bizarre bikers?

Reading the comments on that study that showed cars passing closer to someone with a helmet (how's that for a convoluted sentence) made me think a bit about how I perceive other cyclists... and I've got to admit, personally I view anybody biking fast in traffic without a helmet as slightly insane, and give them a wide berth too. No, they're not compulsory here yet, but barrelling down a road at 50 kph with cars a foot or two to your left and more than happy to take you out at the next right turn, without a helmet? I just don't see how they dare...

Which brings me to other, more bizarre behaviour I've observed from fellow bike commuters. Ditto barrelling down a road with heavy traffic - with a child seat with small child in it. Jumping from the sidewalk into the road without checking if the road's clear. Running a red light seconds before crossing traffic (classic, that one). Oh, and a real kicker - using the (very narrow, room for one person only) bike lane on the wrong side of the road. That last one is the only one that will turn me into a real bike nazi and make me yell uncontrollably.

Oh yes, I'm turning into a *****y old woman here. So, how many of you have I now offended? :D

OK, now you've reminded me, so I'm going to gripe about it!

Yesterday I rode up Ashland/Clark in Chicago. Busy street, lots of traffic of the car, pedestrian, and bike varieties. I'm fine on these streets. I feel like I can handle almost anything that comes, short of a car door opening right in front of me.

But someone riding directly at me in the bike lane? Twice I saw a cyclist coming straight at me and started waving my arm, pointing to the other side of the street. Yelled, "WRONG SIDE!" OMG. Scary. One lady just cruised right past me, veering out into (and against) traffic to get around me. The other guy rode up onto the sidewalk. In this part of town, the possibility is decent that you're dealing with someone who's mentally ill, or not from this country. But still. The wrong side of the street? There are bike lanes on both sides. I can't imagine making the decision to ride down the wrong side.

Just as there are plenty of bad drivers, there are bad cyclists and pedestrians too. Oh well. I took a new bike out for a test drive today (I won a TI frame! and I needed to see if their smallest size would fit me - what a cushy ride woweee I am so excited, but back to the story), so I was out on the trail for a mile or so. I came up behind a husband / wife riding big fat tire mt. bikes up the trail side by side, no helmets, wife wobbling around, not looking where she was going, drifting right across the trail directly into the path of an oncoming rider. He of course bellows at her and she moves back over gives her husband a look, they start doing the whaaa whaaa whaaa, what was his problem- stupid road rider - who's he that he thinks he's so great kind of thing. Geeeze, at that point I could no longer hold my tounge and had to point out to her that she was the one in the wrong and had been on the wrong side of the trail after all. I probably should have left off the "you really should be wearing a helmet" part too, but if they are going to ride like that they'll get into an accident sooner or later even if they stay off of the road.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lise

But someone riding directly at me in the bike lane? Twice I saw a cyclist coming straight at me and started waving my arm, pointing to the other side of the street. Yelled, "WRONG SIDE!" OMG. Scary. One lady just cruised right past me, veering out into (and against) traffic to get around me. The other guy rode up onto the sidewalk. In this part of town, the possibility is decent that you're dealing with someone who's mentally ill, or not from this country. But still. The wrong side of the street? There are bike lanes on both sides. I can't imagine making the decision to ride down the wrong side.

---

Many of us might remember the days when it was 'normal' to ride your bike against the traffic, like when you're walking/running. My parents remember those days, I don't. But I've heard that in some cultures (among them Mexico, I think) it's still the case. Cyclings go against the traffic and that's all. Everyone expects them to be there so it's not really a problem. (Although I wonder what fast road cyclists do there...)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lise

But still. The wrong side of the street? There are bike lanes on both sides. I can't imagine making the decision to ride down the wrong side.

---

Part of my reaction is because when I'm out in heavy traffic in the middle of town, I'm so psyched up making sure I'm safe - watching traffic behind me, keeping up a decent speed, keeping an eye on the lights ahead, keeping an eye on idiot pedestrians about to veer out in front me... so when a fellow cyclist blithely ignores the simplest rules of safety and comes freewheeling down the wrong side of the road straight at me with skirts and hair blowing in the wind... steam starts coming out of my ears.

I usually yell WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! too, but I feel like yelling HEY, YOU'RE DEAD!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lph

I usually yell WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! too, but I feel like yelling HEY, YOU'RE DEAD!!

---

I also yell 'wrong side' and point to the other side.

But thankfully it doesn't happen to me very often...

I had a couple of kids (3 kids, 2 bikes) riding against traffic coming at me the other day. They were carrying much too large signs that said "Honk 4 Jesus."
Good grief.
I'm sort of reminded, however, of what I recall is a George Carlin line (although that comedian gets credited with a lot of lines that probably never came from him) regarding cars. He said, basically, that it's funny that everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac, and everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot!
So, yes, I get frustrated at all those cyclists too. I am particularly frustrated by older helmetless roadies who undoubtedly emulate their Euro racing heros of long ago (well, maybe not THAT long ago) who routinely raced sans helmet. Welcome to the 21st Century, I'd like to tell them. We're a little smarter about such things now. But, as long as people still smoke cigarettes, people will still ride helmetless just as they no doubt drive without a seat belt buckled.
So, I thought I'd turn the mirror inwards. What do I do that's bizarre?
Yes, I like to think of myself as a fairly skilled cyclist, but I'm not without my moments. I've ridden off the road while my mind wanders or while watching birds - thankfully, I haven't done that in a few years! I've gotten impatient and run stop signs and red lights. I've ridden the wrong way up one-way streets. I'm promising myself that I'm going to spend time on the rollers this winter to improve my line-holding ability, now that I'm doing a group ride regularly. I probably wiggle a bit too much on the road. And I'm awful when it comes to trail braiding, on those rare times when I'm in the woods, because I never know just how deep that puddle is.

