stephr1

This isn't meant to open a discussion, but if people want to share their most recent frustrations while out riding, I won't tell you "No!"

This morning I had 2 moments on my bike ride, one with a car, and one with joggers. The car was just an ******* driver. The jogger was a near-injury accident.

First the joggers....as a backdrop, my ride is mostly street, but includes over 1/3 of that in paved (and some unpaved) trail that can fit 2 people per lane (there is a center dividing line).

I was coming up on a pair of male and female joggers. Abt 10-15 ft. from them I yelled out "Bike on your left!". The female jogger slowed abt 1/2 a step and slid in behind her running partner which left the on coming lane and 1/2 of our lane open for me to pass. All good so far.

I rode up next to, and began to pass, the rear runner. As I did that, at the last moment the lead runner decided to move to the left right across my path. I hit my brakes and clipped his body just a bit (Had he been 1/2 second earlier it would have been a collision, I would have gone down and someone(s) would have gotten hurt.

After I regained my balance I looked back and asked him if he was OK. He said he was fine and that it was "My bad!". I took that as an apology (I heard his jogging partner tell him that I had said "Bike on your left" so I knew she heard me).

At times I've added my tag line of "Be smart. Be safe. Always have a plan b, c, d, ......." This was one of those moments where, even if I did have a backup plan, the suddenness and surprise of the runner jumping in front of me gave me no time to execute it.

The encounter with the car was a simple case of the driver not paying any attention and my assuming he would do exactly that (plan b I was coming off the trail and came to a crosswalk (When the kids are in school, a school bus stops right after this crosswalk to pick up the kids...elementary grade level...so I benefit from the bus's red lights when crossing here). School is out so I am more hyper-vigilant at this point of my ride.

As I approach the crosswalk, I look both directions for cars. If they are a couple of hundred feet from the crosswalk, I'll usually continue on. Closer than that, I slow down to see what the driver does. Most of the time, drivers see me and stop to let me cross (and I always acknowledge that courtesy).

This morning a smaller car was abt my safe distance away, but it seemed to be moving faster than normal (speed limit is 25 MPH here), so I stopped and waited. Plenty of time to see me but the car just sped thru the crosswalk without even slowing down a bit (and the crosswalk is painted on a "hump").

As the car passed me, I noticed the driver seemed to be a large (more fat than muscle...and I thought he might have been "shoehorned" into the car this morning man. And he was just staring straight ahead. Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhh!!

Thx for letting me vent.

"Be smart. Be safe. Always have a plan b, c, d, ....."

MNebiker

Just a normal day on the trail . . . . .

indyfabz

Didn't realize it was Post Like a Pirate Day.

Well shiver me timbers!

burnthesheep

Personally, I think dogs are awesome. I've had them off and on during life.

At the same time, people are ****. The "entitled dog culture" crap has gone too far. I'm sick and tired of seeing off leash animals all over trails, in stores, everywhere with no control.

Then people get all defensive if you tell them to leash it. Take it up with the cops that you don't like the law, but if you wreck my kid with your off leash animal..........I'm going to own your house, your car, your retirement and maybe even your dog. Cause you're a piece of filth that clearly can't take care of it and love it enough to leash it when you should.

canklecat

Almost every ride. I try to shrug it off ASAP. Doesn't help to dwell on every frustration and near miss or close call. Otherwise I'd talk myself out of riding outdoors.

I love dogs but I do carry pepper spray gel. Never used it. But I'm occasionally tempted to use it on the dog owners. They're usually the problem. Pet behaviors are usually direct reflections of their owners, and their behavior can usually be modified with care and training.

livedarklions

The crosswalk incident that got me yelling at the driver a few weeks ago was when I pulled up to a street crossing on the Minutemen Bikeway, and slowed to a stop at the crosswalk, right before getting onto the road; I have a stop sign there, the rule is not ambiguous. As I'm stopping, a guy in a convertible on the other side of the road stops suddenly before the crosswalk. Now, I've had too many encounters with the drivers who do this where I try to wave them through and they just sit there that I've just given up on that, and have adopted the "if you stop, I go" rule. So, he's at a complete stop, and I cross in front of him. At which point he yells "there's a stop sign!" We had words.

leob1

I almost never say "passing on your left" because at least half the time the person will move to the left.. I just say "PASSING" and then wait and see what happens. Some people jump as if they expected no one else to be on the MUP. Some move over and wave, I make sure to say thank you as I pass. If there's two or more I wait for the 'people pin ball' to stop. You get the idea.
Joggers with headphones usually don't respond, so I just pass them.

