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Author Topic: Bickering about bicycles, now with occasional tips about motorised vehicles  (Read 242119 times)

jhocking

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Re: Some things about driving
« Reply #150 on: 27 Jan 2011, 07:11 »

i don't do stuff if i'm not 99% sure i can pull it off

famous last words

It's always a red flag when someone doesn't think anything can go wrong. Not just in driving, in anything (hell, look at the financial crash.) Most of the bad things in life are caused by people who were sure nothing could go wrong.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 07:13 by jhocking »
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ibrahimdelil

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These two statements are simply not compatible:

i especially said "and that includes sudden-out-of-nowhere braking etc too" to make that clear but i guess it was not enough. what i meant was more like this: i can go for miles at any speed behind almost anybody, being just 2-3 meters apart while not putting anybody's life in danger unless the car in front of me just f*cking explodes or something. i had my fair share of almost-accidents including stuff like trucks moving in lanes before checking, inexperienced drivers slamming on the brakes because of god-knows-what-they-thought-was-wrong, wind lifting the car's nose and pushing it into the other lane, losing grip because of some puddles in heavy rain etc. and i have never had any problem stopping my car in time or making it do what i want it to do. thing is i do stuff because i know i can do them, through the fact that i know a lot about cars and i know a lot about their reactions in certain conditions. i don't just go "wooooo i can touch his bumper lol".

and another auto-assumption that's been made mistakenly is i do it to make people move out of my way or anything. i don't get up to people and honk or blink or anything, i just drive closer to them.

famous last words

how do my words mean "i don't think anything can go wrong"? because i think they mean quite the opposite, as in "i'm aware that a lot of things can go wrong so i don't do things before evaluating the situation".

how do i get this much misunderstood  :psyduck:
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The Seldom Killer

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i can go for miles at any speed behind almost anybody, being just 2-3 meters apart while not putting anybody's life in danger

A suspect that a some people here think that there is a difference between "being that good" and "being lucky". Maybe you really do have those excellent, way above average reactions, but what if you don't? And why would you keep them at the limit so much? At 60kph 2-3 meters is covered in less than a fifth of a second. Is that really enough. Sometimes a little self doubt is a good thing. Besides, 2-3 meters is tailgating and, regardless of whether you are that good a driver, that's a dick move.
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i can go for miles at any speed behind almost anybody, being just 2-3 meters apart while not putting anybody's life in danger unless the car in front of me just f*cking explodes or something.

Simple physics and a basic knowledge of biological reaction times says that you are either dreaming or so misjudging the actual distance apart as to be laughable.
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Tailgating is EXTREMELY rude, especially at night when the tailgating vehicle's lights make it miserable to drive. Also, in most states it is illegal as well.
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By tailgating, driving aggressively and cutting people off (even if you "make it clear" that you're going to) you're intimidating other drivers and putting them in situations where they have to react to you and make decisions based on guesses at to what you're going to do. You're greatly lowering the margin for error, not just for yourself but for everyone else on the road. It's not at all just about whether you can handle the way you drive but it's about whether everyone else you are sharing the road with can, and you can't expect racing driver level reactions, awareness and decision making from everyone.

You might not have caused an accident but you've definitely scared the crap out of people and put people on edge and that makes accidents far more likely.
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ibrahimdelil

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uhh, i think i understand what is wrong. it is that because of my capability to write in english being very low, i keep making you people think i drive like a maniac or something. again, excuse me for interrupting the cycling theme, i'll be taking my leave.
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Alex C

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With winters around here being what they are I don't really like making optimistic assumptions about traction. Even after the spring thaws are largely over it's kinda dicey for a while because the melt leaves li'l dunes of grit on the edges of the road. Not necessarily a huge deal if you're in a car but you'll notice if you've hit one on a motorcycle. Same thing with those delightful webs of road sealant. I don't know if they use different materials in that stuff now or what, but some of the sealant they've used in recent years here has all of the virtues of snot when it comes to providing good traction.
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Blue Kitty

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fuck tailgaters

That's a sure way to make sure I drive exactly the speed limit in front of you.
I know spiteful driving is a bad idea but man I just really hate when people follow too close.

