bike lane?! where!

[Twisties]

I am getting realy sick nearly being run down every time i try to ride in the bloody bike lane!!!

Half these people dont even know that it is there!
And 85% of the people drive those damn huge landcruisers. I have nothing against 4wd's but the fact that all these people do is drive them to pick up their kids from school and the mummys drive to do their shopping in them.

i swear half the 4wd's i have seen in my life time will never see sand under their tyres, or dirt, or mud!

I have a mate who has a new landcruiser and i reckon if it hit a bike going 20k/h it wouldnt make a dent in the car, and i would flatten the bike.

but back to my point, why do drivers drive in the bike lane, and then proceed to beep their horns at you because your in their way.

does anyone else have this problem!?!?!?

 

[Twisties]

sortta stuffed this paragraph up:

Half these people dont even know that it is there!
And 85% of the people drive those damn huge landcruisers. I have nothing against 4wd's but the fact that all these people do is drive them to pick up their kids from school and the mummys drive to do their shopping in them.

it was ment to say:

Half these people dont even know that it is there!
And 85% of the people seem to drive those damn huge landcruisers. I have nothing against 4wd's but the fact they are used for is to pick up their kids from school and so the mummys can drive them to do the shopping!

 

[Bermuda Shorts]

Its not just you, we all live in fear of the yuppie tractors, my advice is to stick to the trails, even on off road cycle routes you come up against walkers/hikers, dogs and the like who resent your presence! Only two days ago I came up behind 3 adults, 2 kids on trainer bikes and 2 loose dogs, blocking the path and oblivious to the world, when I announced my presence and intention to pass I got screamed at by one of the women. Although my all time worst experiece was being balled out by a woman pushing a buggie after I bailed out onto the path to avoid a truck bearing down on me in the cycle lane, guess she would have rather her child saw me chewed up and spat out by the wheels of the truck!

 

[Twisties]

what does the world have against cyclists?! we try to do our bit for the world, and what do we get?! yelled at by the selfish people of the world today! not all of us are selfish, not many at all, but when it comes to cyclists, the world wishes that we were dead!

 

[Brizza]

I had a firecraker thrown at me one night, sandwiches on another.
I think they resent the fact that our bikes are cheap and we don't pay rego, the fact of the matter is that most riders own cars as well.
I try to move at road speed so that the cars don't give me trouble.

 

[Twisties]

wait till the world runs out of petrol, then we'll be laughing

 

[Randal Lovelace]

Ok, Honestly I have no fear of the SUV's or Luxoboats (happen to own a big ole' station wagon myself...) its the 18 wheelers that won't stay centered in there lane that scares me.

 

[The_Name_is_Ash]

Originally posted by Twisties
wait till the world runs out of petrol, then we'll be laughing

Yeah man! the worlds gasoline resource will deminish in approx. 50 years (that's a fact!)

 

[Ginzu]

Originally posted by Twisties
I am getting realy sick nearly being run down every time i try to ride in the bloody bike lane!!!

Half these people dont even know that it is there!
And 85% of the people drive those damn huge landcruisers. I have nothing against 4wd's but the fact that all these people do is drive them to pick up their kids from school and the mummys drive to do their shopping in them.

i swear half the 4wd's i have seen in my life time will never see sand under their tyres, or dirt, or mud!

I have a mate who has a new landcruiser and i reckon if it hit a bike going 20k/h it wouldnt make a dent in the car, and i would flatten the bike.

but back to my point, why do drivers drive in the bike lane, and then proceed to beep their horns at you because your in their way.

does anyone else have this problem!?!?!?

All the way in Houston, Tx and now even the allegedly bike friendly San Francisco, CA. Once I saw an economy car somethin the size of a Cooper driving in the bike lane as though it was meant for small cars; it was grinding its hubcaps along the curb.

Sad to hear this is a global phenomenon. Be safe!

 

[wildcard]

Originally posted by Bermuda Shorts
Its not just you, we all live in fear of the yuppie tractors, my advice is to stick to the trails, even on off road cycle routes you come up against walkers/hikers, dogs and the like who resent your presence! Only two days ago I came up behind 3 adults, 2 kids on trainer bikes and 2 loose dogs, blocking the path and oblivious to the world, when I announced my presence and intention to pass I got screamed at by one of the women. Although my all time worst experiece was being balled out by a woman pushing a buggie after I bailed out onto the path to avoid a truck bearing down on me in the cycle lane, guess she would have rather her child saw me chewed up and spat out by the wheels of the truck!

