FBinNY 

So what else is new?

BTW- even if you thought your post was very apropos, it still didn't warrant repeating, You might delete the 2nd version.

rebel1916

Stupid thumbs!!!!! Already done.

El Cid

Ok, so the riding group was wrong to stand around where people were trying to get through. And the OP was wrong to be angry and terse. So far so good, right?

But then one of the group riders came back for another round. Like an A&S poster ressurecting an old thread, he re-ignited a conflict that was already over. That speaks to his motive, or perhaps his wife's motive. At least one person in that group was itching for a fight.

Null66

Never...

open...

an...

A&S thread...

El Cid

Aw c'mon, this is way better than Netflix.

JoeyBike

Yes! Bicycles are considered VEHICLES in every state. If you are doing anything on a "roadway" that vehicles use, then you shouldn't let your guard down and you sure as shootin' shouldn't hog the place.

A vehicle is a vehicle. If you want to fly a couple of "dog kites" on ten foot leashes while pushing a tandem baby carriage and texting all at the same time, with your head up your bum, don't do it on a roadway.

Uh...walk on the sidewalks provided for walking? Take the kids to the park? Hiking trails? Just about anywhere BUT a place where vehicles are zooming around them UNLESS...they are paying attention and being polite to other trail users. Then they are more than welcome on any MUP. Heel your dogs, your kids, and grandma too.

No sheet. And that's why I avoid MUPs for the most part. It's a real downer just observing mass idiocy. Makes me sad to be human.

JoeyBike

Here is a fun little vid of mine from a couple of years ago just after a new fitness path opened up in a local park. Normally I would totally avoid such a place but it offered a pretty sweet shortcut for me so I tried it a couple of times. Then I got inspired to make this video and never tried cycling on this thing ever again.

This was filmed on a weekday. You should see it on a weekend! A shining example of typical MUP rubes.

kickstart

So basically you consider people who are using MUTs to enjoy themselves and have fun with friends, family, or for some personal time as nothing more than a mass of idiots if they're not doing it to your standards. Sounds like people are nothing more than red lights to you.


It saddens me that there are those who can take something as joyful as a bicycle, and transform it into something that spreads conflict and discontent wherever it rolls.

cruiserhead

Joey,
I used to do laps around there every night after work and on weekends, coming down Magazine. Yes it can get crowded but I never had any issues there.

Actually, most people tried to be cognizant of bikes and were friendly. I'm not a slow rider either, and never any issues.

I would do some laps around and then head off on the levy bike path

JoeyBike

The path in the video is the Festival Grounds Path in City Park, not Audubon Park where path users actually follow the road markings to the letter. The two paths are a little more than 5 miles apart but the trail users are from different planets.

JoeyBike

More like "meat pylons" actually. Be prepared to carve!

cruiserhead

Ah ok, you're right, I thought it was Audobon

Rollfast

No. Three rights make a political party.

Digital_Cowboy

Kickstart,

Don’t forget that you’re talking to someone who thinks that it’s their “right” to blow through red lights and stop signs, and who if memory serves me correctly has admitted to buzzing pedestrians.

He’s no better then the motorist who thinks that because he’s in a car he has the “right” to go as fast as he wants whenever he wants.

Paul Barnard

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

People in general can be remarkably oblivious to the world around them. Put folks on an MUP enjoying a little exercise, some fresh air and good company and they can really lose their situational awareness. We simply have to expect it and be prepared to deal with it accordingly and appropriately.

Many of our MUPs run across the tops of the levees. The path might be 10 feet wide. Joey, do you know? In places there is enough of a grass shoulder before the grade starts to fall dramatically that I can pass people on the grass. That's what I normally do when I come up on a group that has no idea what's going on more than arms length from their nose. If I come up on a group where I can't go around, I slow and politely ask them what they want me to do. There's no way "get out of my way" will accomplish anything. It will put nearly everyone on the defensive and once people go on the defensive, the ability to learn drops dramatically. By asking what they would like for me to do my hope is that theyy will process the whole of the situation and put themselves in my shoes. In doing that there is the slightest bit of hope that they will begin to process the bigger picture. I emphasize slightest. The times I have done that, it has beel very well received. The party looks at me, looks at everything around them and rearranges their group in a manner that I can safely pass. It's most often met with an apology. I always thank them and wish them a pleasant day.

OP it sounds like you were wired to expect conflict. You got it. I try to program myself to see these encounters as challenges rather than conflicts, and have have been very successful in politely navigating them.

You people can talk about rights all you want to. You well may have a right to unfettered movement down your MUP, but any expectation that you will achieve that is misguided. MUPs are recreational in nature. You WILL have to slow at times. You may even have to stop. Program yourself to expect the unexpected. With properly tempered expectations, I have found that my frustrations are minimized or completely eliminated.

