Saw an intelligent bicyclist today

[Brent P]

In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:

> A while back I was being followed by a Dodge Ram at a distance of less
> than 50 feet.

That's considered a large following distance around here... I'm lucky if
they are far enough back that I can see their tires in the mirror.

> I was driving about 45 mph in the left lane, when someone
> cut in front of me from the middle lane, which was going about 25 mph
> (the right lane was practically stopped). Fortunately, I was aware of
> the Ram behind me and the left shoulder was open, so I cut over as far
> as possible. The Ram went past me with its brakes locked and almost hit
> the car that cut me off. Needless to say, I was not amused at this idiot
> almost taking me out.

I was on a mini expressway a few months ago... light traffic.... as I
start to pass the LLB to my left he speeds up... fine whatever I wasn't
moving left anyway. Pickup moves from behind the LLB to behind me...
tailgating... over a rise a slow moving SUV in the right lane. Lots of
time for me to slow LOTS of time for me.... asshole however nearly hits
me flashing his brights and sounding the horn as I slow gently to avoid
hitting the SUV and giving this moron as much space to slow down as
possible. There are no shoulders on this road. Just as the
LLB passes by pickup boy swerves into the left lane and passes... WTF is
wrong with these people?

 

[Ed Pirrero]

On Mar 6, 7:58 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Ed Pirrero wrote:
> > On Mar 3, 6:51 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >> Brent P? wrote:
> >>> In article <8d1ff144-be8d-409e-b119-6e99257d4...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, [email protected] wrote:
> >>>> On Mar 2, 11:12 pm, [email protected] (Brent P)
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
> >>>>>> On Mar 1, 9:09 pm, [email protected] (Brent P) wrote:
> >>>>>>> In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:
> >>>>>>> I don't know where trucks actually go 55mph...
> >>>>>> Up hills.
> >>>>>> (Sheesh.)
> >>>>> Not any of the hills around here.
> >>>>  Well THAT clears things up!  The hills in Chicago don't slow
> >>>> trucks, therefore there are no hills anywhere that slow trucks!
> >>> Holy jump battman. I never said any such thing, but you know that.
> >>>> I don't know why the highway departments around here wasted all the
> >>>> money on those "7% grade" signs!  They should have checked with racer-
> >>>> boy!
> >>> I dunno. The times I've driven through the hills and mountains on the way
> >>> to and from NC and WV I don't recall the trucks dropping to 55mph...
> >>> maybe my memory is off, that could be, but I think they kept it above
> >>> 55mph for the most part. They certainly do through the hills of WI. Now
> >>> they do slow, but 55mph seems to be a floor speed. I suppose there are
> >>> some mountain roads out there where they slow to 45mph or something but
> >>> that is still the limit of their vehicles, I have rarely seen truckers
> >>> restrict themselves to 55mph.
> >> In Colorado on I-70, I have passed trucks that were doing 15-20 mph
> >> uphill. (I was doing about 40-45 mph, full throttle in 3rd gear, in a
> >> Rabbit (Golf I).
>
> > Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.
>
> > Out here in the west, 18-wheelers often climb mt. passes at half the
> > SL or less.  Mostly, they are nice about restricting themselves to the
> > right lane only.
>
> > Sometimes, they are jerks and micropass at 25 mph in the right lane,
> > and 27 mph in the left lane.
> > [...]
>
> And sometimes one truck drives on the shoulder to let a slightly faster
> truck go by in the right lane.
>
> --
> Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
> The weather is here, wish you were beautiful- Hide quoted text -

I've seen that ONCE. A lot fewer times than the micropassing I
described before.

E.P.

 

[gpsman]

On Mar 4, 12:00 pm, Ed Pirrero <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mar 3, 6:51 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Brent P? wrote:
> > > In article <8d1ff144-be8d-409e-b119-6e99257d4...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, [email protected] wrote:
> > >> On Mar 2, 11:12 pm, [email protected] (Brent P)
> > >> wrote:
> > >>> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > >>>> On Mar 1, 9:09 pm, [email protected] (Brent P) wrote:
> > >>>>> In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:
>
> > >>>>> I don't know where trucks actually go 55mph...
> > >>>> Up hills.
> > >>>> (Sheesh.)
> > >>> Not any of the hills around here.
> > >> Well THAT clears things up! The hills in Chicago don't slow
> > >> trucks, therefore there are no hills anywhere that slow trucks!
>
> > > Holy jump battman. I never said any such thing, but you know that.
>
> > >> I don't know why the highway departments around here wasted all the
> > >> money on those "7% grade" signs! They should have checked with racer-
> > >> boy!
>
> > > I dunno. The times I've driven through the hills and mountains on the way
> > > to and from NC and WV I don't recall the trucks dropping to 55mph...
> > > maybe my memory is off, that could be, but I think they kept it above
> > > 55mph for the most part. They certainly do through the hills of WI. Now
> > > they do slow, but 55mph seems to be a floor speed. I suppose there are
> > > some mountain roads out there where they slow to 45mph or something but
> > > that is still the limit of their vehicles, I have rarely seen truckers
> > > restrict themselves to 55mph.
>
> > In Colorado on I-70, I have passed trucks that were doing 15-20 mph
> > uphill. (I was doing about 40-45 mph, full throttle in 3rd gear, in a
> > Rabbit (Golf I).
>
> Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.
>
> Out here in the west, 18-wheelers often climb mt. passes at half the
> SL or less. Mostly, they are nice about restricting themselves to the
> right lane only.
>
> Sometimes, they are jerks and micropass at 25 mph in the right lane,
> and 27 mph in the left lane.
>
> I'm sure one of those jerks used to be GPSturd.