The fact that the woman wasn't driving is of no surprise; with attitudes and attention spans like that it's no wonder such people aren't allowed near two wheels as well as four.

I get similar abuse and stupidity thrown in my direction all the time - quite often it's the pavement commuters just as much as the car drivers who act like idiots. I think it's a psychological thing - some folks just CANNOT stand to see someone else going faster than they are, they feel intimidated by it. They see cyclists as easy targets despite the damage you can do if one of these dumbo's get hit. It is not nice especially considering that the cyclist always presumed to be the guilty one.

Some people - no, in fact a lot of people - will even make a point of getting in your way and the only thing you can do is switch off; there is no point in applying any logic because they have none especially in this day and age where drugs and alcohol play such a big role.

I'd just recommend always having a mobile phone ready and a notepad. Pass the info onto the fuzz (even if it's just to record and do little else). Let it go because at the end of the day these people are a waste of effort. Why should they spoil your enjoyment after all?

Stay safe, folks.

 

[Babbar]

Originally posted by Twisties
what does the world have against cyclists

You ought to come ride with me. I have logged over 7500 miles since I started riding in May 2003. I have had only one bad experience in all that time. I have had cars cede the right of way to me. I had one women sit at a red light for an extra cycle just so that I could proceed on my way.

I have had people who wanted to turn right, slow down and get behind me and creep along at my 15-20mph until the turn came up and never beep once.

The worst treatment I get is from other cyclists. On one trail, when I wave or greet another cyclists, nearly 3/4th ignore me. Last week, I had a flat, and only one out of 5 cyclists who passed offered any help. Two actually looked the other way.

I guess it all depends on where you ride. I am lucky to live in east - central Maryland.

 

[Babbar]

Originally posted by The_Name_is_Ash
Yeah man! the worlds gasoline resource will deminish in approx. 50 years (that's a fact!)

Ever hear of Vance Packard? In the early 1960's he said that all of the world's petroleum would be exhausted by 1968. Well, he meant all the KNOWN reserves. He didn't have a clue about undiscovered and untapped deposits.

The U.S. "ran out" of petroleum in the late 1970's. Then, when the federal price controls were repealed, gas became plentiful again. Today in the U.S. gas is as cheap as it was in the early 1970's, when adjusted for inflation.

So I would surmise that your prediction is Packard-like.

 

[Twisties]

but oil/petrol has to run out someday, and the sooner we switch to solar etc the better. we're spending so much money to see if we can live in space, why not use the money to make the already livable planet we have better and fix the problems we have here?

ok that was sortta off-topic but ive wnated to say that for a while.

 

[Babbar]

Originally posted by Twisties
but oil/petrol has to run out someday, and the sooner we switch to solar etc the better. we're spending so much money to see if we can live in space, why not use the money to make the already livable planet we have better and fix the problems we have here?

ok that was sortta off-topic but ive wnated to say that for a while.

When is that "some day?" Some predictions say it is several centuries in the future. Others say we ran out of all petroleum in 1968. The truth is no one knows, but the known and scientifically estimated reserves today are enough to keep us awash in relatively cheap gasoline for the next 200 years.

Yes, someday, it will run out. But by that time, the internal combustion engine will be as dead as the dinosaur's that produced the oil in the first place.

Use what money? The petroleum industry in the U.S. is largely private enterprise. If you want to force them to spend their money on so-called "alternative fuels," you have crossed the line of the Constitution. Worse yet, you have ventured into despotism.

When an alternative fuel becomes commercially viable, it will be exploited and marketed by private business. The free market works each and every time it is tried.

What problems? As far as I can tell, there are relatively few energy relatede problems in the U.S. There are problems with government interferrence, there are problems with the courts butting in and not letting industry build a new power plant, especially nuclear powered, since 1979. The problem is not energy, it is people dead-set against progress.

 

[Twisties]

no no no,

i meant how we use all that petrol which makes polution which ruins the ozone etc. i was just saying that the sooner we got to solar power the better.

nasa has sent stuff up in to see if we can live in space. we dont need to, we could take the billions of dollars they have used and use it to feed homeless, help drought stricken, etc.

 

[Babbar]

Originally posted by Twisties
no no no, i meant how we use all that petrol which makes polution which ruins the ozone etc. i was just saying that the sooner we got to solar power the better.

nasa has sent stuff up in to see if we can live in space. we dont need to, we could take the billions of dollars they have used and use it to feed homeless, help drought stricken, etc.

