Bicycle Salmon, How I Despise Thee

[DMC]

I was thinking the same, in a way, but it would be pretty hard to convice someone you are a newbie while wearing spandex on a flashy bike. Luckily, or unluckily, there aren't too many cyclists here that aren't experienced riders, except for those on the sidewalks.

Yeah, I'm fully roadie'd out, so unfortunately that gives me a few disadvantages. One being I look like I know what I'm doing, the other being (in the words of my husband) 'once you put on those bike shorts and cycling shoes, you instantly look like an a$$hole'. (I think I look like a sexy superhero. )

I try to smile and be as friendly as I can, because the cycling community are usually immediately turned off by the roadie/tri contingent. A lot of roadies here are pretty aggressive and it doesn't make people want to listen to me if I throw out too much 'tude. So I try to smile a lot. Even an 'On your left' can get a hostile reaction from the cycling clueless, but if I sound cheery when I say it, it helps.

DMC - I give you a lot of credit...when she tossed you that "whatever" you must have wanted to rip her a new one. I often fantasize about carrying a stash of tennis balls with me to wing at inconsiderate drivers and cyclists.

I always imagine stone cold, knocking someone OUT whenever they are rude enough to say 'whatever'. It is the MOST passive aggressive way to say 'F You'. It is a way of escalating a confrontation under the guise of backing off. Gah, I HATE 'whatever'.

If dudes said 'whatever' to each other the way chicks do, and with the frequency chicks use it...I think a lot of dudes would be getting punched in the mouth.

[alexis_the_tiny]

Here, we don't have bike lanes but we do have bike salmons. Unfortunately, they're usually migrant workers or old folks riding their bikes (sometimes with grandkids on them) on the road. In the wrong direction. Scary as hell but its not nice to freak out at an old person.

The one salmon that really took the cake was this dude, who was riding against traffic on a five lane road absolutely PACKED with cars, weaving back and forth across the lanes (and get this) while sniffing glue.

[lph]

The one salmon that really took the cake was this dude, who was riding against traffic on a five lane road absolutely PACKED with cars, weaving back and forth across the lanes (and get this) while sniffing glue.

Well, at least he had a good excuse to be clueless. (If not glueless). *snork* I need to go home...

[PamNY]

The one salmon that really took the cake was this dude, who was riding against traffic on a five lane road absolutely PACKED with cars, weaving back and forth across the lanes (and get this) while sniffing glue.

Okay, you win the salmon story contest. Sniffing glue? I want a "don't sniff glue" jersey.

[OakLeaf]

Well, I didn't see this cyclist actually partaking of any intoxicants.

But he was up against the narrow concrete divider in the center of the Interstate highway in my town. Riding against traffic, not that that really mattered much in that situation. In an area with heavy traffic and several short on- and off- ramps set close together.

I don't even know how he was able to get there without getting flattened. I called 911 and never heard what happened, but it would've been in the news if he'd been hit.

[emily_in_nc]

We had one going the wrong way on a 6 lane road right across the top of the off-ramp onto the interstate the other morning. At the peak of rush hour. Without a helmet. While drivers were turning right all around him to get onto the ramp.

He did not seem to be sniffing glue, at least.

I literally had to keep blinking to verify that I was actually seeing what I was seeing.

[nikkoblu2]

It is the MOST passive aggressive way to say 'F You'. It is a way of escalating a confrontation under the guise of backing off. Gah, I HATE 'whatever'.

Incredibly well put...maybe that's why I want to knock the living crap out of someone when I hear it. Ya think we NY/NJ girls need to learn to chill a little? Sometimes I wonder, but then I think how polite I am to people when they show courtesy and how apologetic I am if I inconvenience someone else with my faux pas.

Yeah...it's not us...it's them