I Hate Bicyclists

Off Topic
21

I cycle daily in London, UK and sometimes I think I’m the only cyclist who has lights, stops at red lights, indicates, uses cycle paths when they are a) there b) safe and doesn’t wear spandex - I’m also not gay :wink:

As for the cycle path safety problem: here, they are often interrupted by street lamps and signs and bus stations. There is a UK website showing some of the most gruelling street designers’ faults - I’ll post it when I find it. What I’m trying to say is that I’ve seen the argument that separating bike and car traffic by taking the cyclists of the streets can actually increase the danger of accidents when the lanes suddenly join for crossings - as car drivers often don’t see you.

Visibility is indeed a problem, and in the last 5 years, I have been doored twice (flew over a car door opened with the driver/passenger not looking) and had 2 close collisions on a roundabout with car drivers who took my right of way because they just didn’t see me (perhaps I should wear yellow spandex).

On the other hand: I don’t like pseudo-racer-cyclists who try to ride races in city traffic. I fear going on country roads, as car traffic tends to be really fast and the lanes are much narrower.

I drive (car and bike) defensively as I know that traffic is dangerous - I had to on more than one occasion give first aid and I carry a first aid pack with me on the bike at all times.

I agree with earlier posters that it’s not the job of other traffic participants to chastise (verbally or by blocking) others - it’s the police’s job and it only makes traffic more dangerous.

Makkun

22

[quote]Blood is Metal wrote:
I do feel that the majority of these guys really do feel they own the road and don’t need to have any regard for much larger vehicles. However, I know a couple personally that are pretty cool guys. So I know it’s not all of them.[/quote]

I guess I can only speak for TX, but cyclists don’t seem to realize that riding on the road makes them subject to the same rules — especially regarding traffic lights and stop signs. They just ride right through them all the time.

The cycle douches seem to want their cake and eat it too. They want the rights to the road, but they also want to have the right to ignore the same traffic laws followed by other vehicles.

The brutally crass part of me can only hope for some social Darwinism to intervene in the cases of C’s running lights and such. The only downside is that the person driving the car or truck that ploughs into one of these MFs will be scarred for life and probably sued or something.

23

[quote]simon-hecubus wrote:
Blood is Metal wrote:
I do feel that the majority of these guys really do feel they own the road and don’t need to have any regard for much larger vehicles. However, I know a couple personally that are pretty cool guys. So I know it’s not all of them.

I guess I can only speak for TX, but cyclists don’t seem to realize that riding on the road makes them subject to the same rules — especially regarding traffic lights and stop signs. They just ride right through them all the time.

The cycle douches seem to want their cake and eat it too. They want the rights to the road, but they also want to have the right to ignore the same traffic laws followed by other vehicles.

The brutally crass part of me can only hope for some social Darwinism to intervene in the cases of C’s running lights and such. The only downside is that the person driving the car or truck that ploughs into one of these MFs will be scarred for life and probably sued or something.[/quote]

Agreed, there is nothing worse than being a hypocrite and a lot of cyclists need to learn this. I try to follow the rules as much as possible when riding, although there are some cases where bending the rules a bit actually helps keep the traffic flowing and gets me out of danger.

Where I live there are also some “special” rules for cyclists such as performing a “hook turn” i.e. turning right from the left hand lane (in the USA this would be left turn from the right hand lane). This is to stop the cyclist having to merge across lanes to turn right, thus holding up even more traffic, so sometimes cyclists are allowed to do some crazy things withing the law!

24

Way too much whining goes on here. Don’t you guys have more important things to worry about then bicyclists?

Cyclists are trying to get exersize, and in other countries it’s the standard mode of transportation. If there were more cyclists and less motorists, we’d have less fat people and lower gas prices.

25

[quote]NuclearArms wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Dude… I’ve had cars honk at me, curse at me, stick the finger out the window, etc. I wasnt even in the road.

Yeah, I’ve found that the vast majority of these drivers turn into total cowards that piss their pants when I ride up to their window at the next traffic stop, especially the ‘finger’ dudes. I had one guy who actually started crying when I offered to trade him his keys for his finger. Probably had something to do with the rusty pair of diagonal pliers that I had pulled from my tool kit and was opening and closing in his face.

