I always ride under the assumption that all following traffic wishes to mate with me, or in the case of female traffic that it wishes to turn in front of me thereby forcing me to mate with it. I do not use a mirror, knowing that I will then spend too much time looking into it and end up in an involuntary mating position of my own making.

As a result, the shoulder check has become my finely-refined weapon against undesirable mating. Spring being mating season, this practice also aids me in gathering further data regarding pedestrians whom I consider to be legitimate mating candidates having come out of the woodwork after winter.

Oh yeah, that too. I love the effect my dual MS have on salmons so renamed them "Salmon Blasters"! But now it's daylight when I ride

Yeah, where you live EVERYBODY rides and drives the wrong way...

OP here. It was near twilight during said incident, and my mirror, that I like, only fits on my cool-as-all-get-out, old fogey wraparound shades, and I don't wear them at night, so... Next time, I will try the old scoot to the right and stop maneuver, see what happens. Be safe!

Cool. They always see me before I see them. Especially the ninja salmon.

around here even the sidewalk, walmart bike riding kitchen porters and homeless know its proper etiquette to take the outside of the lane if theyre going in the wrong direction

I try to obey the rules of the road but I do routinely sometimes "bend" them. What I mean is, I don't come to a complete stop at every stop sign (I do a rolling stop and only stop complete if I have to). I treat red lights similarly but am more cautious / aware of people attempting to beat the light or who may be in a turning lane but intending to go straight anyway (as opposed to 4 way stops where the opposing traffic usually slows down at the intersection, in street light intersections opposing traffic will fly through at much faster speeds). I'll sometimes take the sidewalk briefly if all lanes and shoulder are blocked (in center city rush hour traffic with busses at busstops this sometimes happens). I'll ride in the middle of the road on some stretches. I have a few stretches on my commute where traffic is literally backed up at the light some 50-100+ yards. I've had so many close calls riding on the right - impatient/irritated motorists trying to squeeze in or bolt out from or into the various driveways/sidestreets/stripmall businesses along the way as well as the "good samaritan" drivers who'll wave in people wanting to make a left turn. I find riding in the middle on these stretches - especially if there's a painted median - much safer. And yes, I too, every now and then find myself going the wrong way up the street. This scenario typically happens when I want to make a left turn but the opposing traffic has already started moving (and it's a long light). If there's plenty of room in the shoulder/bike lane, I'll ride in it the wrong way until there's an opening to get over to the right. I won't take it if there's little room or I see oncoming cyclists. If I encounter a cyclist (or pedestrian), I always yield them the right of way as I know I'm not supposed to be there. I'll also take over the lane when deemed safer than staying on the right (vehicular cycling, i think it's called). I don't know how it is in other big cities, but in philly, if you're not an "assertive" driver / cyclist, people (drivers and pedestrians) will constantly cut in front of you first - usually also bending the rules (as in not coming to complete stops or pedestrians starting to cross against the red as soon as the last car passes them regardless of there being oncoming cyclist traffic with the right of way (I guess they think they have herd immunity!)). I've ridden this way for a long time and rarely get critical comments/looks. IMO, it's because I don't ride aggressively but ride predictably and communicate well my intentions (i.e. I don't catch people by surprise and scare them). I've done this right in front of cops multiple times (and yes, they do sometimes pull over cyclists in philly) and never been given a warning let alone ticket (hope those aren't famous last words!). I don't ever remember having a "mishap" on my bike when bending the rules (as in all my accidents / falls were either some driver not yielding me the right of way or me falling due to road conditions such as ice or rain/oil). I know my riding in traffic "philosophy" will be frowned upon by some, but I feel I'm a very safe, predictable cyclist and play nice with society.

I ride with three magicshines and a Light & Motion Arc Li-Ion and, yes, they do have a pronounced effect on salmon. I also pull to the right and stop at the curb. I'm surprised that an earlier post reported salmon apologizing when confronted. 100% of the time when I rebuke a salmon I get the same inarticulate response: "F*** YOU!"

Knuckleheads were they between the flat heads and the pan heads?

all the Harley D's that come out here, when it stops raining for a few days,

are Newer than those.

I think most of my left ear hearing loss is due to being passed by multitudes of unplugged H-Ds on my several tours down the West Coast. The rest is probably a result of too many times backstage with The Ramones.

There are so many signature-worthy quotes in here!

Being serious, I emply a fairly similar method, although the drivers around here are usually nice, there's a large enough proportion of complete pillocks that I try to keep my wits about me.

My wife bought salmon burgers at Costco. I said, "Wait, I can't eat these, they'll make me ride on the wrong side of the road!" She didn't get it. And she is a cyclist.

Now she knows. And now I know that salmon burgers don't cause any serious cycling side effects.

Rick / OCRR

Salmon are usual here. Sometimes there are more salmon than (what the hell swims downstream?)

z

Seems to me forcing the salmon out into traffic sounds dangerous and overly aggressive when what you did was fine. If the shoulder check shows traffic (or you're unsure) then it's probably time to stop and offer a lecture on safety to said salmon.

Ray R, the next time you're backstage with The Ramones ask to borrow one of these to add to your bike light arsenal: https://www.arclightefx.com/gld3.htm

yes, lot more noobs on the trail compared to the winter.

In the Winter here we can ask "Why did the Salmon Cross The Road?"

Salmon also swim downstream. The reason they swim upstream is to spawn. Next time, just ask the wrong-way-person if they are swimming upstream to spawn.

But salmon swim upstream, spawn, and die. The fingerlings swim downstream.

Tradition here in Chengdu is that the salmon hug the kerb, but it seems to me that it would be better if the downstream ones (water?) had the kerb and the salmon went out as they can see the traffic.

z

Cool pic azesty.

Yeah, that's totally awesome bike art!

But OMG The epidemic of stupidity is reaching new heights! People ride like they were unconscious or something, completely unaware of their surroundings. I need watch out for bicyclists more than cars and peds

So that's where they come from!

I was pretty dumb the other night. I went for a short ride at night. With a low powered light, When I crossed the road to take a short cut at a slant. When I hit the edge of the curb flush with my front tire. I thought it was and entrence. So I went over the handle bars but I thankfully landed in the grass and not the sidewalk. I just ordered a 200 lum light now I can see where Im going. Only a few cuts on my right leg. I sure did feel like a dumba** tho.
Ride on

Don't ya just "love" encountering ninja salmon cyclists? I've "run" into a few. And I don't usually give them much room. As if they're going to ride on the wrong side of the road then they're the one who should take the risk that comes with dealing with traffic. NOT the cyclist who is riding in the correct direction.

The really sad thing is that come the time when they get hit by a car (or another cyclist_ that is traveling in correct direction that they'll blame the other guy and not take responsibility for being on the wrong side of the road. That is of course IF they survive the encounter.

I usually tell them as we're passing that they need to be on the other side of the road. The last gal (a slightly older woman) responded with a "go to hell" in response. Oh, well see my reply above.

Or the actual physics involved come the day that they actually get hit by a car head on while riding against traffic.