Its a good thing nobody said anything like that, then.
It’s those god damned cutters!
In my bicycle courier days we’d go for drinks after work Fridays, and the rule was if you couldn’t trackstand when we came out of the bar you were too drunk to ride home.
Not quite getting the OP. There were plenty of things I did while riding in those days that qualified me as an asshole, but trackstanding? Seriously?
[quote=“Omar_Little, post:22, topic:685582”]
It’s those god damned cutters!
[/QUOTE]That’s my town! Went to college and high school there, and then lived there for a long time after. I have biked on that road many times.
Right. Similar deal with shoes that attach to the pedals - things that seem ridiculous to casual (or non-) cyclists are important to reduce injuries when you ride frequently.
Most people have their seats too low, not too high. Go on a long ride like that and you’ll regret it later.
Let me get this straight. The cyclist was STOPPED at a light, where running lights is a typical anti-cyclist rant, and now you are complaining about HOW he’s stopped? Really?
I saw a feller with those fancy foot strap/restraints actually tip right the fuck over. He was stopped at the same red light as me (I was in a gas powered vehicle), and he started to tip. It was just Timbe-eeeer and forget about it. I felt bad for him, because he tried to prevent it, but he could not.
Do you think cars are entitled to go a few miles per hour over the speed limit? If not, why does pretty much every car on the road do so? Do drivers believe the road rules don’t apply to them?
Look, I’m like everyone else and usually go over 25 in a 25 zone. But unlike many drivers, I’m not going to pretend it’s only cyclists flouting the rules. We all do little things that we think are plenty safe, and as long as we aren’t taking it to the extreme (like driving 40 in a 25 zone or blowing through a light on your bike without looking), it usually works out OK.
The war isn’t drivers vs bicyclists. It’s the jerks against the rest of us, and there are plenty of jerks on both sides.
This happens to everyone who takes up clipless pedals, but after that first fall most riders won’t let it happen again. It’s pretty embarrassing when it does.
Hey, me too! I also hate vehicle drivers, but only because they’re all trying to kill me.
It could be - there are a LOT of assholes in the world.
Read it on the intertubes, thought everyone had heard it by now. These days, go from one liner to meme to cliche in a matter of hours.
Yah. It happens once, and hopefully with no more damage than to one’s ego.
Similarly, getting jammed in a streetcar or train rail only happens once…unfortunately, I’ve seen some nasty TBI as a result.
As for trackstanding? I can do it, or could, but don’t bother much any more. When I was riding a lot in town, yeah, I’d pause without putting my feet down if I knew it would be a brief stop. Nowadays, I don’t ever ride more than a few miles, and just figure fuck it, I’ll put a foot down.
(And FWIW, I live in the People’s Republic of Portland, and there are very few days I don’t at least roll my eyes at an idiot or asshole on a bike. But I find drivers are as bad or worse.)
And here I was expecting the usual 'Wah! A cyclist didn’t come to a full stop at a stop sign I was doing a rolling stop at!" complaint. instead we get some whining about…trackstands.
For the record, you really can get out of those easily. When you are new to them there might be a fall moment once (or twice). Annoying but not lethal. andros’ comment about street rails is right: I taco’ed a wheel once - it will not happen again.
I have clipless because it really does make the ride the most efficient. I am not riding for cardio, I am not riding ‘to look like I am in the Tour De France’, I am riding to get from point A to point B.
There are cyclists who write - and presumably read - entire webpages concerning appearances, and there are also cyclists who could not give a flying fuck about achieving a look, as long as their gear helps them go fast or is cheap or is ostentatiously expensive or etc, etc.
It’s a bit like motorists: there are, I’m sure you wouldn’t deny, plenty of people who ensure their car looks fast. There are also people who ensure their cars are fast.
Weirdly enough, cyclists are kind of like, yanno, people. Which is to say, they come in all shapes, sizes and motivations. Just as motorists do.
As to the resistance/more work out thing, admittedly there isn’t much logic to it. Thing is though, many cyclists like to go fast, improve their times, be faster than their riding buddies etc. It’s more fun to do 40km/hr on a fast bike than 35km/hr on a crappy bike, even if the latter would give you the same workout.
As others have said, every road user commits breaches of road rules. Though to routinely see breaches that actually endanger people you have to watch motorists rather than cyclists, of course. But what is breathtaking is the way it is not at all uncommon to see comments like yours: some motorists have a sense of entitlement so strong, so absolutely woven into the fabric of western society, that they see cyclists as displaying an undue sense of entitlement when they show any entitlement at all. You are like those dumbass Christians who feel there is a war on their religion the moment anyone else gets a look in.
What a load of crap. If you don’t know about something, keep your ignorant trap shut. Seat height should as others have said be such that your leg is very slightly bent at the bottom of each stroke. More or less is bad for your knees. This is true for everyone from TdF riders down, and even at that height you can put your foot on the ground unless you have a bike with a weirdly high bottom bracket.
I’m glad you said “most”… 
It leaves me some room not to feel like quite such a klutz.
Actually, a bicycle is a mode of transportation. It’s a vehicle we use to get to a destination. The more efficient the bike, the further I can get to, and faster. And seemingly useless things like clipless pedals (those “restraint” pedals) and tight-fitting clothes make a big difference in efficiency.
If it helps any, I fell over the first time I used clipless pedals, and I’ve managed to do the same thing with toe clips. Honestly, I’ve probably fallen over with platforms. But I’m an uncoordinated dork.
You must have overlooked the first phrase in the part of my post that you quoted…I bolded and underlined it for you.
I vividly remember my first (and so far only) time falling over with clipless pedals. Fortunately for me I fell onto a grass strip next to the road.
I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve fallen over on my Mountain Bike and couldn’t get my cleats out but I think those qualify under a different category.
Because, cycling for exercise is more fun with a fast, light bike. You can go further, go faster, all in the same amount of time. And, having the rest of the gear also makes it easier to go further and faster in the same amount of time. It would be pretty frustrating to try and push a rusty, squeaky bike with underinflated fat tires for an hour – sure, you’d get exercise, but it would be boring and frustrating.
There’s something exhilarating about cruising along at high speed, and that will keep you biking, rather than giving it up.
Hey, if it’s for exercise, why ever use an actual bike? Just use a stationary bike. Why run outside? Just use a treadmill. Why get light running sneakers? You’d get more exercise running in work boots.
No, my statement was a response to that phrase; I was correcting your implied assumption that most cyclists on the road are doing it for exercise.