Can't we all just get along (Boston)?
08-17-07 | 08:04 AM
#26
Thread Starter
Physics Junkie
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 318
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From: Cambridge, MA
Bikes: Surly Steamroller, GT Pulse, Specialized S-Works E5
Mmm...cab drivers. Gotta love 'em.
[Also, thanks everyone for the moral support. I feel all warm and fuzzy. Maybe that's just the lack of a/c in this room.]
[Also, thanks everyone for the moral support. I feel all warm and fuzzy. Maybe that's just the lack of a/c in this room.]
08-17-07 | 08:44 AM
#31
i can has tarck?
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 499
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From: new orleans
Bikes: '07 BFSSFGIRO / '84 Trek 770
08-17-07 | 08:57 AM
#34
Thread Starter
Physics Junkie
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 318
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From: Cambridge, MA
Bikes: Surly Steamroller, GT Pulse, Specialized S-Works E5
08-17-07 | 09:08 AM
#35
Ballin' Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 78
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From: Boston
Bikes: Late 80's Raleigh Grand Prix Fixed, IRO Jamie Roy en route
on the subject -- i hate mass ave. my champs elysee is columbus and i sip champagne on the way home from work every day along it.
08-17-07 | 09:23 AM
#36
Banned
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 5,317
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From: GA
08-17-07 | 09:34 AM
#38
Boston did not sob
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 377
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Dude, it's MY fantasy world I live in when I'm on the bike. Laugh at me, or with me, it's your choice.
By day, mild mannered laser engineer. Then I dash into the nearest phone booth (OK, we do have a locker room here at work) and I don my spandex superhero outfit (OK, just bike shorts with a cotton T-shirt) and off I go to battle with the evil doers, slowpokes, hipsters, collegiate team riders (just kidding, PSN!), and anybody else that stands between me and the finish line.
By day, mild mannered laser engineer. Then I dash into the nearest phone booth (OK, we do have a locker room here at work) and I don my spandex superhero outfit (OK, just bike shorts with a cotton T-shirt) and off I go to battle with the evil doers, slowpokes, hipsters, collegiate team riders (just kidding, PSN!), and anybody else that stands between me and the finish line.
08-17-07 | 09:45 AM
#40
my bike Owns me+my wallet
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 709
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From: Sudbury, Ontario
Bikes: Px-10 singeld, 2007 KHS filte 100
We'll i'm inclined to call the guy from the OP's post a pompus wank,
I have to say i do this to, keps the heart rate up and the adrenaline flow'n, I dont berate people while i'm doing it, I just do it in my head be add more fun to the daily ride. On that note i'd like to share a story, Two months back, i passed a guy on the uphill on a cervelo TT bike, without looking at him or saying a word just ziped by em. on the farside of the hill i was trackstanding at a light, He comes blasting past rite as the light to green, laughing. It was on. after there light there was an other uphill, we now in heavy traffic, Racing up the hill, taking a hole lane neck and neck trafftic honking we mashed it up the hill, both of a busting a gut laughing, i look the lead and he turned off onto a side street, Victory was mine!
Why get snarly when you can have some fun? we both from what i could tell had a blast.
I'm in the Boston area, and I am always trying to keep up/pass as many folks as I can on my commute ( I don't yell at them, however...) That keeps it interesting, and keeps me motivated. Old lady on a Shwinn? "See ya later! Hippie college chick with flower basket on the front? VROOOooooooom! "Eat my dust, Toots!". Roadie in full gear? Oh yes! Reel that dude in and make him lament the $2100 he paid for his gear and send him home crying.
Why get snarly when you can have some fun? we both from what i could tell had a blast.
08-17-07 | 09:51 AM
#41
Ballin' Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 78
Likes: 0
From: Boston
Bikes: Late 80's Raleigh Grand Prix Fixed, IRO Jamie Roy en route
08-17-07 | 10:01 AM
#44
attention disordered
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 182
Likes: 1
From: Seattle
Bikes: A fast one, a durable one and a fun one.
