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So I read a couple threads here in A&S today, about being hit by cars and people being killed and such. Then I went out on my bike and rode for a couple hours, mostly just to ride, but to run some errands as well. Normally this would be very relaxing and enjoyable, but all the negativity I picked up from the threads in A&S made me paranoid and uptight. Basically, I was nervous enough to not enjoy my ride. I also felt that being so paranoid decreased my ability to flow with the traffic I was riding in, making me hesitant- not a good thing at all. I think that the constant focus on death and injury may turn some people off from using their bicycle as an effective means of transportation. I'm not neccessarily trying to instagate here, as I have learned a few things things from this forum. It's just an observation.
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You're right.
If we just stopped talking about it, it would never happen.
So did you normally ride without ever giving a second thought to the traffic around you?
I find riding always to be fun. If it wasn't I wouldn't do it.
Al
haha, I knew I was going to irritate some people. Anyway,
"Bikepacker67: You're right. If we just stopped talking about it, it would never happen."
Not the point I was trying to make. I was trying to say that this forum seems to be more about death and injury reather than actual practical safety information or actual advocacy. It should be called 'Death and Destruction instead.
"joejack951: So did you normally ride without ever giving a second thought to the traffic around you?"
I'm not sure where you got this out of my original statement, but no, I always pay attention. But thinking about all the fatalities and accidents i had read about earlier made me hesitant at one spot in my ride where the bike lane ends suddenly, leaving me stuck in the gutter with cars passing around me. Normally I would have gone with the flow of traffic, but not this time.
"noisebeam: I find riding always to be fun. If it wasn't I woudn't do it. Al"
Word. I do too, just no more reading A&S before I go out the door for me.
Troll!!!!!!
I don't think he is a troll. As an experienced rider, I don't mind the death and destruction threads as much as i used to because they help to keep me alert. But I strongly suspiscion that we experienced riders have no idea how much damage these threads do to people who haven't ridden much or who are just condsidering it.
If you can't acknowledge that than you completely have your head in the sand.
I think the death threads help make us a community of us vs them. Another one of our kind (bike culture) was killed by another one of their kind (car culture). That can either be a good thing or a bad thing or both.
He has a point. Reading threads on this forum a person can get an idea that all the motorists are some kind of psychos out to get the cyclists. Which effects your mind set. It might not be all the dramatric, but it is there. Over sudden people find themselves turning an incident that might have rational explanation in to some kind of personal assault on them by a "cager".
Threads also creat an "Us" VS "Them" mind set. Which really is counterproductive.
I don't think he is a troll. As an experienced rider, I don't mind the death and destruction threads as much as i used to because they help to keep me alert. But I strongly suspiscion that we experienced riders have no idea how much damage these threads do to people who haven't ridden much or who are just condsidering it.
If you can't acknowledge that than you completely have your head in the sand.
I agree.
one reason I rarely peek in here. (anymore)
the last two posts said exactly what i was trying to say but failed to.
Troll!!!!!!
thank you for this very insightful comment.
He has a point. Reading threads on this forum a person can get an idea that all the motorists are some kind of psychos out to get the cyclists.
you mean all those screaming, yelling, road raging drivers i get harassed by almost weekly for taking the lane on my commute aren't really out to get me? good, but it sure seems like some of them are seriously threatening me with their cars sometimes....
You need to learn to detach yourself from reading about stuf and
focus on whats real. People die by the hundreds everyday in cars.
Use a little sense and you'll be fine.
If it bugs you, don't read this area of the forums anymore.
This is for saftey stuff..
Let me tell you about my sons friend.
He always went too fast on his bike..rode on the sidewalk too.
He ran into the neighbors clothesline and his head came clear off !!
It rolled into the my yard...the dog came up to me
with the guys head in his mouth. Freaked me out.
So I read a couple threads here in A&S today, about being hit by cars and people being killed and such. Then I went out on my bike and rode for a couple hours, mostly just to ride, but to run some errands as well. Normally this would be very relaxing and enjoyable, but all the negativity I picked up from the threads in A&S made me paranoid and uptight. Basically, I was nervous enough to not enjoy my ride. I also felt that being so paranoid decreased my ability to flow with the traffic I was riding in, making me hesitant- not a good thing at all. I think that the constant focus on death and injury may turn some people off from using their bicycle as an effective means of transportation. I'm not neccessarily trying to instagate here, as I have learned a few things things from this forum. It's just an observation.
As a person who only recently (this year) started riding in traffic regularly, I have to disagree. Like most people, I was nervous to ride in traffic long before I ever knew about A & S. I already knew that riders could be hit, and even killed by drivers, so reading about it couldn't scare me anymore than I already was. If anything, by hanging around here I learned that others were handling traffic with few problems and that when done properly, cycling was actually a very safe activity that I could handle too. For me this forum has been a positive thing, not a negative. Maybe others would rather hide their head in the sand and not address the risks... not me.