I'm usually a pretty big ass when it comes to dealing with tailgaters. I think I get it from my dad who generally just freaks out at that them and flicks them off.  Once this guy was tailgating me in the far left lane, the one closest to the barrier on the highway, so I speed up so that we had a semi truck on our right. I then slowed down, trapping him from going any where unless he would slow down enough to get behind the semi truck on our right. I got a few honks and finger gestures, and a few times it seemed like he was going to tap me, but semi truck pulled away to get off and he zoomed on by me.
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Joseph

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Re: Some things about driving
« Reply #159 on: 27 Jan 2011, 11:00 »

but roads are for cars. bikes are not even close to cars and should not be driving down the middle of the road.


my point is that most cyclists (at least around here) are idiots with an absurd sense of entitlement and a sort of "i deserve to be treated just like a car even though I am on a fragile little frame going 25 under the speedlimit on a narrow road with no passing!" attitude which I find really obnoxious and borderline offensive.

[words]

This is exactly my point. Cyclists around here think they deserve for motorists to treat them like they're driving a car and yield to them as though they were a pedestrian, so they take up a third of a travel lane (never mind the buffer you have to leave around them when passing) and dart around everywhere because they're king of the friggin world.

You're too slow to drive like a car. You're too fast to dart around like a pedestrian. You can stop a hell of a lot faster than a car. You are smaller than a car. Don't expect us to yield to you as you glide through the intersection where you do not have the right of way. Obey road signs, stay visible, and most of all stay the hell in the gutter or designated bicycle lane* where you belong.

* And not one of your "I'm making a statement" special snowflake DIY painted-with-exterior-latex-at-3-AM bike lanes, either. The ones the highway department put there.

That bicycle safety website is full of the smug attitude that fuels this little rage fire. Unless you can keep up with traffic you shouldn't use an entire travel lane.

Oh hey, I missed this earlier. I think what you've said is ludicrous enough not to warrant replies to individual things, but I just want to say that you have the goddamn smuggest attitude right here, likely as a result of the general entitlement afforded to automobiles over bicycles. Fuck this attitude.
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The Seldom Killer

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So you reckon people should just submit to bullying?
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Alex C

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Just when I thought this thread couldn't get any dumber, the above happens.
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Alex C

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Okay, here's the thing: the average car in the US weighs 2 fuckin' tons. It's simply not the time or place to get in a pissing match with some fuckin' asshole stranger just so your self-esteem doesn't take a hit. Get a self-help book instead or something. Good lord.
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Cernunnos

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clownshoe is right. There is no good excuse for spiteful reactionary driving. At all. Even if it gives you some (false) sense of control over the situation. Soooo I'm going to stop "punishing" tailgaters. It was a dumb idea. When you and your bully are both in 3000+ pound boxes of metal going 60+mph you're damn right you submit. Doing otherwise puts you and everyone around you at a huge risk of horrible injuries or death.




(still fucking hate tailgaters)
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Alex C

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this thread is going to give me an aneurysm guys
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Cernunnos

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Also bicycle haters suck stop being such entitled goobers
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Cernunnos

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dammit you ruined my first double post

(HA I GOT ONE ANYWAYS)
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Alex C

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I can't help it! It's this thread. My keyboard wants a restraining order!
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The Seldom Killer

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Okay, here's the thing: the average car in the US weighs 2 fuckin' tons. It's simply not the time or place to get in a pissing match with some fuckin' asshole stranger just so your self-esteem doesn't take a hit. Get a self-help book instead or something. Good lord.

You might have a point. I tend to forget that when I drive it's a large white van with a massive tow hook on the back and not everyone's like that.

Although with unemployment looming, the temptation to invest in a neckbrace and hit up assholes in crash for cash is pretty strong.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 13:01 by The Seldom Killer »
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Elysiana

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I won't purposely slow down or trap someone, but if I'm already doing 80 in the passing lane and I am actually in the process of passing someone (i.e. I can't get over, there's someone there) I refuse to speed up to 90 just because some asshole thinks 10 over isn't enough. I'll get over when I finish passing, calm the hell down.

