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I once taught a class to some guys who where going to be working on a large piece of federal property. Now, it was way out in the middle of nowhere and the only way to get onto this property was by auto or motorcycle. You couldn't walk in and you couldn't walk from one place to another. You had to drive and you had to be careful where you drove; you didn't joy ride out there. During class breaks people would ask me questions about the work site. What was the best way to get there, what tools to bring, what was considered contraband, stuff like that.

I'll never forget this one guy; kind of young and strange. He would ask me questions like how far is it and do they have any bike racks. I was a little confused. It soon became apparent that he road bikes. A lot. "Oh, you can't ride a bike out there," I said. "And even if you could it'll be night time and traffic on that four lane highway is crazy. There's no room for bicycle. You'd be killed if you tried it." I guess in his mind a highway full of cars and trucks going 70 mph was just going give him the right of way. He caught an attitude with me, me who's been working there for years, and tried to tell me he knew people who had ridden bikes out there. I told him I had never seen a bicycle out there, ever, and that I guaranteed him that he would NOT be riding a bicycle on that federal property. Well, he had snotty attitude for the rest of the class. (I later learned that he didn't even have a drivers license. His girlfriend(s) had to drive him everywhere.)

Months later I ran into one of the other guys in the class who had wound up working with bicycle guy. He told me, "That dude is weird, man. He was out here a couple of weeks before he understood that you CAN'T ride a bike out here because security won't allow it. When you told him he couldn't ride a bike out here he thought you were saying he wasn't man enough to ride that far. In his mind he had it all worked out. His plan was to get dropped off at the gate everyday by his chick, ride the 10 miles to his job, work construction all day and then ride the 10 miles back to gate for his girlfriend to pick him up. He's just strange, man. It's like he thinks he's better than everyone else because he doesn't drive."

Strange puppy. His body was really healthy but his mind was starved for oxygen or something.

1 posted on 05/09/2013 1:57:32 PM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

A self imposed minority screaming for equality in a nation with roads ruled by the ton.


2 posted on 05/09/2013 2:02:37 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: servo1969

3,000 pound car vs 30 pound bike. Did we really raise such a stupid generation as this?


3 posted on 05/09/2013 2:03:32 PM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: servo1969
His body was really healthy but his mind was starved for oxygen or something.

Yeah, all of us old people are uselessly sucking up the oxygen he needs for survival. Poor twit.

4 posted on 05/09/2013 2:04:01 PM PDT by HiJinx (Just kill the bill, already...)
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To: servo1969

One of my pet peeves as a driver, are women who insist upon jogging or ‘power walking’ on residential streets, when there are perfectly good sidewalks running down both sides.

Many times, these morons are also pushing a baby carriage or child stroller, which makes what they’re doing the height of stupidity. Not only are they risking their own lives to look ‘cool’, they’re risking the lives of their innocent children.

I can’t tell you how many near misses I had with these people when I used to work in the Hollywood hills and surrounding communities.

You just have to wonder what kind of programming these people have, that would override their common sense and basic survival instincts.


5 posted on 05/09/2013 2:04:11 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: servo1969

Cyclers are not well liked anywhere.


6 posted on 05/09/2013 2:05:36 PM PDT by svcw (If you are dead when your heart stops, why aren't you alive when it starts.)
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To: servo1969

I ride almost daily with people from all walks of life. And I know no one who acts like this. If this really did happen it was the act of one individual, not those who ride as a whole. Attempting to lay blame on an entire group is tantamount to blaming all gun owners for the actions of a few. And I think most here are against that.


8 posted on 05/09/2013 2:08:04 PM PDT by South40
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To: servo1969
One can get an bright yellow LED vest at Walmart.

I had to through Site-to-Store.

But you can set it so the LEDs on all the time or in a flashing mode.

I have used on a bicycle as well as a Motor Bike. I do not want to be run over.

They could have had some sort of very visible thing like this.

9 posted on 05/09/2013 2:08:47 PM PDT by topher (Traditional values -- especially family values -- which have been proven over time.)
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To: servo1969

I commute 5 miles to work every day on a road bicycle and also ride recreationally on the weekends for exercise.

My first concern is always for my safety, second concern is to be courteous to other road users. For example, while waiting at long stoplights, to avoid blocking right turning cars, I’ll move to the left so they can get past.

Drivers in this area are pretty courteous and mindful of cyclists, probably because there are many of them. I have found that there are some rude, arrogant and dangerous cyclists and rude, arrogant and dangerous car drivers as well.


10 posted on 05/09/2013 2:09:11 PM PDT by barefoot_hiker
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To: servo1969
Concord MA, with the national park there and all attracts tons of bikers and joggers. The attitude these people have is astounding. The bikers will oftern ride 3-abreast on the road at 8 miles an hour, elaborately ignoring the car revving behind them. Laying on the horn often doesn't faze them.

