Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
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.
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You're the problem. Ignorant, arrogant and entitled cyclist who believes that their challenges are paramount and greater than the challenges of anyone else who is doing the exact same thing.
'I have to get to work and I have to do it fast, I have to do it my way and I have to do it as efficiently as I can with this bike and clips and gears and whatever else that I've got and everyone in my way can go straight to hell despite the fact that they are also just doing their best to get to work....'
I quite honestly dont give a rat's ass how long it takes you to slow down on your super speed bike. I have a 450 horsepower Mustang that I drive around in, yet I've never gotten a ticket, it slows down just fine, stops just fine and speeds up just the same, if you're having issues with that with your bike and its clips and gears and whatever then its time to trade it in for something simpler to operate or simply more efficient.
How difficult it is for you to maintain 40KM/hr is none of my concern. If its such a chore with your bike that you cant actually use it to the standards required on the road then maybe you need something different.
I like the entitlement though, you'll slow down and obey the laws once the 'stupid City' and every 'psycho motorist' and every 'inconsiderate pedestrian' kowtow to your terrorist demands.
That is pure BS.
By the way, if you're reading your own post from my point of view, you'd appreciate the particulary funny irony of someone unreasonable demanding reason from others.
You want survival of the fittest, how about 3000 pounds of steel against your soft, squishy insides? Who is going to win that battle of the 'fittest' commuters? Thats why there will be no 'epidemic' of motorists being killed by cyclists. Thats why there has to be cooperation and understanding. Not ignorance.
You sound like you are actually the very definition of the problem that exists between cyclists and motorists and the exact reason why it cant be fixed, because cyclists have their laundry of list of demands and refuse to change until they've been met. As long as that continues there will continue to be more cyclist injuries and fatalities.