Cyclists Get No Respect

[mlctvt]

Originally Posted by GrilledSteezeSandwich

bikers need to ride single file..I get pissed when they ride side by side..stay in the shoulder..

Not in many states, riding two abreast IS legal in many states. I know in Massachusets it is illegal but in Pennsylvania it is legal for two riders to ride side by side. The ;laws states that drivers must wait until it is safe to pass. I personally don't ride side by side with another bike unless we're on a very rural road with very little traffic and I also think that doing so actually hurts cyclists by pissing off drivers.

[marcski]

I am a long time mtn biker and started riding road about a year ago. These days i'm abou 50-50 mtn-road. (Although, with winter coming, probably increase the mtn biking precentages).

Don't engage poor motorists. You wont' be able to change their driving habits and would perhaps only enrage them more. I think any car, even a yaris or any other subcompact could take my carbon-fiber frame, so why risk it. (let alone who knows what those crazy drivers have inside their cars).

I find it most annoying when a car passes you and then stops to turn about 20 feet in front. Has happened numerous times.

A few months ago, as we were riding, a car pulls out of a driveway pretty close in front of us and then stops dead in the street. She was attempting to turn into another driveway 2 up from the one she pulled out of. When one of the guys I was riding with unleashed on her, her response was "You guys were going too fast." (FYI, we were doing about 22 on a 25 mph roadway). She obviously was very poor in gauging how far away we were. (and of course in failing to gauge our manly speed ).

Also, Grilled skeeze.....at times, the shoulders are covered in debris, sand, gravel and other hazards. It can be difficult or worse to ride in some shoulders.

Needless to say, while trees and rocks are hard and can cause many injuries, they don't move!

[mlctvt]

Originally Posted by marcski

I am a long time mtn biker and started riding road about a year ago. These days i'm abou 50-50 mtn-road. (Although, with winter coming, probably increase the mtn biking precentages).

Don't engage poor motorists. You wont' be able to change their driving habits and would perhaps only enrage them more. I think any car, even a yaris or any other subcompact could take my carbon-fiber frame, so why risk it. (let alone who knows what those crazy drivers have inside their cars).

I find it most annoying when a car passes you and then stops to turn about 20 feet in front. Has happened numerous times.

A few months ago, as we were riding, a car pulls out of a driveway pretty close in front of us and then stops dead in the street. She was attempting to turn into another driveway 2 up from the one she pulled out of. When one of the guys I was riding with unleashed on her, her response was "You guys were going too fast." (FYI, we were doing about 22 on a 25 mph roadway). She obviously was very poor in gauging how far away we were. (and of course in failing to gauge our manly speed ).

Also, Grilled skeeze.....at times, the shoulders are covered in debris, sand, gravel and other hazards. It can be difficult or worse to ride in some shoulders.

Needless to say, while trees and rocks are hard and can cause many injuries, they don't move!

That's right about shoulders they are dangerous to ride on. The effective bicycling class and most publications advise that it's actually safer to ride on the traveled part of the road as far right as possible. It's been found that cars will actually pass you faster and closer if you ride on the shoulder than if you ride on the traveled part of the road.
My wife and I ride about 4000 miles a year and it's rare that we have a ride where we don't witness at least one stupid or aggressive motorist. Having people cut you off as mentioned above is one of the most common occurrences. Many motorists, especially older folks are just terrible when it comes to judging speed and distance.
I had one road rage incident last year when riding with my wife in our own town. A middle aged woman passed us with just inches between us. I yelled “move over” and she stopped the car in the middle of the road and said “do you have a problem with me” I yelled “Yes I certainly do, there was no reason to pass us so close when we’re on a straight road and nobody was coming from the other direction, you should have moved over at least 5 feet”. I didn’t tell her that in most states there is either a 3 foot or 5 foot pass rule. She says to us the bike have to stay to the right of the white line. I laughed at her and we get on our bikes and start riding away. She jumps in her car and yells out the window that she’s going to run us over and proceeds to come at us with the car. We rode off the road into someone’s lawn to avoid getting hit. She pulls over and gets out of the car and confronts us again. I tell her that I’m calling the cops, she says fine do that. Since I forgot my cell phone I asked her if she has one and she says “No I don’t have a cell phone only rich people like you have them”. I have no idea where she gets it that I’m rich? Maybe she was impressed with my bright cycling clothes? She jumps in her car and drives away. I remember her license plate number and I’m now so pissed I ride my bike right to the police department and tell them the whole story. The cop asks if I want to press assault charges, I could have got her on assault with a deadly weapon. I asked what options there were. I told him that I wanted her educated on the proper rules of the road and have the incident recorded so there was a record of what happened. So the cop went and had a “conversation” with the woman at her home. He later told me when he was explaining the law to her in regards to bicycles her husband says “see I told you so”. He told the woman that we could have had her arrested but decided that we wouldn’t press charges this time. I definitely lucked out that the cop was a cyclist himself. Driver testing and training is a disgrace in this country. Most of the general population has no idea as to what the rules of the road are. There isn’t bicycle or pedestrian related questions on the driver’s tests, drivers aren’t tested except the one time they receive their license. Things are getting worse not better. I always thought that as the older people died off things would improve but now some of the worst driving I witness is by young people.

[twinplanx]

Originally Posted by bruno

i know you're jus' baitin' but cyclists pay taxes jus' like anybody else. besides roadies are usually rich so we pay more.

so there!

Is that a fact? I guess you haven't heard about all the tax cuts for the "rich", just how much were you able to deduct last fiscal year?

[twinplanx]

Originally Posted by MonkeyBrook

funny theory twinplanx. Paying insurance has nothign to do with being able to share the road. It is a law that cyclists have the same right ot the road as motorists. but I am sure you just typed that reply to see how crazy you can make roadies. I do ride dirt, but spend much more time on the road.

yeah yeah yeah... the laws of physics will always overrule any of Mans puny laws

[SKIQUATTRO]

i find roadies to be some of the unfriendliest group of athletes out there and I'm a roadie...

[Marc]

Originally Posted by SKIQUATTRO

i find roadies to be some of the unfriendliest group of athletes out there and I'm a roadie...

Grape envy...

[marcski]

Originally Posted by SKIQUATTRO

i find roadies to be some of the unfriendliest group of athletes out there and I'm a roadie...

I kind of agree....But hey, those guys shave their legs, so who really cares. You just need to find a bunch of riders that are not aggressively competitive. Granted, not such an easy task. But I do also find that overall, road bikers tend to be ultracompetitve.

[snoseek]

I want to respond but don't want to piss off all you roadies.......


I think a lot of bikers ride abreast because they know they can, pisses off the driver who then drive like a-holes and lay on the horn, very dangerous. kind of a tough situation that needs to be understood from both sides. When building roads we should really think about bikes, maybe even more bike paths.

[SKIQUATTRO]

I'm not talking riders vs. drivers...roadies are rude/unfriendly to other roadies...i always nod, give a quick "HEY" or raise a few fingers off my bars as a gesture of "hello" to other passing riders...99% of the time, they just look the other way or dont acknowledge....i was fixing a flat a few months ago and a group of 10 riders flew by, not 1 of em asked if i was ok or needed a hand..not that i did, but what does it take to ask??