Fu*king Cyclists

[plugboots]

^^^ This. I rode about 60 this weekend, and people waited for me to pass in front of them on intersecting driveways, and incoming streets. I'm getting my wave and mouthing "thank you" over exaggeratedly down real good. My early attempts had me weaving a bit too much as I waved too much.

Also at the busiest intersection, (maybe in all of Issaquah, SE 56th and E. Lk. Samamish), a jogging douche got all in the face of some poor woman who was making a right on red and didn't see him, (because he fucking came into the intersection from a parallel bike path). I shrugged at her and she laughed.

Fu*king joggers.

[old goat]

In CA cars have to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk (marked or unmarked) but not people on the sidewalk waiting to enter the crosswalk. When I'm walking I wait for traffic to clear before I cross, unless I get desperate waiting. Trouble is the guy on my side of the road may stop but the guy coming the other way may not. I've gotten half way across the street and had a guy coming the other way speed up and flash his lights at me to make sure I didn't get in his way. And 4 lane streets--forget about it. A car in the curb lane does not favors to stop for a pedestrian; the cars in the other lanes have no way to see the pedestrian because they're blocked by the car that stopped. While it might be logical to assume that the reason the car stopped is a pedestrian, that usually doesn't compute fast enough if you don't actually see the walker.

[plugboots]

a guy coming the other way speed up and flash his lights at me to make sure I didn't get in his way.

WTF?

Dude was a douche, as was my new jogger friend. My wife and I were talking about this, and our attitude is: assume "they" can't see you.

[doebedoe]

Drivers pay for less than 1/2 the total cost of roads. http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/who-pays-roads (And no, this isn't written by some bike-loving group.)

“The ‘users pay’ myth is deeply ingrained in U.S. transportation policy, shaping how billions of dollars in transportation funds are raised and spent each year,” said Tony Dutzik, co-author of the report and Senior Analyst at Frontier Group, a non-profit think tank. “More and more, though, all of us are bearing the cost of transportation in our tax bills, regardless of how much we drive.”

So drivers can go fuck themselves when they want to talk about bikes "paying their fair share." Once drivers pay the full costs of their emissions and infrastructure they can bitch about others not paying theirs. Until then, no dice. It doesn't matter whether the biker owns a car or not -- if they are living in a city they are paying all sorts of taxes directly or indirectly that go to finance the costs of the roads they ride on.

I'm going to go ride my bike home from work shortly. Through downtown where I'll take up a lane sometimes because the bike lane abruptly dead-ends into nothingness 3/4th of the way through it. A driver will be pissed off. I'll make his commute 15 seconds longer than it would've been otherwise. The other cars on the road will add 20-30mins of traffic to his commute. Bikes probably a total of 1-2min. Then I'll get home, have a beer that I earned by not being an entitled prick who thinks my V8 4x4 truck entitles me to more road than someone commuting home just the same. And then I'll work on the ski van for an hour or two.

[Buster Highmen]

Then I'll get home, have a beer that I earned by being an entitled prick who thinks my bike entitles me to more road than someone commuting home just the same.

FIFY.

[Art Shirk]

drivers can go fuck themselves

I'll take up a lane

A driver will be pissed off. I'll make his commute 15 seconds longer

not being an entitled prick

This is strong work.

[doebedoe]

Yep. I was angry this morning after some twat in a big ole dodge thought it would be fun to "roll coal" on someone riding into work at 7:30am.

I feel no remorse for causing a potential slight delay to drivers in the city. Do drivers feel remorse or "out of line" when they too are a cause of a slight delay to another by being on the road? I also hate the "pay your way" from the auto crowd like nothing else, because they don't pay their own way.

[mtngirl79]

Didn't your mama teach you that two wrongs dont make a right???

[doebedoe]

All I've done wrong is bitch about it on an Internet forum.

If that's wrong to do: pot, kettle, black.

[Edgnar]

Yep. I was angry this morning after some twat in a big ole dodge thought it would be fun to "roll coal" on someone riding into work at 7:30am.

This is the kind of shit that makes me think cyclists should carry guns. I have no idea how that would work logistically, but I'm sure we can find a way. The first time a cyclist shoots one of these assholes that is committing attempted murder should be the last.

