And a few crazy cyclists ...

[smilingcat]

Just to add another story.

Out riding today and chatted with a man for a while as we climbed. Come to find out he was in a horrible wreck about 18 month ago and just started to ride few month ago. He was hit by a car and cracked three vertebraes... Amazing that the man is not a paraplegic. Then he told me to be careful at stop signs. So I said "oh oh... sounds like you got a ticket?"

He said yup two in last three weeks. You would think he would have learned after near death accident.

Yes around where I live, you will get a ticket for blowing through a stop sign, red lights... And it goes on their driving record. "Hello to higher car insurance!"

Simply amazing,
smilingcat

[badgercat]

Ugggh I so need to vent about the cyclists on/around my campus.

In Madison, WI, where I went for college, many streets went through the campus. Cyclists rode on the street, pedestrians were on the sidewalk... sure, plenty of people broke rules, blew stop signs, etc, but for the most part, cyclists seemed generally... aware.

Now, I'm at the University of Arizona for grad school, and rather than having mostly streets through the campus, there are a lot of wide sidewalks and bike paths, which are CLEARLY MARKED with icons for pedestrians or bicycles. All the time there are people walking in the bike lanes and biking in the pedestrian lanes (my favorite? walking a bike in the bike lane...).

Anyway, the paths through campus are an absolute nightmare during class-times, so I've taken to just riding on the streets. Because of the cycle/pedestrian 'segregation' in Madison, I feel much more in my element dealing with cars than pedestrians. So I merrily ride on the streets, signaling my turns (of course I'm not perfect at remembering but I do most of the time, especially at busy intersections), stopping at signals and stop signs (and getting passed by cyclists who have decided these silly things don't apply to them), yielding to pedestrians crossing, etc. But EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I see AT LEAST one person riding down the street while holding and talking on a cell phone. I even saw someone doing this once while riding AGAINST traffic on a street with no bike lane or shoulder!

I will admit to having talked on a cell phone while riding, once, in Madison. I answered my phone while I was biking on a path on a fairly non-busy side of town at a fairly non-busy time of day, ie I didn't encounter a single other human during the 30 seconds I was on the phone. HOWEVER. Riding down the street, completely ignoring traffic laws, and talking on a cellphone at 5pm in a busy campus area is just... so absurd.

Stuff like this almost makes me embarrassed to be a cyclist here, because I'm completely convinced motorists are probably somehow associating this foolishness with those of us who actually ride RESPONSIBLY and therefore holding some kind of grudge against me. I see dozens of cyclists around campus every day, but I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've seen anyone, not including myself, signal a turn.

Things do seem generally better the farther you get from campus, as you tend to see less of the riff-raff and more serious commuters who tend to take traffic a little more seriously. But still.

ARGH UGH AAAAAAAAGH.

Ok, I'm better now.

[spindizzy]

BSG:

I could not have described the Mental Time Warp as eloquently as you have been. Perfect description. Absolutely perfect!

[badgercat]

Here's another crazy cyclist for you:

It was 9pm, quite dark outside. A guy is biking down the street, no headlight, no taillight, dark clothes, no hands, talking on his cell phone... My boyfriend and I were gaping at this guy's obliviousness to the world as he passed by, and just when we thought we'd seen all manner of oddities on bicycles around here, we noticed what was sticking way out of his run-of-the-mill Timbuk2 messenger bag:
a CHIHUAHUA.

I hate to think what would have happened to the poor dog if s/he had jumped/fallen out of the bag, cuz this guy probably wouldn't have noticed.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

BSG:

I could not have described the Mental Time Warp as eloquently as you have been. Perfect description. Absolutely perfect!

Hey thanks!

Here's another Hazardous Clueless Cyclist report:

A couple days ago my husband and I are riding down one of the beautiful tree lined streets in our little rural town. It's a two lane, two way street with parking allowed on one side and beautiful wide sidewalks and curbs on both sides. Here's an antique 1930's postcard of that very street, and it has not changed all that much:


So, we are riding single file down the right side of the street (the side that allows parking) and of course we have to ride 3 feet out from the "door zone" for safety's sake. No problem so far, still room for cars to pass in both directions.

