bad if you can't bike as fast as you want. Slow down to a safe speed like you insist drivers have to. If someone is walking in front of you and you need to slow down, well, it's just a few seconds out of your life, right? What are you in such a hurry about? Your need to get a quality ride in actually isn't more important than what every other person in the world is doing.
I do acknowledge that in other places cyclists are more respectful of traffic rules (I've noticed this is the case), but based on many of the posts in this thread that hardly seems universal.
New Yorkers are mentally impaired and incapable of following basic traffic laws regardless of their chosen mode of transportation. Just look at stfu waving his tiny pecker about violating co traffic law: he's lucky one of the cow town locals hasn't shot up his Audi yet.
Bikepaths are for kids, grandpas, rollerbladers people who want to stop and smell the flowers, and anyone who doesn't feel safe on the road. Often with pedestrians, but not always. It's not a separate roadway, it's basically a sidewalk. It keeps super slow people off the roads, which is great.
It's like arguing how cars don't need to be on side streets because they have an interstate and highways they can be on, if you are in a rush, just use the interstate! Doesn't really make any sense. Share the road, don't be an asshole.
No, bikepaths are for biking, sometimes along with other things (see, the name kind of gives it away). This is partially about people who don't feel safe on the road (supposedly why they ride in the middle, or take up extra lanes riding alongside, etc.), and you said the path is for those people. You also said it keeps slow people off the roads--if the speed limit is 40 or 50 (or more), then bikes are by definition those slow people who need to stay off the road. If the cyclicst has to go slow due to other traffic, well, that's life. Sorry. Don't be an asshole--stay on the bike path.
Again, I think you've demonstrated the mentality that bikes aren't bound by any rules and have some special sanction to fuck things up for everyone--simply because they are so special.
Isn't this exactly how you have to drive in NYC anyhow? If there is a gap in traffic, make a move to get in there and the driver behind will yield. I was just talking about this with my wife's uncle this weekend. He drove taxis in NYC for 20 years.
Anyone who has white knuckled in the back of a cab in NY has witnessed this.
Comparing NYC cycling or driving behavior to anywhere else in the country is silly.
I was getting at something a bit different than just how you have to make space for yourself--I'm talking about the literally absurd shit you see cyclists do every moment of the day. They routinely fly through red lights at full speed and turn into moving traffic without even glancing at oncoming cars. They know the cars see them and will yield, even though the cyclist is breaking several traffic laws at once. If drivers tried that shit they'd get ticketed constantly.
Now, not all cyclists do this, and I would never try it myself (I've never really biked in the city but used to roller blade everywhere--I'd go through lights all the time, but I'd never just fly into traffic without checking and rely on everyone else yielding to me). My brother was a bicycle messenger for awhile, and according to him cars more or less follow rule, but the only people stupider about traffic than cyclists are pedestrians (IMO it's at best a tie).
For the record, I'm in favor of sharing the road, I always give a lot of room to bikes, and I have no problem with going slow behind a bike when they're forced into the road and can't go as fast as a car. But I've seen a lot of either oblivious or entitled behavior that just pisses everyone off and makes things worse. I can understand why people get so pissed at cyclists--I think the bike people are fooling themselves if they don't acknowledge this (and the fact that there are assholes driving cars doesn't change what some cyclists are doing).
I think the fact that this is sort of a moral crusade for some people just increases the temperature and makes rational discussion difficult.
Obviously NYC is different than other places, but the fact that bikes are exempt from any sorts of rules seems more universal (been driving here since 94 and am way too familiar with idiot cyclists--and drivers, motorcycles, etc.). Probably worth noting that I have two friends who were seriously injured by cyclists (both had to have orthopedic surgery, and one had to have trauma surgery and a fairly long hospital stay). I also have two or three friends who were hit by cars while crossing the street, but I assume given how many more cars there are you can't look at it as equivalent.
Just saw another good one driving on the frontage road wb through Clear Creek. I'm the only car there and come up on the only bicycle. Dude's cycling, in the shoulder, doing every fucking thing you could ask a bicyclist to do... Until I approach, at which time he decides he has to pull into the traffic lane, forcing me into the oncoming lane to avoid him.
No one would have ever been the wiser.
What did he have to say when you asked him what that move was about?