today, I was driving to the LBS and was talking with my wife about the case of that law prof. at SMU…we both thought that it was unbelievable…
We turned onto a one way road, with busy traffic, cars going 60mph, along the I-10…and oh surprise, we see a bunch of cars swerving because some freaking idiot is riding his bike against the traffic (there is no shoulder whatsoever)…I have seen that guy a few times and know he races (he had some team jersey, nice bike etc…), honked…he flips the bird!!!
then we wonder why we are targets…well, a reason is the behavior of some of the bike riders out there…
What’s the etiquette with you folks and bikers riding two, or more, abreast forcing the cars to bank up behind them and risk a dangerous manoeuvre to try and pass?
i pretty much always ride alone or with Olaf. When we ride together, it’s 20m or more apart, or when warming up, abreast, but on the wide shoulders of our training routes.
in general, group rides tend to be the moment some riders use for payback time which isn’t really smart…
I noticed a particularly bothersome trend on HWY 101 out here in SoCal, roadies are ditching their helmets for little beanie caps. Saw three of them on last Sunday’s ride up to Oceanside
I sometimes wear bright shoe covers so I can bee seen even better in traffic.
Well, coming back from lunch today, I’m in the left turn lane. Two cyclist ride up on the passenger side in the turn lane just as the light turns green. I start to pull out to make the left hand turn and the cut right in front of me. I just slowed down and let them cut me off. Then wait for them to turn into the bike lane on the far right after the turn, no way they do that. They ride down the middle of the right hand lane, side by side, laughing and one handing it about who knows what. Really sad!!
I hate getting treated badly by car drivers when I’m riding. I find the best thing to do is simply to follow the road rules.
For example, at red lights I STOP, until the light goes green (there are exceptions such as lights that are controlled by a ground loop or similar, and don’t recognize me as a legal road user. In this case, I stop, then I treat the red light as a stop sign, and proceed when it is safe to do so, without inconveniencing anyone else)
At red lights, I do not cross with pedestrians, since I am NOT a pedestrian. If I get off my bike then I am legally allowed to walk across, but I prefer to wait until the light turns green. I’m not legally allowed to ride across a pedestrian crossing in NZ.
When out in the country I follow the rules also. I ride 2 abreast whenever I am legally allowed (which is everywhere in NZ, according to the Road Code) AND it is safe to do so. I limit my 2 abreast riding to when I find in necessary as a COURTESY to drivers. What surprises many drivers is that it is not a requirement for me to ride single file in NZ. Other countries may have other rules and I would obey them when in those countries.
I do not ride my bike on the sidewalk except when there is a painted or otherwise designated bike path there.
Car drivers get really pissed off seeing us break the rules. Therefore I give them no reason to get pissed off at me. Too many other cyclists don’t appear to behave witht he same in mind. They give us all a bad name.
We (cyclists AND car drivers) should all simply KNOW and follow the rules. That seems to be too much to ask of assholes regardless of whether they are on a bike or in a car. I doubt we will ahve any success fixing this problem. Unfortunately, asshole cyslists don’t kill anyone (to my knowledge) but asshole car drivers do kill lots of law abiding cyclists.
my ex is one of those f-you i’m a cyclist types. he liked to hit the hoods of cars that did something to piss him off. he probably still does that. cars piss us off sometimes, yes, but car always wins against a bike and people in rush hour traffic are stressed to begin with…well, anyway, i always got yelled at when i mentioned such things.
here is what being a cycling ass got him: hit by a car 3 times in 3 years of cycling. rear-ended on a bridge another time. ambulance rides, hospital visits, many stitches, and one lawsuit.
i guess acting like a real badass makes you fast and cool and impresses chicks. not.
I ride almost exclusively alone, and one of the reasons for this is that I don’t trust a group of roadies to be able to look out for my (and other bikers) safety.
I find on my own I can respond to the traffic around me, obey the rules as you say, and generally make it home in one piece.
I love riding my bike and I love triathlon, but not enough to die for it. Not even close.
In the UK we have the Highway Code (Spiffing isn’t it!!). In here, it stipulates that cyclists should not ride more than 2 abreast. So, riding 2 abreast is within the law. However, my training partner and I make a point of riding single file especially as 130 of our weekly training mileage is commuting, on busy roads. Where this kinda falls down is as we are coming into town on a not so busy, relatively wide road, riding 2 abreast. It’s easy to know when a vehicle is approaching from behind so we move into single file. HOWEVER, there was one time (at band camp…) and in the rear distance we heard a car horn honking like hell. Matt was on the outside, and as the car approached, carried on aggressively honking the horn. Matt was going to move in, so I said no, hold your ground. As the car past us, which happened to be an $80k car with a very smartly dressed female driver, she gave us the birdy. Some may say I provoked her by not going into single file. But on this occasion, I think we were justified.
At the next traffic lights I pulled up next to her and just stared. She was just repeatedly mouthing “f off” and giving me the finger. I just laughed.
Don’t get me wrong - here in oxford where there are more cycle commuters than cars, cyclists are more than often the cause of frustration, accidents and bad feelings - and the reason - because they don’t drive a car, yet are allowed to cycle on the road without any proper training/teaching. Ridiculous. Rant over.
So you wouldn’t wanna die riding. What would you rather be doing before you die?
Years ago a kinda strange friend said he wanted to die of Cobra venom. He had heard it was a good buzz. Friggen weirdo if you ask me.
As my father in law used to say, he wanted (but unfortunately failed) to die at the hands of a jealous husband on his 100th birthday! Even that is better than dying by a crazed motorist.
A group of about 12 cyclists taking up the entire lane of a heavily trafficked, urban roadway at 8 am. Riding 4 abreast + a motorcycle (coach?) who is speeding up and slowing down to talk to the riders. A line of cars forming behind. This goes on for about a mile. Then the road becomes 4 lanes - 2 in each direction. 3 riders in the right-most land, motorcyclist/coach and 1-2 riders in the other lane! Road STILL BLOCKED! BTW - this directly in front of and blocking access to 2 entrances to a major hospital.
And me, with my “Share the Road” license plates…feeling embarrassed to be a cyclist.
“If you choose to ignore this and this lunatic actually hurts someone, I plan to show this letter to every news outlet - paper, radio, and TV - as well as every local, state and federal politician I can find.”.
I spent the weekend in an urban area and went for a ride. I’ve been way spoiled by living in smaller towns with roads that have low traffic. If I lived in big city I’m not sure I’d ever take my bike off the trainer except for races.
I think about whether it’s worth risking my life every time I take the bike outside. Can’t be too careful.
I don’t just blame roadies for giving us a bad name by any means. I couldn’t believe all the people training for IMAZ on the 87 (a highway with 4 lanes of 65mph+ traffic and a very wide shoulder). With a completely empy shoulder, they STILL had to hug the white line next to traffic. You’d see a whole pace-line of them, 4 or 5 in a row, all 6 inches from the traffic lane with 6 feet of clear, smooth shoulder to their right. What the hell? Trying to draft the trucks?
I almost hit a cyclist the other day in my car. It is sort of a strange angled intersection coming out from my work’s private road. I’m turning right, and you have to stop and look very carefully for traffic from the left because you can’t see it until your almost in the intersection. So as I’m pulling out looking left, I turn to look in front and see a cyclist crossing right in front of me going the wrong way down the bike lane. I stopped in time, barely, and openned the window and gave her a verbal lashing, to no affect I’m sure. She responded “this is a bike lane, we have the right to ride here!”.