Usually, though, I get enough satisfaction from doing the key grab and riding off.
So what do you do? Smile complacently from your bike path, thinking “Wow, they sure put me in my place?”[/quote]

Do you just cycle around looking for trouble? You keep that behaviour up and you are going to run into someone that will trade you a severe beating for his keys back. Not necessarily joe pesci from goodfellas, but maybe just someone having a real bad day that doesn’t take to having his keys taken away by a road hogging cyclist.

26

Amazing - we actually have a thread here that makes both (some) bicyclists and (many) drivers look like idiots.
I used to do a lot of cycling. I had good skills and hugged the right side as best I could. One time, a driver chucked a heavy glass bottle out a window, missing me by inches. If I’d had a gun, I’d probably still be in prison.

I rode in organized rides where the custom was for the person in back of a line to alert the cyclists in front of an oncoming car. Everyone would go to single file on the right. I also have to admit that I agree with Zap that unskilled and rude cyclists piss me off.

Many cyclists lobbied hard for bike lanes and trails over the years. No damn excuse not to use them.

27

i’ve done alot of cycling, just over 100,000 miles the last 10 years, and most cyclists you see, like 98%, are posers and the incidents described in this thread are roughly equivalent to the “squat rack curls” thread.

so when you see them, expect that they are idiots, and will therefore behave like idiots, and their behavior will infuriate you less.

the #1 thing that’s wrong with these people is they aren’t fast. if you’re gonna cut into traffic you gotta be fast. fast enough to keep pace with the line you’re cuttin into. fast enough break from the traffic light before they dump a coolatta on your head. fast enough to fucking disappear after you cleat that guy’s brand new ram srt.

28

[quote]simon-hecubus wrote:
Blood is Metal wrote:
I do feel that the majority of these guys really do feel they own the road and don’t need to have any regard for much larger vehicles. However, I know a couple personally that are pretty cool guys. So I know it’s not all of them.

I guess I can only speak for TX, but cyclists don’t seem to realize that riding on the road makes them subject to the same rules — especially regarding traffic lights and stop signs. They just ride right through them all the time.

The cycle douches seem to want their cake and eat it too. They want the rights to the road, but they also want to have the right to ignore the same traffic laws followed by other vehicles.

The brutally crass part of me can only hope for some social Darwinism to intervene in the cases of C’s running lights and such. The only downside is that the person driving the car or truck that ploughs into one of these MFs will be scarred for life and probably sued or something.[/quote]

the less cars i have to deal with the safer i am, it’s that simple. traffic lights suck if you’re on a bike, especially dangerous are cars who want to turn right when you’re going straight though.

i figure i’m pissing everyone off anyway just by being on a bike, so i’d rather be gone than be a sitting duck at a light where people will throw cigarettes and chocolate frosty’s at you or do the barking dog thing in your ear as they drive by.

29

[quote]NuclearArms wrote:
Yep, I hear you. The only thing worse is the weekend warrior type cyclist who doesn’t even know how to dress efficiently for his sport, who insists on clogging up the bike path going ~5mph, and forces the real cyclists onto the road. [/quote]

I refuse to “dress efficiently” for this sport because I refuse wear some faggot-ass spandex leggings and some bitch-ass neon moisture wicking shirts to gain an extra 2mph. Fuck looking the part. I cycle using a beat up, knobby tired, rigid fork mountain bike w/o reflectors instead of a speedy road bike, I keep the gears locked on medium because I like to think that I got a Bianchi single-speed, I wearing cut off sweats and a long sleave tee both in black because I don’t give shit about being visible to cars and pedestrians, I don’t a carry a goddam water bottle because I flip the bird to hydration, I wear my old-ass New Balance running shoes, I use finger-less Harbinger weightlifting gloves (pre-chalk days)instead of the certified skin tight gay gloves, Goddammit, I don’t even wear a helmet.

As far as cycling goes I’m about as ghetto fabulous as they come. In fact I’m keeping in real…realer than you Mr.Real Cyclist.

Don’t be such a hater.

30

[quote]got_beer? wrote:
Way too much whining goes on here. Don’t you guys have more important things to worry about then bicyclists?
[/quote]

I guess I could go out for a drive and give the social Darwinism a little nudge here and there…

31

I am a cyclist, and I see a lot of people do things I would never do. I would not ride my bicycle on a road that was too busy. I keep myself as small as possible and try not to interfere with anyone driving a car.