Pirate,
You're kidding right? You let what is posted in an internet forum affect your riding & it sounds like your life?
Here's some advice that may help. Don't take a lot of what is said here seriously. Yes we post about things that happen, both good & bad. Yes we get into debates, sometimes heated ones, most of the time not. Take what is said here, especially the advice, including what I am giving you now, with a grain of salt & for what it is worth. Don't let it impact your riding. If you have a question ask it, you'll receive lots of differant answers. Use the one that best fits your situation or don't, it is up to you. You should not let what happens in an internet forum affect your life, especially on a negative level.
If none of this works then perhaps this is not the forum for you. In other words to put it bluntley if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen, or don't let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya.
To quote a saying I learned on another internet forum a long time ago: "None of this is real, like what you see on T.V." Does that put this into perspective?
I have worked around electricity all my life, starting with inserting the metal crank of my windup elephant into an electrical socket when I was two years old. (Oops, bad example!) What keeps me safe is a healthy, rational level of fear, just as in bicycling or motoring. I try to learn what I can from tragedy, and I try to make something positive, whether a contribution to MADD, advocacy for calming of an intersection, or rethinking of my own cycling technique, out of it.
Let me tell you about my sons friend.
He always went too fast on his bike..rode on the sidewalk too.
He ran into the neighbors clothesline and his head came clear off !!
It rolled into the my yard...the dog came up to me
with the guys head in his mouth. Freaked me out.
I hate it when that happens.
you mean all those screaming, yelling, road raging drivers i get harassed by almost weekly for taking the lane on my commute aren't really out to get me? good, but it sure seems like some of them are seriously threatening me with their cars sometimes....
How many pass you without harrassing you? It's the ones that do something out of ordinary like honk at you that leave an impression. Not hundreds that pass without any incident. Similar thing happens on these boards. No one (or very rarely) posts about all those motorists that pass giving plenty of space, that don't honk, that wait behind you to turn right at intersection, who let you merge ahead of them so you can get in to left turnin glane. What people do post about is that one ahole who is stressed out or doesn't know how to deal with a cyclist on a road.
So I read a couple threads here in A&S today, about being hit by cars and people being killed and such. Then I went out on my bike and rode for a couple hours, mostly just to ride, but to run some errands as well. Normally this would be very relaxing and enjoyable, but all the negativity I picked up from the threads in A&S made me paranoid and uptight. Basically, I was nervous enough to not enjoy my ride. I also felt that being so paranoid decreased my ability to flow with the traffic I was riding in, making me hesitant- not a good thing at all. I think that the constant focus on and injury may turn some people off from using their bicycle as an effective means of transportation. I'm not neccessarily trying to instagate here, as I have learned a few things things from this forum. It's just an observation.
No one cares if you're uptight and paranoid while you're riding your bike. They *DO* care, however, about what lane position you are in while you're riding your bike all uptight and paranoid. :rolleyes:
I agree this really is more of a death and destruction forum than any actual safety or advocacy. I have learned a few things from this forum, but mostly it is a downer. It makes cycling seem far more dangerous than just about any other activity, but clearly that is not reality. Every once in a while I post some stats trying to get people to snap back into reality, but alas, it doesn't last long. Now, off I go back into a more constructive and helpful and less depressing forum....i.e..any other subforum on this site.
Look at some at some of the threads getting multiple pages........
:roflmao:
Having some of these riders 'advocate' for cycling is like Jeffrey Dahmer
advocating for vegitarianism.
Like most other physical activities, cycling with traffic is very fun and very safe if you know what you're doing.
If you don't know what you're doing, it feels stressful and dangerous.
^^^ Says the guy whose name is on the Bike Lane Deaths topic...
^^^ Says the guy whose name is on the Bike Lane Deaths topic...
Consider what yak wrote a few posts back:
No one cares if you're uptight and paranoid while you're riding your bike. They *DO* care, however, about what lane position you are in while you're riding your bike all uptight and paranoid.
Uptight and paranoid!
If you're uptight and paranoid, you're probably riding in a manner similar to what those guys in the bike lane deaths thread were doing.
There's a correlation. Is there cause and effect? Perhaps not directly from bike lanes to deaths, but I believe there is between the attitude of "uptight and paranoid" that leads to poor positioning (including riding in bike lanes when it's not appropriate) that leads to reduced sight lines, vigilance and conspicuity and increased likelihood of crashes and fatalities.
