Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
What is weird is that every cyclist here admits to following all the laws and all that jazz (except Tinordi, he's being honest), yet we have never seen any of these unicorns in real life.
For the record I like cyclists and don't mind in the least if they cut ahead or blow through stop signs. I know it will happen and when you accept it, it is much more efficient that way. Waiting to see if the biker stops at the stop sign is much slower than them just blowing through and then i can go.
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Add me to the camp of the cyclist you all hate. Yep, I run stop signs, ride on the sidewalk when convenient, ride too fast on the pathway system, and OMG!! oh noes! don't wear a helmet when I am on my commuter bike!
I will start obeying all of these rules when:
- Motorists
stop driving in the bike lanes. I have seen them going the wrong way in them at that.
- ######s on the pathway system quit holding me up by walking 4 across blocking both directions.
- This city fixes the potholes and sweeps the gravel in the shoulders of DEDICATED bicycle routes, when it is f'ng August already. Road bike wheels are mucho $$$$
- When the city drops the completely useless path speed limit that nobody obeys anyway.
- When there is a epidemic of motorists, being killed by cyclists.
Riding effectively in this city is a game of survival of the fittest unfortunately if you want to commute by bike. I commute about 20kms each way at least 3 days a week. If I follow the city "tourist" bike path route, it is 28 kms from where I live and takes an hour. If I go commando cyclist, and just go straight through the main routes, it is 18 KMS, and about 35 minutes. Unfortunately, that route involves non bike friendly routes, where there should be some. This cities cycling strategy was designed/implemented by someone who has never ridden a bike IMHO.
For those barking about the stop sign thing... you have probably never ridden with clipless pedals. I will slow down, but, if there is clearly nobody in the intersection, or coming either way, I am not going to kill my momentum, clip out, gear down, stop, look both ways at nothing, clip in, and re-run through the gears. Part of being an efficient cyclist, is conservation of momentum/energy, and sometimes you have to cheat a little, to stay efficient. I know pushing your brake, and gas pedal, is completely the exact same thing in your eyes, but as a drivers as well, I can assure you, it is not. Getting up to, and maintaining 40 KMH on a road bike takes a little work, unless your name ends with Landis or Armstrong.
And the helmet thing is lame. On the road bike yes,I will. One some hills I am hitting 70-80 KPH. But to expect leisure riders, out to enjoy a nice day on a ballooned tired cruiser that tops out at 20 to wear once is just another example of our pussified bubble wrap society. Euro cities do not have this requirement, and they don't have hundreds of deaths a year as a result. This is a huge component in the success of their bike share programs. If you expect people to wear helmets on big, heavy, slow old-timey bikes, then you might as well say helmets are required 24/7 for anything faster than walking. And I am sure a few of you guys that grew up with helicopter parents, and had to wear helmets on your tricycles think walking helmets would be a good idea.