To the guy who's car I hit with a rock this morning...
04-28-09, 07:58 AM
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To the guy who's car I hit with a rock this morning...
Sorry about that. I feel really bad about it.
I was the commie on the blue and white Fuji whose 700x32 squeezed that rock just right and sent it whizzing into your front fender area.
Normally I am pretty careful about hitting the shoulder and passing like that, but the line of cars this morning at that stop sign was insane.
You are probably pissed, and with good reason.
1. Because I didn’t stop (I suppose it is possible it didn’t actually your vehicle, but it sounded like it did).
2. You probably are wondering why I am so special that I can just pass everyone like the rules don’t apply to me (they do apply to me, unfortunately I have no good excuse why I don't always follow them).
3. I hit your car with something (I would be pissed if you hit my bike with a rock).
BUT...
1. The opportunity absolutely didn’t present itself for a stop in that situation and we both know there isn’t a good place to stop even within the next mile or so.
2. It was an accident, if you had squirted a rock at me, I wouldn’t have been pissed for more than a second, because you didn’t control the action.
3. You may not even know what the hell I am talking about, or don’t give a crap anyway.
BOTTOM LINE:
Sorry about passing you and all of your other four wheeled friends and accidentally squirting that rock at you. I hope you aren’t going to harbor any anger and make it your mission in life to stalk me each morning and put me into a ditch.
--The guy on the bike
I was the commie on the blue and white Fuji whose 700x32 squeezed that rock just right and sent it whizzing into your front fender area.
Normally I am pretty careful about hitting the shoulder and passing like that, but the line of cars this morning at that stop sign was insane.
You are probably pissed, and with good reason.
1. Because I didn’t stop (I suppose it is possible it didn’t actually your vehicle, but it sounded like it did).
2. You probably are wondering why I am so special that I can just pass everyone like the rules don’t apply to me (they do apply to me, unfortunately I have no good excuse why I don't always follow them).
3. I hit your car with something (I would be pissed if you hit my bike with a rock).
BUT...
1. The opportunity absolutely didn’t present itself for a stop in that situation and we both know there isn’t a good place to stop even within the next mile or so.
2. It was an accident, if you had squirted a rock at me, I wouldn’t have been pissed for more than a second, because you didn’t control the action.
3. You may not even know what the hell I am talking about, or don’t give a crap anyway.
BOTTOM LINE:
Sorry about passing you and all of your other four wheeled friends and accidentally squirting that rock at you. I hope you aren’t going to harbor any anger and make it your mission in life to stalk me each morning and put me into a ditch.
--The guy on the bike
04-28-09, 08:29 AM
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So your the one!
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When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
When I ride my bike I feel free and happy and strong. I'm liberated from the usual nonsense of day to day life. Solid, dependable, silent, my bike is my horse, my fighter jet, my island, my friend. Together we will conquer that hill and thereafter the world.
04-28-09, 08:32 AM
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Yehuda Moon approves.
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"When you are chewing the bars at the business end of a 90 mile road race you really dont care what gear you have hanging from your bike so long as it works."
ΛΧΑ ΔΞ179 - 15% off your first Hammer Nutrition order!
"When you are chewing the bars at the business end of a 90 mile road race you really dont care what gear you have hanging from your bike so long as it works."
ΛΧΑ ΔΞ179 - 15% off your first Hammer Nutrition order!
Last edited by bdcheung; 04-28-09 at 08:36 AM.
04-28-09, 08:43 AM
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Stuff happens, it's not like you did it on purpose. When my bike kicks a rock out at a car, the car is always moving. How could they know it wasn't kicked up from their own tire? I've had cars kick up stuff at me, even dump trucks drop large rocks that rolled past as I dodged them.
04-28-09, 09:23 AM
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I've been trying to do it ever since I first saw those Yehuda comics and I still can't launch rocks 
I'm on 700x32 Bontrager's with SKS fenders... Any advice
I'm on 700x32 Bontrager's with SKS fenders... Any advice
04-28-09, 09:28 AM
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What I love is when I'm riding at night and I go over light stuff, like powdered dry leaves and dust that shoots out the top of my front fender and gets illuminated by my headlight; looks like a shower of sparks. But rarely happens.
04-28-09, 09:36 AM
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haha thanks for the entertaining post.
Last year a rock launched off my tires to my left and hit a car's side window who was stoped at a red light... I looked back and was very sorry in my mind.
Last year a rock launched off my tires to my left and hit a car's side window who was stoped at a red light... I looked back and was very sorry in my mind.
04-28-09, 10:05 AM
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You need the perfect combination of the right tires, the right rocks, the right speed, and magic.