[Buster Highmen]

Yeah, fucking right on, if we all had guns, if we were all major asshole narcissists with anger issues, we could all just kill each other and there'd be no more assholes. W000H000000000!

[Sirshredalot]

Yeah, fucking right on, if we all had guns, if we were all major asshole narcissists with anger issues, we could all just kill each other and there'd be no more assholes. W000H000000000!

I've found that many automobilists are major asshole narcissists with anger issues; the only difference between them and the gun nuts is that they are seldom charged with anything more than a ticket when they kill people or threaten people. It's a fucked-up mentality.

That said, I'm not going to carry my gun with me on my bicycle. If someone hits me with their car, I'll just find out where they live and run them over in return. I don't want to actually go to jail.

[Buster Highmen]

I've found that many automobilists are major asshole narcissists with anger issues; the only difference between them and the gun nuts is that they are seldom charged with anything more than a ticket when they kill people or threaten people. It's a fucked-up mentality.

That said, I'm not going to carry my gun with me on my bicycle. If someone hits me with their car, I'll just find out where they live and run them over in return. I don't want to actually go to jail.

The message that should have hopefully gotten though is that there are assholes everywhere and he big trick is to not be one.

Guns, bicycles, ATVs, automobiles, the medium is NOT the message.

[Sirshredalot]

The message that should have hopefully gotten though is that there are assholes everywhere and he big trick is to not be one.

Guns, bicycles, ATVs, automobiles, the medium is NOT the message.

Oh, absolutely. I'm just of the opinion that we - as a society - tend to give people a free pass on being an asshole when they're behind the wheel: and we shouldn't!

[PNWbrit]

Oh, absolutely. I'm just of the opinion that we - as a society - tend to give ourself a free pass on being an asshole when they're behind the wheel: and we shouldn't!

FIFY....

[doebedoe]

Drivers are already equipped with lethal weapons. So when they're assholes the stakes are much higher than when a cyclist is. A bike is to a car as chopsticks are to a gun.

If you want to kill someone in the US, an automobile is the best weapon to use to get off easy.

[Buster Highmen]

Oh, absolutely. I'm just of the opinion that we - as a society - tend to give people a free pass on being an asshole when they're behind the wheel: and we shouldn't!

Speak for yourself. In the end, it's all about self awareness.

[jono]

Speak for yourself. In the end, it's all about self awareness.

It seems like Sirshredsalot gave a perfect example of using self awareness to control the things that are within his power up thread:

If someone hits me with their car, I'll just find out where they live and run them over in return. I don't want to actually go to jail.

I mean, obviously he's a maggot so it goes without saying he would only do that while drunk and posting to TGR, but that only helps his cause really.

[doebedoe]

Speak for yourself. In the end, it's all about self awareness.

I think Sirshredalot is referring to the criminal justice system when he says "society". Not peoples own reactions. Most everyone thinks everyone else is an asshole when they're driving. Not much self awareness needed.

Killing someone with a vehicle is the almost always seen as an accident in the courts: not the result of asshole-ish negligence, aggression, or even intention.

[doebedoe]

....Guns, bicycles, ATVs, automobiles, the medium is NOT the message.

The medium may not be the message. But the medium changes the consequences of the message, which matters when we are talking about our responsibilities to others. Two of these mediums kill other people (not operators) way, way, way more often than the other two.

[ill-advised strategy]

Attachment 187980

looks like lots of room to pass and no oncoming traffic. What's the problem, don't you know how to fucking pass?

[Art Shirk]

Blind corner in the opposite lane of traffic didn't seem too attractive. I'll stick to bitching on the internet.

[old goat]

How about mountain bikers announcing their presence--in plenty of time--when passing hikers from behind? Same goes for urban cyclists on the sidewalks. Bells work well for the Dutch, but what do they know about bikes?

[jono]

Good point. I like the kind that ring on every bump. People assume I'm not making a racket on purpose but they hear me before we see each other and they usually smile and thank me as they clear the trail. It's sort of like a win-win, except I think the one with the bell wins more. I'm learning to be ok with that.

[Buster Highmen]

It seems like Sirshredsalot gave a perfect example of using self awareness to control the things that are within his power up thread:

Not by claiming that society gives a pass to assholes in cars. Note road rage legislation. But that's beside the point lost.