rumrunn6

that's clever! I've only tried checking the same thing in large windows as I ride by, but that's not nearly as good

maartendc

I found that doing core strength exercises worked very well for me in getting my upper body lower and bending the elbows. My body is way more comfortable on the bike since I started core exercises, and this puts less strain on the shoulders and hands.

mstateglfr 

Bad drivers exist. So i would doubt anyone has anything but negative experiences when it comes to bad drivers. I would be shocked if someone posted that they had a good experience with a bad driver since thats a bit oxymoronish.

I dont deal with bad drivers- i simply try to avoid them as best possible. For most of the year, my road riding is with teenagers and we ride in groups of 3-5. There seems to be power in numbers. We ride routes that are county highways which are typically low travel and allow for easy passing to help keep incidents from happening.

As for when I ride alone on roads- I either choose low travel roads or ride gravel roads(which are...low travel). Gravel = bigger challenge than paved road. Best of all worlds- better scenery, quieter, and more challenging.

caloso

From last night's River Ride:

JohnJ80

I live in a relatively rural area and there are are lot of old school attitudes about cyclists on the road. Last year, I got into an argument with a dumb ass old guy in a pickup hauling a trailer who thought it perfectly acceptable to run me off the road instead of crossing the double yellow line (which is legal in MN when passing a cyclists) or waiting 5 seconds. He actually said that - he'd rather run me off the road than cross a painted line even if he was allowed to. Had I had video, I would have taken it to the local sherif and I'm sure he would have been ticketed.

That actually got me to thinking - for about a year now, especially with commercial vehicles (delivery trucks and school buses mostly), when I've been edged past or otherwise put in a dangerous position, I call the senior management of the company, someone who is concerned about the brand and lawsuits, and take it up with them. That has been pretty successful because I make it a condition of the discussion, which centers on improving safety and this as a learning opportunity, that they put the employee in further training and follow up with an apology note by the driver. So I can judge if that's been successful. My thought here is that I can't expect action to be taken unless I provide some feedback. Going to the Cyclic FLY6/12 cameras is the next level of that.

There was a seriously instructive situation here last year when US Ski Team gold medalist cross country skier Jessie Diggins was training on roads around here with her coach. She was involved in a road rage incident. She got video, posted it on facebook. The local sherif's department (which is really good here) heard about the incident, got the video, identified the driver and prosecuted. It made a big splash in the papers and the behavior of drivers immediately improved starting the next day. So I do think that if cyclists had video, and started providing it with statements to local law enforcement, I think the word would get around and it would be a good thing. I guess, at some point we can just complain or we can try and do something about it.

Sy Reene

A pretty dried-up river.. drought season?

Gladius

I've been using a Fly 6 for about 3 years now. Putting aside the question of whether the camera will make your rides safer, I consistently put my rear-facing Fly 6 on my road bike every time I ride. I charge it after every ride. Set and forget, just get in the habit. It lasts for hours. If the gopro only lasts 90 minutes I'd be constantly running out of juice on my rides. I have the older Fly 6 and when the ambient sunlight is low, the resolution isn't good enough to read license plates unless they are very close, and the lighting is right. I think the new version has higher resolution and I'll probably upgrade to it eventually. Keep in mind the battery is rechargeable and will have a service life of only a certain number of recharges before its duration starts to degrade. But that may be several years if you use it 3-4 times a week. If you're commuting you may go through them faster.

I've caught a number of fun and interesting things on my camera. Turkies in the bike line. Punishment passes. Dog chases. People drafting me and making funny faces at the camera. Near misses.
I've sent footage to the state patrol once, but most of the time it's just more peace of mind that if I were to get into something, at least there's be some record of it.

The best footage was of a dog that chased us out on a country road and overshot us, taking a tumble as he went for my rear wheel.
When I first got it, I would download and look at a lot of the video. Now I rarely do, allowing it to loop over the previous footage and only downloading it if I think something out of the ordinary happened.

rms13

A camera isn't going to make you any safer. If someone hit and runs you then "maybe" you catch their plate on camera so cops have a chance to catch them . But having a camera won't make drivers see you and it won't make drivers who are unsafe around cyclists be any more safe and it certainly won't protect you if you are hit by a car/truck

JohnJ80

It will if it has a 100 lumen light as part of it - like the FLY6ce.

And it will make drivers unsafe around cyclists behave better if you take the video and pursue it with either their employer or law enforcement or both.

J.

rms13

And the driver will be let off with a slap on the wrist when they say they were blinded by your light. How many people have plowed into groups os cyclists in the last couple of years and been let off in court because they said the sun was in their eyes?

The subject of this thread is cyclist safety and anything that you can do after the fact isn't actually making you safer.

JohnJ80

Sorry, but that may be one of the stupidest things I've seen anybody post on tail lights and their contribution to safety. It really is.

Car taillight bulbs put out about 400 lumens per bulb. With a single light of 1/4 the brightness of one bulb - it is neither going to blind anyone nor is it going to be possible to make the case you suggest.

there are number of studies that show that daytime running lights decrease injuries and collisions by significant percentages. Night time running lights are almost without exception required everywhere.

lesterburnham

With hit and run convictions so low, a camera is one of the few items that actually help. It’s not going to add to your physical safety, but will give you more in return should you ever need one. I absolutely would get one, especially with the best resolution and battery if you go on lengthy rides. This is from personal experience, I wish I had one.