I will, however, tap my brakes if I can't see your headlights.
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SirJuggles

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I know it is a terrible idea, but I want so badly to invest in a whiteboard and marker and keep it in my car, then I can have my passengers write messages to show to the people around me. Not even jerky stuff, since I tend to be pretty easy-going on the road. But stuff like "Hey your taillight is out!" or "Nice job avoiding that dick back there!"
I know it would be bad and distracting but I just want to make the road a friendlier place.
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Alex C

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I know tommy, it's like we're doing everything in our power to prove that post you made on electrical audio right.
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Alex C

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I don't really feel bad about it though. On the road, I'm pretty calm about this stuff. I can just concentrate on what I'm doing and don't think much about why other drivers do what they do. On the road, motivations are a mystery! Maybe they're tailgating me because they're being attacked by an Allosaurus and are distracted, for example. But on the internet I'm exposed to the thought process behind this stuff and so it bypasses my defenses.
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Gemmwah

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Guys I cycle with my DM boots on so that I can kick any cars that pass too close. Cycling even in a relatively small city is terrifying because people just don't look. It's appalling the amount of times I've almost been clean knocked off my bike, never mind the amount of times I have actually been clipped or almost forced into cycling straight into a parked car. Fuckers.
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calenlass

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fuck tailgaters

That's a sure way to make sure I drive exactly the speed limit in front of you.
I know spiteful driving is a bad idea but man I just really hate when people follow too close.

I'm usually a pretty big ass when it comes to dealing with tailgaters. I think I get it from my dad who generally just freaks out at that them and flicks them off.  Once this guy was tailgating me in the far left lane, the one closest to the barrier on the highway, so I speed up so that we had a semi truck on our right. I then slowed down, trapping him from going any where unless he would slow down enough to get behind the semi truck on our right. I got a few honks and finger gestures, and a few times it seemed like he was going to tap me, but semi truck pulled away to get off and he zoomed on by me.


...You did this in the far left lane?
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Akima

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I commute to work each day on a bicycle in Sydney. I'm a big fan of legal "vehicular" cycling, and I'd make a few points (from the perspective of New South Wales law):

  • Cycling on the footpath/pavement/sidewalk is illegal (unless you're under 11 years old or accompanying such a child), dangerous to pedestrians, and dangerous for cyclists. I don't even much like riding on legally designated "shared" paths, because they are usually built and maintained as footpaths and designated for bicycles only as an afterthought.
  • A bicycle is defined by law as a legal road vehicle. People who say "bicycles don't belong on the road" are just OK with denying their fellow-citizens their legal rights.
  • A cyclist is entitled by law to use the whole lane. The "ride in the gutter" crowd are basically saying "I think some people are second-class and it's OK for to deny their legal rights because I'm more important than they are". There is no legal right to drive faster than the vehicle in front of you.
  • Sometimes, insisting on your legal rights will get you killed. Some legal manoeuvres are best avoided by cyclists. This does not justify bullying by motor-vehicle drivers.
  • Cyclists sometimes break traffic laws. So do car drivers.
  • Cyclists are sometimes self-righteous. So are car drivers.
  • Cyclists are sometimes drama-queens who exaggerate the incidence and severity of other road users' misbehaviour. So are car-drivers.
  • Cyclists sometimes make mistakes. So do car drivers. The consequences of these mistakes are generally much more severe for cyclists.
  • The police rarely enforce cycling rules, feeling they have bigger fish to fry. This is not a good thing.
  • None of points 4-9 above (I can't work out how to make the forum display a numbered list, but you can count, right?) entitles anyone to deny other road users their legal rights. Wanting to deny your fellow citizens their legal rights makes you a bad person. Seriously.

