Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Always be alert! (Idiot driver video.)

I fell last summer because a stupid driver didn't bother to check his side mirror before pulling across my path. He was parked on the pavement, no less. Since then I'm really careful whenever there are cars parked on the side of the road, and also at intersections, even if I have the right of way.

Last Saturday I was thankful for also having been careful while riding downhill, resisting the temptation to break any records. :D

The car was closer than it looks in the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fp9wn3gVVg

The car never even came to a complete stop! Unfortunately, we are not very visable even with loud colored jerseys or reflective vests, etc during the day and have to ride defensively. I know this because I still live in a bike unfriendly area and it is second nature to keep my head on a swevel.

Best to ride close to the center line on that hill.
Would give drivers a much better look in your direction.
You were also in the shadow of the tree.

Best to ride close to the center line on that hill.
Would give drivers a much better look in your direction.
You were also in the shadow of the tree.

It's not clear on youtube, but the driver was looking straight at me the whole time; I can also see that in the original video I have. I have a flashing p7 light in front, I wear a very bright green t-shirt, so even in the shadow of a tree, I'm visible... unless there's a fence and a careless driver behind it.

You're right about riding closer to the center line, though.


The car never even came to a complete stop!
He didn't even brake!

Drivers often look at approaching bicycles and motorcycles with lights an bright clothing.
Their brains don't seem to be able to recognize what their eyes see.

You have to be very careful anymore. Whether it's women putting on makeup,somebody talking or texting on the phone,somebody chowing down on a hamburger at lunchtime,smokers,etc.Any one of these can be a distraction,and I've seen them on the road doing this. I choose to travel the less traveled streets.

Stating the obvious, but, drivers in cars do the same thing to other cars, motorcycles, pedestrians, trucks etc. every day. For whatever reasons, excluding being impaired, it has always been with us.

At times, it seems to me that the approaching speed and distance of a cyclist is often misjudged by drivers. Years ago when I rode motorcycles I said and thought the same thing about drivers and motorcyclists.

Like the others have said, you have to be very careful and aware at all times, nothing new in that I suppose, though we all need to be reminded from time to time. It has nothing to do with having the right of way, because if a cyclists collides with a car or the other way round, the driver of the car just has a bad day, but the cyclist is most likely critically injured or dead.

I'm the same way. I don't try to break any speed records on descents and I'm glad, because I remember having to swerve out of the way of an oncoming dumbass who would've left-hooked me if I didn't swerve. This happened within the last two months or so while descending Serrano Parkway in El Dorado Hills.

Is that an AirZounds horn you used? I really should get a loud horn, but I don't want to use up a bottle cage for it. The LBS where I bought my Worksman Port-O-Trike carries an electronic horn powered by a 9-volt battery, but I had that same horn back in 1992 and it quit working suddenly even though I never dropped it. Hopefully they've redesigned it so it's more reliable now.

I think this driver was lucky it wasn't a car or truck instead of "just" me. He wouldn't have seen them until (almost) too late because of that fence. I'm always careful, I posted this as a reminder for everyone else. Think of me before trying to break a record. :D


Is that an AirZounds horn you used? I really should get a loud horn, but I don't want to use up a bottle cage for it.

Yes,this is an airzound. I used it this time just as a WTF substitute. In emergencies I only use the brakes though. Because once I used it when a car was pulling, and I started applying the brake with the other hand. I ended up falling because I applied the front brake with the same strength as pushing the airzound button. I was angry, you see... and stupid. Now I use the horn to scare dogs and rarely use it to warn drivers.

I mounted the airzound bottle vertically on the head tube, my friend mounted it horizontally, because his head tube is smaller and the bottle wouldn't fit there. I'll post a picture tomorrow. It's a lot better than an electronic horn, as you don't have to worry about it getting wet, and it only needs air to work.

Yes,this is an airzound. I used it this time just as a WTF substitute. In emergencies I only use the brakes though. Because once I used it when a car was pulling, and I started applying the brake with the other hand. I ended up falling because I applied the front brake with the same strength as pushing the airzound button. I was angry, you see... and stupid. Now I use the horn to scare dogs and rarely use it to warn drivers.

