Shriners are a different group from Masons... related but not quite the same.

I hang around with a lot of masons/masonic-related groups, they're fine but the problem is that most of the adult masons are usually older people with the extra time on their hands... masonic activity is time consuming. So, figure old people + car = bad.

I just have problems with old people driving in general, whether they be masons or not.

My experience follows that of the OP. Rednecks tend to have a live-and-let-live outlook on life. Problems are caused by the selfish with a sense of entitlement. Usually upper-middle class in sports cars or luxury cars.

I trade you for all the underage drinking "amateurs" going to town on Cerrillos road here where i live.

Yup

+1. The only place on my commute I have trouble is the 1.5 miles of road I take that is an access for lots of neighbourhoods with gates and the word 'estate' in the 'hood name.

Ever see that International Harvester country music video?

That about says it all.

My biggest danger isn't rednecks either (they might think I'm one of them and riding a bike due to DUI's). No, My problem for the most part are people that have some sort of south of the border I.D. but not a drivers license from Texas. Before they picked up the old cars and pick-ups they're driving they probably rode their bikes on the sidewalk (even when there was a bike lane next to it) and think that's where i belong.

Now I feel better. I know it's over generalized. It's Friday night and I just got through with a tough commute from work I don't have problems with the hispanic population in general, but some of the recent arrivals without the proper documents just don't seem to get it.

I've got family in southern Missouri. I know exactly what he's talking about with the redneck breed (or inbreed). My mother takes pride in the fact that we were outbred, which is not an entirely common thing in some of the hilly parts.

Aren't there some of the "blue people" out in Kentucky, or is that another state?

But if they're leaving the OP alone while on the road, and he disses them anonymously here, who cares?

Around here, there are regular rednecks and there are "rich rednecks". Regular rednecks may live in a mobile home or just a small, older house, and they love classic rock, smoking and drinking, and junky old lifted pickups. Often times they work in garages or scrape by collecting pallets or scrap metal. These guys are generally pretty nice and, even though some may think biking is silly, they rarely bother me.

Rich rednecks, on the other hand, are usually contractors, landscapers, or they are supervisors at the local Nissan plant. Basically, they would be normal rednecks if they hadn't managed to get into a profession making fairly good money. They usually drive brand new lifted Ford F-350s with no exhaust and are likely to own a huge but generic house in a wealthy suburb or waaay outside of town with several acres of land they don't use. They must own a boat and may own a few jet skis, ATVs, and an in-ground swimming pool. Whenever they're in a store or restaurant, they make sure to look the part of a bad-ass all the time, looking irritated and "staring down" other men who are just trying to eat/shop. In fact, they stare at me so much that I'm just assuming they're secretly gay, which I have no problem with. Some are fairly nice in person and some are just pricks all the time, but just about all of them are practically evil when they get behind the wheel and their wives are usually even worse. They hate anybody who is going slower than them (which is wide open all the time), so they really hate cyclists. However, they usually don't actually have the nerve to honk, yell, or throw things (that's more of a high school kid thing). Instead, their tactic for "showing me" is just to rev their engines or gas it as they drive by. Basically, their prime objective in life seems to be to get rid of their money as quickly as possible, and to rush everywhere so they can get their lives over with as quickly as possible. In the meantime, they must at all times appear to be as manly as possible at all cost, despite always staring at men and seemingly paying very little attention to their wives.

Yeah, you just can't buy class with money. Some of those "poor rednecks" sound like classier people than what you're describing.

there are lots of labels / stereotypes being thrown around here, perhaps unjustly. a bad driver is a bad driver, no matter where or when s/he was born.

Man this thread & others have really got me wondering. It seems some here take up riding bikes so they can feel empowered & go about carrying a torch.
Some of what is described as safe here I question.

Such as moving to the center while approaching a blind corner with a vehicle coming up behind you. Commuting on a bike can be dangerous. Why make it more so? Or cause a driver of a car or truck to slow down.

Where I come from it is a common courtesy to give way to faster moving traffic. Whether ones on a bike or car.

Nonconforming, dysfunction seems to be an accepted way of things among way to many that choose to ride a bike.

