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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Driving the Car

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Old 07-20-13 | 08:48 PM
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Driving the Car

When I spend increasingly large amounts of time in the saddle Ive noticed that when I drive my car sometimes I'm driving as if I am on my bike. Dodging small bumps or hugging the curb a bit ect.. Do any of you notice yourself doing this as well sometimes?
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Old 07-20-13 | 09:39 PM
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Yeah, my wife tell me I tend to roll stop signs.
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Old 07-20-13 | 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Clipped_in
Yeah, my wife tell me I tend to roll stop signs.
guilty as well.

sadly i got a ticket three years ago for this offense.
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Old 07-20-13 | 11:25 PM
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Old 07-21-13 | 08:30 AM
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I tend to find myself driving slower now. 45mph seems so much faster when you get used to going places around 20mph.
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Old 07-21-13 | 08:34 AM
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Originally Posted by SpeshulEd
I tend to find myself driving slower now. 45mph seems so much faster when you get used to going places around 20mph.
Same here.
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Old 07-21-13 | 08:44 AM
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Old 07-21-13 | 08:58 AM
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Originally Posted by SpeshulEd
I tend to find myself driving slower now. 45mph seems so much faster when you get used to going places around 20mph.
Yep. My wife just yelled at me yesterday as I was driving, "Why are you going so SLOW!". It seemed like I was going fast!
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:00 AM
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Until I tried to bunny hop a curb My driving has become much safer since riding. I tend to be more aware of my surroundings with my head on a swivel.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:20 AM
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The other day I got awfully close before my brain told me to do what the stop sign was asking. Most of the other times I find with my foot on the gas to go ~5 mph slower than I used to. Anything I can do to make the automobiles slow down.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:30 AM
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As a mechanic, my test drive cycle sometimes has to be pretty specific to try to reproduce the problem the customer is experiencing.


so I'm sometimes required to do things I couldn't on leg-power, like stomp this '69 GT500's pedal down emphatically to make sure that carburetor's second and third stage cams are kicking in right. tire smoke as a by-product is not my fault.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:34 AM
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^ What a great car.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:39 AM
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one my favorites to work on. it's a toss up between that and the '06 Lotus Elise, but this one has ~70K original miles, the original owner had just passed on leaving it to his son. it truly was a matter of throwing a battery in it and gas to get it to run, and it had been sitting unused! but getting it to run right was the trick. it had stayed here in FL, so no snow/salt damage! that 428 Cobrajet is MEAN! the rating of 335hp is laughable, it feels closer to 400!

Last edited by KypD; 07-21-13 at 09:43 AM.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:46 AM
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In the old days, when driving with my wife, I would lunge forward at town line signs.
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Old 07-21-13 | 11:27 AM
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The one I can't seem to get over is turning onto a side street to take a cycling shortcut. It's really embarrassing when you have passengers, especially with cul-de-sac neighborhoods where you can't pretend that it was on purpose.
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Old 07-21-13 | 03:48 PM
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I may look a little goofy when I try to hop bridge expansion joints in my car, but I swear it helps. ; - )
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Old 07-21-13 | 04:13 PM
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I used to drive a Prius. I was difficult not to relate the display of the "power use" on the dashboard, to cycling.
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Old 07-21-13 | 06:48 PM
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Originally Posted by TromboneAl
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hahahahahaha ... i also notice the competitive feeling i get driving and passing other cars as if I did extra work to pass them.
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Old 07-21-13 | 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted by KypD
As a mechanic, my test drive cycle sometimes has to be pretty specific to try to reproduce the problem the customer is experiencing.


so I'm sometimes required to do things I couldn't on leg-power, like stomp this '69 GT500's pedal down emphatically to make sure that carburetor's second and third stage cams are kicking in right. tire smoke as a by-product is not my fault.
Nice!

Wish I had never sold my '68 GT350 same color but had to pay for college.
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Old 07-21-13 | 09:13 PM
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Occasionally have to stop myself from pointing out sticks/potholes/roadkill/etc. while in the car.
Especially important with passengers. Flailing your right arm when you see an armadillo in the road is no way to inspire confidence in someone riding shotgun.
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Old 07-22-13 | 12:16 AM
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Guilty here too. We have two pretty sporty cars and that makes it even worse:-(
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Old 07-22-13 | 12:36 AM
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I tend to drive very conservatively and try not to kill any stupid cyclists... went away for the weekend and went and came on the secondary highway where I could drive at a relaxed 90kmh and enjoy the countryside rather than find myself racing down the main highway at 120.

It is not hard to take it easy when you drive a 20 year old Nissan Sentra 4 door with a 1.6 litre engine and an automatic... it accelerates and handles well enough but it is by no means sporty.
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Old 07-22-13 | 06:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Sixty Fiver
I tend to drive very conservatively and try not to kill any stupid cyclists... went away for the weekend and went and came on the secondary highway where I could drive at a relaxed 90kmh and enjoy the countryside rather than find myself racing down the main highway at 120.

It is not hard to take it easy when you drive a 20 year old Nissan Sentra 4 door with a 1.6 litre engine and an automatic... it accelerates and handles well enough but it is by no means sporty.
Having spent the better part of the last year in your city has slowed my driving down as well.

But to answer the OP, no, cycling has no effect on my driving.
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Old 07-22-13 | 06:14 AM
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I tend to switch lanes and get close behind the next car like I'm drafting
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Old 07-22-13 | 12:21 PM
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I rode a bike before I drove a car, so it's probably not a question I can answer.
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