Coming home last night, three high-school-age BMX'ers were riding three abreast--blocking the path. I rang my bell about 50' back. The one on the far left looked back at me, but didn't move. About 20' back, I rang again and yelled "on your left." The idiot on the left moved about 6", leaving me such a small space I actually brushed up against him as I passed (he was a bit chubby, so he stuck out from his bike).

When I was about 10' in front of him, I looked back. His chubby little legs were pedaling furiously, making the little BMX wheels go as fast as they could.

He yelled, "I'm gonna catch you." I responded, "No you won't." Within a minute, I was so far ahead that I was out of his sight.

Was there any motor traffic on your left?

Sorry I wasn't clear. It was a bike path, so there was no traffic. The BMX'ers just filled the entire path and wouldn't yield. This is the third time I've had problems with groups of cyclists refusing to share the path. Each time the problem has been kids on BMX bikes.

Ok then just go around them. It is quite possible that announcing "on your left" has no meaning to them, for they may not understand what they are supposed to do.

They intentionally left no space on the path to go around them (or at least, not nearly enough space). I don't remember how the off-path conditions were. [Edited to clarify]


Hopefully the brush, plus the "on your left" will be lesson #1. I understand that sometimes you get stuck behind slower cyclists, joggers, roller bladers, etc. Sometimes I slow others down. Sometimes, they slow me down. That's life. But there's no excuse for blocking the path by riding three-abreast in traffic.

Ahhahahahha, I would've been like, "according to my computer, you're only doing 8mph, come on you can do better than that, chop chop! move those legs soldier!"
You know what I hate even more is sometimes people think ringing a bell to get them to move is rude and that I should silently pass, how stupid is that?!

We were riding our tandem on a path in southern Florida when we came up on three women riding side-by-side. We rang our bell as we approached. I swear, I think they all thought they were hearing bells in their heads. They wouldn't make room. Obviously they were ignorant of the rules we all know and abide by...hear a bell? get out of the way...can't blame em I guess. We ended up nosing our wheel in between them and muscling our way through, they scattered...could have been worse, but we were tired, it was hot and we were close to our destination and really weren't in the mood to be overly polite with their ignorance.

Hi I'm Gus and I'm the captain on a tandem team ... Now you all know my one and only bicycling sin, I feel liberated!

This is why I have a bell on every bike (except my go-fast), and a horn that I switch from bike to bike. The bell gets the attention of people using the oncoming lane to cruise (which is exactly what we're talking about here) about 90% of the time. Usually, we exchange "thank-yous"; the pedestrian/rollerblader/slowpoke is thankful that I'm giving some notice. The other 10% of the time, if they don't respond to the bell the first time, I blast the horn. This has always gotten even the most surly BMXer to move over. If I'm feeling especially reciprocally surly, and if time permits, I'll make a snide comment about the dashed yellow line. Unfortunately, about half the paths here don't have a dashed yellow line. No idea whether that's negligence, budget/staff time problem, policy, or what.

Why'd you drop him immediately? Such a great opportunity to toy with BMX Boy, put him into difficulty as Phil Liggett would say. Maybe even see him spew Cheetos and Pepsi or whatever junk kids eat these days.

[QUOTE=slvoid]Ahhahahahha, I would've been like, "according to my computer, you're only doing 8mph, come on you can do better than that, chop chop! move those legs soldier!"QUOTE]

I guess it was a missed opportunity. I could have goaded him on for a mile or so before we got to city streets. Live and learn.

Big Bike Bully.

>bet the story goes: " and we were on the side of the path, tending to a wounded bird, when this CRAZY man comes like 60mph straight at us, screaming and swearing.
Tommy was knocked off his bike momentairly and gave chase when he realized the man had dropped his cyclometer in the collision.
Tommy said as he closed on the biker, he turned to stare back, the guy had spittle all over his cheeks and a enraged look in his eyes so tommy just slowed down REAL fast.
It was scary mom."

Hmmmm.

I wish I could be that scary, or that fast.

Sorry, 60 mph is MY normal cycle path speed. Going to get one of those road bikes soon, be much faster.

If someone helps me with the 8th cog delema,

What is max speed possible 10\38. Say 75 and 100 rpm? Please.

You need to mount a cow catcher on the front of your bike like on those old steam trains

38/10 = 97 gear inches. With a 26x2.1 tire, 75rpm = about 22mph and 100rpm = about 29mph. If I were you, rather than trying to get a 10-tooth cog on there, I'd look at getting a 42 or 44 tooth large chainring.

Triple gone single, I would touch the frame with a 40, went 38 instead. Thanks for the conversion. 29 mph will be fine .

WARNING! THREAD JACK!

What's the formula for those numbers? I'm sure I could use my wonderful math skills that I aquired in high school,but I just barely got passing grades.

END THREAD JACK.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Im not sure why, but when I read that sentence I was almost in tears I was laughing so hard!

Excellent idea.

well, I am the dustee more than the duster. That's why I'm looking at upgrading my hybrid bike, a 1998 specialized crossroads. My speeds on my recumbent bike, a Cycle genius ALX are improving, but still a bit slow.

I'll use "passing left" as an announcement, although I just got bells for my bikes. I'm in an area with plenty of ethnic groups and I think sometimes they don't fully understand what I am saying. I'm not going to get an airhorn - that's just going to spook people - just like cars who get RIGHT behind you and BEEP. I prefer a subtler approach. Usually, there is enough room so that it is not a problem. One time, though, I crested a bridge on a 2-lane bike path and some birdbrain was passing in slow motion on the other side heading up. I yelled "TRACK" and geared up. He got the message.

wow i bet you feel tough

Well, wouldn't you? I know I would.
Just kidding.

But seriously, I'm not sure if it was worth dragging up a 7 month old post for this.

I was going to troll until I saw how old the OP is.

You are calculating the distance in miles traveled in 1 hour. To do this, you need the circumfrence of the tire (Diameter * PI), the gear ratio, and the rpm of the crank.

For a 26 in wheel, assume a 26 in diameter (approximation) and you get a circumfrence of 26*3.1415 = 81.6814 in. The gear ratio above is 38/10 = 3.8, or the tire rotates 3.8 times per 1 turn of the crank. So for each turn of the crank, the distance travelled is 3.8 * 81.6814 = 310.3894 in. If the crank turns 75 times per minute, you travel 23,279.2 inches per minute. Over on hour, you travel 23,279.2*60 = 1,396,752 inches. There are 63,360 inches per mile, so your speed is 1,396,752/63,360 = 22.045 mph.

Hope that helps.

Edit: DOH! Must read post date....grrr.