bicycling to work thread

Discussion in 'Automotive' started by guignol, Jan 29, 2008.

  1. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Well, I don't have any real issues with safety any more than the person with the rolled up windows using hands free or their car stereo. There are two rules I follow: head on a swivel at all times - and make eye contact. Otherwise I feel safe playing in traffic.
     
  2. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
  3. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    British Motorist Apologizes in "Twit and Run" Case


    A British driver who struck a cyclist with her car — and who then bragged about the incident on Twitter — has issued an apology. The incident caused an uproar after the collision Sunday.

    "Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier - I have right of way he doesn't even pay road tax! #bloodycyclist," tweeted Emma Way, in a message that has been widely circulated despite her apparent attempts to delete it, and seemingly her Twitter account, @EmmaWay20.​

     
  4. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    i imagine you've seen this:



    my main cyclist interaction used to by on sadly now defunct GUT (grauniad unlimited talk) and i can tell you: in spite of all the queueing, the gardening and the tea with milk, of all the nations with a screw loose the brits' may be the loosest.
     
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  5. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I haven't seen that video, but it's pretty similar to what almost happened to me in a cross walk (I was walking, and replace the bus with a ubiquitous SUV driven by a 105 pound white woman who was yelling at me that she had the green light. Erm. So did I, along with the right of way according to state law).
     
  6. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    That's why I'd rather jaywalk than assume any motorist actually understands the law.
     
  7. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I generally do that, too. A lot safer than a typical crosswalk -- IF you're alert when you do it.

    Now, if you have an ear bud in one ear and a phone stuck to the other while you're mentally rough-drafting your next text message... that's a problem.
     
  8. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Yep - I even feel safer standing on the yellow line in the middle of the road when I do my frogger impersonation - though that usually has the effect of stopping traffic as it freaks drivers out.
     
  9. MoosefesteR

    MoosefesteR Member

    Oct 16, 2012
    Seattle
    I live in Seattle where there is currently a civil war between the bikers and the drivers.

    It all started several years back when we elected a bike friendly mayor who started creating bike lanes and encouraged using a bicycle as your main form of transportation (crazy, I know). The outcome was more people biking on roads, and that really pissed off all those stereotypical 'mericans who aren't able to continue surviving if they have to pay more than $3 per gallon of gasoline to fill up their massive SUV.

    Needless to say he probably isn't going to be re-elected... o_O
     
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  10. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    lifted from the weird news thread:

    [​IMG]

    this has always been a big non-issue here too: urban legends about stolen velo'v's being seen en masse in romania, algeria... actually true theft is almost nil: what there is is basically joy-riding, the bikes are found outside of stations (often vandalized unfortunately). they're so distinctive that you can't disguise them, and who would want one anyway? and you can't cannibalize them as nothing on them is standard: not a tire, spoke, brake pad, nut, bolt or washer.

    but i can think of one motive for this theft that is truly outstanding: i see the bike in the photo is no. 00003. if the thief made off with no. 00001 i'll bet he's got something he can eventually sell for a tidy sum. i sometimes idly look at the numbers of lyon's bikes as i go by a station: 10028... 12866... 5011... 0010???

    [​IMG]
    that's a real survivor! i imagine that on the black market there would be interest in 0001... or 0069.
     
  11. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Lifted from Nanbawan in the political cartoon thread...

    Why Conservatives Hate Citi Bike So Much, in One Venn Diagram


    [​IMG]
     
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  12. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    confronted daily with so many truly atrocious stupid human tricks, after in 30 years of urban cycling you start to group them in categories nd stop considering them individually. but this morning i had one of some novelty, i'll call it kill 'em with kindness...

    the street where this happened is pretty straightforward: two-way, one lane in each direction and a bike lane on each side. i'm northbound, southbound cyclist approaching, car coming up behind her. the motorist edges away from the bike lane; not really necessary but it's true the lanes for both types of vehicles are minimum regulation width and traffic is very light (french wednesday) so it's a nice thing to do. but he keeps going farther... and farther... until he's eating up MY bike lane going the other way! i had to get in the gutter and leap over the bar onto the sidewalk to save my life. he's not speeding. not on the phone. not reading a map. just being nice. and very stupid.

    i also saw someone again today i may have written about before: pink vespa, pink helmet with graham hill checkered band and skull&bones. miniskirt, fishnets, perfecto... it's granarchist! flies up the bike lane doing 40 and right through the light: nor yellow nor just turned red nor almost green but right in the middle of the cycle (luckily it's wednesday!)... and turns the wrong way into a one-way street. you almost have to admire this kind of inconsiderate recklessness. but the real shocker is that our daredevil is a 60+ year old woman. and i'll tell you she's not just crazy; she can really handle that vespa.
     
