| Author | Message | ||
     Uly1080 |
DISCLAIMER: I have nothing against bicyclists...most of the time. I know the "share the road" blah, blah, blah...fine. It's just some of my favorite roads in the area are clogged with enormous groups of the pink spandex clad Armstrong wannabes. The problem is, they (sometimes) refuse to yield to the right for traffic behind them...on a 55mph road by the way. I seem to have discovered a correlation between the amount of spandex they wear and their attitude problem, but the results are not conclusive. Now I obviously want to put neither them, on their insanely expensive carbon fiber bicycles, nor myself in danger so I always patiently wait for a clear opportunity to pass. I must now admit a certain satisfying grin comes across my face when I finally expose said bicyclists to the full power of the dark side as I roll on the power of the Uly in combination with the roar of the Drummer and watch them fade into little neon pink and yellow dots in my mirrors, their ears obviously ringing as they attempt to reestablish their "flying-V" bicycle formation. Again, only a small portion of bicyclists are guilty, and thus only a small portion face the wrath. Am I a bad person? | ||
| Mesa_cityx |
No, you are NOT. Buellers going to Tortilla Flat in Az. know all about this annoyance. | ||
| Davolous |
I guess I can understand people frustration with roadie bicyclists. As a mountain biker I am somewhat knowledgeable on why they ride the way they do. It’s all about safety for them. Believe it or not bicyclists who yield ride over on the right side of the road allowing cars to pass in the same lane are 3 times more likely to get killed by cars. Over the past couple years when I tell people I’m into maintain biking most of them start going on about how they hate “Roadies”. Of course they don’t know the difference between me and them. I understand the need to yield to others while riding, but the difference is I yield to dirt bikers and sometimes other ATV riders (if they can even get to where I am). As a mountain biker never wear spandex ever (maybe because I don’t think it looks good on fat people like me). I try not to ride on the road then I can help it, but sometimes you have to. I actually got my first motorcycle because I spent so much time driving to and from job sites I did not have time to ride my mountain bike. I’m looking into a new Paratrooper mountain bike to strap on to my Ulysses’s language rack. Just for the places I dare not take my Ulysses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRaE3UEags I don't think disliking "Roadies" makes you a bad person, unless you kick them while flying by. Do you think wanting to strap a mountain bike to my motorcycle makes me a Dork? …lol On my Ulysses the bikers don’t bother me nearly as bad as the idiots who ride my bumper with a car or worse a SUV. In fact one of these days I am going to have something heavy in my pocket to chuck at there windshield and I will probably get arrested or killed for it. Having all that been said, I do dread coming up behind a pack of bikers (representing some sort of organized ride); where I have to navigate through numerous bikers. Regardless if I'm on my Ulysses drive done the road, or on my mountain bike heading down a trail. (Message edited by Davolous on March 16, 2008) | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The problem is that road bikers enjoy the same roads we do. It's annoying for us, but potentially deadly for the bikers. Many times, the closure speeds between cars and bicyclists is 40-60MPH. For them, it'd be like getting hit in the ass by a brick wall. There are many, though, who push visibility and safety to obnoxious levels. They have evidently not been seen by someone or were treated without regard and see it as their mission to exact revenge on everyone else on the road. It's the same passive aggressive behavior you get when people ride at or just below the speed limit in the left lane of the interstate. Once you are seen, please get over. Holding a line of cars hostage by riding five abreast across the lane of traffic angers drivers and riders and makes them want to be less careful around you. It's the same when you are 4th or 5th in a line of riders where everyone is passing on blind corners and pissing the drivers off. By the time you get to them they are TRYING to kill you. Understand that on certain roads during certain times there are going to be lots of bicyclists and lots of motorcyclists. The compromise is that we as motorcyclists don't get to run balls to the wall. The bicyclists must also be respectful of other road occupants in that the 5MPH up hill speed at the legal speed limit creates a 25-45MPH difference in closure speeds and will clog up roads quickly. Be visible and then get out of the way. Mutual respect. All two wheelers are merely trying to be seen while enjoying what they like to do most. | ||
| Uly1080 |
Well put everyone. I appreciate the insight. Also for the record, I have absolutely nothing against people wanting to be seen on the road. I've started wearing an Olympia Moto Hi-Vis Vest for that very purpose. My observations above concerning visibility (as well as the whole paragraph for the most part) were merely an attempt at satiristic humor. | ||
