yet another idiot letter



Jasper Janssen wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, there's not always a choice about riding alongside trucks
> or buses.
> Jasper
>

You guys are missing one obvious point. You don't have to be in such a
blind assed hurry to keep up your average speed, and there is no job
worth taking that kind of risk for. I would have waited out the light,
or at least waited for the truck to pass. It does sound like a city
problem since all I deal with is gravel bottom dump semis all day long
except Sunday. It looks like city driving is considerably more dangerous
than my country runs.
Vigilance.) It should always be dialed up to high when on a bike no
matter where you ride. You have slow traffic and lights, I have fast
traffic and no lights, plus the occasional dog who thinks he owns the
road and gives chase.
We are at the bottom of the food chain, like it or not.
Bill
 
On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 14:27:29 GMT, Bill <[email protected]> wrote:
>Jasper Janssen wrote:
>>
>> Unfortunately, there's not always a choice about riding alongside trucks
>> or buses.


>You guys are missing one obvious point. You don't have to be in such a
>blind assed hurry to keep up your average speed, and there is no job
>worth taking that kind of risk for. I would have waited out the light,


Uh, what? I said there is sometimes *no choice*, I didn't say you have to
choose between 30 kph and 5. It's more like 10 and 0 (average.). Not
always, but *sometimes*.

>or at least waited for the truck to pass. It does sound like a city
>problem since all I deal with is gravel bottom dump semis all day long
>except Sunday. It looks like city driving is considerably more dangerous
>than my country runs.


Not really, you just have to know the dangers and anticipate properly.

>Vigilance.) It should always be dialed up to high when on a bike no
>matter where you ride. You have slow traffic and lights, I have fast
>traffic and no lights, plus the occasional dog who thinks he owns the
>road and gives chase.
>We are at the bottom of the food chain, like it or not.


Not so much here in the Netherlands. 80% of the people in those cars ride
a bike to do their small grocery shopping. Possibly more in the cities.
The thing is that cars, let alone trucks, simply aren't that maneuverable.
Which means that if they *attempt* to hit you or cut you off, they'll
usually fail. Been there done that. So all you need to do is act
reasonably predictable, and if you think they might not see you, make sure
you have either an off (like, say, a sidewalk next to you, rather than a
wall or parked cars) or just avoid those areas altogether. You can always
take a few metres of sidewalk where necessary.


Jasper
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> writes:
> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:55:38 -0700, [email protected] (Tom Keats)
> wrote:
>
>>It could also be an opportunity to point out the
>>dangerousness of riding alongside large trucks.

>
> Unfortunately, there's not always a choice about riding alongside trucks
> or buses. I usually only pass buses when their indicator lights are
> indicating they're not yet ready to pull out of the bus stop again, and


I neglected to qualify by saying riding on trucks' /right/ sides
(North America) and lingering in that position.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca
 
In article <[email protected]>,
lowkey <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>"Matthew Venhaus" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...


>> Well at least they spelled pedalling right. And a cyclist traveling
>> 5kph could safely travel on the sidewalk, but how often does a cyclist
>> go that slow?


When they're accompanying pedestrians, of course.

> That was the figure that jumped out at me. I think I probably _walk_ faster
>than 5 kmh.


Usually 6.5 here. A lot of people average around 3-4ish, 5 is a fast
walk for most of the people I know who don't do a lot of walking, in
the average range (maybe a bit on the slow side) for the ones who do.


dave

--
Dave Vandervies [email protected]

"Everyone else" writes buffer overrun bugs. Be smarter than "everyone else".
--Chris Torek in comp.lang.c
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Marlene Blanshay <[email protected]> wrote:
>Matthew Venhaus wrote:
>> Marlene Blanshay <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:p[email protected]...
>>
>>> pedalling their 5-kilometres an hour bikes

>>
>> Well at least they spelled pedalling right. And a cyclist traveling
>> 5kph could safely travel on the sidewalk, but how often does a cyclist
>> go that slow?

>
>for sure... i don't know about you but I'd fall over.


Heh. I can actually go 3-4km/h more comfortably on a bike than on foot.
If I'm walking that speed with people, I'm not doing much more than half
my normal speed, and I get impatient; on the bike, matching speeds and
balancing keeps me busy enough to not get impatient on top of that.


dave

--
Dave Vandervies [email protected]

"Everyone else" writes buffer overrun bugs. Be smarter than "everyone else".
--Chris Torek in comp.lang.c
 
On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:52:29 -0700, [email protected] (Tom Keats)
wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>,
> Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> writes:
>> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:55:38 -0700, [email protected] (Tom Keats)
>> wrote:
>>
>>>It could also be an opportunity to point out the
>>>dangerousness of riding alongside large trucks.

>>
>> Unfortunately, there's not always a choice about riding alongside trucks
>> or buses. I usually only pass buses when their indicator lights are
>> indicating they're not yet ready to pull out of the bus stop again, and

>
>I neglected to qualify by saying riding on trucks' /right/ sides
>(North America) and lingering in that position.



Ah, I see. No, I generally only pass on the right when traffic is stopped
for a light or other reasons, or at least very, very slow and not likely
to make a sudden right turn or swerve and cutting me up.

Jasper