I'm glad I got this off my chest

Things were interesting Sunday when my brakes started rebelling on me... I really felt like a new rider all over again who had no idea how to stop. Thankfully all is well that ends well, but a couple of those intersections I will never look at the same again.

How do most of you treat left hand turns? If I am on a route where, for example, I make a right onto a busy road and have to make a left pretty quickly, say within a block or so, I will often just go ahead and get in the left hand side of the lane instead of waiting - quite close to the centerline.

In a way I've not taken the lane entirely as a car CAN pass me on the right, but it enables me the ability to turn when I need to do so, depending on on-coming traffic of course. I especially do this on roads where past experience has shown that drivers are reluctant to let me over.

I am actually very, very glad that I did this on our ride Sunday, because we hadn't stopped yet since leaving our starting point and I didn't know that I had a brake problem. On THAT street it wouldn't have been good.

I've got to say..... some of the most obnoxious drivers I've encountered have prefaced their remarks with "I bike too"..... One sweet lady decided to try to squeeze past me with about 5 feet to go until a stop sign - and indeed did end up stuck on the wrong side of the road, then told me "I'm a biker too. You are supposed to move over for me". I think I just as sweetly told her just because she might occasionally ride a bike that didn't mean she knew anything about how to do it safely or legally.... I take the lane at intersections.

yeah ... It's pretty common when I'm running to have someone riding a bicycle on the sidewalk run me off into traffic (it's part of how I got injured, actually, and it was a pet peeve of mine BEFORE that...) I usually just yell "Bikes in the road, please."

This spring, after my injury but before most of the complications had set in, I did that, then caught up to the same couple (still on the sidewalk) at a drawbridge. I explained that I'm a rider too, but all they wanted to do was argue about whether it was legal for them to be on the sidewalk in that particular location. Like, rude and dangerous to both themselves and pedestrians isn't enough???

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Originally Posted by Eden

I've got to say..... some of the most obnoxious drivers I've encountered have prefaced their remarks with "I bike too"..... One sweet lady decided to try to squeeze past me with about 5 feet to go until a stop sign - and indeed did end up stuck on the wrong side of the road, then told me "I'm a biker too. You are supposed to move over for me". I think I just as sweetly told her just because she might occasionally ride a bike that didn't mean she knew anything about how to do it safely or legally.... I take the lane at intersections.

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You aren't suggesting that I was obnoxious are you? I told this guy I was a cyclist because I didn't want him to interrupt my comment as just an irate motorist rant against cycling. Certainly I don't think the mere fact that someone rides a bike means that they know the rules of the road, but I know that what this cyclist did was illegal and dangerous.

Here's to civilized communication!

I don't remember if I wrote about it here, but I turned around to go yell at a guy who came close to hitting me head on (he was looking at the guys in the back of his truck) in the University parking lot. I ended up not yelling at all, because he was a huge guy, apologizing profusely and very nearly crying. So I just said, "Watch out for bikes, ok?"

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Originally Posted by indysteel

You aren't suggesting that I was obnoxious are you? I told this guy I was a cyclist because I didn't want him to interrupt my comment as just an irate motorist rant against cycling. Certainly I don't think the mere fact that someone rides a bike means that they know the rules of the road, but I know that what this cyclist did was illegal and dangerous.

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No no no! The guy should not have been running stop signs. Just saying that announcing to someone that you are a cyclist isn't necessarily going to get you a good reaction... it may end up having the opposite affect (even if you are right), because it sets up the person to expect a lecture.

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Originally Posted by Eden

No no no! The guy should not have been running stop signs. Just saying that announcing to someone that you are a cyclist isn't necessarily going to get you a good reaction... it may end up having the opposite affect (even if you are right), because it sets up the person to expect a lecture.

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I see your point, but I think it could go both ways. I think it's just as possible that he would have written me off as the typical motorist who hates cyclists. Would the woman who lectured you have bothered you less if she hadn't shared that she was also cyclist? It seems to me that she would have legitimately annoyed you either way--because she was wrong. Ultimately, whether you are a fellow cyclist or not or whether you share it or not, it pays to be in the right before lecturing someone on a bike.

But thank you for your input. It's definitely food for thought. :)