Posted on 03/13/2014 9:08:14 PM PDT by Kevin in California
WELL SAID
Maybe that's true in Texas, or at least the part of Texas where you live. It is NOT true where I live. And based on the posts from others, we're not talking about "a few" cyclists.
It’s worse here in Oregon. The law says you have to be SIX FEET from them, and that they have the right to share any road they wish to, even if it means riding their bike at 20 mph on a rural highway with twisty, blind corners, and cars going 55 mph.
I hate those idiots that force you to slam on your brakes as you suddenly come upon them doing a third of the prevailing speed of the cars.
And I’m an avid mountain biker (Trek 6700) who rides occasionally on the streets, but I’m never so selfish as to block traffic by riding soooo much slower than the cars behind me, and forcing them to not be able to pass.
Ed
Hey, it takes tremendous skill to ride in the TDF.
I’ve ridden downhill at 35 mph, then I back off, as I get scared out of my skull...these guys will take corners doing 40, and accelerate to 55 mph, going downhill!
I really admire people like Chris Horner, Brad Wiggens and George Hincapie...
Ed
If you are actually hitting people on bikes, that’s assault, and I hope they catch you and send you to jail.
A bike crash can easily kill someone.
I wiped out once, on my mountain bike, and almost suffered a skull fracture. I still have a huge scar running across my forehead.
Get angry, get indignant all you want at them, but to actually run someone off the road is akin to walking up on them and hitting them with a baseball bat.
Ed
It’s not that we’re inconvenicenced, it’s that they present a realy danger.
As I said earlier, here in Oregon the law says they can cycle whereever they want, on any road except a freeway, and what that translates into is you can be driving at 55 mph (the speed limit on rural roads) and come around a blind corner and see a cyclist going 20 mph IN YOUR LANE!
It means you often have to slam on your brakes, on the edge of either hitting the jerk in front of you, or screeching wildly across your lane and possibly into the shoulder.
It’s a paen to the idiot Left’s control of the legislature, and defies all common sense.
What’s next, making it lewal for pedestrians, runners, roller bladers and skateboarders to walk in the middle of highways?
Ed
I just want to be sure I understand your conclusion that if someone causes inconvenience to another it is the one who has suffered the inconvenience who is guilty of "selfishness" -- the implication being that the person who caused the inconvenience is therefore "unselfish". A curious bit of self-congratulatory logic to be sure.
Amen to that!
I was driving up Redwood Highway late at night, no street lights, when a bicyclist shot out in front of me, crossing the highway, riding to the other side of the road.
He assumed he was going fast enough from the cross street to clear my car, but he cleared my my bumper by maybe 6”, as he had way underestimated how fast I was going and how slow he was going.
He was wearing dark clothes, no lights or reflector strips, and wasn’t visible until he rode directly in front of my headlights, and while I’m sure some people here would have loved to have knocked him down, or...in Kevin’s case, to have run right over him, I thanked God profusely that I didn’t hit him.
Ed
There’s a guy on Rogue River Highway who every morning drives a moped at 10 mph down the middle of the road, going God knows where.
Traffic backs up for a long ways behind him, but he won’t drive on the shoulder or take side streets quite bizarre!
Ed
You just explained that you are an unsafe driver. If you do not have the time to react to a bicyclist in YOUR lane, you are driving too fast for the road conditions. You see, by your story, the dangerous dude is you, not the cyclist.
Oh goody! Pretzel logic.
Wow, what a ridiculous thing to say!
Under your theory, every driver should be able to instantly stop whenever there is an obstruction in the middle of the road, no matter how fast the car is going, or how slow the obstacle is moving.
So, I’m going the legal 55 mph, come around a blind corner, there’s a cyclist going 20 mph, and you say I should be able to come to an instant stop?
Okay...what if the cyclist is going 10 mph? Or if he is stopped? Do you believe that under THOSE circumstances a car should be able to come to an instant stop? That if they CANNOT come to an instant stop, it’s because they’re going too fast for the circumstances?
That’s really rather foolish, isn’t it? To come to an instant stop whilst coming upon a cyclist going 40 mph slower than the car coming around the blind curve would mean, that...realistically, you would have all cars go slow enough to stop instantly, coming upon anyone in the middle of the road, which means you must think the speed limit on rural highways shoul be 15 mph, not the current 55!
Really goofy comment, LM!
Ed
Around here, I’ve seen them get in the middle lane of a 4 lane road to make a left at a traffic light, instead of crossing at the cross walk and then crossing again. So, there they are, in front of a line of cars, and the light turns and we have to wait for them to get on the pedal and get through the intersection. Then, when they get through, they still don’t get over, and force us to wait until they can pass, as though to say, “I have as much right to this road as a car and I’m not moving out of your way.” Douchebags.
Going 55 around a blind corner?
I have just got to say this:
I work at a large brewery in Golden Colorado. There’s this winding, 2-lane mountain road called 32nd Avenue that runs right by it.
There were bicycles all over this road.
A few bicyclists were killed on this road, so the brewery decided to do something about it.
They used their OWN MONEY to build bike trails that are away from 32nd Avenue.
Away from automobile traffic. Still scenic. Still accessible. Still convenient.
Guess what happened....
Yup!
They’re STILL using 32nd Avenue.
Many more have been killed. One was a buddy of mine.
He was killed by a freaking mail truck. Another buddy was on the scene trying to do CPR to save his life.
No luck, though. His insides were turned into goulash.
There is still a memorial built by his friends and family at the spot where he was hit which stands to this day.
It’s an old bicycle, surrounded by flowers, with a sign that reads, “Live Strong.”
His name is Sharaam. An Immigrant from Iran who LOVED our country.
There are THOUSANDS of miles of bike trails all over Colorado. Safely FAR away from hazardous traffic. Yet, still leading towards businesses and recreational areas in a VERY convenient manner.
Perhaps bicyclists should take advantage of them.
Just sayin’
Happens all the time here in Oregon.
Lower River Road, Merlin-Galice Road, Azalea, on and on.
If you go the speed limit and come upon someone riding 15 mph in the middle of the road, you will either hit them or be forced to slam on your brakes and skid, and hope there’s a shoulder to drive on or no one in the opposite lane.
Ed
Yup...total d-bagas!
And I’m a cyclist myself!
Ed
SO is driving on the road. We all pay for the roads, and then you personally use it, for yourself. That is a “selfish” act.
The roads of course are MEANT to be used selfishly.
I do understand what you “mean”. I tend to drive very “unselfishly”, which to me means that if I am driving a road and someone comes up behind me, I will either accelerate until they are not right behind me, or I will actually pull off the road at the first opportunity and let them pass. If on a highway, I move out of the left lane to let people pass, and actually try to drive as far to the right as possible except when passing. And if there is space on the left, I will always swing around to the left, rather than passing on the right, although I reserve the right to pass on the right since that means the person I’m passing did NOT move over to the right.
What annoys me most are people who see you coming down a road, quickly pull onto the road to get in front of you, and then drive 5 miles below the speed limit, and won’t just move over and let you pass.
I have never had a bicycle inconvenience me for more than 30 seconds. I’ve had cars that ruined an hour of driving time. So I think I know where the real “selfish” problem is.
I obey the traffic laws when riding my bike, but frankly I know or see very few other bikers who follow the traffic laws. I’m actually more surprised to see a biker nicely stopped a traffic light, and I’d probably get a shocked look on my face if I ever saw a bike come to a complete stop at a stop sign.
Looking at the clothes, I would have to agree with you.
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