2manybikes

That sounds great !

sukram

I find that Thursday and Friday evenings are my worst commutes. Bridge and tunnel crowd prolly. I'm riding back from the Upper East Side in NYC over into Queens so it's a relatively short jaunt, I'm usually coming down York Ave. No bike lane, 4 lanes wide, 2 northbound 2 southbound. Not much spare room for an average American car and a bike, so, I've given up riding over to the right hand side on any street apart from 1 lane wide roads. I just take the lane. I can't say I make too many friends, but hell, there's another lane and I let them know it's a free country, they can use the other lane. Had one homie stating the obvious tonight, "That ain't no motorcycle." I was going to let him know that due to the double negative he was telling me I was on a motorcycle but I just opted for something he'd understand. I flipped him the bird and calmly said "F--- you, you stupid @---le".

bmclaughlin807

I went around on the right anyway last week. Dragged my pannier down the entire side of his car. Left a nice long gouge to bare metal. Sure made ME feel better. Doubt he was too happy when he saw it, though.

wneumann

Damn... reading this thread makes me feel a lot better about living in Albuquerque. In six months of commuting, I've only had a handful of issues with drivers. Interestingly, all but two have been on or near the Air Force base -- an area full of people who haven't been living in the area for a while.

cyclezealot

I think my red Jetta with the bike rack atop is sexy, in spite of what those in muscle cars may think.
But, is not sexiness determined by horsepower?

jyossarian

Some would say sexiness is determined by confidence. What's more confident than a biker zipping past 400+ HP cars?

2manybikes

Decorative buttons for panniers...........

Wino Ryder

[QUOTE=CommuterRun]Depends on what part of Florida you're in. Anything like that is very rare here. Even a "GET OUT OF THE WAY" horn honk is very rare. QUOTE]




Yeah I dont seem to have much of a problem with motorists either on my nightly commute (central Florida, Polk county area). For the most part they give me plenty of room, and rarely do I get 'buzzed', although it does happen sometimes. Occasionally I'll get 'honked' at too, but more often than not it turns out to be a positive thing, where the person knew me, or it was an "off duty" cyclist. Of course, I ride like I got some sence too, and obey all the traffic laws and try not to do anything 'stupid' that would otherwise compromise my safety. I dont do the word thing (negative dialogue) with motorists unless I'm fully prepared to back myself up. You have to watch your mouth (and your fingers) when dealing with motorists. A simple verbal gesture can turn deadly, fast, as well as 'flipping" someone off, so the moral of the story is to stay calm, ride your bike, and refrain from trying to teach someone the laws of the land.

San Rensho 

Yes its really that bad in Florida, and probably worse in Miami. Ft Lauderdale drivers seem to be a little better than Miami drivers. Theres usually at least one driver that rants and yells, or lays on the horn, everytime I ride.

I have found that the faster I can ride, and the more I take up the entire lane, the less people f-ck with me, but theres still the occasional idiot that has to race past me as fast as he can, 50 feet before a stop sign or stop light, so he can get in front of me, and slam the brakes on because he's "in a hurry to stop". ON a couple of occasions I've been able to speed up enough so that he can't get back in the lane, and has to stop at the light in the oncoming lane.

EnigManiac

Most of the time here in Toronto---at least in the downtown core where residents are accustomed to a large number of cyclists---everything runs pretty smoothly with few negative encounters. There are the customary dangers a cyclist must be aware of and avoid, of course, but rarely is there a confrontation...

...until recently.

The other day my son and I were on our way home up a narrow one-way, quiet residential street at night with parking on the left side. Both of us were well-lit and riding predictably. There were no cars on the road anyway, so even if we had been riding side by side it would not have been an issue. I watched in my mirror as an SUV entered the street behind us and approached at a fairly good clip. My son and I had just moved into the centre of the road to go around two illegally parked cars on the right when the SUV rapidly came up on our tails making no indication he was planning to slow down, but go right through us. We dashed for the right in spite of the fct that we were a few feet from the intersection where we needed to turn left. The SUV swung around us and into a driveway five feet in front of us. I asked the driver as he got out what the h**l he thought he was doing almost running us down. The guy just gave me the finger. I admit I was angry and cussed him out a bit before reminding him that I knew where he lived. I'm not proud of my response, but I understand it came from have the s**t scared out of me.

A few days later we were on a much busier main road nearby when an SUV again approached from behind. With parked cars on my right about three feet away and broken and crumbling road surface to my immediate right, I really had nowhere to go as this speeding SUV came racing up on me. Just as he gets right behind me he honks and never made any attempt to change lanes into the empty opposite-direction lane, instead skimming by me within an inch or two. Fortunately, he stopped at the light a short distance away and I was able to confront the fool who had the audacity to claim he was honking me to let me know he was coming through. Coming through? And what was I supposed to do, sit there and let him run me over? I asked him if his honk really meant he was warning me that he was coming through me whether I moved or not? There were more than a few choice invectives being flung at him and a challenge to get out of his car so I could teach him a lesson about threatening my life. I know I reminded him that the entire lane was mine and he had the options of either slowing down until I was ableto move over safely or pass me in the other lane, but doubt he got the message between being called every name in the book and a few the book doesn't have yet.