Vigilance and conspicuity and likelihood, oh my! Vigilance and conspicuity and likelihood, oh my! Vigilance and consp.....................!
Vigilance and conspicuity and likelihood, oh my! Vigilance and conspicuity and likelihood, oh my! Vigilance and consp.....................!
A typically lucid argument from Tom. :rolleyes:
I advocate for irrelevancy. I'm irrelevant and I don't care.
Irrelevance is for people who can't handle apathy.
Irrelevance is for people who can't handle apathy.
I had something to say, but what would it accomplish?
Chipcom, everything you say is totally irrelevant. Let me fill up the tub for you. You can borrow my hair dryer.
I advocate for irrelevancy. I'm irrelevant and I don't care.
Chorus:
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
My master's gone away
Certainly beats ScareMonger Crow's tune of Vigilance, Conspicuity, and Likelihood, Oh My!
Consider what yak wrote a few posts back:
Uptight and paranoid!
If you're uptight and paranoid, you're probably riding in a manner similar to what those guys in the bike lane deaths thread were doing.
There's a correlation. Is there cause and effect? Perhaps not directly from bike lanes to deaths, but I believe there is between the attitude of "uptight and paranoid" that leads to poor positioning (including riding in bike lanes when it's not appropriate) that leads to reduced sight lines, vigilance and conspicuity and increased likelihood of crashes and fatalities.
I rest my case...
I had something to say, but what would it accomplish?
It would advance yet another silly A&S thread one more post.....and spur others to join in, advancing it maybe another page or two.
Chipcom, everything you say is totally irrelevant. Let me fill up the tub for you. You can borrow my hair dryer.
So we're gonna take a bath and give ourselves makeovers? Got bubbles? :D
It would advance yet another silly A&S thread one more post.....and spur others to join in, advancing it maybe another page or two.
See Diane, I'm not irrelevant, I'm just stoopid. :eek:
It would advance yet another silly A&S thread one more post.....and spur others to join in, advancing it maybe another page or two.
I will advocate for silly spurs on bikes.
I will advocate for silly spurs on bikes.
Only if they are carbon fiber quick release spurs that require a new pair of cycling shoes; as worn by all the "pros."
Oooh oohh maybe I can make it to page 3 with my pointless post. Maybe joejack will respond with some fervent drivel, too.
If you don't know what you're doing, it feels stressful and dangerous.
Cycling doesn't feel stressful and dangerous, so I must know what I'm doing. I do know I'm not doing VC.
Back to the OP. If you read some death and disaster threads and it ruined your ride, I hate to think what the rest of your life is like. After all, TV, print, and internet news is full of violence and mayhem, death and disaster. Do bar your doors and sit on your couch with a loaded shotgun when you read about crime in your city? Do you fast after reading about foods with cholesterol, pesticides, ecoli, or trans fat?
He has a point. From reading threads in this forum, a person can get an idea that all motorists are psychos and out to get cyclists. This effects your mind set. It might not be all that dramatic, but it is there. People then find themselves turning an incident that might have rational explanation in to some kind of personal assault on them by a "cager".
Threads like that also create an "Us" VS "Them" mind set, which really is counterproductive.
Edited for clarity...
GREAT post.
After all, TV, print, and internet news is full of violence and mayhem, death and disaster. Do bar your doors and sit on your couch with a loaded shotgun when you read about crime in your city?
I know I don't.
I thrive in mayhem. :D
He has a point. Reading threads on this forum a person can get an idea that all the motorists are some kind of psychos out to get the cyclists...
Of course after he keeps riding and discovers that these incidents are extremely rare, he'll realize that maybe it's the cyclists who are the psychos.
Anytime everyone else seems nuts, warning bells should be going off......
Oooh oohh maybe I can make it to page 3 with my pointless post. Maybe joejack will respond with some fervent drivel, too.
Mmmmmm, fervent drivel....
Oooh oohh maybe I can make it to page 3 with my pointless post. Maybe joejack will respond with some fervent drivel, too.
Just doing my part to get this sucker to page 3, but, in the interest in drivel reduction, I will sat that I agree with this 100%:
He has a point. From reading threads in this forum, a person can get an idea that all motorists are psychos and out to get cyclists. This effects your mind set. It might not be all that dramatic, but it is there. People then find themselves turning an incident that might have rational explanation in to some kind of personal assault on them by a "cager".
Threads like that also create an "Us" VS "Them" mind set, which really is counterproductive.
When I first started reading A&S threads, I was under the impression that some (a lot) of the posters up here lived in some kind of urban battleground where riding a bike was a dangerous activity.
Page 3 dammit...so let it be written, so let it be done, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...
Frack, I'm losing my power
Okay, who's stashing kryptonite, dagnabit!
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