Training for cyclists, even on basic stuff like how to adjust the saddle or how to start and stop safely, is very poor. Most parents are not regular vehicular cyclists, and pass on bad habits to their kids. Schools pretty much discourage kids from riding to and from school, and provide no training. A lot of cycling safety information pretty much begins and ends with "wear a helmet". I was once essentially thrown out of a training course for cycling trainers for objecting to the instructor's recommendation that it was OK to teach people to ride through Stop signs/lines, or ignore other road rules, "when it was safe". With the very rare exception of intentional vehicular homicide, every road-accident occurs between vehicles piloted by people doing what they thought was safe.

The cycle-trade is pretty bad with regard to legal road cycling. The average bike-shop is quite happy to sell someone a bike that it is not legal to ride on the road, without warning the purchaser of that fact.
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Inlander

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I don't have a driver's licence, much less a car, and I get everywhere I need to get in the city by cycling or using public transport. In Melbourne the conflict between cyclists and motorists has been simmering for a long time, even as the inner-city councils have gone out of their way to become more bike-friendly (the growth of cycling infrastructure in the inner city even since I moved here in 2004 has been astounding). I don't have much experience with riding on the road in other cities (I grew up in Canberra which has an excellent and extensive network of bike paths almost all of which are at some remove from the road), but I can report that the problem of cyclists ignoring road rules in Melbourne is near-epidemic. It makes me so angry, because on the one hand the cycling community is demanding to be treated with more respect by motorists - and fair enough - but on the other hand there's absolutely no pressure within the cycling community to ensure that cyclists actually behave like law-abiding road users.

This is one of the reasons why I really, really dislike Critical Mass, which seems to go out of its way to make bike-riding as obstructive and as disruptive to motorists as possible. This is not the way to ensure that the single cyclist riding down a busy road is going to be treated with respect and concern by motorists.
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Akima

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This is one of the reasons why I really, really dislike Critical Mass, which seems to go out of its way to make bike-riding as obstructive and as disruptive to motorists as possible. This is not the way to ensure that the single cyclist riding down a busy road is going to be treated with respect and concern by motorists.
Oh yes. So very much.
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jhocking

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how do i get this much misunderstood  :psyduck:

y'know I just thought of something. I've never been to Turkey but I hear the roads there are a lot like Egypt was, and in Egypt dangerous driving was the norm. Which doesn't make it any less dangerous, but people just don't think it is. The government (and thus the people living there) just doesn't give a shit about traffic safety. The driving test was laughable and there literally weren't any signs or lane markings on the roads; sometimes there wasn't even really a division separating the two sides of the road.

I wasn't quite old enough to drive back then but I'm sure that experience is why to this day I don't take road amenities for granted. A lot of people don't really grasp what driving is like without road crews maintaining the roads. And this isn't just foreign countries that don't think things through traffic-wise; I already mentioned how onramps around Pittsburgh have stop signs.

Or come to think of it how a lot of people think it is normal to drive like assholes around cyclists. Nobody ever told them otherwise.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 18:00 by jhocking »
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calenlass

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When you are turning (American) right onto another 2-lane road and you want to be in that road's left lane, but the rightmost lane is designated just for you, and there is a sign that says "keep moving", DO. NOT. STOP. Just because you want to change lanes and there is cross traffic in your way does not mean you can block all the people behind you, especially when you have your own fucking lane.

If I hit you because you stopped, it actually might be your fault. Suck on that, KSU students.
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Joseph

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This is one of the reasons why I really, really dislike Critical Mass, which seems to go out of its way to make bike-riding as obstructive and as disruptive to motorists as possible. This is not the way to ensure that the single cyclist riding down a busy road is going to be treated with respect and concern by motorists.

Critical Mass also becomes one of the only occasions where cyclists end up being privileged on the roads, and even then it's only due to the strength of their numbers, not due to general societal perceptions, the typical designs of modern cities, and road laws in many areas, all of which highly favour those who drive over those who cycle. Critical Mass serves as a communicating point and organizing event for cycling activists, alerts those distanced from any cycling community to such a community's existence in a very high profile way, and serves, all things considered, as a very pacifistic but effective means of social protest for some activists. It gives cyclists in many cities a rare opportunity to actually feel safe and in charge on the road, and in some places, such as Vancouver, it has become a giant event, accepted by wider communities. The inconvenience to drivers is, all things considered, quite minimal; they are looking, at most, to lose ten or fifteen minutes in their trip.

