Something to ponder....

[Running Mommy]

What are your thoughts on this article? Personally I think it was very well written. Very even IMO

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS/705160351/1033/NEWS01

[Zen]

Heres another view of Critical Mass.
http://video.bicycling.com/item/K298K5J9KYK856LJ

[IntenseRide]

As I was watching the video, I kept hearing this 'hippy' song in my head, I think it was by the Youngbloods in the 60's:


Come on people now
smile on your brother
everybody get together
try to love one another right now


Wouldn't it be neat if we could just do that? But, I think that will only happen when women rule this world, even the song left us out.

[RoadRaven]

DISCLAIMER and Pre-Apology... no offence intended: this is not a personal comment directed at IntenseRide, but rather an observation having heard many "when women rule the world" comments



I'm afraid the cynic in me says bigots and facists come in both genders...

A comment like th one above

"I think that will only happen when women rule this world"

makes me think of "great" women leaders...

Benazir Bhutto... Maggie Thatcher... Golda Mair...



Oh... and RM... very interesting article you have found. I think my response to that is that local and central governments need to educate "the general public" about cycling benifits... family/personal healt/environment/sustainability etc etc etc...
Just like they have in this country with alcohol and education.
It can't be left to cyclists to change the minds of road-ragers...
Thank you for posting - very thought-provoking

[Crankin]

I agree whole heartedly with the article. I am constantly annoyed at the bad cycling behavior of the many groups that come out to my area to ride. Blatant disregard for the rules of the road on the part of many! Yes, I have encountered stupid motorists, but considering how much I ride, it's not THAT many.
I try to do my part when I lead rides in that I am a stickler for single file riding. Many towns around here are ticketing cyclists for riding 2 abreast. Some people still do not listen. Yes, we need to educate both sides.

[SheFly]

I, too, thought that the article was very well written. Often, as a driver, I am annoyed by cyclists in our area who do not obey the laws of the road. Sadly, it is these few who give the rest of us a bad name. As a ride leader or participant, I am very aware of traffic and the traffic laws, and do my best to have everyone in the group abide by the rules.

I have also been guilty of becoming angry with motorists who sometimes do really stupid things, putting me in danger. However, often those motorists are not aware that they are doing anything wrong - I truly believe that many think I am a recreational cyclist just putting along, so they can easily turn left/right in front of me with no consquence. They have no idea that I am either moving at the same speed as traffic, or just slightly below. However, flipping off a motorist, yelling at them, pounding on their cars - those reflect more badly on us as cyclists than doing nothing.

Watching the video actually made me pretty angry at the cyclists! The fact that the woman actually got out of the van was astounding, given the mob mentality and what was happening.

The short of it is that we should all think of ourselves as ambassadors. Don't give motorists any reason to perpetuate the thought that all cyclists are jerks. If someone does something to you that is offensive or dangerous, don't react negatively (you can try just smiling and waving, and then curse under your breath ;) ).

Now if only we could all get along ;) .

SheFly

[missymaya]

When I ride with my ladies group and by myself, I try to obey the road laws as much as possible, even though, I will admit, I have made some mistakes. But, when I ride with the Saturday group, they have no regard for the rules, both law and unwritten such as being polite. They run red lights, take entire lanes (which is ok when there is no traffic but during high traffic hours, no way), no signals, etc and it really has put me in a bind. I want to get faster and the Sat. ride is a great training ride for speed, but without any regards for the road rules, it makes the ride very unsafe promotes bad cycling behavior.
When watching the video, I was appalled at Critical Mass when they confronted the driver. Yes, he ran over a bicycle and they should be angry, but don't go nuts and form a mob! Call the cops, get a license plate # and a description and make sure that no one is injured. What if that guy had a gun or got out and started being violent?
Also, I was a little t'd off as to how they were riding, taking up entire lanes (not just one but multiple lanes), slowing the flow of traffic and what would be considered in FL as committing traffic violations.
As what others have said earlier, we all need to be considerate and behave in a appropriate manner that promotes cycling as a positive acitivity.

[IntenseRide]

DISCLAIMER and Pre-Apology... no offence intended: this is not a personal comment directed at IntenseRide, but rather an observation having heard many "when women rule the world" comments



I'm afraid the cynic in me says bigots and facists come in both genders...

A comment like th one above

"I think that will only happen when women rule this world"

makes me think of "great" women leaders...

Benazir Bhutto... Maggie Thatcher... Golda Mair...



Oh... and RM... very interesting article you have found. I think my response to that is that local and central governments need to educate "the general public" about cycling benifits... family/personal healt/environment/sustainability etc etc etc...
Just like they have in this country with alcohol and education.
It can't be left to cyclists to change the minds of road-ragers...
Thank you for posting - very thought-provoking


No offense taken :) , you said it better then I.

I felt sorry for the older woman getting out of the van also. She looked confused, along with the driver. I kept thinking about my grandparents. This Saturday is my first ride on the road with a group of people, and I know that I don't know 'everything' about road riding laws. That's where if people would just be charitable to one another, give a little bit of slack, it would go a long way. I don't expect anything more then common sense and courtesy, but since the vehicle outweighs me by probably 4,000 pounds, I think I should probably be the one that is extra cautious. But...I'm still going to wear my "Female Planet" t-shirt :p

[Geonz]

Oh, that article was well written - not *objectively* written (heavens, in this decade?) but well written in that it manipulates the reader well.
The cyclists were "an angry mob," the motorists "terrorized." yes, there was a token disclaimer that of course the author doesn't *know* what the drivers were doing ... besides being in a car and therefore at a huge advantage, but we'll ignore that, too... can we say "slanted from the start?"

