I often ride to my LBS from my house, taking the same 7-mile route each time. When I am all spandexed out and on my racing bike, cage creatures give me room on the road, seldom yell, and, in general, treat me well. But, when I am on my ATB, outfitted in normal clothes, I get heaps of abuse -- cars pass way too close, people yell, etc. Nothing changes but the bike and clothing. I find this odd.
I've seen the same thing. I think it has as much to do with your speed as your clothing though. Maybe it's nothing more than the drivers considering the fact that someone who's going fast just MAY be able to catch them at the next light.
I can catch them on my ATB as well as my road bike. Traffic lights aren't _that_ far apart.
Today, some kids in a Jeep Cherokee were cursing at me telling me to get on the sidewalk because I delayed them for maybe ten seconds. They were making a HUGE deal out of it. I must say that they only made me take the lane even more. They threatened to beat me up, but none made a move to really try anything. I was pretty calm the whole time -- never raised my voice, never responded to them in kind. The situation ended OK when I turned off on a residential street for a shortcut and they kept going straight on the larger street. -- home.sport.rr.comcuthuluOpen ↗ human rights = peace a nightmare pigeon is a black meat... 9:25:02 PM 10 September 2003
On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 23:42:29 GMT, "Baker, Jane Baker" <[email hidden]> from
EarthLink Inc. -- url='http://www.earthlink.net/'http://www.EarthLink.net/url said:
Kevan Smith /\/\ said:
I often ride to my LBS from my house, taking the same 7-mile route each time. When I am all spandexed out and on my racing bike, cage creatures give me room on the road, seldom yell, and, in general, treat me well. But, when I am on my ATB, outfitted in normal clothes, I get heaps of abuse -- cars pass way too close, people yell, etc. Nothing changes but the bike and clothing. I find this odd.
So, Kevan... how does your ass look in spandex?
Pretty god damned good! My legs look great, too.
-- home.sport.rr.comcuthuluOpen ↗ human rights = peace the MYSTERIANS are in here with my CORDUROY SOAP DISH!! 9:26:02 PM 10 September 2003
In article <[email hidden]>, <[email hidden]> writes:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
I have noticed some of the same behaviors with my commuter bike vs. my grocery shopping bike. I'll be riding the same roads right near my house. Riding the same way, often at the same speeds (assuming I don't have twenty pound sacks of rice in my baskets). Yet I get a lot more honking, swearing, and bad behavior from motorists.
Quoted message said:
Practical cycling also exposes riders to poor-bashing.
Quoted message said:
That's my intuitive guess, anyway.
I've wondered if that might explain it. My shopping bike certainly is nothing much to look at. And when I go shopping, I'm just in a t-shirt and shorts. Usually not looking terribly natty.
Shopping by bike in Bellevue could be better. Bellevue isn't terribly bicycle friendly (Verdamnt Superblocks) (Sorry Claire).
One of the reasons I just moved back to Seattle.
-- Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g "The bullets are just his way of saying 'Keep it down, I've got a hangover.'" -- Kiki to Dr. Schlock, as seen in pics.sluggy.com000108a.gifOpen ↗
