you people are nuts!
 

Props to y'all!

I commutted to work last summer a dozen times, it's only 8 miles and then I could go straight from work to a 20-40 mile ride. But how y'all deal with cagers and not come into work all pissed off and freaked out on a regular basis (like I did :( ), well, props to ya.

I saw a guy this morning riding a windshield bent on Peoria St... the traffic is heavy and unfriendly. So, that's what made me think of posting :)

The best way to deal with stupid cagers is to act silly with them. :) Smile when they are angry at you, wave when they do stupid things. That'll leave em confused, and you will shrug it off.

Blow them kisses.

The only times I arrive to work all pent up and angry is when I drive. When I ride my bike to work, I arrive happy, full of endorphins, calm, and I'm more productive throughout the day. On the way home, I have this great hour to myself and the troubles of the day slip away with the miles.

Give it another try, Lord Opie. And you don't have to take the same roads as the cagers. That's another beauty of it--you learn more about your city when you ride a bike through it. It's awesome!

Oh, angry people don't bother me so much, it's the literal danger of riding the streets I have to ride to get to work. Nearly getting hit so much just put me in a bad mood.

I appreciate your encouragement, but where my work is located -- between a river/creek and the interstate, there's a section of road and bridge that I *have* to take. Some drivers don't care, some don't pay attention and a very few try to run me off the road.

Well then maybe you could pick different streets. If I were to take the car route to work, I'd likely be hit, or collapse from fear of being hit. Instead, I take other routes through neighborhoods, on trails, etc.

My commute is 12 miles each way through downtown DC and across the Potmac River into northern Virginia. The DC metro area has great bike paths (a bit crowded in the spring and summer, but I'm glad folks are out). I have found, through trial and error, great urban routes through the heart of DC.

I've never been to Denver, but there might be a good bike map of the place, with all those outdoorsy folks there--take a look at some alternative routes to work. You might be surprised.

Yes, this has got to be one of the greatest thing about bike commuting. It seems like the day ends right as I walk out the door from work. Taking a bus or car makes you want to get home soon you can end your day.

" But how y'all deal with cagers and not come into work all pissed off and freaked out on a regular basis (like I did ), "

You know, I find the ride into work actually mellows me out, even dealing with some obnoxious folks on occasion. I miss it when I don't do it, and am far, far grouchier when I drive my car. Love the ride.

[QUOTE=velogirl]Blow them kisses.

Great advice. So much more effective than flipping them off, and you get to smile the rest of the way to work. Also recomended: The grossly sarcastic smile and wave. Makes the cagers simmer in their rolling coffins.

I feel pretty proud when I pass them on my bike while in the bike lane and they sit there stopped.. My usual attitude towards them..Ignore them..They are a minority of motorists..
Certainly arrive to work in a better attitude while bike commuting and passing them by over sitting behind them in my car in a long line of cars going nowhere.

this is what I strove to do as a bus driver.....Works for cycling, too....... :p

I'm not sure that tactic would work for everyone, velogirl. A guy like me, that might just escalate the tension. Get me beaten up. Well, probably not here in Seattle... more likely it would get me other attention I also don't want... but in some parts of the country...

I couldn't agree more. Whenever I wuss out and drive because of weather or being tired or whatever, I end up regretting it. It's only 25 minutes for me, but it's one of the most calming things I do.

I used to encounter moron drivers on a regular basis on my commute, every day. It used to piss me off and freak me out, but I learned to deal with it, was extra careful, and somehow didn't let it bother me so much.

Then I read Effective Cycling and took the LAB Road 1 course (www.bikeleague.org) and learned how to ride vehicularly. All the morons disappeared.

Serge

I moon them (I'm not making that up -- I actually did that once).

Riding in traffic is almost mundane to me now. Ten years ago was a different story. I honestly don't think a lot about the people in cars until someone gets nasty or I see a nice looking female!

This is the equivalent to G. W. Bush saying: since we have started fighting terrorism, all the terrorists have disappeared.

They're still out there!

That's awesome, hehe. How do you do that while riding? You must have great balance :p

Lord Opie,
Think if it like you're paper-training a puppy (cagers). If you go that same route at the same time, same bike a couple of times a week, they'll get used to seeing you and it's no big deal. And as Serge and some others mentioned, ride legally and don't piss 'em off and you'll do fine.

Exactly!

Lift the cheek slightly and pull the short down enough to expose the cheek.

I mooned in response to a guy whistling at me. I was on the right side of the left turn lane and the guy whistled at me from the passenger seat of a car as I pulled beside them. Without hesitating, I pulled the moon and backed up at the same time. The woman driving the car and the teenage girl in the back seat were crying with laughter. The guy who whistled was beet red and slinking down in his seat.

