Bicyclists suck!

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Do you get out of your car and give a stern talking to any drivers exceeding the speed limit? If a car doesn't come to a full stop at a stop sign, do you knock on their window so you can lecture them?

If you don't want people to call you out for breaking the law, don't break the law. How is this a hard concept to follow? I don't understand the people who get upset when someone calls them on their crap.

Your response reeks of someone who gets pulled over for speeding and says, "Well I saw a guy going faster than me. Why can't you pull that guy over instead?" You were still speeding so you deserve a fine. Why not just own up to it and be better the next time?

I don't chase down speeders to give them a lecture. It's dangerous to chase someone down and it's also dangerous to walk in the road where cars drive. I also don't own a radar gun, so I don't know their speed. If I see someone running a stop sign and we end up next to each other at a light with our windows down, I'll say something. Just because you're in a hurry, doesn't give you the right to endanger the safety of others on the road.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

Your response reeks of someone who gets pulled over for speeding and says, "Well I saw a guy going faster than me. Why can't you pull that guy over instead?" You were still speeding so you deserve a fine. Why not just own up to it and be better the next time?

You can ask every single cop who has ever pulled me over, and they will tell you that I was nothing but respectful, as I knew it was their job to pull me over and fine me for whatever law I had just broken.

It is not your job, or Cyclazi's job to give me a lecture for standing stationary on my bike on a pedestrian island, or riding on the edge of a cross walk, so you can both kindly go piss off traffic in silence.

If a police office fines me for my behaviour, I will pay up. They don't seem to have a problem with the way I'm doing it, so neither should you.

[MarchHare]

How would you feel if a motorist was driving in a dedicated bike lane? That's how pedestrians feel when cyclists ride on our sidewalks and crosswalks.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

How would you feel if a motorist was driving in a dedicated bike lane? That's how pedestrians feel when cyclists ride on our sidewalks and crosswalks.

If the tire of a vehicle was touching the white paint of a bike lane, I think I'd get over it.

That's about equivalent to my cross walk transgressions.

Cars have to drive in bike lanes all the time to make right turns and enter and exit parking lots. As long as they look for bikes first and don't get in my way, I really don't care.

City maintenance vehicles and the Police often drive their cars/trucks on the river paths. Do I hold my ground and force them to move over for me so I can stay in my designated bike lane? No, I move over onto the grass or walkway, whatever is available, and let them pass. They usually appreciate it and give a little wave to indicate such.

We can all share. We don't need to be stick-up-our-ass "this is my part of the road so no one else better touch it" people. Life is too short to be that uptight.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

If you don't want people to call you out for breaking the law, don't break the law. How is this a hard concept to follow? I don't understand the people who get upset when someone calls them on their crap.

Your response reeks of someone who gets pulled over for speeding and says, "Well I saw a guy going faster than me. Why can't you pull that guy over instead?" You were still speeding so you deserve a fine. Why not just own up to it and be better the next time?

I don't chase down speeders to give them a lecture. It's dangerous to chase someone down and it's also dangerous to walk in the road where cars drive. I also don't own a radar gun, so I don't know their speed. If I see someone running a stop sign and we end up next to each other at a light with our windows down, I'll say something. Just because you're in a hurry, doesn't give you the right to endanger the safety of others on the road.

Your response reeks of someone who thinks they are much more important than they are.

Did you read what his breaking the law was? Standing on his bike on a pedestrian island so he could stay out of the way of traffic. Real scorn to the public that guy

Have you ever cut the corner of a cross walk? Stepped into the road a couple feet before it started? That's about the equivalent offense.

[Bill Bumface]

^ I wish I could sign up with 10 more accounts to thank that post. Some non-moderator would probably point out I was breaking a forum rule though....

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

If you don't want people to call you out for breaking the law, don't break the law. How is this a hard concept to follow? I don't understand the people who get upset when someone calls them on their crap.

Your response reeks of someone who gets pulled over for speeding and says, "Well I saw a guy going faster than me. Why can't you pull that guy over instead?" You were still speeding so you deserve a fine. Why not just own up to it and be better the next time?

