Cyclists

cant stand em..self rightous pratts...really hate it when they ride three abreast! why?

I don't have any problem with them, and I live in one of the global meccas of bicycling. Every wall you look at here in the agency has a line of bicycles leaning against it. After work and on the weekends, there are hundreds of riders out on the plains and thousands up in the mountains.

Meh. Just another thing to deal with, but much less likely than the cagers, deer, sand, or transmission fluid on the road to kill me. The biggest danger to bicycles isn't the bikers themselves, it's impatient assholes in cars whipping into my lane to pass them. They do that right before a blind corner I'm coming around and it could get ugly.

And it's illegal here for them to ride more than 1 abreast, so we don't have the 3-across problem.

OKKKK, I live in the same place as Dmega..... and I ride the same raods.... and this is my only gripe!!!! The peddelers expect to have the same rights on the road, withch is fine by me.. BUT!!!! They DONT have to pay the license fees, tax of fuel "maybe it should be $1 on redbull ".... nO RTV tak on tyres, nothing..... when the pay for the roads they ride on I will give them the room.... until then i paid for there fookin lane and I will pass cagers in it

I have had a few runs ins with cyclists thinking they rule the road. They might wear helmets but mine is better and harder!!

I also come from a MX background and always have my elbows out and they are padded.

To sum up I still have to lose an argument with a cyclist!!!!

Out here in sunny So. California we have our share of cyclists and a lot of them ride the same canyon roads we ride. I find them to be no more or less a nuisance than the cagers , cruisers and other denizens of the road. I have been saved from a ticket more than once by a bicyclist giving me the " speed trap ahead " signal. True , some of them give in to the pack mentality and seen to think that majority rules so they can ride three or more wide. ( I have seen this happen with motorcyclists too )

Kuerbis

I ride my bicycles on public roads - sometimes to work, sometimes for fun/exercise - someone "buzzes" me they get their mirror snapped off or worse. I've been knocked down by idiot cagers before - I realise nobody gives a flying fook about cyclists. Bad move. W We all have phones with cameras. Some of us even have guns. As a motorcyclist, a cyclist, a gun owner, and an auto driver, I have the right (in the US) to space as anyone else on the road. The attitude you get from cyclists is due to the attitude I'm reading about here. If auto & truck drivers acted the same way towards motorcycles, how would that feel? It's not about registration or taxes or fuel - it's about respecting your fellow man's rights & transportation mode. A car or bike can kill a cyclist, what can a cyclist do to you? Make you feel weak? Old? Out of shape? A cyclist certainly cannot knock you over or run you off the road. There are cyclists (like motorcyclists) that show poor judgement & and disregard of the rules - doesn't mean they're all bad.
Try to be human & share the road, maybe a cyclist will thank you, instead of cursing you.

no religion here mate,

after all.. when you are a ghost.. then of what use to you is religion?

I point nothing but the carelessness of humanity at anyone/no one.

ultimately i am trying to convey to be less self centered,

each one of us, not to strive to better or more righteous but to be peacemakers, this is the message i carry.

(PS, you must notice the "?" to get the intended meaning Rob)..

OOOOOOOOhhhhhh right Glad i asked now
P.S......i'm depressed Sunday, free time, and it's fookin rainin!!!!

Have seen on more than the odd occasion some feckwit in a car overtake a cyclist and go right into the opposite lane right before a bend in the road. It's 2@'s like that which are going to create a head on crash. Why the feck can't they wait a few seconds until after they've gotten around the bend and then when safe overtake the cyclist. I honestly believe they don't know how dangerous they are....it's my latest pet hate

Because they are more important than you are, and couldn't possibly be delayed to their destination, or interrupted in having to look away from their phone while texting and passing the cyclist.

Not limited to passing cyclists either. Objects in the road, pedestrians, whatever.

The reality - as fooked up as it is - cagers, if they see you at all, perceive the space in the roadway you aren't using, is theirs to take up whatever amount of your lane you aren't occupying. Regardless conditions, or whether it's a no-passing stretch, or other legal violation ...