Worst is when you see a bike cop doing any/all of these things. :eek:

What makes my blood boil is that by ignoring the laws, these idiots make the behavior of bikers completely unpredictable to drivers, and thereby make biking less safe for everyone. I obey the laws (grudgingly some times -- I HATE not passing cars waiting for red lights), but I hope that my actions are not then completely unanticipated by the cars on the road. However, unless the driver has seen me on my route, and remembers me (lord knows the driver of the Ford GTO that revs past me most days recognizes me), they don't know what to expect from me.

And what about people wearing unclipped helmets? :confused: Sooo tempting to flip it off their skulls as they zip past on the sidewalk!

SJ

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eden

(I won a TI frame! and I needed to see if their smallest size would fit me - what a cushy ride woweee I am so excited, but back to the story)

---

Raven's wings flutter to attention... completely ignoring the topic of this thread...
Did you mention this somewhere else? Or are you just being nonchalent??
You're so excited - so forget the story - tell us how it was and how'd you get it, and if you just won the frame what have you brought it to life with... wheels, gearing... etc tec...

C'mon Eden - don't keep me in suspense or i'll fall off this here perch!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RoadRaven

Raven's wings flutter to attention... completely ignoring the topic of this thread...
Did you mention this somewhere else? Or are you just being nonchalent??
You're so excited - so forget the story - tell us how it was and how'd you get it, and if you just won the frame what have you brought it to life with... wheels, gearing... etc tec...

C'mon Eden - don't keep me in suspense or i'll fall off this here perch!

---

I should not hijack this thread so I'll start a new one....

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...412#post123412

speaking of crazy bikers...

I saw an unhelmeted idiot hit the side of a parked car today. (Wearing a helmet is Law with a grand total of $40 being charged if you're caught)

The driver was angry and crying because it was her parents car. the biker just got up and rode away!

He was at fault! TOTALLY at fault! as he was treating himself as a pedestrian and she was stopped before he left the other side of the road. But he just left her there!

I did manage to catch up with him on the bikeway. Why? Because he'd stopped to bend back in his now wonky wheel. But he was blocking the entire path! I mean he had his bike sideways and was blocking the path! I'd almost taken him out then!


ARGH!!! People like that should not be riding bikes! Nup nup nup!

THose are the ones I figure already had their car keys taken away.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Geonz

THose are the ones I figure already had their car keys taken away.

---

:D Good point.

(Bye all, I'm going to Greece for two weeks. Great to have found this forum :) )

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lph

Reading the comments on that study that showed cars passing closer to someone with a helmet (how's that for a convoluted sentence) made me think a bit about how I perceive other cyclists... and I've got to admit, personally I view anybody biking fast in traffic without a helmet as slightly insane, and give them a wide berth too. No, they're not compulsory here yet, but barrelling down a road at 50 kph with cars a foot or two to your left and more than happy to take you out at the next right turn, without a helmet? I just don't see how they dare...

Which brings me to other, more bizarre behaviour I've observed from fellow bike commuters. Ditto barrelling down a road with heavy traffic - with a child seat with small child in it. Jumping from the sidewalk into the road without checking if the road's clear. Running a red light seconds before crossing traffic (classic, that one). Oh, and a real kicker - using the (very narrow, room for one person only) bike lane on the wrong side of the road. That last one is the only one that will turn me into a real bike nazi and make me yell uncontrollably.

Oh yes, I'm turning into a *****y old woman here. So, how many of you have I now offended? :D

---

I just spent 2 days in Oslo and was amazed by how few of the many bikers I saw were wearing helmets. No, waitaminit, not helmetS ... A helmet. I saw 1 (one) rider wearing a helmet. There's a rentabike system in Oslo you can subscribe to and get a key to racks full of bikes. I saw a lot of them in use, and apparently nobody thinks to bring a helmet along. I also saw lots of folks on their own private bikes -- still no helmets. And there all those many bikers were, bouncing on and off of sidewalks, zipping and winding through evening traffic, sometimes even by riding in the opposing lane. No wonder lph was inspired to do a rant about crazy bikers. Up here in the "boondocks" we have 2 crazy-biker intersections during student rush hour (when the students on their way to the uni leave the bike trail and swarm every which-way through a roundabout to cross the last road towards campus), but otherwise bikers seem pretty sane. We also have fewer and calmer motorists, although I must say that the car traffic in Oslo didn't seem as dense or aggressive as I remembered it from previous visits. It was the bikers who scared me, not so much for my pedestrian self (although one did cut in front of me across the corner of a sidewalk just as I stepped up onto it from the intersection) as on their behalf.