08-17-07 | 10:18 AM
#45
switching to guns
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,968
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From: kings county, nyc
Bikes: allez fuji tracku nishiki TT GT KHS arrow Miner 29'er CIOCC Corsair and now a f*cking awesome waterford skeet velo
Sorry to be a downer, but I had an experience tonight that kinda shook my happy life of cycling...
I was riding back home tonight from a team ride, naturally wearing my team kit (spandex) while on my road bike. Totally minding my own business and not trying to be Speed Racer in any way, shape, or form, a scraggly dude comes up from behind me on his fixed ride and yells at me -- "how much did all that **** cost?" -- in a downright nasty tone. Then he starts gesturing at me to race with him so he can (presumably) berate some more.
I was so taken aback that I just kinda sat there not really wanting to catch him to explain the finer points -- that I ride for a college team, that my road bike was bought used off eBay, that yes, I too have a fixed gear that I ride to and from school everyday, and that I probably even once raced with this guy at the Ghettodrome. Sadly, I have a feeling this wouldn't have ever happened if he ran into me earlier in the day while riding to school on my trusty Steamroller in my usual shorts and t-shirt.
I think it's bad enough that everyone else (pedestrians, police, cars, et al.) are against us as cyclists. We definitely don't need to be sniping each other, especially when it's just about what someone is riding or wearing. I'm no hippie, but I think when it comes to cycling, we should be spreading the love (or something).
I was riding back home tonight from a team ride, naturally wearing my team kit (spandex) while on my road bike. Totally minding my own business and not trying to be Speed Racer in any way, shape, or form, a scraggly dude comes up from behind me on his fixed ride and yells at me -- "how much did all that **** cost?" -- in a downright nasty tone. Then he starts gesturing at me to race with him so he can (presumably) berate some more.
I was so taken aback that I just kinda sat there not really wanting to catch him to explain the finer points -- that I ride for a college team, that my road bike was bought used off eBay, that yes, I too have a fixed gear that I ride to and from school everyday, and that I probably even once raced with this guy at the Ghettodrome. Sadly, I have a feeling this wouldn't have ever happened if he ran into me earlier in the day while riding to school on my trusty Steamroller in my usual shorts and t-shirt.
I think it's bad enough that everyone else (pedestrians, police, cars, et al.) are against us as cyclists. We definitely don't need to be sniping each other, especially when it's just about what someone is riding or wearing. I'm no hippie, but I think when it comes to cycling, we should be spreading the love (or something).
shoulda just talked to him for peace of mind instead of posting about it,
but then again maybe he post here too, will read this and will feel bad
08-17-07 | 10:21 AM
#46
with love and squalor
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 490
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From: Cambridge, MA
OP: post over at bostonfixed.com and maybe you'll find that person, but most of the kids I ride with out here are cool and aren't overly dickish. are you one of the MIT kids out at Londonderry every week?
08-17-07 | 10:27 AM
#48
Thread Starter
Physics Junkie
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 318
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From: Cambridge, MA
Bikes: Surly Steamroller, GT Pulse, Specialized S-Works E5
Indeed I am. Who do you roll with (assuming that you are also a Londonderry regular)?
Last edited by psn; 08-17-07 at 10:35 AM.
08-17-07 | 11:02 AM
#49
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 315
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From: Boston (Coolidge Corner in Brookline)
I've ridden the boston streets for a couple years; for transport, fun, and exercise on fixed, ss and full out roadie gear. Just like in anything else there are pole smokers out there, but for the most part if you actually talk to someone they are fairly cool. Hipster, roadie, punk or whatever, we are all cyclists.
For what its worth, maybe the guy had a bad day. let it go.
For what its worth, maybe the guy had a bad day. let it go.
08-17-07 | 11:30 AM
#50
spinspinspinspin
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 880
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I've also found the boston bike community to be pretty cool, supportive, and inclusive, regardless of what bike you ride. Lower than normal contingent of jerks, really.
It's a bit easier to over react when you're tired/hungry at the end of a ride- the dude probably just wanted to goad you into racing him, and gave you some lip when you didn't take the bait.
It's a bit easier to over react when you're tired/hungry at the end of a ride- the dude probably just wanted to goad you into racing him, and gave you some lip when you didn't take the bait.