  13. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    In the States, bicyclists are the menace. If Paris is any indication, scooters are the danger in France. The bicyclists I've seen tend to follow the rules of the road (gasp!) and aren't all buzzing about as if they're Lance Armstrong back in his druggie days. The Vespa types are another story. Step into a crosswalk in front of them, they take it as a challenge ... they speed up to hit the target.
     
  14. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    i had a run in with one today who swerved out of traffic into the bike lane right in front of me so close he actually touched me: not really as deadly dangerous as it sounds, but when i fairly calmly pointed out to him that if he replaced his rear view mirrors (both broken off... wonder how that happened? :rolleyes: ) he would have seen me it touched off a fvckoffnoyoufvckoff match that lasted 2 blocks.

    even better scooter story from a couple weeks ago:

    i'm waiting at a stop in primary user position because my right turn has to end up the left-turn lane right in front of me. a guy my age (50-sumpin) on a three-wheel scooter rolls up behind and hooks in front of me so close he's actually leaning against me (we're both stopped). the sparks and ashes from his cigarette are flying in my eyes! before i can say hey buddy what gives? he turns right and is off. gotta admit he owned my ass but i still feel what he did was not right.

    dear ann landers...
     
  15. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL
    Vespas, watch out. You've had two weeks of kicking my pedestrian ass. Now it's my turn, because I'm renting a car for the next 5 days. That's a little, little thing that you ride.

    They're worse in Barcelona. Like gnats there.
     
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  16. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    btw, there are scooters everywhere, but a lyonnais arriving in paris is boggled. you come out of the gare de lyon and there is a SEA of them. it's a fairly new phenomenon (5 years? less than 10 anyway) but it'd become one of the major elements in the paname cityscape. there are even scooter taxis.
     
  17. JohnR

    JohnR Member+

    Jun 23, 2000
    Chicago, IL

    Paname?

    You're right now that I think of it, it is new. I don't remember scooters in Paris before. I've always thought of scooters as a Med thing.
     
  18. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    paname is a nickname for paris.
     
  19. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    the answer to all our problems..

    [​IMG]

    well, my problems anyway!

    and i would look dashing in that bowler...
     
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  20. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    it's obvious that someone in the middle of a TdF peloton rolling 40 km/h into a slight headwind is getting a lot of help. but for a long time i didn't realize that having a teammate in front of you going up the galibier was much more than moral support.

    the proof of how well drafting works at all speeds was amply demonstrated to me this morning. i was in a bikelane behind someone pedaling steadily at a staid 15 km/h and not only did i not need to pedal at all, i had to occasionally touch the brakes to keep from running up their back wheel!

    of course for that to happen there has to be something more than aspiration going on. what slight wind there was was behind me, and i know that in that stretch there is a faux plat, but both so slight that in normal conditions they are all but imperceptible.
     
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  21. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    Drafting is huge bonus - especially into a headwind - or if you are crazy enough to try to draft cars trucks and other motorized traffic.

    The big problem is when you get the person behind you who refuses to do their share of the work and rides your slipstream for kilometres.
     
  22. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    a lot of major thoroughfares here have lanes restricted to buses and bikes and you can get some good aspi there relatively safely. anywhere else in town a bike can go faster than cars anyway.

    i hate this too. even though it doesn't really cost me anything it's a stingy attitude that ruins my morning and reduces my already wobbly faith in human nature. have a nice day butthole, i hope you get run over by a white van.

    though i haven't seen him in at least a year, i often used to get great draft from a guy on an electric-assisted bike who always did his best to make sure i could stay on his wheel. a prince. i hope he didn't get run over by a white van!
     
  23. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    27 degrees on this morning's ride to work
     
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  24. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    i've been there... and will be there... but already on the first monday of november? you'll get a stonefox houri for that bud!
     
  25. crazypete13

    crazypete13 Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 7, 2007
    A walk from BMO
    Club:
    Toronto FC
    That's nice riding weather - oh wait - Fahrenheit - nevermind...
     

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