davidmcowan

For the past few weeks I've been riding with my friend who I've convinced to do RAGBRAI with me. He has Muscular Distrophy so we go fairly slow and he looks plenty goofy. We've had 10 times the number of people yell stupid **** out of their cars at us. I was telling him that I hadn't had so many comments in the past two years together, but tonight I was riding home alone and a couple of tools yelled "Get a new bike!" (which was funny, cause I was on my newest bike 2006 Scattante R550). Is 2007 more hostile? Why is everyone so angry at bikers this year? Denver has been so bike friendly in the past, I hope we aren't hitting a trend.


p.s. It was redeemed however when I started heading down colfax and this girl out in front of a bar yells "Couriers Rule! Petey!!". I think she thought I was her courier friend, but it was still redeeming.

In Absentia

It's been pretty good to me so far. I even had a couple of homeless guys compliment my Schwinn conversion at the light at Colfax and Santa Fe on my way to school. "Hey, that's a cool bike; it's a Schwinn!" People in Capitol Hill are usually very accepting of bikes and I don't get out of the neighborhood much, so I don't know about the rest of the city.

In fact, the biggest problems I've had lately are the indecisive passers, who can't figure out if it's safe to pass, so they just ride my ass for while before creeping by and the stop sign wavers, who see me coming to an intersection and wait for me to run the stop sign, sometimes waving me through even though they would have been out of my way if they'd just gone. I actually had someone stop at an intersection with no stop sign and wave me through while I was waiting to turn left the other day. The best part is that he proceeded to turn right behind me and became an indecisive passer!

I'll gladly deal with those problems, though, because they at least show that people see me and respect that I belong there.

unkchunk

Maybe. It's spring and the weather is nicer so drivers are more likely to have their windows rolled down now.

But then there seems to be this new thing. Well, I hope it's not a new thing, but twice so far I've had the car behind me stomp on the brake to squeal their tires. It's not that they were taking evasive action. It's another one of those "let's see if we can startle the bike rider" things. And it works real good too. I'm riding along in a groove with no problems and then... loud squealing tires right behind me followed by teenage laughter. But twice doesn't make a new fashion trend.

Mazaev

Riding down Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn the other day and there is a cop in one of those 3-wheeled contraptions taking up most of the right lane while writing someone a ticket. As I'm about to pass, @#$%cker floors his gas pedal while holding the brake as if about to peel out, forcing me to swerve into passing traffic, while giving me that "keep movin', boy" look. Some real *******s out there.

gmule

I have noticed that the time of day brings out the jerks. I work swing so I am comming home at 11:30 PM 12:00 AM time frame. On my way in I don't have any problems. After 10:00PM all bets are off as to if I am going to get bothered by stupid people. I also had more troubles when it was spring break.

unkchunk

Yep, that qualifies as a real *******s for me.

unkchunk

Ahhh... you just reminded me about summer vacation. Teenage drivers with too much free time, that's when it will get real bad.

DataJunkie

Hmmm.....
At the risk of cursing myself, it has been such a long time since my last negative motorist interaction I can not even remember when it was. Heck, I made the mistake of riding up a busy street in Westminster \ Northglenn yesterday and the drivers didn't do much of anything. Well... a couple did gun their engines when passing and several passed a tad close.

cyclezealot

every year motorists seem to get angrier. It seems an unending spiral. Possibly your city gets ever busier? Gridlock makes motorists go nuts and they need scream out. I think they resent us , because we have mobility and they don't. In Calif., It's been that way a long time... In your area, do you have wide streets with wide bike lanes or do bikes actually present an obstacle for motorists.

kjmillig

If a cop did this, you should have stopped (out of the roadway) and silently and calmly written down the exact location, time, vehicle number, and discription of the cop. Then go immediately to the station or get on the phone (in a closeby but out of the way location) to file a formal complaint. I was a cop many years ago, and my brother is a 20 year veteran. Arrogant, bully cops really piss me off.

Mazaev

(Somewhat off-topic, but..) To be honest, riding in my first (and only) NYC CM some months back really made that option, however otherwise logical, somewhat off the table for me; especially since at the end of the day no real damage was done.

After watching fellow riders getting knocked off their bikes by cops on scooters, and being generally treated like a criminal for just riding my bike, (Actually had one come over, grab me by the collar and start the ticketing proces by saying "So you thought you'd do a little bike riding, eh?) my confidence in the NYPD has taken quite a nosedive and I generally avoid them.

Admittedly, I was somewhat naive of the tensions surrounding CM in general, but nontheless, it really left a very sour taste in my mouth.

bike2math

Yes this is when it gets bad. Perhaps this year it is worse as the extra hour of daylight for an extra month gave people more driving time.

Robert C

Last time I did this they had me come to the station and assigned that same cop to take my report and laughed at me comeing in and going out. (The cop was from a California city, in a police car, and was in Oregon going a lot over the speed limit and had no siren or emergency light lit and admitted that he was not on his way to an emergency, but didn't really care)

Nicodemus

spring. sun. warmth. libido. everyone outside. stupidity. JAMs. Mix them all up and that's what you get.

bikedaddy

Most of us live in growing cities so my theory is every year that there are always a few more angy people moving to any given area... the fact that there are more people help makes more angry people of those who were already living there. Therefore, more angry people per capita.

That being said... I have only had 1 or 2 motorists yell at me since I started commuting in Aug. Those couple were just responding to me yelling at them for being stupid. I do think Fort Collins is more bike-friendly than Denver. If people weren't attentive they'd probably run over a couple college kids everday.

Snow_canuck

Minus the odd teen-carload at night, It's been fine for me.

CliftonGK1

I've had fewer problems this year, and there hasn't been anything (knock on wood) that rivalled my worst experience from last year.
I did have some dingus holler at me yesterday while I was waiting in the LTO lane, and he went past in the right lane. I'm not sure if he was complimenting my speed for having zipped in the bike lane past the line of traffic, or if he was complaining. This is the same light where a woman in a convertible told me "nice package" a last week, so I guess between compliments/complaints things are at a tie score so far.

georgiaboy

+ their girlfriend looking out the passenger window at our gluteous maximus doesn't win any goodwill points either.

centexwoody 

If you were having to pay more and more for gas, you'd be angry, too. I think JAMs are taking their frustration out wherever they can & cyclists qualify as easy targets.

My sympathies go out to those locked into work/home/family situations that require them to drive and to drive A LOT. They are caught in the rise of fuel prices and some simply can't do anything about it.

What is the saying about California real estate? That house prices drop 10 grand for every exit ramp heading away from the city?

smiller

it seems the more we build bike paths, the more drivers expect we should be on them. Usually the're right, but there still arent enough paths and sometimes they arent the place to ride. Also people seem to think being in a car makes them anonymous (sp?) so it's ok to be an *$$hole. Welcome ragbrai tho. i think you'll have a great experience. I rode some with a couple of guys on arm powered bikes last year, YIKES would that be a tough deal. They were amazing and got LOTS of respect, especially on that hilly route. Unfortunately one crashed on a bad crack on a big/fast downhill and wound up in the hospital. ok the next day, but done riding for a couple weeks. Saw several others on specially rigged bikes. be ready for questions. many ragbraiers admire bike ingenuity and arent shy about it. Enjoy the ride! I'll be with team wind.