When I an Driving my truck I do everything to cooperate with cyclists and other cars. I think a dose of common sense works. I do not think the issue is legal and illegal. If you have the room moves over for the cyclist do so. I do feel there are people out there that have to ride bikes for transportation.

32

[quote]Blood is Metal wrote:
My family and I were in the car

…

Unbeknownst to me, there was a cyclist clown in his rainbow-bright colored, “sponsor” logo covered, spandex uniform behind us. When I failed to execute my turn in a timely fashion that suited his agenda (as I was trying not to compound the accident), he picked up his bike (this is when his presence became known) and started spouting mostly indecipherable obscenities at me and my family as he headed to the sidewalk to get around the mess. (God forbid he have to ride his bike on the side walk or a path.)

I leaned out my window and calmly told him he needed to “fucking relax.” He turned around, while still riding away from me and told me to fuck myself, at which point I retorted with some vulgarities I won’t repeat here.
.[/quote]

While, I’ll agree that he was out of place for instigating a [what seems to be useless] arguement. I think its rather hipycritical of you to get mad at him for cursing at you and your family, meanwhile you cursed at him with your family present.

[quote]keylolo wrote:
I refuse to “dress efficiently” for this sport because I refuse wear some faggot-ass spandex leggings and some bitch-ass neon moisture wicking shirts to gain an extra 2mph. Fuck looking the part. I cycle using a beat up, knobby tired, rigid fork mountain bike w/o reflectors instead of a speedy road bike, I keep the gears locked on medium because I like to think that I got a Bianchi single-speed, I wearing cut off sweats and a long sleave tee both in black because I don’t give shit about being visible to cars and pedestrians, I don’t a carry a goddam water bottle because I flip the bird to hydration, I wear my old-ass New Balance running shoes, I use finger-less Harbinger weightlifting gloves (pre-chalk days)instead of the certified skin tight gay gloves, Goddammit, I don’t even wear a helmet.

As far as cycling goes I’m about as ghetto fabulous as they come. In fact I’m keeping in real…realer than you Mr.Real Cyclist.

Don’t be such a hater.

[/quote]

You’re just awesome. You should represent cyclists around the world. Stop being an ignorant moron.

[quote]Coldiron wrote:
I do have a question though. Are the majority of cyclists homosexuals, or possibly have homosexual tendencies? The reason I ask is that no one in there right mind would think of wearing tight spandex shorts in the privacy of there own home, let alone in the view of the public eye. Most women I know think that it looks totally gay. I know the average cyclist will claim that it reduces wind drag and is more efficient, but come on. Who the hell are they racing when they are clearly riding alone. The whole spandex thing is anything but masculine.

[/quote]

You dont have to be with a group to be racing. You also dont have to listen to ignorant assholes like yourself when it comes to your uninformed opinions of cycling. And for those women who think its totally gay to wear spandex, great. I bet there are just as many women who would like to see an in shape guy in spandex.

33

[quote]hockechamp14 wrote:
The biggest problem I have are people who ride thier bikes on already dangerous and curvy ass new england roads with narrow brides and make it impossible to pass them by riding with 12 other f’ing people.

People who ride by themselves are fine with me, do your thing.[/quote]

I have to agree with this, I live out in the sticks and to get to my house it is a very twisty mountain road with NO shoulders or anything and alot of blind turns.
I drive it at about 65 with the cruise control on, a little fast but not that bad, and for some reason cyclists think this is a great road to ride on? I dont understand I would be scared shitless to!

Im glad these people are active and have a hobby I am just scared of killing one and think their is alot better roads they could ride on.

34

We don’t have bike lanes. Ride on the road at your own risk. And yes people die frequently from it.

35

[quote]KO421 wrote:
hockechamp14 wrote:
The biggest problem I have are people who ride thier bikes on already dangerous and curvy ass new england roads with narrow brides and make it impossible to pass them by riding with 12 other f’ing people.

People who ride by themselves are fine with me, do your thing.

I have to agree with this, I live out in the sticks and to get to my house it is a very twisty mountain road with NO shoulders or anything and alot of blind turns.
I drive it at about 65 with the cruise control on, a little fast but not that bad, and for some reason cyclists think this is a great road to ride on? I dont understand I would be scared shitless to!