I mounted the airzound bottle vertically on the head tube, my friend mounted it horizontally, because his head tube is smaller and the bottle wouldn't fit there. I'll post a picture tomorrow. It's a lot better than an electronic horn, as you don't have to worry about it getting wet, and it only needs air to work.
Thanks for the info:) I probably wouldn't think to hit the horn button in time, as I would be too busy trying to avoid a collision, but like you said it can be used to warn dogs:thumb:

I posted the same question on your video, but I mainly did that for the benefit of any non-BF members who might watch it and want the same horn. I figured they would see your answer;)

A photo of the airzound mounted bottle, as promised.

http://www.bikeshake.com/bike-images/horns/airzound/airzound-mounted-on-head-tube.jpg

And if you liked the airzound in the first video, you'll love it in this updated one! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bA9l-9HxMg

And if you liked the airzound in the first video, you'll love it in this updated one! :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bA9l-9HxMg
That was great:thumb: May I ask what editing software you used to do that? I'm looking for software that will allow me to change the speed of videos without muting the audio. Windows Movie Maker 2011 mutes the audio whenever you change the speed of the video.

I'm on Ubuntu, not Windows. I used an mencoder (program) command, which I found online, to slow down the video + audio. I find a lot of commands by googling; they seem complex at first, but they're so fast! For those interested, here's the command:


mencoder -ovc copy -oac pcm -speed 0.2 inputfile.mp4 -o outputfile.mp4

I also crop videos with ffmpeg. It takes about a second to crop 200 MB files!

All the other stuff I edited in Openshot. Openshot also mutes the audio when changing the video speed...

I'm on Ubuntu, not Windows. I used an mencoder (program) command, which I found online, to slow down the video + audio. I find a lot of commands by googling; they seem complex at first, but they're so fast!

I also crop videos with ffmpeg. It takes about a second to crop 200 MB files!

All the other stuff I edited in Openshot. Openshot also mutes the audio when changing the video speed...
Thanks:) I have an Acer Aspire One netbook with Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it, but with a 1.6 GHz processor it's probably too slow to edit the widescreen videos from the Playsport. When it still had Windows XP and I did all the performance tweaks, it did great editing the 640x480 videos from my Casio digital camera. In fact it was faster than the 2.8 GHz Dell Pentium 4 desktop I used to have.

I guess I'll have to resume saving up for a Mac Mini, since iMovie will let you change the speed without muting the audio. I blew all the savings for that on the Dahon Speed D7 folding bike. Bikes come first though:p:D

Thanks:) I have an Acer Aspire One netbook with Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it, but with a 1.6 GHz processor it's probably too slow to edit the widescreen videos from the Playsport.

I don't think so! mencoder doesn't render the video. It just "stretches" the video and audio info in the file. I just tried slowing down a 200 MB video. It took 2 seconds on my core 2 duo e8400 (by far not the newest CPU!). Even if it takes 100 times more time to do it on your netbook, it'll only take 3 minutes and 20 seconds. :D

Try it, and if it doesn't work, I'll be glad to help you tweak the command.

I don't think so! mencoder doesn't render the video. It just "stretches" the video and audio info in the file. I just tried slowing down a 200 MB video. It took 2 seconds on my core 2 duo e8400 (by far not the newest CPU!). Even if it takes 100 times more time to do it on your netbook, it'll only take 3 minutes and 20 seconds. :D

Try it, and if it doesn't work, I'll be glad to help you tweak the command.
Pardon my ignorance. Learning a new OS is always a bit of a PITA, so I'm probably missing something here. Using a friend's Mac was a learning experience also, as I've spent all my computing years on Windows machines.

So if I understand correctly, I'll have to extract the clip I want to change the speed of from the raw file using an editing program, then use mencoder, then continue editing? I don't want to degrade quality by doing too many conversions. I'm pretty happy with the quality of the videos made on the Playsport, and Windows Movie Maker doesn't degrade the quality much even after the final rendering. The time I was able to use a friend's MacBook Pro to make a 4x speed climb video produced good results also. You can see that video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM9FzO4CRqs).

Pm'ing you... we've gone way off topic. :D

I think I might be an idiot driver myself, so watch out for me, too. The other day I nearly wiped out a guy on a bike. I made a right turn on a green light, quite correctly turning into the right lane. I made a mirror check to move into the left lane, saw an open lane and made a final over-the-shoulder check, only to discover a cyclist in the left lane, directly beside me. I had no idea he was there, and I still don't know why he was in that lane, why I hadn't seen him before, or where he came from. If I'd done what a lot of drivers do -- turn directly into the left lane -- I probably would have killed the guy. It would have been my fault, I guess, but he still would be dead. So do drivers and yourself a favor: be ready for driver's errors, stay out of their blind spots, and don't turn up in weird and surprising places.

And that's what this thread is all about. That driver in the video is 100% wrong, but that only means that I could have been dead/injured and 100% right at the same time! And thankfully, I don't usually ride in Ottawa. :D