| Skyclad |
I, thankfully, had just the opposite experience last week with roadies at Deal's Gap. There was a pack of them heading towards Robbinsville. All moved over as far as they could to let me by. Only once was I held up by them. I wasn't bothered much though. The shoulder, what there was of it, was covered by loose salt/gravel. As soon as they were by that, they moved over and I was on my way again. I met up with them again at the resort and thanked them for their courtesy, and they thanked me for mine. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Tell me there WEREN'T bicyclist on Deal's. The term "death wish" comes to mind. Just because you CAN ride it doesn't mean that you SHOULD ride it.  | ||
| Hooper |
I come upon bicyclists on Rock Creek Parkway in Washington, DC, the only thing that barely qualifies as a north-south thruway in DC (a reason why DC has such bad traffic). It's a beautiful ride - winding through a wooded ravine along a rushing creek with plenty of deer to be ready for (and if you know me, you know how I LUUUUUV deer!) - and you're right there in the middle of the nation's capital! Fortunately, or unfortunately, it's a quick way to get from DC to Maryland, and it's a wonderful road for riders of the motored or unmotored type. Bicyclists, all ridiculously spandexed (like they're on some sort of sponsored team!), ride up and down this road, even at rushour, when cars are dying to escape the District and race home. It is NOT the time for bicyclists to be there. I have NEVER seen them do a v-formation, but they do back cars up in the curves when people realize how unsafe it is to pass them. On a motorcycle, it's a different story. Some of you have noted that we're both on two wheels, doing what we love, and that's darn right. Whenever I come upon the cyclists (I'm a former mountain biker, myself), there's always plenty of room in the lane to pass them. They stay hard to the right, and I zing by to their left. I have a sympathy for them, and have images of providing race support at the Tour de France, just as the bicyclists probably think of me as a two-wheel comerade as well as someone that might provide security on their Tour de France attempt. Anyway, this is an interesting line of discussion. The bicyclists annoy the hell out of me when I'm driving my car home from work and I can't pass and I'm wondering why they're doing a hobby during my commute, but when I encounter them on my motorcycles, I enjoy sharing the lane with them as a narrow-profile, two-wheeled lover of the open road. Oh, and Mesa_cityX: I stopped for lunch at Tortilla Flat, then continued on down that road on a rented Road King...then it turned into dirt, gravel, rills, and sand. Then I dumped the Road King in some sand. I never saw a bicycle that whole way...just a bunch of annoying and unhelpful tourists in minivans who crept past me and my buddy as we tried to dig the Harley out of the ditch. Honestly, when did the concept of seeing a motorist in obvious distress on the side of the road and pulling over to see if the person needs some help, or at least some muscle, die? People rolled right past us, staring - mouth agape - at seeing two riders who may have needed some help. We got the bike out ourselves. Rrrrrr! (Message edited by hooper on March 16, 2008) | ||
| M_singer |
Ft_bstrd, I have see bicyclist on the Dragon many times. My experience with road bicyclists are that to them share the road is a one way street to them. | ||
| Uly1080 |
I think perhaps my perception is a bit skewed as I am an active duty Marine stationed in a huge college town. Eyebrows are regularly raised at my haircut, let alone my (badass) motorcycle causing a ruckus on the beautiful mountain roads. Now I'm not saying that Blacksburg is Berkley, or bicyclists are hippies...oh just watch the clip. It's funny. And yes, I suppose I am hijacking my own thread. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?vide oId=163653&title=marines-in-berkley | ||
| Gsron |
Here in CA it's illegal for the spandex clowns to block the lane. There is a Vehicle Code, 21654 that (short version) states. "If you can't maintain the Posted Speed Limit you MUST ride/drive as far to the right as is safe". This means that they need to be on the fog line or farther right if possible. So any cyclists riding two or three abreast with a car/bike behind them is/are not only rude but they are breaking (at least in CA) the law. Same goes for the Cruiser Parades we get in the canyons every summer. | ||
| Honu |
As a Cyclist and Motorcyclist I hope we can all reach a compromise, there are idiots in all walks of Life..   | ||
| Strokizator |
Funniest thing I ever saw was when we had to drive a herd of cattle about a mile and a half down a rural road by 8:00 am because a sanctioned bicycle race was due through there around 9:00. Imagine how much crap was left by 400 head. We were sitting in the corral when about 50 guys go tearing by on their bikes, each with a long brown streak splattered down his back. Now every time I'm "inconvenienced" by a cyclist I just figure it's a little payback coming my way. | ||
| Honu |
Would there be motorcycles if there was never a bicycle??? | ||
| Teeps |
Honu, +1 here too. | ||
| Bosh |