Up ahead, we see 3 people all going in the same direction as we are: a lady around 55 is actively jogging on the left hand sidewalk, a younger woman (35?) bike riding parallel to her in the street on the LEFT side of the street (going against traffic), and finally a preteen on a bike accompanying them again on the left side of the road but swerving in huge S curves in the left lane, apparently for fun.
I am like freaking out at how careless and irresponsible this whole trio is, and I tell my husband as we approach that I am going to say something.
As we pass them (and at this moment I can only imagine the risk if a passing car or two cars were in the mix as well, going in both directions)...I say politely to them "You should be riding your bikes on the right side of the road, with the traffic".
As we pass, the 35-something woman on her bike calls out after me: "I know! It's ok, I'm riding with my mother who's jogging!"



I was simply speechless as we continued on our way.
Would she do the same thing if she were driving her car instead of her bike??
Doesn't it occur to her that she is creating a dangerous traffic situation for all the rest of us as well??
Why can't the mother just cross the street to jog on the other sidewalk??
And what is all of this teaching the young bike rider, presumably her child??

Egads. People are hopeless.

[Grog]

I saw a guy reading the newspaper while riding his bike on the bike route (shared with cars) yesterday when I was riding home.

He was riding with both hands on the newspaper.

[kfergos]

Grog, I really can't beat yours. But here's my recent ARRRGGGHHH biking story:

One afternoon I'm riding home from work and see another cyclist in the distance. All I can make out at first is that the bike is painted that same neon yellow-green as my Whisper vest. Then as I come closer, I see he's wearing a backpack. I think Cool, another commuter!. Then I get close enough to see he's not wearing a helmet...or a shirt. And he's not one of those guys who can get away with not wearing a shirt. He also has just regular, if remarkably dirty, jeans on, and is riding his bike extremely laboriously considering the terrain. He doesn't look like he's showered recently. At least he's not riding the wrong way.

I call "On your left," pass him, and move on. Then I come to a stop sign, where I stop behind and to the right of the car there. So it's a car ahead and to my left, then me, then a small gap to the sidewalk. I decide to turn right here, so as the car ahead of me goes, I start rolling forward, keeping the gap between me and the curb. All of a sudden, Mr. No Shirt comes (slowly) riding between me and this gap, just as I start to turn right. We nearly had a classic right hook, only with me playing the part of the car! (This just reinforced the fact that cyclists shouldn't creep up along the right of any vehicle.)

I slam on my brakes and shout "Hey!" in surprise. He mumbles something extremely slowly and incomprehensibly -- it sounded like "Ummmufmhmf, fuummll muffhl" -- as if he's got marshmallows in his mouth. I make my escape. Should I be irritated by this apparent drunk's terrifying cycling behavior? Or should I just be grateful he's not behind the wheel of a car?

[blackhillsbiker]

Depending on where you ride here, you often meet either inebriated pedestrians or cyclists. I usually hope they are where I can get off the bike path and pass them on the grass. The bell or "passing you on your left," doesn't do a bit of good. They're completely unpredictable and oblivious.

The other night I came upon a family who had left the bike path to look at something in the creek. They left their bikes and burley on the path, effectively blocking the whole thing. Sigh.

[cylegoddess]

'I will usually ride over a crosswalk, but I slow down to a almost complete stop, catch the drivers eye and give him a nod or wave before I start pedalling again.' Me too.

I asked one person why she hated cyclists) on facebook) so much and she said, on the parkway( which is zoned for cycling, both on path and in one lane) - she saw a dad with two kids, on bikes. No helmets and the bikes had TRAINING WHEELS!!!

When I rode in the Tour de Femme, sunday on that same parkway, there was a line of cyclists about a km long. So no one could MISS that the race went thru ( plus numerous signs). We were allowed one lane, but kept well to side, in bike path mostly. BUT even then, these totally aggressive cars trying to CUT IN between the groups, to pass people. I was pretty afraid, also as old people were riding and being downhill, somewhat fast ( 23 km), plus dont ride on streets much.
Oh man, when Im queen of the world someone will hear about that!!
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