@chunkyazian, from my trip to China 2008:
How about “lane-splitting” which is legal some places:
insightful The first time I encountered this was when I moved to Southern California In January 1974. Suicidal!
I received a “bad” cyclist education from a TV show. I watched an episode of Mystery Diners where a pizza restaurant was using bicycle delivery. The restaurant owner in Denver, Colorado stated that his cyclists were required by State law to obey the same laws as motor vehicle operators which is correct. The first bicycle delivery person almost immediately “parted the Red Sea” of pedestrians in a crosswalk then rode straight through a very red light. When he was later shown the video he stated " I was a cyclist! Motor vehicle laws do not apply"! At that time I realized that many “bad” cyclists may be simply ignorant. This helped me justify my personal opinion that a cycling permit for those over 16 years old could help. Being required to pass a simple written test would at least need a rudimentary knowledge of cycling laws which do vary by State and even municipality.
I thought that I would revive this thread with a relevant photo that I found.
Look closely at the edge of the roadway…
Take that, inconsiderate bikers and runners!
;-))
Breaker one nine, we got a gator on the shoulder…
I often ride the Tanglefoot Trail and along with beavers, ground hogs, wild hogs and deer there are often snakes to deal with. Most are not poisonous but I have seen several copperheads and a cotton mouth, none ever seem concerned with me even when I ride within inches of them. I would give an alligator the benefit of the doubt and ride on the far side of the road though. I don’t have any Cajun in my blood.
@Yosemite , you may want to try riding a bike. I was once an avid walker, and would walk miles following streams and creeks and rivers, fishing along the way.
sciatica put a stop to that, but bike riding takes much of the weight off and does not seem to aggravate my sciatica much. it also strengthens your core muscles.
of course I live on the coastal plain, no hills here to worry about…
Yes @wes. Biking does offer an opportunity to get out and get some excercise when walking becomes too difficult. When the weather cooperates I pedal from 15 to 20+ miles a day but couldn’t walk half a mile. Bike trails like the ones I enjoy are built on old railroad ROWs and the grades are never steep. I met a fellow former Marine riding a trail who was 79 years old and often pedalled 40 miles and was hoping to ride 80 on his 80th birthday. Next time I see him I’ll ask him what he eats for breakfast.
THank’s for the suggestion @WESW. I was thinking that same thing last summer and might look for an old bike to try out this summer.
Yosemite
you re welcome, but do yourself a favor and get a bike with good bearings, wheels, and gears that work. nothing makes bike riding more unpleasant than riding a piece of crap bike. well, Dobermans do, but I don t want to discourage you…
Maybe this one. http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/bik/4798828425.html
Then I can look like Artie Johnson from “Laugh-In” when I fall…and it’s not far to fall either.
Yosemite
Although I’m not a Walmart fan they stock hundreds of bikes and occasionally a bike gets dinged moving it around and they discount those significantly. My first bike in decades was bought at Walmart for $35. It was a derailer that someone had fouled up the rear controller. It was an easy repair requiring only resetting the range limiters and cable.
VDCdriver That is funny. Thank you for reviving the thread. It saved me the trouble of finding it. I had a bad pedestrian encounter today. 1:00 pm clear and sunny. Two early twenties females. 25 mph posted speed zone. They were walking on the shoulder back to traffic. As I approached they stepped out walking in my traffic lane. I of course slowed and prepared to stop. They were not staring at their phones but still never looked before walking on to the road! They then crossed the opposing lane while walking in the road causing oncoming traffic to stop. They have been told pedestrians always have the right of way. Not true in my state! Although I think all sane drivers would do anything possible to avoid hitting a pedestrian or cyclist. Although ones who would walk in a traffic lane without looking may need to exit the gene pool.
I am a bicyclist, and bought a fuji for 10 bucks so I could swap parts on my Nishiki. 70s or 80s era. The wheels were bent, too long getting pushed on in a garage I suppose. I wanted the side pull brakes and a new head for the front, and believe it or not the wheels straightened themselves out! Spokes are self healing my best guess.
For dogs…
many cyclists keep…and use… a whip.
This from my motorcycle friends can easily be applied to bicyclers as well.
Saw one on my friends Harley and asked why the extra long streamer just on one side.
A 30" long blue and black braided leather ‘‘thingy’’ on a quick release hook.
’‘It’s a WHIP.’’ he said, ‘’ for dogs’’.
Then it all made sense.
cool, I have a good bike I got for cheap too. it an old, plain jane, gary fisher marlin in blue. 40 bucks at a yard sale. it had a replacement back wheel that was short a gear for the bike and had a bad bearing. a quick trip to a local bike guy s garage, and 12 bucks later, I was rolling in style. it s the best mountain bike I ve ever had. I built a really nice road bike when I was young, but this one is rugged and fast
Back in the late '70’s I did a lot of bike riding in the countryside between Madison WI and Chicago.
Encountered many farm dogs.
My technique was to first, get off the bike. 75% of dogs would no longer see me as a threat and walk away.
For the rest I used the bike as a barrier/shield: keep the bike between me and the dog as I walked away.
Never had to use a weapon.
There has been an epidemic of vehicle pedestrian accidents in this area. In the last three days 3 dead, 4 injured pedestrians. In the last month 2 additional dead pedestrians. All after dark and every driver involved stated they failed to see the pedestrians who were wearing dark clothing. Finally a news reporter was advising pedestrians to wear reflective clothing and carry a flashlight. A witness was asking “Why do they walk on these dark streets wearing dark clothing”? On the positive side less than a month ago I was approaching the intersection where one of the pedestrians was killed 2 nights later. A man and woman walking a dog were waiting to cross. I stopped but of course they still had to wait for 2 oncoming (to me) vehicles to drive through the intersection! They were wearing head lamps and flashing LED arm bands. The dog was wearing a flashing LED collar. They gave me a thank you wave and proceeded to cross. I turned on my dome light and gave them a double thumbs up.
I bike to work every day, and I like to think I’m a considerate bicyclist. I stop at lights where there is a traffic, run the lights that have weight sensors instead of timers (usually after stopping first), and do a rolling stop at 4-way stops until I can tell if there are people at the intersection or not. It feels safer to me to have some momentum going through an intersection, if there’s a sizeable gap – most accidents happen in intersections, and the less time I spend in one, the less time there is for someone to hit me. Car drivers sometimes run lights as well, and I don’t want to share an intersection with one of them. I usually pretend I’m a car, though – which means waiting in line at lights and making people behind me wait as I reach my low top speed. As a cyclist, I’m constantly aware of my relative fragility on the road and do everything I can to protect myself from cars.
That being said, I have certainly given other cyclists an earful on occasion. People who run lights when there’s traffic coming, forcing cars to hit the brakes, for one. People who don’t even slow down for stop signs. People who bike against traffic, at night, with no headlight. These are the cyclists who give us all bad names. In the interest of getting better bike lanes and stoplights that recognize bicycles, us cyclists should call these people out and promote a better biking culture.
Part of the problem is kids with fixed-gear bikes who think it’s a real hardship to have to stop, since they don’t have low gears to get them started again (usually these things are geared fairly high – like starting a car in third gear). Part of the problem is people who don’t know the rules of the road, and don’t know that they’re breaking the law by running a light. I don’t know how to fix these kids except by throwing a U-lock into their spokes.