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"get on the sidewalk"

Old 08-13-09, 02:43 PM
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"get on the sidewalk"

I got this the other day from a lady motorist. On a military base in Japan going up a bridge on the base.

It was just us on the road more or less and her passing me was a simple task.

I looked over at her and told her next time she came up that road right before the bridge on the sidewalk is a sign saying no bikes or skateboards on the sidewalk. If I'm not mistaken it says something about bikes on sidewalks being against the law in Japan.

In the area I'm in there are bike lanes all over and there are also designated bike lanes ON sidewalks but the sidewalks in those instances are broken up by painted lines for pedestrian use as well.

I think she must have been a school teacher because she said something about flunking me. "Flunk You" or something.

John
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Old 08-13-09, 03:01 PM
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LOL, good story.
It amazes me how many people feel the need to comment about our being in the road. I have to be pretty pissed off before I will offer feedback to a stranger.
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Old 08-13-09, 03:47 PM
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I'm about 99% sure she was a dependent wife. Big van. Big woman. Big attitude. Everything on this base is pretty much within a mile or so of any housing neighborhood so I can totally understand how it would be way too inconvenient for her to slightly slow down and put a wheel over the yellow line for an extra second or two.

Much better for me to break the law and inconvenience people walking on the bridges extremely narrow sidewalk than to dare get in her way.

John
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Old 08-13-09, 05:58 PM
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A week or so ago, I was sitting at a traffic light turning left from a road with no sidewalk (or bike lane) onto a road with a bike lane. When I got to the light, there were no cars there, but there's pretty regular traffic that time of day, so I pulled over a little to the right of the white line and waited (more certainty of an automobile triggering the light). Shortly afterward, a pickup pulled up to the light and waited silently beside me.

When the light changed, as we were both in the intersection turning left, the driver of the pickup yelled, "Get on the sidewalk!" at me. As I said, the road I had been on had no sidewalk and I wasn't occupying any part of the traffic lane and the road I was turning onto had a bike lane.

I have a theory: people are stupid. Or maybe they just act that way.
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Old 08-13-09, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by TrekJapan
I'm about 99% sure she was a dependent wife. Big van. Big woman. Big attitude.
That's the conclusion I jumped to.

"Well my husband is a (insert rank here)."

"That's nice. You're not."
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Old 08-13-09, 06:36 PM
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i got the same thing the other day near my house. good half mile stretch, perfectly straight, and absolutely no traffic coming in the opposite direction. older man in a mini van refused to pass me the entire time even though it was perfectly, safe, legal, and easy. when i approach the stop sign, he comes up on my left at the stop sign (he's now stopped at the stop sign occupying both lanes) and starts yelling at me that bicycles belong on the sidewalk. i correct him and go on my way, which was to make a left which i had signaled before stopping because miami drivers are notorious for blowing stop signs in order to pass a cyclist, and of course he decided to take off right after me and try to pass me in the intersection and came inches from me getting rammed.

if the gentleman would learn to drive, and not be petrified of passing a cycling riding at 15 mph right up against the shoulder (i had moved as far right as safe in order to let him pass) it would have been a non-issue but unfortunately its harder to get a membership at blockbuster than it is to get a drivers license in this country.
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Old 08-13-09, 06:43 PM
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I think they just yell, I dont even think they know why. I know a normal person with a normal life would not be on the road verbally harassing bicyclist, I really dont even pay any attention to them anymore.
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Old 08-13-09, 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by TrekJapan
If I'm not mistaken it says something about bikes on sidewalks being against the law in Japan.
I see bikes ridden on the sidewalk all the time in my visits to Japan.

If they are against the law on sidewalks, the law is routinely ignored which is not like the Japanese.
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Old 08-13-09, 07:00 PM
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Originally Posted by TrekJapan
I'm about 99% sure she was a dependent wife.
Originally Posted by CommuterRun
That's the conclusion I jumped to.

"Well my husband is a (insert rank here)."

"That's nice. You're not."
Little doubt that it was a dependent spouse. But rank has nothing to do with the problem, enforcement does. A military base is still a pretty nice place to ride as related to the motorist you come across, but over the last couple of years, dependents and civilian workers have gotten far less courteous towards both cyclist and pedestrians. It has gotten bad enough, that the army base here just installed an in road flashing light system for pedestrians at one of the mid-block cross walks.
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Old 08-13-09, 09:11 PM
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I usually yell back "take a cab"

I put this in a similar post a while back but why not again.