I don't chase down speeders to give them a lecture. It's dangerous to chase someone down and it's also dangerous to walk in the road where cars drive. I also don't own a radar gun, so I don't know their speed. If I see someone running a stop sign and we end up next to each other at a light with our windows down, I'll say something. Just because you're in a hurry, doesn't give you the right to endanger the safety of others on the road.

My God you're a goober. You're not a cop, it's not your place to 'call' people on breaking friggin traffic laws.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

^ I wish I could sign up with 10 more accounts to thank that post. Some non-moderator would probably point out I was breaking a forum rule though....

Ha, I really can't figure out what anyone could have an issue with there. If everyone who rode a bike had your approach things would be better for drivers, bikers and pedestrians.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

I will definitely call people out if they break the law. If you were breaking the law, I applaud him for calling you on it. That said, I hate people who bike on the road, when there are specific bike lines, right beside the road. I asked one guy I see at the gym why he bikes over a bridge and why he doesn't use the bike lane, which has a guard rail separating the two. He said he doesn't want to have to use his brakes when the bike lane goes into the spiral at the end. I asked if he'd rather make all the cars use their brakes when they had to slow down because he was slower than them. He said he didn't care about cars.

I bike mostly on the road because I have no desire of getting a speeding ticket for exceeding the laughable 20 km/h limit on the pathway system. My taxes pay for the roads, too.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

My God you're a goober. You're not a cop, it's not your place to 'call' people on breaking friggin traffic laws.

A cyclist decided to cut in front of my car one day and I almost hit him. I felt no remorse for rolling down my window and yelling at the twerp for it. Hopefully he was more careful in the future, it could save his life one day. 4,000 lb car > 170 lb man in bicycle shorts.

[Hemi-Cuda]

i remember seeing a bike courier run a red light and get nailed by a cab on 3rd ave and 5th st, saw the whole thing unfold from my building. i honestly felt zero sympathy for the courier as he was put on a stretcher and hauled away in an ambulance. if he survived and isn't a vegetable i hope he learned a good lesson

[Winsor_Pilates]

We hardly even have roads in Vancouver anymore, bike lanes are taking over. I like them, except when bikers use the road anyway instead of going 1 block over & using the bike lane. I just don't get that.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

How would you feel if a motorist was driving in a dedicated bike lane? That's how pedestrians feel when cyclists ride on our sidewalks and crosswalks.

"Our" sidewalks and crosswalks?

I ride my bike to work too, and I don't have an "our" anything on my route through the beltine.

Some places I can ride my bike on the road and all is hunky dory. Some places I'm not going to risk my life in a two lane road with cars parked on both sides and slow down traffic while I'm doing it, so on to the sidewalk I'll go. It's faster for everyone involved, and no, I don't run down pedestrians. I'll slow down, go on the grass, whatever. Nobody built me a lane, so I gotta make a hybrid one.

Breakin' the law breakin' the law breakin' the law.

Now please, Law and Order types, tell me how evil I am.

[4X4]

Thank you, Hulk, for having a brain. And thank you for using that brain to improvise and adapt to situations for the greater good.
I often find myself as the last car that's sort of blocking the big, right hand turn curve lane. If there is a guy behind me signalling, I'll pull up (unordinarily close to the guy in front of me), and sometimes get closer to the lane beside me. If it helps a couple cars get through, that's the idea.
What you do for the traffic on that bridge is even better. Thank you again.

I know I've told this story 100x here, but this reminds me of how traffic works in Rome. When one direction of traffic is wayyy busier than the other direction, the masses just start taking up more of the street. It's like lane reversal, but without the fancy lights. People just do it. People are just used to adapting. And the people going the other direction, whose extra lane got jacked, don't even care. They just move over, and nary a vaffanculo is yelled.

Squiggs, your reply frustrates me. People like you are the reason why this city is such a gong show when it comes to traffic. Too many people that are too anal to do a small little thing that helps a lot of people.

[pylon]

It is weird, there has been a lot of cyclist on cyclist hate this year.

This is what happened to me mid Sept. I wanted to post the story in the gear grinder thread at the time, and had it typed out, but it seemed so unbelievable I didn't. Anyway, TLDR warning but here it goes.