A couple years ago a biker shot into an intersection from behind a line of cars at a red light and got obliterated.

12 posted on 05/09/2013 2:10:07 PM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Gone Galt, 11/07/12----No king but Christ! Don't tread on me!)
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To: servo1969
"Hey buddy, you couldn't kill me. You don't know my strength."

They (bicyclists) all wear super-hero outfits, and I am guessing that the spandex serves to cut off the oxygen to their brains. We have big groups of them who ride on the major thoroughfares around here on weekend mornings. What a bunch of preening prima-donnas!

16 posted on 05/09/2013 2:14:51 PM PDT by tpmintx (Gun free zones are hunting preserves for unarmed people.)
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To: servo1969

I ride recreational all the time. Got hit by a truck 2 yrs ago and can still feel where it hit me. Bikers are generally obnoxious and sanctimonious who ride any way they want.

Pray for America to Wake Up


20 posted on 05/09/2013 2:19:49 PM PDT by bray (Surviving to spite Obama)
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To: servo1969

I road raced for years. It’s an addiction and it makes you do strange things.

Some guys choose their bikes over their families and jobs.


24 posted on 05/09/2013 2:21:37 PM PDT by Third Person (Welcome to Gaymerica.)
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To: servo1969

ping


26 posted on 05/09/2013 2:21:58 PM PDT by dennisw (too much of a good thing is a bad thing - Joe Pine)
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To: servo1969

It’s pretty obvious that for a significant minority of bikers riding a bike is some kind of moralistic get-even-with-the-world trip. They remind me of wacked out liberals whose moral zeal has become mischanneled into things like radical environmentalism. It’s a similar sort of mindset. They’ve found a way to annoy the car-riding bourgeoisie and they will milk it to the max.


31 posted on 05/09/2013 2:35:31 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: servo1969
1. Encountering two different people in a short time who say: "You old people need to die", sounds like it is made up, or a jumble of two stories.

2. On the other side of this issue, a college friend of mine was killed when a car hit his bike. He was not at all arrogant.

34 posted on 05/09/2013 2:57:04 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: servo1969

Bikers on The Natchez Trace Parkway want cars to be illegal. They insist it was made for bikers only. Several have been killed recently because drivers can not see them on that crooked road. I was between Tupelo and Cherokee, AL when 4 cars passed me. I saw they were really speeding so I tried to get close to them just to see how fast they were going. Well, when my speedometer reached 75, I really slowed down. They were still miles in front of me. They were just crazy driving that fast on that 2 lane road. Guess they were in a hurry to go to one of their funerals. I always try to drive the 50 speed limit but my Honda likes to go 60. : ). It is a beautiful drive in the spring and fall.


35 posted on 05/09/2013 2:57:34 PM PDT by MamaB
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To: servo1969
"You old people need to die"

I noticed this stating a few years ago from the left, "old people" know too much, remember too much, were educated too well in history and American history and liberalism and Capitalism, etc.

I have seen the frustration of the left and how they just want the old knowledge to die out, for the old wisdom to die off, for the memory of past america to become totally erased so that conversations don't get interrupted with a knowledgeable voice from one who knows truths.

38 posted on 05/09/2013 3:03:25 PM PDT by ansel12 (Sodom and Gomorrah, flush with libertarians and liberals, short on social conservatives.)
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To: servo1969

Got dang FreeCreditReports.com slackers.


42 posted on 05/09/2013 3:23:37 PM PDT by Ukiapah Heep (Shoes for Industry!)
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To: servo1969
As someone with a concealed carry permit, who has had a lot of training. There are some fundamental mistakes in this article.

The first is that you want to avoid confrontations if at all possible. As for the biker, don't get into a discussion with him, note the make, model, color and if possible license plate number and report it to the police. Getting into a discussion with the guy is likely to end in a road rage incident and he may be armed.

As to the jogger. Yes, make sure the jogger is OK, but again, don't get into a discussion with him.

Most of us need to understand that too many people no longer value life and are looking for fights to pick. If you are looking to protect yourself from danger you need to avoid confrontation where you can and not blindly step into it.

43 posted on 05/09/2013 3:44:30 PM PDT by Robert357 (D.Rather "Hoist with his own petard!" www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1223916/posts)
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To: servo1969; All

I ride a Motorcycle. I was out riding one day with a group of friends on a old 2 lane road when we came up on a pack of cyclists riding 3 abreast. We thought they would form a single file and share the road as there was no passing in that particular stretch... after about 2 miles the lead honked his horn and got the finger... really was a shame about them... I hope they made it back to civilization.... its hard to ride a bike with no spokes....


44 posted on 05/09/2013 4:16:03 PM PDT by SouthernBoyupNorth ("For my wings are made of Tungsten, my flesh of glass and steel..........")
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