Sounds like a bridge I was riding until just recently. Single lane each way, no shoulder or sidewalk, guardrail beneath my center of gravity, over an interstate. Can you say zero margin of error? It was definitely the scariest part of my ride, especially at night.

Here's the way I dealt with it. First, in all cases, take as much of the lane as you feel you need to. The traffic will just have to wait behind you, or pull around you if they can. Analyze the traffic ahead and behind you as you approach. (If you don't have a rear-view mirror, get one.) If possible, try to time it so that there won't be cars in both lanes at the same time that you are on it. That way, either you have no cars in your lane and you're fine, or there are no cars in the other lane so that those in yours have plenty of room to pass. If this is not possible, stick your hand out and carefully and gradually merge into the center of the lane as best you can so you don't get squeezed to the side. There have been 2 or 3 times (in 2-1/2 years) that I have actually had to stop and let some traffic pass before mounting the bridge, so don't feel like you can't do that if you must, although obviously it is nice to not have to.

I don't know what the surrounding landscape is like for your bridge, but on mine, in one direction I had a long straight-away so I had plenty of time to plan, and in the other, I had just come off of a right-hand turn where I always took the lane, so I was right there anyway. And the traffic was never constant bumper-to-bumper, more like groups of cars that waxed and waned with the light cycles. If your situation is different, you may need to experiment with other strategies.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Who says I don't come to work all pissed off and freaked out . . . that is my normal state of mind? Hmmmm, wonder if there is a correlation here . . .

Of course there are still some morons out there. But my point is that since I adjusted my riding, all the ones I used to run into regularly, daily, are gone. Of course, what I'm saying is that the way a cyclist rides greatly affects the level of moronic driving around them.

Just the other day a cyclist was complaining to me about all the motorists that cut him off on westbound Palomar Airport Rd at El Camino Real in Carlsbad. I asked him a few questions and found out that he was "following the bike lane" and trying to go straight across El Camino Real from a position to the right of two right turn only lanes. Now, from his perspective, all those "morons" who didn't look to see the cyclist in the bike lane and let him cross, cutting in front of him and almost killing him, are, well, morons.

My point is that if he had properly merged out of the bike lane into the rightmost through lane, to the left of the two right turn only lanes, then all those morons would... disappear.

Of course "they're still out there". But my point is it doesn't matter, if you ride accordingly.

Serge

John,
thank you for a well thought out response, that did not blame the rider for the problem. I will try your approach the next time I have to cross the freeway overpass, where they have those "unmerging" exit lanes. That is the worst part of doing errands on my bike. I avoid those when commuting, but for errands they are not avoidable.

What I hate about freeway ramps...Happens couple times a week..Usually impossible to cross a couple lanes of a freeway on ramp, where there are pedestarian cross walks..
I just accept the fact it is safer to not ride through those intersection and cross at the cross walk..
So I do..Get the ok for pedestarians to cross. You better not ride across, because even when pedestarians have the ok to cross, on ramp traffic does Not stop...
Ocassionally, I have even lost my chance to cross in my designated time, because traffic will not stop.
The California right turn on red law has so effected motorists , they think they never have to stop.
I suspect motorists might be more willing to not violate a pedestarians right of way for pedestarians over cyclists.
that makes me so darn mad, good thing I do not have a rock or paint ball or something. Quite awhile back, I automatically rode across the cross walk and almost got hit.
I have read that LA has a plague of pedestarians killed each year because of this habit by motorists.

It took me two attempts to become a regular commuter. The first time around I felt just like you. Especially since one part of my ride was a narrow road with speeding traffic and an adjacent freeway. So many fumes, so much noise. I hated it. And then right after that part was a scary hill.

Then they tore up the street and re-routed the traffic onto a really nice residential street. I had no idea I could have been going that way all along. It's delightful, quiet, shaded with old oaks. I should have looked at a map and found that street on my own. Sure it's a tiny bit extra distance, but worth every bit.

The big scary hill is still there, but it's such a tiny portion of my ride. I've accepted it even though it's hardly any less scary.

I could have just given up completely, but I got a crazy person for a boss and had to find some way to live through it. I can't tell you what a huge difference the commuting makes.

One last suggestion, not sure if I read you right, but you said you saw a guy riding a windshield bent. Did you mean a recumbent with a fairing? Getting a recumbent was the other big key to making the ride pleasurable for me. You are much less unhappy when you have no discomfort, and riding a bike is new all over again.

There are always alternatives, especially in the Denver Metro area. They just may not be as convenient as the direct line. Where is the bridge you are talking about? Maybe I can suggest an alternative.

Stuart Black