I agree that it is perhaps not the most tactful way to approach people about cycling issues, but I think the problems of the mass are often overstated, and that going through other channels beyond such events is not necessarily going to effectively enact any change. I don't participate often, but the Masses I have been to have been really awesome and inspiring things.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 19:24 by Joseph »
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Is this the right time to say I plan to be critical massing tomorrow?

Edit: to contribute to the discussion, there's a trend amongst cyclists that I first noticed in NY and am starting to notice here as well. People have started wearing protection (helmets, flourescent jackets, etc) consistently while biking, and as a result I've definitely noticed an increase in biking - whether this is due to increased visibility of bikers or an actual increase in numbers I don't know. I think the dedicated bikers have become very aware of their environment and how dangerous biking can be, taking the road very seriously. Here bikers will deride other bikers for not being very safety conscious.
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 19:27 by StaedlerMars »
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You could have just gotten out of the way. From the way you described it, you were in the passing lane and were able to change speed and get next to a semi (a dangerous and stupid thing to do), so it seems as though you could have easily slowed down and move aside to let the car pass. By blocking the car behind you, you were obstructing the flow of traffic.

I really don't get this self-righteous stance that people take against people who tailgate, in that you must obstruct them and slow them down, just to stick it to them. Yes, what they are doing is wrong, but what you're doing is no better and just increases the chance that an accident can happen.

Eh, didn't say I was proud of it.

I'm pretty good about getting out of the way when I can to let people pass.

I know it is a terrible idea, but I want so badly to invest in a whiteboard and marker and keep it in my car, then I can have my passengers write messages to show to the people around me. Not even jerky stuff, since I tend to be pretty easy-going on the road. But stuff like "Hey your taillight is out!" or "Nice job avoiding that dick back there!"
I know it would be bad and distracting but I just want to make the road a friendlier place.

Thinkgeek makes an LED thing for something like that
« Last Edit: 27 Jan 2011, 19:44 by Blue Kitty »
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SonofZ3

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I live in Pittsburgh, well, about 3 miles away from downtown actually, and none of the onramps I can think of have stop signs. Except when the onramp is on a stretch of roadway that is under "road work", then there is a stop sign.
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The Seldom Killer

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Cyclists who illegally block intersections so other cyclists can run through red lights are assholes.

Either get a permit for your cycling parade, or obey the rules of the road.


Firstly it's not a parade. If any formal label should be applied it's a demonstration that seeks to highlight the massive inequity in provision of facilities for cyclists and reclaim the road for the most vulnerable. It should come as no surprise to you that it is happening as it's been happening on the last friday of every month for several years.

Secondly many critical mass rides do have a permit of sorts. In London the police endeavoured to stop Critical Mass but failed when the courts were unable to determine an organiser and considered the event's history to constitute "common and customary" which means that it has a standing permit to happen on the last Friday of every month. I understand this legal position to be the same in other cities and some councils have designated it as an official event (apparently the recognise the benefit to the city).

Come to think of it, in London the police officers are often prepeared to get involved in the road blocking to allow cyclists to disbey red lights. I suppose you could call them assholes but in my experience every officer on a bike at Critical Mass is a lovely, lovely person and an absolute credit to the uniform and society.
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est

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Sometimes at critical mass things here you'll get dickwads who threaten people in cars with bike locks and shit like that.  Generally I don't understand how it's supposed to raise people's opinion of bicyclists when it's a massive pain in the ass and some of the cyclists behave like jerks.
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The Seldom Killer

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I don't attend CM any more on the grounds that est mentioned. The active antagonism is an unsettling aspect of it, rather than the passive antagonism of simply being there. I prefer the approach of direct engagement campaigning and necessarily distance myself from a group that contains people who feel a need to indiscriminately get their own back.

However, with respect to CM obeying the rules of the road, one of the key issues that I think is important is that it highlights that road design, road traffic rules and traffic flow management and policing very rarely consider cyclists, their vulnerabilities and their needs. Whilst I normally operate on a philosophy that if you don't like rules you should change them not break them, a nodal demonstration that you aren't always going to simply lie down and take it. For this reason I value the existence of CM, even if I'm not going to participate.

