Road Cycling - But officer, I just didn't see..............

Yesterday after work my group ride is in full force of about 90 riders. We are circling the Rose Bowl at full speed. This is a place where there are hundreds of walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and cyclists. So, a place where you should drive very carefully. So, on the slight downhill side, the peloton is doing 37MPH, running a full lane wide, and about 100 yards long. This "lady" makes a left turn right in front of us. The left side of the group goes around the back, the right side goes around the front, and the center locks up the brakes. The woman froze (probably a good thing) right in the center of the lane. One guy hit her door after sliding sideways and then went down lightly. Somehow, we did not have a MAJOR pileup. So, at least no one was hurt. You could smell the burning rubber though.

I can almost see a driver saying that they didn't see a bicycle, but 90!!!!!! It was probably that she thought .......bicycles......slow.... I have pleanty of time.....OH S%&*.

People are stupid. Turn her into soylent green and feed those who aren't a waste of food/space/water/resources/energy.

I would have kicked a mirror off, or just spit on her if the window was open.....

90 bikes going 37!!! that is just plain awesome! there is no way she would have thought you guys were going that fast.

90 bikes. I'm jealous, the biggest group i've ever been able to pull together was 6

Just out of curiosity, what was the speed limit?

I would have kicked a mirror off, or just spit on her if the window was open.....

That would really be satisfying for an instant. But what if she called the cops and had you arrested for assault? Or what if she was a disgruntled ex employee en route to shooting up her old work place? Be very careful.

<<Sound advice that I wish I would always follow!!>>

Cut her a break, she was probably on an "important" cell phone call! ;)

what time and days do you guys ride around the bowl?

Cut her a break, she was probably on an "important" cell phone call! ;)

or she was putting on her makeup and eating a muffin while talking on the phone.:D

Here's another side to the story. Today I was riding a local hiker/biker trail. Most people are very courteous, announcing they are going to pass, forming a single line to make passing easier, etc.

Today, a group of, well, bicycle hooligans came screaming down the path, four abreast, taking up the entire trail. They neither announced themselves, yielded, or made it easier for anyone. Luckily, the trail is a state park and the rangers got them. But, you can see that there are two sides to every coin.

Unfortunately, the public will see the hooligans and blame all of us.

I'd heard about the Rose Bowl group ride and the way it was described I'd always assumed that the streets were closed to cars.

Notwithstanding this story, it sounds like an awesomely fun ride. I'd love to do it someday.

Yesterday after work my group ride is in full force of about 90 riders. We are circling the Rose Bowl at full speed. This is a place where there are hundreds of walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and cyclists. So, a place where you should drive very carefully. So, on the slight downhill side, the peloton is doing 37MPH, running a full lane wide, and about 100 yards long. This "lady" makes a left turn right in front of us. The left side of the group goes around the back, the right side goes around the front, and the center locks up the brakes. The woman froze (probably a good thing) right in the center of the lane. One guy hit her door after sliding sideways and then went down lightly. Somehow, we did not have a MAJOR pileup. So, at least no one was hurt. You could smell the burning rubber though.

I can almost see a driver saying that they didn't see a bicycle, but 90!!!!!! It was probably that she thought .......bicycles......slow.... I have pleanty of time.....OH S%&*.

It is a well known fact that getting on a bicycle renders a person invisible (except to other people on bicycles). The US Military took advantage of this fact and mounted a "stealth tank" on a bicycle. It worked great but once the crewmen left the tank, they couldn't find it again.

Seriously, I have no idea what goes through the minds of drivers assuming they have minds which might not be a valid assumption given their bizarre behavior.

c'mon guys.... she didn't see you coming.... :D :D :D :D

Yesterday after work my group ride is in full force of about 90 riders. We are circling the Rose Bowl at full speed. This is a place where there are hundreds of walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and cyclists. So, a place where you should drive very carefully. So, on the slight downhill side, the peloton is doing 37MPH, running a full lane wide, and about 100 yards long. This "lady" makes a left turn right in front of us. The left side of the group goes around the back, the right side goes around the front, and the center locks up the brakes. The woman froze (probably a good thing) right in the center of the lane. One guy hit her door after sliding sideways and then went down lightly. Somehow, we did not have a MAJOR pileup. So, at least no one was hurt. You could smell the burning rubber though.

I can almost see a driver saying that they didn't see a bicycle, but 90!!!!!! It was probably that she thought .......bicycles......slow.... I have pleanty of time.....OH S%&*.

90 riders doing 37mph in a place where there are hundreds of walkers, joggers, and rollerbladers? I'm surprised this was the first mishap!