Honu, Teeps +3 here too. "If you can't maintain the Posted Speed Limit you MUST ride/drive as far to the right as is safe". This means that they need to be on the fog line or farther right if possible. Actually the law doesn't say anything about a need to be on the fog line or farther right. It says what it says... "as far right as is safe". If there's glass, debris, rocks etc. in the far right side it isn't safe to ride there. Give em a little slack, it doesn't hurt to slow down for a couple of turns so you can get safely around the cyclists. If they're riding in the middle of the road just to BS with their buddies, then it's their bad.... | ||
| Gsron |
Bosh, I figured the "if possible" part covered that. My bad. As a fellow bicyclist I do cut them a lot of slack. I simply posted the code to give us CA riders a bit of ammo when/if confronted by the BSers. | ||
| Teeps |
This is the exact verbiage for California: Operation on Roadway 21202. (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations: (1) When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction. (2) When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway. (3) When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a "substandard width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane. (4) When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized. (b) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway of a highway, which highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of that roadway as practicable Key word: practicable. prac·ti·ca·ble (prkt-k-bl) adj. 1. Capable of being effected, done, or put into practice; feasible. See Synonyms at possible.} 2. Usable for a specified purpose | ||
| Wbrisett |
Ironically, here in Texas the code is very different, and as both a cyclist and motorcyclist I too cut the cyclist a bit more slack. Here in Texas the rules are: Bicycle Rules For Motorists 1. A bicycle is a vehicle and any person riding a bicycle has all of the rights and responsibilities as a driver of a vehicle. 2. Bicyclists are required to ride as far right in the lane as possible only when the lane can be safely shared by a car and a bicycle, side by side. Even then, there are certain conditions that allow a bicyclist to take the full lane such as: a. The person is overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction. b. The person is preparing for a left turn at an intersection or onto a private road or driveway. c. There are unsafe conditions in the roadway such as fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, pedestrians, animals, potholes, or debris. d. The lane is of substandard width making it unsafe for a car and a bicycle to safely share the lane side by side. When this is the case, it is best for the cyclist to take the full lane whether riding single file or two abreast. Again, our job is to share the road, their job (bicyclist) is to share the road. The problem is nobody likes to share. ;) Wayne | ||
| Chris_socal |
I am all for "sharing the road" but WTF is the deal with some of these cyclist. They seem to have an elitist attitude which makes you want to slap the shit out of em. I am OK with the wedge formation riding, but when you have one guy out there that is riding in the middle of the road I can't see how that is "safer." In some cases I don't see how the wedge formation is safer period. I was coming down Angeles Crest on a Sun and found that a guy on a CBR drifted across the double yellow and went head on with a minivan. It was a blind turn and there would have been no way for a group of cyclist (had they been in place of the minivan) in wedge to avoid Honda death (BTW, Honda death is one of the worst things that can happen to you. It is up there with getting Daewoo on your hands). The concept behind riding in a wedge is so you have a larger visual footprint, much like the reason we are supposed to ride staggered. In the canyon roads, blind turns, blind hills, etc. it gives a larger footprint for some idiot to bowl you down like spandex clad pins because he isn't paying attention or is driving too fast. At least on a motorcycle you aren't a sitting duck and have lights, noisy engine, and full protective gear on. -Chris | ||
| Davolous |
when you have one guy out there that is riding in the middle of the road I can't see how that is "safer." Because Motorists generally don't pay enough attention: Bicyclist who ride to the far right are likely to get clipped by car trying to pass when there isn't enough room. People driving cars while talking on cell phone pay too little attention to bicyclists, and many bicyclists die each year because of it. So when a bicyclist hogs the road they force motorists to pay attention when passing. As long as there is stupid people in cars it will be a necessary evil for the safety of the bicyclists. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I ride a nice Klein road bike. Had a full coke can lobed from a car go right past my ear, could of knocked me out had it connected. Had a semi trailer pass me and then pull back in my lane before the trailer had passed me so I had to jump my bike into the ditch or get run over by the last set of wheels. It's a freaking madhouse crapshoot out there for a bicycle on a public road. Love to ride the bicycle but public roads are very dangerous these days for bicycles. |