Skipjacks

I had a much funnier version of the pedestrian thing about 2 weeks ago. I will add it here to lighten the mood...

One section of my commute, about 75 yards worth, is on a sidewalk. (Don't start debating that. I assure you, it is the only realistic option)

Anyway, it's in an industrial zone with almost zero foot traffic. I see a pedestrian maybe once per year on this stretch.

But 2 weeks ago I see a pedestrian up ahead of me. Maybe 40 yards out. She is walking towards me but looking straight down at her phone.

When I see a pedestrian I come to a full stop. I don't want to get bumped and end up on this road of certain death. Nor do I want to hurt a pedestrian.

So I stop the bike and hop off the saddle. Both feet on the ground. I nudge the bike over to the far right, touching the trees along side the road. Giving plenty of space to the pedestrian who has still not looked up from her phone.

On the front of my bike I have 2 day time running flasher lights that can be seen from Saturn. Still...she doesn't look up as she gets closer.

Finally she gets within 2 feet of me, still looking down at the phone, when suddenly she notices my totally stopped bike. (With the flashing lights she should have seen 30 seconds earlier)

She freaks out, jumps up in the are startled, and yells "You scared me with that thing!!!"

I didn't even know how to react. I opted for laughing.

Keep in mind I'm at the start of this 75yrd stretch. I am basically right at the corner of a major intersection. I look behind me as this lady passes because I'm curious....and sure enough she's immediately back looking at her phone and just walks across the street without ever once looking up to see if there was traffic. (There wasn't. She lived.)

Skipjacks

I nearly ran into a jogger earlier this year on a rail trail.

He was jogging on the left side of the road (from his perspective) heading right for me into traffic.

As the distance between us closed he kept pointing to the other side of the trail. I had no idea why. I thought he was dancing to the disco beat in his ear buds or something. Finally he's right in front of me, still emphatically pointing to the other side of the trail and then jumped out of my way and yells "I was telling you to go around me to that side of the trail!!!"

You know...as if that was how 'drive/ride/walk on the right side of the road' works.

Debba1C

I got knocked right off my bike last weekend. Was on a multi use path on the right hand side, wasn't busy. A younger guy (late teens/early 20s maybe) comes up from over a small hill, earphones in, not paying attention to what he was doing at all, along the middle of the path. I saw him and pulled as far to the right as I possibly could and he kept going to his left. He ended up crashing into my front wheel, fairly hard, and I landed under my bike, in the bushes, my hair was FULL of burrs. He apologized and checked if I was ok (I was fine, just angry) and then continued on. If he'd been that distracted driving a car on the road it would have been a serious collision.

Debba1C

OMG! That could have been catastrophic for that pedestrian. Seriously! Look up from your phone when you're walking!!!

TimothyH

What the OP describes is like every ten feet in New York City.

Argh.


-Tim-

stephr1

I know this thread has been quiet for a bit (I also have been out of town and off my bike for a week) so....

Riding on the path this morning and coming around a blind corner (from both sides) was, what looked like a high schooler (there is a high school right next to this path) with a fairly full duffle bag hanging around his neck(!!??!!? WTF?). As I came around this corner he was passing a jogger and it required some quick evasive action on my part (he had no where to go except into me) to keep both of us from going over the fence and into the creek ~20 ft. below.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh x 2 plus GOOD GRIEF!!!

Bluechip

I'm just a little frustrated at the broken glass that has been on the road lately. I ride from home but at a point I end up out in the country in an area that is frequented by a large cycling population. Some major club rides leave from this area. It seems like someone is breaking glass purposely in certain spots (mostly at the exit of turns). I know that some of the local population is not happy with all the riders invading "their" roads because I am on that towns Facebook page. It could just be random but it's been pretty consistent lately. I think the club sweeps up the glass on Friday evenings because it is usually clear on Saturday mornings. The glass is back and by midweek I am familiar with the location of the glass but I always forget until it's too late and I go through it. So far, I've been pretty lucky with only one flat that didn't present itself until the next morning. Sorry, just a little rant.

stephr1

Wow! That's just mean. vicious and unfriendly.