Yeah, I had a woman left turn in front of me once. I was "sprinting" to make the light (going ~25mph - Hey! I was on my MTB loaded up with books and crap :-) but a gap had opened up between the car ahead and me. The woman actually had plenty of time to make it thru. But she hesitated. And then decided to go when she realized that I was "just" a bike. I swerved behind her but hit the next car before I was able to swerve back. Her response: "You were speeding!" LOL :)

what time and days do you guys ride around the bowl?

Tue & Thur at 6:00pm during daylight savings time.


90 riders doing 37mph in a place where there are hundreds of walkers, joggers, and rollerbladers? I'm surprised this was the first mishap!

There have been pleanty of crashes in the past. But, just to clarify, There is a pedestrian lane that most the the joggers and walkers stay in. The regular lane is very wide most of the way around. This ride has been happening for about 30 years, so it is no suprise for Rose Bowl regulars.

Come and join us.............................bring a helmet.

Today alone, I've had plenty of people turning in front of me, or pulling into traffic as I'm attempting to pass. I know they see me, but they really don't think I'm moving that fast or something. Actually, I'm usually riding on the brakes because by the time they start moving into traffic, I have to jump on the brakes and slow down, which probably makes them think I wasn't moving that fast after all. Grrrrrrrrr.... :mad: I'm getting really upset. And every single one of them today were men- so typically arrogant to think that they can just pull in front of me. I'm really getting tired of it, and I'm getting tired of defensively riding all the freakin time.

Koffee

I just moved from SoCal to Austin Tx in May. I used to do that ride and it's awesome! We have a ride called the Simi Ride that starts in Woodland Hills Ca that would get 60-100 riders in the early part of the season. That ride rocks, it goes through some great climbs in the Santa Monica mountains.

The first time I did a ride with that many riders is scared the s@#t out of me. I was so tense that my forarms ached for days afterword. It's cool to just be in the middle of the pelton doing 35+ miles an hour and your hardly working!

We have a ride here in Austin that rolls out on Sat mornings that gets between 45-60 riders thats pretty cool also. Austin is great cycling town, lot's cyclists and about 1 in 5 are female which really surprised me!

People are stupid. Turn her into soylent green and feed those who aren't a waste of food/space/water/resources/energy.

no too much of a chance of those bad genes getting into the food.

Today alone, I've had plenty of people turning in front of me, or pulling into traffic as I'm attempting to pass. I know they see me, but they really don't think I'm moving that fast or something. Actually, I'm usually riding on the brakes because by the time they start moving into traffic, I have to jump on the brakes and slow down, which probably makes them think I wasn't moving that fast after all. Grrrrrrrrr.... :mad: I'm getting really upset. And every single one of them today were men- so typically arrogant to think that they can just pull in front of me. I'm really getting tired of it, and I'm getting tired of defensively riding all the freakin time.

Koffee
That sounds very discouraging. I find that to ride in the city you have to ride aggressively to get any respect and that riding aggressively is actually safer than cautiously applying the brakes; take the lane, use body language, hold a big presence. They are animals after all and they sense your every movement, you can do the same ;) I think there is a fine point where riding defensively is more dangerous than just going all out...

That's the thing- I don't slow down, but the idiots pull in front of me anyway, which is why I ride with my fingertips touching the brakes at all times. I also take the lane if more than one car crowds me- I don't want the other cars behind them thinking they can do the same, so I take the lane until enough cars get it that they can't just force me over into harm's way. Actually, this afternoon, there was a woman driving in the car and she crowded me over, so I jumped in front of her at the red light and proceeded to take the lane and forced her to drive behind me all the way to inner Lake Shore Drive, then when she had to cross Michigan Avenue, I held her up at the light, then shot across Michigan Avenue just as it turned red, leaving her at the light to wait out the traffic until the light turned green. I do this kind of stuff sometimes when I can catch the idiots that have cut me off. Still, I tend to see myself as more defensive than offensive, since I'm riding my good bike, and I would seriously cut the hands off some idiot that would hit my bike when I was riding it! :)

Koffee

Reminds me of a favorite scene in a particular movie. LINK (http://www.the-dirtiest.com/sounds/lucky.wav)

there was a woman driving in the car and she crowded me over

What I usually do in that case is match speed and pound on their side window. It takes a little bit of guts but is usually effective at letting them know that you're there. Sometimes simply pushing against the side of the car is enough to force them to hold their line or give you more space. I usually do this if they're sliding over a little bit too far in a turn while they're beside me. When doing this, it's also good to make sure you maintain enough room to the "open side" in case you do have to bail or make emergency maneauvers if it doesn't work out.

What I usually do in that case is match speed and pound on their side window. It takes a little bit of guts but is usually effective at letting them know that you're there.

I've thumped on my share of rear quarter panels.

We have a very popular summer ocean front place around here we ride through. People (in cars) in this area are famous for riding the brakes for a couple hundred yards and then turning without signaling. It's like playing Russian Roulette.

One of the guys I ride with is right, people are totally oblivious to what's going on around them.