Maybe I am just clueless about this?

You're not clueless; there's a lot of needless antagonism among self-described commuters online. Best you can do is to keep from picking up the bad habits espoused here, and stick to safely getting from point A to point B.

While I agree with you that some of the posters here are unnecessarily antagonistic, I think the particular example you use is one where the right thing to do is debatable. What you don't want is for them to pass you in a blind hill on a narrow street, because if a car winds up coming the other way, the situating becomes very dangerous for you. OTOH, if they do pass you, you would prefer that they not go all the way into the other lane. If you move over it's less likely they pass, but more likely they pass by getting too far over.

I try to be polite, but there are always a few drivers who believe that bicycles are not legal to operate on the road (despite my often biking on specifically designated bike routes). C'est la vie I guess.

The danger of harassment pales in comparison to the doing stupid aspect. I regularly get passed where sightlines don't allow, thoroughly illegal. Sometimes even if I'm asking someone to stay back for a moment. So far I've only had one very very near miss next to me, but I'm likely to see a nasty head on and have to evade flying junk as best possible.

We have the "rich" country boys here. Although I tend to think my net worth is likely higher. Financing hasn't been good to people, really! My house may be junk, but it sits on half a million in real estate and it's paid for! And my car is old, but it's been paid for since 1985. So I figure those guys are under a lot of stress. Many have at-home wives, which leads to more money stress. So they're ticking time bombs of impatience and they do drive the big new trucks, usually not very well.

The normal country folks (maybe I'm one of them by now) drive generally very sane.

The ignorant harassment and real moronic stupidity comes from both genders of "city people" who have moved out here. Big SUV or fast sporty cars, driving too fast, talking on the cell phone, bad passing, very dangerous.

Oh, and it doesn't matter if I'm on a bike or driving - I still get passed in lethal spots and honked at! This driving the speed limit thing really annoys some idiots!

So I try to drive the other vehicle as much as possible through signals and suggestions. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Intentional harassment is extremely rare here. But I'm sure some people just attract it. Idiot magnets! I've known them. Then again, the word may just be out. I've been known to track down daddy and give a crisp description of the junk junior just pulled. "Yes sir, I surely do apologize. I was in a hurry and didn't think about all the trouble I could cause. I'll be driving the speed limit now. Thank you sir." Nothing like daddy with the truck keys and a belt.

Old men in Caddies and young men in Mustangs.

Had a punk in a hopped up mustang using a right turn only lane to jump traffic because he is too cool to wait in line to make the left so he will cut them all off. The bike lane shifts a lane across the intersection. I took the whole lane to make sure I wouldn't get pinched or right hooked. Asshat burping the throttle behind me trying to intimidate me becasue I was keeping him from passing cars illegally in the turn lane.

1/4 mile down the road old man in a caddie about gets me with the passenger mirror. Got caught in traffic so I scooted to the front and took the lane at an intersection again to make sure nobody would right hook me. Got right on the other side of the intersection to let them pass and here comes granpa again and just about got me with the mirror again.

Uke thanx for the reply & reedie thanks for giving me a thought to consider.

I just love riding & commuting on my bike my bike. I will do my best to remain vigilant & courteous while learning a great deal from coming here.

When ever I visit my inlaws in Southern Florida I get to experience that. Boca Raton is one scarry place to drive. The roads are mostly devided with a berm with three wide lanes each way with only 45 MPH speed limit. You would think that would make for a relaxing drive. It is the folks that regularly pull U turns or they turn left from the right most lane without looking even then cars are behind them. Scarry stuff.

When I was at college I noticed that every time you saw someone driving irratically it was almost always an Asian driver in their late 20's or early 30's. It took a few weeks to realize why that was. It turns out those were foreign graduate students. For most of them this was the 1st time in their life they or anyone else in their family has to drive. No wonder they drove like 16 years with a learners permit. Otherwise it was funny that most college students drove much more carefully than highschool students and also were much more curtious about not dinging your door then "adults" in a normal parking lots. I think the teenage boys got their truely crazyness out of their system and with the price of school what it is/was everyone was very money cautious.

Happy riding,
André