Why do people do that? Heaven forbid other people should be able to enjoy themselves without this kind of provocation going on. I guess some small-minded people would prefer to drag others down to their level of a**holic behavior rather than rising up with integrity.

Any way to get the city/town leadership to do something abt it? Good on the bike club for taking the high road.

Milton Keynes

The worst I have to deal with on my morning rides is maybe an occasional raccoon hanging out in the middle of the road. Which, of course, was better than the near-collision with the skunk.

livedarklions

I have become expert in shooing wild turkeys out of my lane, having had to do so twice now. The first time, I convinced an entire flock not to cross a four lane highway. Had they done so, I do not believe it would have ended well.

The key, btw, is to make very loud "gobble gobble" type sounds. They can't figure out what you are and are anxious to get out of your way and back into cover.

DrIsotope

Whenever I ride anywhere joggers might be present, I just accept that I'm going to have to go more slowly. Because joggers are skittish, and they tend to operate as if disconnected from reality.

I've watched joggers side-step to avoid a puddle, and almost jog right in front of a car. As such, I never announce to them, even when they're moving three wide. Any vocalization tends to make them scatter.

Better to get past them silently.

bikecrate

Pedestrians, cars, glass etc. are all part of the ride experience in my city. I was surprised recently while riding in a more rural area how annoying some drivers can be. One road that I take has an outside lane and fairly light traffic. Even with the good sized outside lane, I've been buzzed by semi trucks several times. One day I got a close pass from three different pickup trucks pulling trailered ATVs and then honked a few miles from my destination.

bruce19

In my travels about 95% of my issues are with other cyclists, not cars or those on foot. I almost always am on the road not trails.

DrIsotope

This is another reason I tend to skip big group ride events. A 50-strong pack of cyclists, all strangers to one another, is more dangerous than vehicle traffic IMO. I don't think I've ever attended a big event where there weren't a handful of crashes.

So that leaves me with joggers-- but thankfully, they're only out for a very limited amount of time each day. It's unusual to see one past 9am.

indyfabz

I retired from the local MS 150 ride after it ballooned to more than 7,000 people. Just got WAY too crazy. There were plenty of crashes every year and lots of "near misses." When an ambulance would come speeding by you were certain to come upon a crash scene somewhere down the road.

My last year some guy almost took me out trying to pass me on the right because he was blocked by riders to my left. He was so determined to keep his pace that he didn't care about his own safety or the safety of others. I was so far to the right of the road that he brushed against foliage and hit some sand at the edge of the road.

The following exchange endued:

Me: If you do that again I will knock your teeth out.

Him: Don't threaten me!

Me: I'm not threatening you. I'm warning you.

I realized at that moment that the ride was no longer for me.

ksryder

Yes. I also treat joggers the way I treat coyotes.

Korina

+12! Most days at the end of my morning commute there's this average sized woman with a VERY LARGE St. Bernard walking on the trail. Evidently the dog doesn't care for moving objects (I asked), so the beast has lunged at me a couple of times. I tried making nice, but my best bet is to keep my eyes straight and keep pedaling. My question is, if you have a dog that weighs more than you, that lunges at people, why would you have it on a flex leash?!?!?

canklecat

Broken glass is pretty common in my area. At least here I doubt it's deliberately directed at cyclists. Most of the glass is near redneck bars and stripper joints, or county lines between wet and dry counties. As a redneck in recovery, I know the mindset. Guys get liquored up, think they're gonna get lucky, and when it doesn't happen they get pissy and smash glass everywhere while peeling out. There's usually a fresh stripe of rubber alongside the busted glass.

I haven't given in to resigning myself to riding lead filled garden hose like Gatorskin hardshells, but I can understand why most folks I ride with do use Gatorskins. My compromise is to use Conti Ultra Sport II, which ride surprisingly well, are durable, and cheap to replace if they get sliced up by broken glass. Usually they last a year or more, pretty good for $15 tires.

Out of curiosity I just installed some Conti Grand Prix Classics for the fancy skinwalls and a bit of tread and thin puncture shield. They don't ride a bit better than the Ultra Sport II. They look good. But I'm glad I got 'em at nearly half price. I'd be disappointed at full price. Had 'em for a few hundred miles now, rides up to 60 miles at a time. I may put 'em away for a future bike project that might benefit from a classic skinwall. They don't really add anything to my purple '93 Trek 5900.