I've noticed something about the local biking community where I live, there seems to be an unpleasant sub genre of bicyclists who seem to think just wearing a lycra jersey and cycling shorts and riding a $2,000 bike automatically makes them the next Lance Armstrong. I've dubbed them the lycra hipsters, because while they look the part, they also ride like they just learned yesterday and they're the only on riders who matter.

I was out for my normal long Sunday ride yesterday and I was just cruising along on my bike at probably 15-20mph and I was left hooked by one of these people.

There was originally two of them, riding in the opposite direction towards me. I was just about to cross the entrance to a side street, when one of these guys turned right in front of me onto the side street. I actually had to lock up my brakes, until I came to a dead stop and than turn my front wheel to miss his right pedal. His reaction was to look at me over his shoulder as he road past me and yell, "Hey watch it!"

???

Hey watch what? I was going STRAIGHT down a country road which didn't have any yield or stop signs and this tool turned directly into my line of travel rather than break his cadence and wait....two seconds for me to pass. There's something called "the right of way", even regarding bicycles.

I have been riding the same road for the last month and I've seen a few other cyclists and motorcyclists every ride, they either beep or wave at this point. These two riders I've never seen before, but I guess with warm weather comes new and rolling road hazard.

The irony is Massachusetts just modified the laws regarding cyclists in 2008. One of the ammendments was specifically regarding cars yielding to bicyclists when the car is attempting to turn left and the bicyclist is riding straight through an intersection. If the car fails to yield, it's a $150 fine.

I wonder if he would have done the same thing if I was in a car instead of riding a hybrid and wearing walking shorts and wearing a backpack.