And moving on with the subject of road design etc, the business of road traffic planning and management is immense, even in these austere times. Huge resources are constantly expended on pursuing some unobtainable nirvana of free flowing traffic for all at all times, yet since we started building bypasses, expanded roads and other congestion relief measures in the 1930's we have experienced little to no success at all. But parallel to those 80 years of failure, efforts to expand cycle networks and improve other forms of sustainable transport have shown some success. I'm of the opinion that it is perhaps time to stop pandering to the desires of motorists and try something different. In the words of the former Mayor of Bogata - Eric Penalosa Traffic jams are not always bad. The priority is not always to relieve them.They will force people to use public transportation.”
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Inlander

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Roads in the UK are absolutely horrendous for cyclists. When I lived there in 2003 I almost always rode on the footpath (very slowly and carefully and always making way for pedestrians) and I copped a lot of abuse from pedestrians for it, but at the end of the day I'd rather be abused by a pedestrian than almost killed by a bus. It's not just the attitude of the drivers in the UK - though that's appalling, the way people drive around twisty narrow roads like absolute maniacs never ceases to terrify me - but the design of the roads, as mentioned in the previous post: there's basically no shoulder in which a cyclist can ride and put him or herself at a safe distance from drivers.

Roads in Australia, on the other hand, are broader and generally have a wide shoulder and basically I don't think there's any excuse at all for cyclists in Australia not to obey every road rule if they choose to ride on the road.
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The Seldom Killer

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Oddly, I prefer UK roads. I find them more intimate and, in as much as is possible, sympathetic to the countryside. I guess it's a function of having been developed over centuries. I do a lot of long distance cycling, regularly covering over a hundred miles and really love the back roads and the views and feel that they have.

When cycled across Canada I did find that the roads were often quite hostile, functional environments, devoid of any character or care for the surroundings. Shoulders were certainly a mixed blessing. Sometimes very good, other times completely unridable, despite the opinion of other road users.
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KharBevNor

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Man I haven't been cycling for ages. I just use the bus.
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[22:25] Dovey: i don't get sigquoted much
[22:26] Dovey: like, maybe, 4 or 5 times that i know of?
[22:26] Dovey: and at least one of those was a blatant ploy at getting sigquoted

http://panzerdivisio

Scandanavian War Machine

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this has nothing to do with what's been discussed here recently but on my way into work just now I passed a car going down the highway at about a 25 degree angle. I thought it was an illusion at first then, when I realized it wasn't, I thought they were drifting or out of control or something.

nope! just got some fucked up axels or alignment or something. I've never seen anything like it, it was practically driving sideways.
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Quote from: KvP
Also I would like to point out that the combination of Sailor Moon and faux-Kerouac / Sonic Youth spelling is perhaps the purest distillation of what this forum is that we have yet been presented with.

redglasscurls

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The whole bikecapades seems to be winding down now, but can we all agree that there is a difference between these two types of cyclists?
One is riding to get somewhere useful, is aware of his/her surroundings, and chooses routes which are specifically best suited to both their travel path AND safety of everyone else on the road.
The other is riding for health or recreation, usually travels in a large spandex-clad pack, and chooses routes which are "scenic" (aka winding and rural, rendering them invisible until the last minute) or "challenging" (aka very hilly, also rendering them invisible and making sudden downhill braking a dangerous necessity).

Cyclist:                                                                                                                      ASSHOLE:
 
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Denn Du Bist, Was Du Isst   (you are what you eat)
also, related to burning stuff: a friend threw up on a hot water heater once, the vomit steam burned her face. awesome!

ackblom12

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Nah, there is a healthy amount of asshole for both types of cyclist.

This whole argument basically boils down to everyone being an asshole.
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Scandanavian War Machine

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exactly.

we are all gigantic assholes, it's just a matter of perspective and style
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Quote from: KvP
Also I would like to point out that the combination of Sailor Moon and faux-Kerouac / Sonic Youth spelling is perhaps the purest distillation of what this forum is that we have yet been presented with.