I see the same at intersections where feeder streets enter a main thoroughfare, people are less likely to stop completely if you're on a bike, and more heinously - because most are pathetic at judging a motorcycle's velocity and/or properly looking before a turn (in fairness it is more difficult - and some of us tend to ride them faster than perhaps we should ) - will simply pull out in front of you.

What do I do? Particularly on surface streets - I do use the left wheel track, (right over there I suppose), but don't constrain myself to it. Mainly, whatever possible to increase my visibility (hi beams in daytime, or flashing them at potentially oblivious oncomers); my horn is my friend; and always, always, always try to ensure I have an "escape route".

Kudos to all of you for not blaming the cyclist for being on the road. Cyclists are in a tough spot when congestion increases; every time I commute by pedal I feel like I take my life in my hands. Going 30mph on the shoulder of the road with no gear other than gloves and helmet, and people's attitudes about sharing the road are not always civil.

I recall a long thread on everyone's favorite social media site recently (not SDnet, the other one ). Someone complained about cyclists splitting lanes during heavy congestion downtown (something I have been doing for 20 years, it is legal and common here), and other people started chiming in about how much they hated spandex, blah blah blah, and it descended into fantasies about running people over. This was a discussion among "young urban professionals" who probably drive BMWs, and my point being that a luxurious BMW interior is not a place where one should be stressed out. But SDnerd nailed it, they are more important than you are, so don't get in the way.

I think everyone should pedal a bike every once in awhile. Live longer, sleep better, have sex more often... what's not to like? Oh, right, the spandex.

All in all I would say that we get along well. The bad apples that try and spoil the bunch are about as few and far between as motorcyclists. I think sometimes that they are the purist two wheeled entertainment and I for one include them in my bro category. At least they are out there and I rarely see one texting.
As Nerd says it does not take a cyclist to cause oppisite direction lane sharing, or is that stealing, sometimes a little more steering input is too much for a driver and they shape a new corner to save themselves the extra trouble of turning the wheel. I tend to stay in a single track far away from the center unless I'm craving some carving. It is just too risky these days.

I have my own suite of "pushbikes", and also appreciate the survival challenges in their use. I don't like being victimized any more than anyone else as a result of their use, or due to others using them.

I'm not going to go down the path of hating those in too much lycra, on their $10K plastic pretzels with wheels ... Mainly because there is no shortage of analogs on motorbikes, who are even more annoying (and without any doubt, some are registered here). Just because you own two wheels attached to a motor, doesn't make you my "bro".

Here, they are stuffing in "bike lanes" everywhere. Not that cyclists adhere to them, nor do cagers stay out of them. All it's really done - when occupied (albeit rarely, where we have >300 sunny days/year, temps only very rarely below 40F) - is encourage cagers to come that much further into the opposite lane when "only" a motorcycle is coming down the road.

It's really about a total lack of courtesy, perversely combined with a sense of entitlement and no understanding of personal responsibility. Then, we give these same people a license to operate just about anything, which in turn, choose to roll down the road in a 3+ ton vehicle crammed with airbags, and somehow expect civility !?! Maybe gas should be taxed like cigarettes - up to say, $20/gal. or more - unless you truly need that large a vehicle to ply your trade. Yep, if vehicles were taxed by the pound (like large commercial vehicles effectively are), the roadways would be different and better place.

Government want to somehow screen people for mental illness for firearms purchases - why not for vehicle operator's licenses? In 2012 nearly 35K people were killed in vehicles, compared to 9K homicides by firearms for the same year. This, in a country where the number of motor vehicles per capita is about equal to that of firearms ownership (not joking - it's nearly 1:1:1). Neither of these numbers include non-fatal injuries. What's also amusing (but anything but funny), is that until about 10 years ago, the number of fatalities per unit distance traveled was decreasing. Since then those numbers more or less plateaued, but have increased slightly in the last few years. Is anyone surprised? Care to guess the cause? Hint: It ain't booze.

