Advocacy & Safety - Beautiful Day, Near Disaster

Today, riding home from work, I found the bike trail that I use very crowded. No wonder as today was very, very nice :D

I had gotten to the bottom portion of the Capital Bike Trail, just outside Georgetown here in DC, when I came upon an inline skater. 2 cyclists ahead of me also were behind him waiting to pass. The trail here is narrow and winding with definite blind corners. I waited for my turn to pass the skater and had just stood up to provide some extra kick when I noticed a flash of a jersey coming by me on my left side. This was quickly followed by the flash of several more riders. Not a word of warning was given that I ever heard.

A half-second later and I clearly would have collided with the lead rider and the entire pace line would have catapulted over us. It would have been a very bad crash of that I'm sure.

Every day people post in this forum about rude and obnoxious drivers. We all run across them. But, personally, I am getting more and more ashamed at how cyclists behave. These were not 'casual' cyclists. Several had on a local team jersey (not sure which team though). Why is it when people get on a bike such thoughtless behavior ensues?

And how much time did they save? About 5 seconds because that was the difference between myself and them upon reaching the end of the trail.

I wanted to speak to them but they really showed their true form upon reaching a city street and traffic. For the next couple of blocks they blew every stop sign right in front of cars in the midst of a turn. Then the topper was when they got to the last block on the Georgetown waterfront. Traffic on this block was backed up completely for the entire block. But that didn't slow our heroes down. They simply went into the oncoming traffic lane for the entire block forcing the oncoming cars out of the lane :eek:.

As of this moment I am taking a personal moratorium from criticizing drivers. We have a much worse problem on our hands.

Cycle thugs! :rolleyes: See 'em all the time on the W&OD.

Dude that happens to me all the time, though not particularly while commuting. Going home back long rides on the road bike I'll slow a few miles from home as part of my cool-down, and roades will fly by en masse within inches of me, trusting me not to pull some sort of no0bish manuever. These are the same morons who see it fit to zoom at 20+mph on the narrow foot path over the GW Bridge, a couple of feet from 135+ feet fall into the Hudson River. Arrogant Roadies(TM) == idiots, IMO. Same general malaise, no doubt, as affects dumb drivers (Mememememeitis). :D

Glad you were alert and survived unscathed. Keep up the good habits!

Bob and weave. Keep em guessing.

Shouldn't you have looked behind you and to your left to see if you were getting passed before passing someone?

Shouldn't you have looked behind you and to your left to see if you were getting passed before passing someone?

He should have looked back, but the vehicle in front still has the right of way. The burden is on the rear vehicle to pass safely.

Shouldn't you have looked behind you and to your left to see if you were getting passed before passing someone?

Actually I did look over my shoulder and, perhaps, that is what kept me from actually moving over. I had already stood to get extra leverage but had not moved appreaciably to my left yet.

I should add that there were at least 2 other cyclists behind me as well waiting their turn to pass so the 'raod warriors' clearly just were blasting through hoping for the best :eek:

Actually I take that back - to hope for the best implies some rational thinking of the situation. I don't believe that they are capable of that :D

Even though the streets in my area are not made for biking, between the potholes and and stop signs and lights every 5 seconds, the drivers have been very accommodating to me given the amount of traffic in NJ, by giving me wide berth when passing and slowing down too. But, I have noticed that the cyclists around here kinda stink. As a NOOB I am taking great care in riding my bike as if it were a car, and giving peds and cars proper warning and hand signals. I've seen many a roadie riding down the wrong side of the road, kids under 14 without helmets (and smoking cigs) on the wrong side, and general silliness from fellow bikers more than I've seen poor driving by cars, yet.

This is exactly why I always check my six before and after passing on MUP's. I check before the pass for faster traffic,and then again before pulling back into position just in case the slower rider didn't like getting passed,or some total nut decides to weave through us.

I've had it with all the obliviots;four wheels and two. I recently printed off a few of these:
http://ddot.dc.gov/ddot/frames.asp?doc=/ddot/lib/ddot/information/bicycle/pdf/safety_information_card.pdf

I intend to pass them out to folks who need enlightenment. I've also taking to growling at cyclists to "use their bells".

Same here on the Golden Gate Bridge. There are a lot of tourists on "Blazing Saddles" rentals crossing the bridge on the narrow walkway with maintenance sheds here and there. The Arrogant roadies blaze by with no regard.

He should have looked back, but the vehicle in front still has the right of way. The burden is on the rear vehicle to pass safely.
That's true. It just sounded like the guys passing him were already in passing position. It's like when you're in a car queue and the person in front has to stop to turn. Usually the people at the end of the queue pass first, because they get in the lane first.