The Seldom Killer

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The other is riding for health or recreation, usually travels in a large spandex-clad pack, and chooses routes which are "scenic" (aka winding and rural, rendering them invisible until the last minute) or "challenging" (aka very hilly, also rendering them invisible and making sudden downhill braking a dangerous necessity).


Except what you have posted a picture of there is the tour de france, which is a race held on closed roads so not really any upset to motorists and has spawned this:



Which is a delight to all. The Tour de France is the demonstration of a legitimate professional sport at it's pinnacle and is still regarded as the toughest single discipline event in the world and doesn't warrant criticism.

What you really want is to post a picture of an audax rider, who will go out of their way to ride incredibly long distances such as the 600km ride that I will be doing back and forth across Wales, which is both "scenic" and "challenging". Not only that, I will also be doing toe ride effectively non-stop so will be sleep deprived for much of it as well. We tend to look a lot like this:



Note the heavier than necessary bike along with a stupidly oversized saddlebag that is hand stiched in the Lake District out of some wierdo fabric called cotton duck. Also pay attention to the maptrap, of which we will extol the virtues, at length accompanied by an obscure cycling jersey, silly hat and look of self-satisfied smugness at having cycled across the Barmouth rail bridge in daylight. Audax riding spawns the utter assholery of the highest order.

BTW, this isn't me, this is Rob. I have no idea who he is, but it doesn't take much to tell he's probably an absolute motherfucker.
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Cernunnos

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Cyclist/ASSHOLE



Yeah I would like to add that this is utter nonsense. What kind of fascist doesn't think bikes are suited for recreation? Have you never ridden a bike before? Riding bikes around the countryside is healthy, rewarding, enjoyable recreation in the same way hiking, skiing, kayaking, canoeing etc. are. It's also really good exercise. not being able to handle seeing spandex shorts every once in a while is your problem, not theirs. Long distance exercise cyclists are the least of anybody's worries. Just wait for an opening and go around them. It's not hard.

I say this as a dude who drives.

Some people drive like idiots. Some people bike like idiots. Wearing spandex and taking the scenic route is not idiotic no matter how much it might not be to your taste. Get over it.

 
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Alex C

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As always, being a douche bag tends to come down to one trait more often than not: a misplaced sense of entitlement. This is applicable to many things! For example, are you interested in sexy times with someone? That's okay and normal! Do you think that person pretty much owes it to you? Now you're thinking like a sex offender!
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the ship has Dr. Pepper but not Mr. Pibb; it's an absolute goddamned travesty

sean

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i cant wait for spring to come cause im gonna be the biggest douche on that fixie i found.

(oh yeah btw i did what you all said i should do, i had like 5 or so people contact me, and none of them were the owner of that bike. womp i kinda feel bad for the dude who lost it but eh. plus if i didnt scoop it ive had like 5 people tell me they wanted to scoop it so super womp i am a dick and a bad adult.)
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- 20% of canadians are members of broken social scene

SonofZ3

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Please tell me all you QC cyclists wear at least 1 of those blinking lights that atrap to your arm, or have one on your bike. When it gets to be dusk, people on bikes without lights are ridiculously hard to fucking see from a vehicle. I'm not sure why, but its the truth.
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I've gained nothing from Zen.

redglasscurls

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I'm kind of amused that you've taken from my example that I don't think bikes should be used for fun. Because you are completely wrong! You're taking my saying pretty much exactly what you are (some people on bikes ride like dickheads! other people don't!) and spinning it around for absolutely no valid reason that I can fathom except that everyone is already in an argumentative mood about this.

Wear all the spandex you like and get nice and healthy on your bike. Just don't you dare look at me like I'M the giant douche when I am pinned between your glacial uphill progress and a gigantic SUV roaring up behind me flashing its lights.
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Denn Du Bist, Was Du Isst   (you are what you eat)
also, related to burning stuff: a friend threw up on a hot water heater once, the vomit steam burned her face. awesome!
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