Im glad these people are active and have a hobby I am just scared of killing one and think their is alot better roads they could ride on.[/quote]

Those cyclists are probably doing what most of the people in this thread seem to want them to do, get out of the towns and cities and ride where there is hardly any traffic, I guess you can’t win them all…

Actually riding out in “the sticks” is one reason why I like cycling so much, unlike running you can actually go for long distances without getting too fatigued, meaning that you can get regular changes in scenery and terrain, which keeps things more interesting. There is one bike route I have done which involves the following:

  1. First 45-60 minutes are city roads/getting out of the metro area/lots of small hills.

  2. Next 15-20 minutes is riding on a great road, mostly flat with a wide bike lane and mostly national park bushland on either side of the road.

  3. Next 20 minutes is going through a national park on a challenging and twisting descent, if you go at the right time there is no traffic to worry about.

  4. Next 20-30 minutes is winding through some of Sydney’s best waterfront suburbs, some traffic issues here if you go at a busy time!

  5. Next 20 minutes is going along the main road on Sydney’s northern beaches with ocean views on a three lane road with plenty of space for cyclists, mostly flat here.

  6. Then the hard stuff starts, i have to climb back up from the beaches to the point near where I started the descent through the national park, this can take up to an hour depending on the road taken and how tired I am! Luckily most of these roads have a bike lane so I’m not holding up traffic when crawling up the hills.

  7. Then it is about 1.5 hours back home through metro streets or via a motorway which has bike lanes.

So as you can see I can cover in 3-4 hours a lot of different terrain, which is one of the great things about cycling and one reason why you see so many riding out of the metro area where you may not expect to see them.

36

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2006/pdf/death_cyclists_road.pdf#search="cycle%20deaths%20in%20canberra"

An interesting read on Cycle deaths down under.

on page 17 “In over 60% of crashes the Cyclist was deemed to be responsable…”

I don’t have a problem with people riding there bikes on the road. I just expect that they follow the rules. If a bike or a car is going 20 in an 80 zone and it’s not easy to get around it’s unfair on the other road users. Also in Australia the money we spend on car registration and the tax’s we pay on petrol go to building/fixing roads.

If i have a second car that i use for recreation, I pay again for Rego and I pay the tax’s on petrol. But if i have a bike that I want to ride on the road, No cost.

37

[quote]keylolo wrote:
Goddammit, I don’t even wear a helmet.
[/quote]

Yeah, I really don’t have an argument concerning helmets. I fully realize that some people don’t have much along those lines to protect.

38

[quote]eldomo wrote:
But if i have a bike that I want to ride on the road, No cost.[/quote]

I think its safe to say that most cyclists probably own a car, too.

39

Ahh, the cyclists are gay because they wear spandex point comes up yet again. Have you guys actually ever sat on a road bike seat? Judging from your comments I’d say no, but I’ll describe one to you. Very small and very hard, kinda like your dick when you’re at a bodybuilding contest, now combine that with a ride that lasts a few hours.

See cycling shorts have padding in them, yes thats right, padding, this makes things a little bit more comfortable on long rides. It actually has a function, kinda like a leather jacket that motorcycle riders use, or chalk that powerlifters use. Just thought that I’d point that out for you so that the next time you see a cyclist maybe you’d give the guy some respect, after all he may just be at the end of a 200km ride where he had to endure assholes in big trucks.

40

[quote]baretta wrote:
Do you just cycle around looking for trouble?[/quote]
No, it just somehow always seems to find me. I’ve been a serious cyclist for almost 20 years, and incidents of harassment by drivers happen quite frequently.

Let’s see … I’m on my bike, the puss who thought he was being a tough guy by harassing a “defenseless” cyclist is now on foot (and most thoroughly emasculated, I might add). Can’t quite grasp the concept - please elaborate.

If I’m out in traffic, then it’s for a good reason; I don’t intentionally hog the road. I commute 18 miles to and from work each day by bike, and although I use a bike lane or shoulder when it’s available, sometimes there’s no avoiding riding in traffic, which by the way, is my legal right. If someone chooses to harass me, or try to infringe upon my right to the road, then they must be able to accept the consequences.