I'm 6'5'' about 210#s. I'm at the last light before work. only at the light does the road widen to 2 lanes each way. I'm in the right lane, far enough up so if you want to right on red you can. Guy in an Acura squeezes between me & car in left lane. Makes some comment about me being in the way. Acura has sunroof open. I lean over & peer down at him & ask simply, "What'd you say?" No reply while we're sitting there but flips me the bird when the light changes.
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Old 08-14-09, 02:05 AM
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Originally Posted by CB HI
Little doubt that it was a dependent spouse. But rank has nothing to do with the problem, enforcement does ...
All ranks are governed by the same regulations, but that's not the point. The point I was making was that of a feeling of a false sense of entitlement.
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Old 08-14-09, 02:25 AM
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I've yelled back "yeah! right on, man!... you tell em!" while giving the driver a nod and a thumbs up. Confuses the heck out of their tiny little brains.
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Old 08-14-09, 08:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Cyclaholic
I've yelled back "yeah! right on, man!... you tell em!" while giving the driver a nod and a thumbs up. Confuses the heck out of their tiny little brains.
This is my favorite gambit for these interactions. Half the time I can't really tell what they are yelling at me, anyway. I give a big goofy grin and say something unrelated like "Yeah Death to Smoochy!" or "I've been to San Diego too!" or the last one that got a great reaction "I don't smoke!", wish I had a camera to catch that woman's puzzled expression.

The point is alot of people, particularly the overly helpful saftey person who wants you off the road to keep you safe, feel it isn't worth their time to deal with a crazy person.
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Old 08-14-09, 08:36 AM
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Originally Posted by Cyclaholic
I've yelled back "yeah! right on, man!... you tell em!" while giving the driver a nod and a thumbs up. Confuses the heck out of their tiny little brains.
Or use the Monty Python-esk line "No thanks, I've already got one."
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Old 08-14-09, 08:36 AM
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[QUOTE=bike2math;9484419] the last one that got a great reaction "I don't smoke!", wish I had a camera to catch that woman's puzzled expression.
QUOTE]

LOL, man, that one cracks me up. It is almost as good as "Have you received Jesus into your life?"
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Old 08-14-09, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Sawtooth
LOL, man, that one cracks me up. It is almost as good as "Have you received Jesus into your life?"
That line was really effective when I lived in Ohio. The problem down here in Texas is that the answer to that question is always "Yes". So I've moved on to the other less sensible answers.
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Old 08-14-09, 10:44 AM
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There is something about cars that can turn some people into complete morons. I think it's a patience thing - when people get used to being able to press a pedal and be moving at 70mph within seconds it turns them into impatient idiots who can't be delayed 5 seconds to drive around a cyclist.

People who drive and cycle are usually much more patient drivers.
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Old 08-14-09, 10:49 AM
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response i've "borrowed" from another forum member - "the side-WHAT?"

the other day i'm riding home on a street with a bike lane. the bike lane disappears at an intersection with a stop light and the single auto lane becomes a left-turn lane and a straight/right-turn lane. so i take the straight/right-turn lane since i'm going straight once the light turns green. a car rolls up beside me in the left turn lane and the clueless passenger says to me "you know, there are bike lanes for a reason".
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Old 08-14-09, 11:07 AM
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What? no ninja throwing stars flying your way? Ignore.
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Old 08-14-09, 11:11 AM
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This is funny. Then again when I drive I yell at cyclists to get OFF the sidewalk.
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Old 08-14-09, 11:50 AM
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Or, "Thanks, I'll eat it here."

"Flunk you." That'd make a good T-shirt.
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Old 08-14-09, 12:29 PM
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Somebody on here said he wordlessly snaps his fingers, then while the driver is looking, points at his own crotch. I'm gonna have to try that.
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Old 08-14-09, 04:24 PM
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I heard something like "....sidewalk ****tard" today. I didn't catch the whole thing because of the Doppler effect, but I could care less regardless. I remember that sort of thing used to really bother me.
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Old 08-14-09, 07:12 PM
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i had fun today with a lady that was telling me i shouldnt be on the road. living in miami almost everyone is bilingual to an extent, so when she start talking i told her "no entiendo" so she tells me in spanish to which i respond, "i don't understand" she flips back to english, and i reply back "no entiendo" to which she gets frustrated and puts her window up. SUCCESS.
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Old 08-15-09, 06:59 AM
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Being from Houston I love that one. Since I speak Mandarin, it really freaks people out when I respond in Chinese.
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