JoeyBike

I run red lights and stop signs out of POLITENESS to motorists. Sure, it's partly selfish because I want to get where I am going uninterrupted and un-mugged. But I also HATE cars overtaking me for two reasons: 1- Motorists are distracted and dangerous to me (and everyone else) coming up from behind and doing something stupid to get past me, and 2- I know it irritates motorists to have to deal with me in front of them. So out of POLITENESS, I stay out from in front of them. And what you may not know about me is that if running a red light CAUSES a string of traffic to have to pass me (I am looking in my mirror ever 10 to 15 seconds so I am freaking AWARE of my surroundings) I just pull over in an empty parking space and let them all go by. This is POLITENESS. Anyone who thinks otherwise is mistaken.

Again you are only partly correct. I admit that if other trail users are spread out all across the MUP in "hands across the path for peace" style with ear buds and no concern for me or anyone else, they are likely to get buzzed. And I hope they jump out of their shoes. What you may not know is this: When I see the local peloton roaring up at 25+ mph while I am on my inline skates or a pleasure ride with my wife, I NOTICE THEM in my mirror and just step off the trail for ten seconds when they get close. This is called POLITENESS and gives me a chance to ogle the bikes and pretty female cyclists in skin-suits. I don't see them as an enemy. They are enjoying the path (although I disagree with that use of certain MUPs) and I would be mortified to witness a crash "caused" by me, even if I am not at fault. I just don't want to SEE that. So I graciously step off the path, get a sip of water, and listen to the whirring of chains as they go past. I AM NOT the only person on Earth who matters. I try to stay out of the way of the faster Earthings, but it all starts with being AWARE, paying ATTENTION, CARING about others, and maybe even STOPPING now and then.

Being POLITE starts with being AWARE and actually GIVING A SHEET, which the vast majority of MUP users have absolutely no clue about. And they are passing that rudeness on to their progeny. One does not have to be aware to be rude.

That is your opinion. It is not necessarily accurate. You don't really know me.

cranky old road 

The path designers are idiots as well in marking the path in a manner which goes against the American dictate, "Slower traffic keep right."

bikecrate

None...unless they are about to collide into me.

achoo

So RELAX and don't freak the **** out just because someone rings a bell and passes you at 17 mph while you're doing 9.

JoeyBike

There is a path EXACTLY like this one five miles away that has worked PERFECTLY for 30 years. By putting cyclists on the outside it keeps them from crossing the pedestrian path when bikes enter or exit. Most cyclists use both paths mentioned as short cuts (very few go round and round). Bikes just merge in, follow the path, and merge out without EVER needing to deal with pedestrians. It actually works very smoothly when everyone follows the OBVIOUS markings on the path that they literally have to STEP ON every twenty seconds.

Like I said, the same design works perfectly just across town. If someone walks on the bike side they will immediately get politely tutored by the next cyclist to come along. Maybe not so politely the second time around. But it is really a non-issue on the Uptown MUP. If only ONE pedestrian is messing up that's no big deal.

Digital_Cowboy

You can try all you want to convince people that you are being “polite,” but the reality is that you are putting YOUR needs above everyone else’s. You do know, do you not that rear end collisions are actually the rarest crashes that people are involved in. The biggest dangers are turning drivers and one of the most dangerous area of the road for a cyclist is the intersection. And just because you have been lucky enough NOT to get hit up until now is just that, luck.

Actually, I was referring to your previous posts where you’ve said that when you are on the road that you’ve regularly buzzed pedestrians.

I will agree with you that sadly, most MUP users seem to be lost in their own little world, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to behave as if the public trail/path/MUP is their own private property.



From your posts I know enough about you to know that I would NOT be comfortable riding with you. From your postings you come across as a very selfish person who doesn’t care what laws they brake.

kickstart

You are right, all we have to go by is what you're constantly posting over and over and over again here on BF. Its always all about you, and apparently nowhere as benign as you believe.

Digital_Cowboy

Kickstart,

Agreed, from his past postings he has told us how he regularly runs red lights/stop signs all supposedly in the name of “safety” and now in the name of “politeness.” All he is doing is justifying his lawlessness.

I always get a kick out of how he claims how “dangerous, and unsafe” it is to live in NOLA.

So much so that he feels the “need” to constantly break the law in order to be safe while on the road. As I have suggested to him more then once in the past, if it is SO dangerous living in NOLA that he HAS to break the law in order to be safe, then why doesn’t he just move somewhere safer?

I also have to laugh at how he keeps coming up with different reasons to justify his lawlessness, and selfish behavior. First it’s out of “safety,” because it is “oh so dangerous” living in NOLA, and now it’s out of “politeness.” I can’t wait to hear what his next excuse will be.

Joey, based on your past posts you ARE no better then the motorist with a “lead foot” who thinks that they have an “absolute right” to go as fast as they want, whenever and wherever they want.

And one more time IF it is so dangerous living in NOLA, move someplace safer so that you don’t have to break the law in order to be “safe.”

wphamilton

The attack strikes me as somewhat dogmatic. I think that Joey has made some good points about the obligation everyone shares, including pedestrians, to be aware of vehicles operating in the shared facilities. I wouldn't put the onus entirely on pedestrians but I don't get that impression from what's written here.

kickstart

Yes he does have some good points, but he always bases it on his perspective and his desires, and turns every discussion into a self promotion of why its OK for him to run red lights.