I am in North Glenmore park, just getting ready to cross the bridge in the valley, right before the big long hill back up to the north side. I am behind a guy on a mountain bike I am on my road bike. There were some pedestrians on the bridge, and I kid you not, he rang his bell a MINIMUM of 30 times to warn them. Even the people on the bridge looked at him like ,"OK, we get it." Meanwhile I have rung my bell behind him trying to warn him, even did a couple "On your left's!" to warn I want to pass. He stops in the middle of the bridge and leans against the rail blocking me off. I slam on my brakes and nearly hit the guy.

Him "I would have liked to hear a bell 30 meters back a-hole"

Me: "I rang it about 10 times, and verbally warned you but because you wouldn't stop ringing yours a million times like a ######, you probably didn't hear it."

Him: "F you dickhead!"

I flip him the bird and just ride away.

Anyway, I am on about my 80th KM of the day, and I am just relaxing up the big hill in my bottom gear. Up behind me comes this guy charging up the hill, standing on the pedals. Slows up beside me.

I was just about to laugh off the incident, and joke about the whole thing with the guy, and he opens his yap.

Him: "Is that a road bike? Cause if it is you must be out of shape you f'n queer." Then he horks on me.

Me (Rage mad, insta-adrenaline shake): "You better f$#%ng start pedaling hard because when we get to the top of this hill I am going to rip your f'n head off."

Him: "F-you queer haahahaha (maniacal laughter), and he pulls ahead."

I geared up 4 gears, frikkin stood on my pedals and probably nearly broke my chain mashing up the hill. I caught up neck and neck, tell him I am going to kill him at the top of the hill. I pass him, get to the top, clipped out, get off, put my bike in the grass and waited. He darts off through the grass like a total pu55y (knowing I can't on a road bike) across to the to the parking lot. I grab my bike start hauling up the path until I find a place I can cut across. I get off again, run across the grass with it on my bike on my shoulder in cycling shoes (this is not easy lol), hop back on it, and start chasing this clown down.

I catch the guy, and he is completely out of gas, and now we are just kinda rolling at a slow pace. I gave this guy about 10 chances to get off, and back his words up.

Me: "Get of the bike pu55y. Lets finish this."

Him: "Make me."

Me: Swerve towards him and try and jab him, he slows down, or u-turns.

Repeat this about 10 times. He looks scared too, because I have him cornered, and he knows he can't outrun me on a mountain bike.

I even horked right back on him, called his mother filthy names, called him out for every flaw I could see, but this a-hole would get off his bike and settle it. I wanted so bad to just tackle the guy off my bike, but that meant hundreds of dollars possible over a thousand dollars of damage to my bike. Plus with clip in pedals that could have meant fighting the guy with a 18 pound bike attached to my foot..lol. Also I wanted a mutual throw down with this guy, as someone was following in a car watching this all go down. Didn't want an assault charge.

Anyway, I finally give up, and in a weird calm moment, I say to this guy, like in the calm after the storm, "You do know, one day, you will think about what a coward you were today, and be utterly ashamed of yourself for what a total pu55y you were. Nobody but that guy in the Camry back there saw this go down, but you know and I know, you f'n wussed out." He had this look on his face of confusion, like what I actually said made sense to him. I just gave up and rode off.

I don't care who you are, some stranger horks a loogie on you, it is go time. Do that to a cop, it is an assault charge. Anyway, that whole incident pissed me off so bad, I stopped riding for a couple weeks. That is when I went from being a cyclist, to being a guy that just likes to ride his bike. Yes, cyclists are a-holes.

All over a bell FFS.

couple edits I think are important to the story, to paint the picture right:

1) This guy had to have been 40-45, and looked like a professional, not a punk. He was on about a $3000 Specialized full suspension.

2) I was wearing a full body cycling unitard thingy...lol, and looked kinda like a gay power ranger.

[BlackRedGold25]

All talk, no action. Sounds like a couple of typical bike riders.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by pylon

2) I was wearing a full body cycling unitard thingy...lol, and looked kinda like a gay power ranger.

Freaking road bikers and their Lycra. No one wants to see your package. No amount of reduced wind resistance is worth wearing Lycra.

[burn_this_city]

I'd pay good money to see a couple cyclists laying waste to each other.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Cyclist on cyclist hate.

excellent.

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'd pay good money to see a couple cyclists laying waste to each other.

There's only one clear cut winner in that fight....

Society