General Cycling Discussion - "You do know that red means go right?"

That is what some guy on a low rider bike said to me as I was sitting in a left turn lane waiting for the arrow. He was passing me in the on coming lane making a left turn and continued to ride in the oncoming lane for a while after he made his turn.

He was going slow enough I had time to say back to him: "Yeah if you do not wear a helmet, ride in the oncoming lanes of traffic and are a organ donor." He just smirked at me and continued on his merry way.

After my light turned green I caught up with him and passed him like he was standing still. I hear him yell "hey!" at me and try to catch up. This was next to the police station, about 3 blocks from where he first passed by me on a red light. As I went through the intersection in that area of downtown I had the green light. As he was trying to catch up the light turned red, it was starting to turn as I was halfway through the intersection. He was going to run that red light too, but he thought he'd better not as a police car was exiting the lot at the time. Guess he didn't want a ticket.

I really hate it when people ride bike like this. No wonder motorists hate us. Because of one idiot the rest of us have to suffer the wrath of angy motorists.

Originally posted by N_C
I really hate it when people ride bike like this. No wonder motorists hate us. Because of one idiot the rest of us have to suffer the wrath of angy motorists. The best thing to do is continue to ride in a law-abiding, courteous manner. Don't let folks like this ruin your ride by getting into some macho pi$$ing contest with them. Next thing you know, you'll be the one getting a ticket, or worse, crashing.

yeah really ticks me off too, i had a similar experience over the weekend. a few of these idiots get killed and all the sudden we'll have there friends and family trying to get laws passed to keep cyclists off the street for our own protection.
its just selfish imo

My wife was driving me to the start line of the STP as we live 30 minutes away by car and I was taking along luggage. As we were leaving our neighborhood, we were stopped at a red light and saw four cyclists who were riding together come up to the light. One of them noticed there was no cross traffic and ran the light. The other one followed but this time he cut off someone in the oncoming left turn lane who had a green arrow. The two riders behind stopped at the light. We rolled down our windows and said, "What the f@#k's up with your friends running the light?" One guy answered, "I know!" in an exasperated manner. Whenever I'm riding in a group and a bunch of cyclists disobey traffic rules, I simply throw up my hands and shake my head disapprovingly. This normally lets motorists and other road users know that not all cyclists behave like a$$holes nor do they approve of those types of actions.

Why is it if 1 or 2 cyclists do something stupid - It's ALL bicyclists who are at fault? Why can't individuals be judged on an individual basis? When 1 or 2 drivers do something stupid, no one says that ALL drivers are at fault.

Originally posted by MikeR
Why is it if 1 or 2 cyclists do something stupid - It's ALL bicyclists who are at fault? Why can't individuals be judged on an individual basis? When 1 or 2 drivers do something stupid, no one says that ALL drivers are at fault.

I would guess you've posed a rhetorical question because there really is no logical reason for it... only the explanation that most people see cyclists as a fringe group and forget to consider that they're just human beings who happen to enjoy riding a bike. But maybe therein lies the answer because so much of the population can't concieve of bike-riding as enjoyment thus they come to the conclusion that cyclists are somehow fundamentally different in some sort of homogenous manner. It's the whole "us vs. them" syndrom combined with the nature for people to group all the "thems" under a single classification and associate them all with the same attributes... "those people... they're all alike". I think if you read through this forum, you'll find that cyclists do the same thing to motorists even though many cyclists are also motorists.

Originally posted by mightypudge
The best thing to do is continue to ride in a law-abiding, courteous manner. Don't let folks like this ruin your ride by getting into some macho pi$$ing contest with them. Next thing you know, you'll be the one getting a ticket, or worse, crashing. Well said. There's one way to lead, and that's by example (IMHO).

Originally posted by N_C
Because of one idiot the rest of us have to suffer the wrath of angy motorists.

One idiot? In the past weeks, even months, I've seen three cyclists stopping at a stop sign. One mom with two young kids. Most riders don't even slow down. They do slow down at red lights and stop if there's traffic.

Originally posted by Erick L
One idiot? In the past weeks, even months, I've seen three cyclists stopping at a stop sign. One mom with two young kids. Most riders don't even slow down. They do slow down at red lights and stop if there's traffic.

Well,

to be fair here in St. Louis I see about 3/4 idiots and 1/4 racing types in spandex.

But to be fair to the idiots most of them stick to the sidewalks, so aren't too much of a problem until they get to an intersection as, even on sidewaks, they ride against the traffic.

But to be fair that 1/4 3/4 is for bikes being ridden. I'd say 3/4 of all bikes I see with or without biker attached are on a rack on an SUV... Do they ever get ridden?

take care,

Steve

How does wearing spandex makes someone less an idiot? These guys go even faster, making things even more dangerous.

Originally posted by Erick L
How does wearing spandex makes someone less an idiot? These guys go even faster, making things even more dangerous.

Well, I probably could have worded that better, but meant to say that the spandex/racing types here seem to generally know the rules of the road. At least they stop at stoplights and ride on the correct side of the road.

So, lets say instead 3/4 idiots, and 1/4 skilled responsible cylists. :D

peas,

Jester

Originally posted by Erick L
One idiot? In the past weeks, even months, I've seen three cyclists stopping at a stop sign. One mom with two young kids. Most riders don't even slow down. They do slow down at red lights and stop if there's traffic. I can report the same thing. Scofflaws aplenty where I live. Dogs run loose in parks, cyclists act like they're exempt from all traffic code... :rolleyes:

I did see something remarkable about two weeks ago. I was heading downtown to work, and saw a boy in his early teens burning it up at a very respectable pace on a mountain bike ahead of me. He was dressed in regular street clothes. I was overtaking him, and about 1/2 block before I reached the stoplight at 14th, he raised his left arm in a perfect L to signal a right turn, maintained it for about 100 feet, then executed his right turn nicely. He looked to be maybe 13 or 14. I was really impressed. :thumbup: