Posted on 09/07/2019 5:09:00 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
More likely the cyclists have no common sense or respect for what a car can do to them if they decide it’s their “right” to occupy a space designated for cars and believe they don’t even have to look because the car will magically stop no matter how close and quick they are as they dart out into traffic.
I make sue to keep an eye on cyclists/pedestrians/bikers as much as the other cars because I value life more than my own convenience, but some have tried my patience as my diligence has allowed me to avoid some potentially fatal “encounters” with some of the idiots out there.
freakin bikes are for the inner city rodents who mass together. They make no sense when you live rural, need to get groceries for a family, travel as a group and many other scenarios.
a guy at my church, brother-in-law, got run over about a week before Christmas. He was in intensive care for a month before he eventually passed. HIs Brother-in-Law was a conservative and Christian.
Anyway, I do see what you see, I see a lot of cyclists running stop signs and riding side by side, making it difficult to go around them. A town near me, had a bike race in May, and I saw one only wearing underwear and bike shoes. It was literal underwear.
Here, they get on the back country roads. Both the roads into town are in places too narrow for a center stripe. They’re hilly with sharp turns. You can’t see an oncoming vehicle until you’re right on them. Suicidal bicyclists get on them and struggle and wobble up the hills causing vehicles to slam on their breaks and swerve into oncoming traffic. I’ve said for years they shouldn’t be allowed on those roads. It’s bleepin’ dangerous. Of course, if there were to be a death, the law would dictate it being the driver’s fault when it clearly shouldn’t be.
I am a cyclist, I follow the rules of the road.
But it’s threads like these that make me question my association with Free Republic.
Today I was out driving on a state highway in the middle of nowhere in hilly terrain.
A cyclist was in the middle of the road (which I did not see until after I reached the top of the hill).
The only reason I did not hit him—I am a paranoid defensive driver and was taking my time on a pleasant morning (more worried about animals than people in the sticks).
He may not be so lucky the next time a more distracted or speeding driver goes over a hill.
Anywhere you bicycle in any town, you have to be the most “defensive driver” on the rode. You cannot pretend everyone sees you or will notice you. You cannot pretend drivers of cars will treat you on your bike like another car, granting you right of way when you have the right of way. You cannot depend on mothers rushing around town to come to a full stop at stop signs, before either crossing a street or turning. Even when you know a driver sees you, you have to assume the driver is thinking “oh, he/she sees me, so he/she will stop or yield to me, I can go ahead and move”. Most drivers want folks on a bicycle to act like they are a pedestrian and like a pedestrian will just try to stay out of the drivers way, even if acting like a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
The biggest wear and tear on my bike was always the brakes. I replaced brake pads far more often than tires.
I saw a teen on a motorcycle attack a car. I ended up pumping his chest till the ambulance came.
Certainly is the kind of thing that sticks with you.
Yes but they want to look fit for the Pride Parade.
Late one night, pitch dark, as I was turning left across a 45 mpg three-lane street into a housing tract, for some reason I slowed down to a crawl. Thank goodness I did as out of NOWHERE came two bicyclists with teeny tiny lights right in front of me. They actually had to swerve a little as they whizzed past and yelled something at me. I almost hit them. I did not see them at all until I was right on them. If I had kept to a regular speed going into the tract, I would have hit them. Please, bicyclists, be aware that often people in cars DON’T SEE YOU and that goes double if you’re riding at night.
I would suggest that a lot of these new bikers became new bikers because many states are starting to get serious about drinking and driving.
Now they’re drinking and biking.
At least they now take fewer people with them when the inevitable happens.
More winning.
Have you ever lurked in a road bike forum? I have. Mostly nasty vile liberals with a few conservatives. Most conservatives end up being banned. They claim that the tight spandex makes them go faster because of less drag. I don’t care about going fast. I don’t wear loose baggy pants because they can get tangled in the spokes and other places. In summer I do wear close fitting Capri’s for safety. In winter I wear rubberized cycling pants with ankle cuff’s for the same reason.
I occasionally visit the local bike shop. The owners are conservatives. One day I was there when half a dozen of the spandex wearing soy boys came in. The owner almost choked trying not to laugh at the look on my face. My impression of them is that they are all gay guys advertising to each other and my thoughts obviously showed on my face. LOL
It disturbs me that people lump all cyclists into the liberal gay sorts because we are not. We think they are as nuts as any conservative would. I don’t let their hateful comments stop me from enjoying my favorite healthy sport. Their problem, not mine.
LOL, my thoughts exactly when I see them.
That’s what I do. I have a rack mounted to the back of my truck for taking my bike to local paths and greenways. Much safer that way.
They always do this stuff wrong. Should have banned big cities long ago. They aren’t livable and can’t be fixed.
I never got the spandex go-fast thing. 99.9% of riding is training, not competition. Football players run with parachutes to train. Bikers should wear bulky clothes, they wouldn’t have to ride as far and for as long, clearing the bike paths for others.
I ride a mountain bike on gravel, in jeans. On old logging roads with no traffic except the occasional, moose, elk, deer or bear.
I’m starting to think Free Republic should start treating cyclist threads the way they do pitbull threads. Nothing good comes from them.
He kept wanting all types of flashing lights/shoes and even helmets and continuing to ride on the roads often zero bike lanes.
Finally, his mother, an RN for all of her adult life told him he needed to do what you do and he does now.
So he stopped riding with his group and does your country thing after driving there and back in his OJ Simpson Bronco.
He does have watch out for deer, wild pig and the rare bear.
Part of my exercise routine is running on a treadmill. It's relatively safe. But if I insisted upon running on a highway in rush hour traffic, running like I dare to be hit by a car, then that's on me.
Stupid is as stupid does. Cyclists locally insist upon riding on two land crowded roads, all dressed up in their attention whoring spandex and lipstick, riding two and three abreast. Cars have to slow to a crawl. Moms needing to get to the school to pick up their children, etc.
Cyclists are selfish and narcissistic and need to activate more than their typical 2 or 3 IQ points.
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