Again, I'm not really happy with the way I reacted and was kicking myself afterward. It certainly wasn't a very good example to my son whom I apologized and explained my actions to. But damn, those situations were close.

Bikepacker67

Enjoy this.

ollo_ollo

Here's mine: heading out for a ride Thursday, I was waiting at the T intersection of my side street with our 2 lane country road. I was standing near the center of my road waiting for a string of cars to pass so I could make a left turn when one of the approaching cars began a left turn onto my street. Driver was talking on a cell phone, looking right at me & cutting the corner such that I was about to become her hood ornament! No time to try move so I held both arms above my head with the dayglo bands on my gloves facing her & wig wagged my arms to get her attention. She skidded to a stop then refused to pull around me properly & instead cranked her wheel over & turned into the wrong way lane passing to my right & behind me. Gave me a dirty look as she passed. Excuse me for living

mscommuter

I commute near daily on Long Island, NY, and it happens to me 1-2 times a week. It's usually safer not to respond and keep focusing on the road, but I confess there's been a time or two I've yelled back "Oh, have another donut!". That shuts 'em up. :-)

walterk46

One of the most dangerous stretches that I have to travel is the half block leading up to the Dunkin' Donuts. There's no telling what some people will do to get to their donuts.

becnal

That's not wrong at all. It's a perfectly normal and healthy response. Mean people, especially when behind a wheel, deserve to become krispy critters!

*new*guy

https://www.sikvid.com/vids/3078.html


an inspirational video of sorts.

ollo_ollo

Danger of taking the lane part #2: Last night, a friend of mine, who is obssessed with the Mini Cooper, showed me before & after pictures of his just recd 1978 mini, he bought it & imported it from New Zealand. Took months to arrive & he has had it about 2 weeks. He was out driving his dream machine on Hwy 520, had to slow down when a car ahead of him made a left turn, he was accelerating back up to speed, doing about 30 mph when a Ford Explorer SUV rear ended him at about 60 mph! Mini may be totaled, unbelievably, SUV driver claims he "didn't see" the bright orange mini or brake lights. Friend is sore but apparently uninjured. Hit was hard enough to break the seat loose & flip him to the rear. My thought, what if that was me on my bike "taking the lane"??? Don

kemmer

I have to agree. I find drivers in Utah to be highly inconsiderate of other motorists, but as I cyclist I rarely have a problem. It's not just the rural areas either, SLC is a great place to ride. See my post about one of the few problems I've ever had, it was with fellow cyclist.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...46#post3296246

CliftonGK1

Orange must be the new "stealth" colour. Last time I got clipped on my bike, I asked the driver who said "I just didn't see you, man" which of my items made me least visible: The hunter's orange backpack, the blinking tail lights, or the 3M reflective tape all over my bike and helmet?

kill.cactus

Okay so I hate to steal the spotlight, but I have to say this.

I'm in Ann Arbor now (and I love it love it love it), but I just moved from Weston, FL - a tiny little preplanned development where there are a bunch of rich people who aren't rich enough to live at southbeach or whatever.

So Dan Marino (yes the football player) lives there and his car is recognizable throughout the city - an orange ferrari. I don't know the model I just know it is big, loud (LOUD), and he lets people sit in it and get their pictures taken on Sundays. I was riding my bike (I was a recreational rider back then, I only rode like once a month or so a few miles... pathetic I know) down this mainly empty street at high noon (killer heat) and here comes Dan Marino in his ferrari, sitting on his horn and flicking me off as he zooms by with less than 2 feet clearance. I had no sidewalk and I wasn't VC enlightened so I thought he was right and I was wrong and I stopped biking for a year till I moved here.

Now I totally want his head on a plate. YES!@

ollo_ollo

This venting is becoming a daily thing for me. Took this today, I had my camera turned on & handy when this city bus roared past, driver made no attempt to move over into the adjacent empty lane. Also there is a 25mph speed limit & the bus was doing about 40. I saw him coming in my mirror & could tell he was going to pass close by from his lane position. Be careful out there. Don

mscommuter

Uh!! Shame on Dan Merino! What does VC enlightened mean? (I must not be, either. :-))

Falkon 

you got buzzed by Dan Marino. Guess he was having a Ferrari day where nobody should get in his way.

Artkansas 

It's the car and its general sense of invulnerability. It's a curious phenomenon. My ex was usually an even tempered person till you put her behind the wheel. Then she was always cussing out the other drivers. In general, that sense of entitlement is not specific to bicycles. They feel that way about other drivers too.

noisebeam

This is the effect of having a right side of outer driving lane stripe (for bike lane or shoulder). Most drivers do not adjust their lateral position in their lane, even when passing a cyclist using the BL or shoulder. This is why it is so critical to use a mirror (as you are well aware) - that way you can monitor rear coming traffic and adjust your lateral position as they pass. This of course assumes you have that space to your right to do so, if not, ride even further left. If you do so more drivers will adjust lateral position and you have more space to do so yourself as well.

Al