What I love is when I'm riding at night and I go over light stuff, like powdered dry leaves and dust that shoots out the top of my front fender and gets illuminated by my headlight; looks like a shower of sparks. But rarely happens.
What I love is when I'm riding at night and I go over light stuff, like powdered dry leaves and dust that shoots out the top of my front fender and gets illuminated by my headlight; looks like a shower of sparks. But rarely happens.
04-28-09, 10:15 AM
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Nothing illegal about your tires kicking out rocks to the side as you roll. That said, I usually only end up hitting cars with the rocks when I am filtering, the legality of which is debateable.
04-28-09, 10:24 AM
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OP is a moron if he thinks he caused any damage. I'm assuming you're riding 30mph and the cars were at a standstill. You flick a rock backwards, and it hits a car. Even going 30mph, it isn't going to make a scratch.
I've had rocks & pebbles hit me (when I'm driving) 65mph on the freeway and nothing happened.
If you think your 700x32 tires can eject a pebble hard enough to do damage to a car's paint, you need to think harder.
I used to do that on purpose to ash holes in cars. I would hit the shoulder, downshift two gears, put my weight forward and hit the gas and spray them. But then again, I was on a 650cc V-twin machine.
I've had rocks & pebbles hit me (when I'm driving) 65mph on the freeway and nothing happened.
If you think your 700x32 tires can eject a pebble hard enough to do damage to a car's paint, you need to think harder.
I used to do that on purpose to ash holes in cars. I would hit the shoulder, downshift two gears, put my weight forward and hit the gas and spray them. But then again, I was on a 650cc V-twin machine.
You sure sound like a nice guy...
04-28-09, 10:24 AM
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OP is a moron if he thinks he caused any damage. I'm assuming you're riding 30mph and the cars were at a standstill. You flick a rock backwards, and it hits a car. Even going 30mph, it isn't going to make a scratch.
I've had rocks & pebbles hit me (when I'm driving) 65mph on the freeway and nothing happened.
If you think your 700x32 tires can eject a pebble hard enough to do damage to a car's paint, you need to think harder.
I used to do that on purpose to ash holes in cars. I would hit the shoulder, downshift two gears, put my weight forward and hit the gas and spray them. But then again, I was on a 650cc V-twin machine.
I've had rocks & pebbles hit me (when I'm driving) 65mph on the freeway and nothing happened.
If you think your 700x32 tires can eject a pebble hard enough to do damage to a car's paint, you need to think harder.
I used to do that on purpose to ash holes in cars. I would hit the shoulder, downshift two gears, put my weight forward and hit the gas and spray them. But then again, I was on a 650cc V-twin machine.
04-28-09, 10:38 AM
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Was this comment necessary? Pardon me for not wanting to scratch or dent another persons property, even if it is a cage on wheels.
Also, you seem a bit angry.
Also, you seem a bit angry.
04-28-09, 10:45 AM
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Have you ever had someone try to run you off the road before when you ride a motorcycle? No?
If you think cars passing you on a bike is bad, see what happens when they do it while you're riding a motorcycle.
If you don't ride, you won't understand what we motorcyclist have to deal with.
Luckily most drivers are nice for the most part.
Let me teach you a little trick. Put a pocket full of pennies in your leathers. If some teenagers decide they want to play with you in their dad's car going 70mph on the highway, a few pennies will change their mind.
If you think cars passing you on a bike is bad, see what happens when they do it while you're riding a motorcycle.
If you don't ride, you won't understand what we motorcyclist have to deal with.
Luckily most drivers are nice for the most part.
Let me teach you a little trick. Put a pocket full of pennies in your leathers. If some teenagers decide they want to play with you in their dad's car going 70mph on the highway, a few pennies will change their mind.
My advice to you, grow the hell up.
04-28-09, 11:03 AM
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04-28-09, 08:45 PM
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the idiots in Utah once chipsealed an interstate highway -- fairly big rocks too. I was sitting behind some guy going 10 under the speed limit for about as long as I could take, and finally decided to pass him. This was not a neighborly thing to do, and I hit him with quite a few rocks. What can I say, I'm not a nice person. I wouldn't have put the rocks on the road, not my fault.
04-30-09, 11:05 PM
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The past two times I biked to work, I've launched a rock at a parked car. Both times I never even saw the pebble, so it was totally accidental.
I'd say on average I launch a pebble about once a trip. Usually it doesn't hit anything, but I've been especially unlucky this week.
I'd say on average I launch a pebble about once a trip. Usually it doesn't hit anything, but I've been especially unlucky this week.