Yes, the internal combustion engine does put out a lot of foul smelling by-products. However, the belief that this is ruining the ozone layer is a myth unsupportable by science. You can always find a "scientist" or two who will swear to anything, but the science is the ozone layer is pretty much immune to auto exhaust.

Solar power is not viable. It may work on a small scale, but what do you do at night or when there is cloud cover? Storage batteries? You want a bunch of storage batteries in your basement, with the acid and fumes coming off them? You may, but I sure don't.

Wind farms? The technology is far from perfected and it is not an ecnomically viable alternative. Besides, the environmentalists who say this is the answer don't want any of the windfarms anywhere near where they live.

So all we have to do is close the doors at NASA and use the money to solve all the countries problems? What about all the people who work at NASA, the industries that exist solely or almost solely to support NASA and space flight? What about all the good things that have been invented for the space program that have become invaluable in our everyday life, like Teflon?

We could just as easily disestablish the EPA and use that money to clean up smokestacks, exhaust fumes, and other "pollutants." We could even use EPA's money to study the manufacture of artificaial ozone. How about the Departments of Education, HHS, Agriculture, and countless bureaus and organizations that have no authority for existence? We could take that money and turn it back to the states, where the problem of the homeless can be better handled.

But, then, we run into the same problems as with NASA. One man's cash cow is another man's life and livelihood.

 

[Twisties]

....ok.

everything seams a lot simpler when ur 14...

 

[Babbar]

Originally posted by Twisties
....ok.

everything seams a lot simpler when ur 14...

Twisties, I am sorry for going off like that, and you are so right that when you are 14 everything is very simple. I am just a tad older than you, in fact, I have children that are more than twice your age.

Hang in there and as you get older things tend to get a lot more involved. Wait a minute! Do a Peter Pan and stay 14 forever!

 

[Sidi]

Originally posted by Babbar
When is that "some day?" Some predictions say it is several centuries in the future. Others say we ran out of all petroleum in 1968. The truth is no one knows, but the known and scientifically estimated reserves today are enough to keep us awash in relatively cheap gasoline for the next 200 years.

Yes, someday, it will run out. But by that time, the internal combustion engine will be as dead as the dinosaur's that produced the oil in the first place.

Use what money? The petroleum industry in the U.S. is largely private enterprise. If you want to force them to spend their money on so-called "alternative fuels," you have crossed the line of the Constitution. Worse yet, you have ventured into despotism.

When an alternative fuel becomes commercially viable, it will be exploited and marketed by private business. The free market works each and every time it is tried.

What problems? As far as I can tell, there are relatively few energy relatede problems in the U.S. There are problems with government interferrence, there are problems with the courts butting in and not letting industry build a new power plant, especially nuclear powered, since 1979. The problem is not energy, it is people dead-set against progress.

I say we build all the nations Nuclear Power plants right there in Maryland right in your back yard. And hope we dont have a Six Mile Island meltdown like it nearly happened. Or how about Savanna?
Don't be so quick to build nuclear. That waste sticks around for many years after you are dead and gone and forgotten. It sticks around so long that nobody can guarantee that the usa will be even speaking english or even be on this planet called earth.
So yeah. You want Nuclear power. Build it in your back yard and bury your nuclear waste with a half-life of 10.000 years in your front yard, not mine.
Want that right in your back yard?

 

[less'go]

Originally posted by Twisties
what does the world have against cyclists?! we try to do our bit for the world, and what do we get?! yelled at by the selfish people of the world today! not all of us are selfish, not many at all, but when it comes to cyclists, the world wishes that we were dead!

Ya know, Twisties, what they really resent is that we are out there moving our butts and doing something that is ecologically and idealogically sound, we are enjoying ourselves, getting some excercise instead of just sitting behind the wheel of some fat oversized car, polluting ourselves and the rest of the world. It's like the way SOME smokers look at you when you quit smoking: They wish they had the "couilles" (pardon my French) to do the same thing, but they're still there polluting themselves and everyone around. They're just jealous they're not doing the right thing, dammit.

Or maybe we cyclists just look hotter than most motorists do (for all of the above reasons), so they're trying to kill us all off ... they don't like the competition.

I was thinking about printing up some small cards with the road regulations concerning cyclist printed up on them. ANybody try that already?


Sara