Mmm, no, gpsman deplores micropassing and advocates, practices and
taught students not to micropass*, and to prevent being micropassed by
reducing velocity to let the micropasser by.

*Within reason. Many a mountain pass limits visibility of traffic
approaching from the rear, e.g., 4th of July, Lookout. It would be
unrealistic to expect a driver already limited to a low velocity to
adopt an even lower velocity for faster traffic that may or may not be
approaching to realize a rather minor time benefit.
-----

- gpsman

 

[Brent P]

In article <[email protected]>, Ed Pirrero wrote:

> Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.

I know what mountains are like, I was just 9 years old the last time I was
on a mountain road in the west. Like I stated, I've been on them in the
east much more recently but I don't recall the truckers going slower than
55mph. Maybe that's because the interstates are graded so they can. But the
point I was making is that truckers don't go less than 55mph because
they feel like it, when they do it's because they do not have a choice.

Oh and I forgot about Maui... of course trucks of any size significant
to this exchange didn't seem to venture up those roads.

 

[Ed Pirrero]

On Mar 7, 9:20 am, [email protected] (Brent P) wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Ed Pirrero wrote:
> > Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.
>
> I know what mountains are like, I was just 9 years old the last time I was
> on a mountain road in the west. Like I stated, I've been on them in the
> east much more recently but I don't recall the truckers going slower than
> 55mph. Maybe that's because the interstates are graded so they can.

I don't doubt that in the east, the trucks can do 55+ without any
hassle. In the rather hilly west, they can be found crawling upslope
at 20mph. Regularly.

E.P.

 

[Ed Pirrero]

On Mar 7, 9:12 am, gpsman <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mar 4, 12:00 pm, Ed Pirrero <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mar 3, 6:51 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
>
> > > Brent P? wrote:
> > > > In article <8d1ff144-be8d-409e-b119-6e99257d4...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, [email protected] wrote:
> > > >> On Mar 2, 11:12 pm, [email protected] (Brent P)
> > > >> wrote:
> > > >>> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > > >>>> On Mar 1, 9:09 pm, [email protected] (Brent P) wrote:
> > > >>>>> In article <[email protected]>, Tom Shermanwrote:
>
> > > >>>>> I don't know where trucks actually go 55mph...
> > > >>>> Up hills.
> > > >>>> (Sheesh.)
> > > >>> Not any of the hills around here.
> > > >>  Well THAT clears things up!  The hills in Chicago don't slow
> > > >> trucks, therefore there are no hills anywhere that slow trucks!
>
> > > > Holy jump battman. I never said any such thing, but you know that.
>
> > > >> I don't know why the highway departments around here wasted all the
> > > >> money on those "7% grade" signs!  They should have checked with racer-
> > > >> boy!
>
> > > > I dunno. The times I've driven through the hills and mountains on the way
> > > > to and from NC and WV I don't recall the trucks dropping to 55mph...
> > > > maybe my memory is off, that could be, but I think they kept it above
> > > > 55mph for the most part. They certainly do through the hills of WI. Now
> > > > they do slow, but 55mph seems to be a floor speed. I suppose there are
> > > > some mountain roads out there where they slow to 45mph or something but
> > > > that is still the limit of their vehicles, I have rarely seen truckers
> > > > restrict themselves to 55mph.
>
> > > In Colorado on I-70, I have passed trucks that were doing 15-20 mph
> > > uphill. (I was doing about 40-45 mph, full throttle in 3rd gear, in a
> > > Rabbit (Golf I).
>
> > Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.
>
> > Out here in the west, 18-wheelers often climb mt. passes at half the
> > SL or less.  Mostly, they are nice about restricting themselves to the
> > right lane only.
>
> > Sometimes, they are jerks and micropass at 25 mph in the right lane,
> > and 27 mph in the left lane.
>
>  Many a mountain pass limits visibility of traffic
> approaching from the rear, e.g., 4th of July, Lookout.  It would be
> unrealistic to expect a driver already limited to a low velocity to
> adopt an even lower velocity for faster traffic that may or may not be
> approaching to realize a rather minor time benefit.

Wrong. If the pass is signed at 60, and you're climbing it at 35, and
come up behind a truck doing 30, it stands to reason that the "small
time" lost would be insignificant in terms of the entire trip. Slower
traffic keep right. Not slowest traffic keep right. Even in ID,
blocking traffic is illegal. Even on I-90.

E.P.