I completely agree that the mob thing doesn't help anybody. I was *very* relieved that our Ride of Silence folks broke up into subgroups because of stop signs and red lights, and aggravated when at least one passerby was sure we were a critical mass ride.
I'd said at the beginning of our ride that we were about sharing the road; that yes, there was a temptation when being a big enough group that it was harder to "mess with us" to fall into riding as if we were the only ones on the road, but that we should avoid that temptation if only because that "we're in power and so we don't have to care if we hurt you" attitude is what we're trying to stop.

[RoadRaven]

This Saturday is my first ride on the road with a group of people

Really? Way to go! When you get with a friendly group of riders, it can be so much fun (and of course, usually, much safer because you are more visible! Looking forward to hearing how it goes/went for you :)

[bikerchick68]

wow. that video is something else. It's got me just shaking my head.

WHAT was the guy with 2 small children doing getting right up there and involved with it while holding his kids??? It's one thing if you want to get in a confrontation as an adult... but to get your kids into it. I wouldn't be surprised if riding scares them now. THAT incident will be part of what they associate cycling with. wow.

a lot of poor decisions were made by a lot of people involved from what that video shows.

[Shatteredshards]

Oh, that article was well written - not *objectively* written (heavens, in this decade?) but well written in that it manipulates the reader well.
The cyclists were "an angry mob," the motorists "terrorized." yes, there was a token disclaimer that of course the author doesn't *know* what the drivers were doing ... besides being in a car and therefore at a huge advantage, but we'll ignore that, too... can we say "slanted from the start?"

Watch the video - it just happens to be of the second incident with the 72 year old man and his wife.

It shows multiple cyclists ignoring rules of the road (going straight in marked turn only lanes, for example), it shows this man's van surrounded by cyclists before he attempts to move forward slightly and consequently starts to run over cycles that do not have people on them, it shows cyclists cussing him out and trying to pull his door open, it shows some cyclist yelling at him that he's running over people in attempt to scare him when he really isn't.

After seeing that video, I don't think it's slanted at all.

[Mr. Bloom]

I agree whole heartedly with the article. I am constantly annoyed at the bad cycling behavior of the many groups that come out to my area to ride. Blatant disregard for the rules of the road on the part of many! Yes, I have encountered stupid motorists, but considering how much I ride, it's not THAT many.
I try to do my part when I lead rides in that I am a stickler for single file riding. Many towns around here are ticketing cyclists for riding 2 abreast. Some people still do not listen. Yes, we need to educate both sides.

Amen!

I don't know what some folks think...if a 150 lb cyclist wants to truly provoke the driver of a 2,000lb car, we know who loses. Silver and I debate this frequently as she "asserts her rights to the road"...this is one area where I'm more conservative than she is.

In Indiana, cyclists can legally ride in 2's side by side...but Everything is permissible...not everything is beneficial.

[Mel_bikes]

I think people are overlooking the fact that few drivers are obeying the laws. We are experiencing a huge number or red light runners right now. You can't go when the light turns green, you must check. People are just frustrated with traffic. They don't identify with being part of the problem.

I was talking to some women about my riding when they mentioned how they cyclists hold them up, these are 30mph windy scenic streets. All the while complaining that everyone including them are doing 10 over the limit. DON'T people realize everyone needs to be responsible for each others safety.

My community is a destination for cycling, even with these issues it really is very considerate and I haven't had problems with drivers, the comments made me realize that these people don't realize MY LIFE and their children's depend on them following the laws.

[Thorn]

But, doesn't it all come back to the adage of it only taking one to make everyone look bad?

Knowing that our planned ride today had a couple mile stretch on a multi-use paved path and that the trail can have a lot of walkers on pretty days, we left early. Best laid plans and all that--a mile of the trail was being used for an organized walk, but, the trail was not closed. We were allowed to continue (which was good as at that point you're looking at a 5+ mile detour on some pretty nasty roads).

The trail at that point is about 10' wide and the walkers were all approaching us. We road slow (well under 10mph), stuck to the far right edge and kept an alert eye for humans under 3' tall, and proceeded with caution. We probably passed more than 100 walkers. Almost all of them were pleasant (ooh...lookie junior...a bike). One or two were not. The path was theirs to walk 6 abreast and we were to use the grass (seriously).

As we road on after that, I paused long enough to realize that 90% of those walkers and us coexisted just fine. 5% were oblivious and caused a few minor irritations and less than 5% were just rude. Yet, until I stopped to think about it, in my mind I had labelled those 90% with the same brush that I labelled the rude ones.

My point? How many cars don't see the 90% of us that obey the rules of the road, switch to single file in traffic and actually wait at red lights? They only see the 5% that ride 2 abreast in heavy traffic, run red lights and cut across intersections in unsafe manners? While I can agree with some of the basic tenets of Critical Mass, their approach is the rude 5%--in trying to make a point, they label all of us with a very bad brush.

Which asks the next question...in the Critical Mass movement are 90% well-intentioned and only 5% those we hear about?

[Tri Girl]

After doing yesterday's Bike to Work ride, I can understand how motorists get angry and upset with bikers. They were riding 4-5 abreast, taking both lanes of westbound traffic, some even crossing the double yellow line (most of those offenses were by recreational riders tho- but still). Even in large groups, cyclists need to remember to be considerate of drivers. We were seriously holding up traffic, and as such, I decided to ditch the group and ride alone on the way back. We get a bad enough rap as it is, and we don't need any negative publicity. Most of us are considerate of traffic, but like everything, a few bad apples ruin the bunch.

Oh- and those critical mass rides seem like a disaster waiting to happen IMO. Scary.

[northstar]

+1 agreeing with the article.

Today as I was stopped at a stoplight, a car pulled up beside me, window down. He wanted to turn right, so I asked him if he could see past me. He said he could and thanked me for following the rules of the road.

It's nice to be appreciated. I gave us some good PR today. ;)