More out of town (2-lanes, no divider), we have an ever increasing number of "Share the Road" signs. IMO - that's the way it should be: The roads are for all.

What a nancy!...?

I think its a weak justification for having shaved legs..

Well comrades: I just ride my bike for the extra sex. Unfortunately, the formula doesn't seem to be working. Maybe the lycra makes me look like the Michelin man

I can't be bothered to get into the proper debate about this. I'm a cyclist and also a biker. There are cyclist wankers out there but also good guys. What ever.

I'm currently living in Southern France and staying at a place where we have just had a long discussion about politics, race and religion.

Cyclists are, to me, the equivalent of Jehovah's Witnesses. They are present but pose no serious risk to myself or others and mean well. There are a lot more problems on the road and to focus on them is pointless and misguided.

Well argued, rational and sincere response. I take back the pejorative nature of my post as I find little to disagree with in what you just wrote.

Personally I find it helpful to assume nobody on the road has seen me and that they are all capable of doing lethally stupid things at any time regardless of the nature of vehicle they are piloting. It's all part of the dangerous game we choose to play.

I have no plans. The plan is to have no plans

I don't even know what we are doing tomorrow morning. But I know two things.....

We are heading across the Pyrenees in a few days into Spain.

But it might be a few more days after that because we are having such a good time.

And the French are seriously into their bikes. Big time. Respect to them. They are all over the place with their modified, street hooligan, big bore bikes, riding with no leathers, T shirts and sunglasses. Absolute nutters. On the way down from Calais to Dordogne we saw no less than four bike related accidents on the highways.

Oh, forgot to say.

We are near Pau, in South Western France near the Spanish border.

There are few more hilarious then the Jehovah's witnesses, e.g. the brethren. Not sure if they are as widespread but common in New Zealand.
They are good business people but have some funny ticks. Like they can't eat with non of their church people so we used to insist they have tea and biscuits when they came in the shop.
Also they are not allowed to wear a tie (probably so they wouldn't harm themselves) so up went the sign " no tie, no service!"
I could go on....

Anyway if you are in the south of France enjoy summer there, I still rate it one of the best places to enjoy the summer season.
That is till it get spoiled soon with the Lycra clad mob from the tour de farce!
If you don't hate them yet, you soon will!

[quote="81forest"]Kudos to all of you for not blaming the cyclist for being on the road. Cyclists are in a tough spot when congestion increases; every time I commute by pedal I feel like I take my life in my hands. Going 30mph on the shoulder of the road with no gear other than gloves and helmet, and people's attitudes about sharing the road are not always civil.


I absolutely do blame the cyclists , we have the tour de france through our town this week , shortly after that the local fags will be out in their spandex 4 bikes wide trying to create the peloton and so sending the car drivers onto the other side of the road for me
absolute fooking pricks , all of those particular people should be skittled.....

The best one so far!

Fook the smug bastards and the bikes they rode in on.

I am not against bicyclists, per se. But, I have a huge problem with stupidity. Doing stupid things on a bicycle will get you killed. In this one instance, Darwinism still exists. Riding on twisty mountain roads - stupid. Riding two or more abreast on said roads - even stupider. Trying to block traffic with you peddle bike - retarded.

While I don't frequent them the way I used to, there are miles and miles of DEDICATED bike trails in CA. They meander through some of the most beautiful parts of this state. And for the most part, are completely deserted. Rather, the fuckwits prefer riding through tight mountain passes, those frequented by Ricky and Speed Racer on their crotchrockets and sportscars, respectively, and want me to feel sorry for them when they get their stupid asses run over. I don't. Thankfully, Darwin lives on.

The dumb cunt that takes them out with her SUV will escape any form of retribution and will live to kill again. That is the only sad point of the whole affair.

As far as bicyclists getting more sex, that has been scientifically disproved. You poor bastards are far more likely to become impudent. http://www.webmd.com/men/features/bikin ... -real-risk