 

[Tom Sherman]

Ed Pirrero wrote:
> On Mar 7, 9:20 am, [email protected] (Brent P) wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>, Ed Pirrero wrote:
>>> Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like.
>> I know what mountains are like, I was just 9 years old the last time I was
>> on a mountain road in the west. Like I stated, I've been on them in the
>> east much more recently but I don't recall the truckers going slower than
>> 55mph. Maybe that's because the interstates are graded so they can.
>
> I don't doubt that in the east, the trucks can do 55+ without any
> hassle. In the rather hilly west, they can be found crawling upslope
> at 20mph. Regularly.
>
We had a guy drive 60 miles at 35-40 mph in a truck, because he did not
understand about shifting from low-range to high range.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

 

[Tom Sherman]

Brent P? wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:
>
>> A while back I was being followed by a Dodge Ram at a distance of less
>> than 50 feet.
>
> That's considered a large following distance around here... I'm lucky if
> they are far enough back that I can see their tires in the mirror.
>
I had about 10 people follow me on my evening commute so closely that I
could not see their lights in my mirrors. That puts them at less than a
10-foot following distance.

>> I was driving about 45 mph in the left lane, when someone
>> cut in front of me from the middle lane, which was going about 25 mph
>> (the right lane was practically stopped). Fortunately, I was aware of
>> the Ram behind me and the left shoulder was open, so I cut over as far
>> as possible. The Ram went past me with its brakes locked and almost hit
>> the car that cut me off. Needless to say, I was not amused at this idiot
>> almost taking me out.
>
> I was on a mini expressway a few months ago... light traffic.... as I
> start to pass the LLB to my left he speeds up... fine whatever I wasn't
> moving left anyway. Pickup moves from behind the LLB to behind me...
> tailgating... over a rise a slow moving SUV in the right lane. Lots of
> time for me to slow LOTS of time for me.... asshole however nearly hits
> me flashing his brights and sounding the horn as I slow gently to avoid
> hitting the SUV and giving this moron as much space to slow down as
> possible. There are no shoulders on this road. Just as the
> LLB passes by pickup boy swerves into the left lane and passes... WTF is
> wrong with these people?
>
Which road in Chicagoland is a "mini-expressway" or was this somewhere else?

As for the last question, it is a mixture of ignorance, arrogance and
general jerkitude.

Of course, if we took 40% of the vehicles off the roads it would help,
as that would return traffic to conditions of the 1970's. As a general
rule, the lower the population density and traffic density, the less
idiotic the drivers are.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

 

[Brent P]

In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:
>Brent P? wrote:
>> In article <[email protected]>, Tom Sherman wrote:
>>
>>> A while back I was being followed by a Dodge Ram at a distance of less
>>> than 50 feet.
>>
>> That's considered a large following distance around here... I'm lucky if
>> they are far enough back that I can see their tires in the mirror.
>>
>I had about 10 people follow me on my evening commute so closely that I
>could not see their lights in my mirrors. That puts them at less than a
>10-foot following distance.

And so? If I drive the posted 55mph speed limit on any local expressway
and I could top that.

>>> I was driving about 45 mph in the left lane, when someone
>>> cut in front of me from the middle lane, which was going about 25 mph
>>> (the right lane was practically stopped). Fortunately, I was aware of
>>> the Ram behind me and the left shoulder was open, so I cut over as far
>>> as possible. The Ram went past me with its brakes locked and almost hit
>>> the car that cut me off. Needless to say, I was not amused at this idiot
>>> almost taking me out.
>>
>> I was on a mini expressway a few months ago... light traffic.... as I
>> start to pass the LLB to my left he speeds up... fine whatever I wasn't
>> moving left anyway. Pickup moves from behind the LLB to behind me...
>> tailgating... over a rise a slow moving SUV in the right lane. Lots of
>> time for me to slow LOTS of time for me.... asshole however nearly hits
>> me flashing his brights and sounding the horn as I slow gently to avoid
>> hitting the SUV and giving this moron as much space to slow down as
>> possible. There are no shoulders on this road. Just as the
>> LLB passes by pickup boy swerves into the left lane and passes... WTF is
>> wrong with these people?
>>
>Which road in Chicagoland is a "mini-expressway" or was this somewhere else?

Willow/palatine road express in this case. 41 a fair distance north of
where it splits from the spur is another then there are some e-w roads
up north, 120 I think is one as I recall... its been some time since
I've been up that way... US 14 turns into one far enough north for
awhile.... quite a few of them in WI. 83 in the westmont area is
another. There aren't too many of these south of chicago, IL394
degrades from interstate standard to something slightly less
than a mini-expressway south of US30... Basically they are limited
or very infrequent access roads that don't meet interstate standards.

>As for the last question, it is a mixture of ignorance, arrogance and
>general jerkitude.

>Of course, if we took 40% of the vehicles off the roads it would help,
>as that would return traffic to conditions of the 1970's. As a general
>rule, the lower the population density and traffic density, the less
>idiotic the drivers are.

The problem was the 1970s, the NMSL and all the other BS that started in
that decade.

 

[Matthew T. Russotto]

In article <[email protected]>,
Zoot Katz <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>The sticker clearly visible on my rear fender sums it up:
>CARS SUCK

Fenders suck.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.