Some people can get past the word which shall remain nameless and respond to the rantee, others can’t.
Well a TransAm is not really an SUV, but I sympathize with the OP as we’ve had three guys in our office alone (about 70 employees) who’ve been hospitalized because of ‘bike vs. auto’ experiences. That’s in about the last 3 years. The guys are ok, well as ok as one can be after that, but prefer not to ride bikes, 'cept out in the boonies.
Yeah, I used to get really annoyed at bikers, until I heard some biker horror stories. Y’all really do have it rough. Now I count to ten and think of powder blue (blue is calming, dontchaknow) bunnies whenever I get stuck behind a slow ass biker that’s riding in the middle of the lane.
And yes, unfortunately funky, your rant is going to be completely derailed and discredited due to your poor choice in adjectives. Shame on you and your descriptive post. FOR SHAME! I think the PC police around here get paid per citation…
Whooooooooosh. :rolleyes: 
Doesn’t Houston have any bike trails? I don’t know about your roads, but we have several hundred miles of bike trails (many running parallel with major roadways here in Anchorage), and bikers STILL ride on the roads, with the bike trail right beside them (and all of the bike trails have slopes, not curbs, so there’s no jumping of curbs necessary).
For the motorist, it’s difficult to see what the biker is doing, we don’t know if he’s going to suddenly swerve, or if we’ll hit a frost heave and bounce too close to him or what. It can make people uncomfortable.
I’m sorry this woman yelled at you and was so rude. But I don’t think all honking is intended as such, sometimes it’s just letting the biker know there’s someone behind them (WE don’t always know you can hear us, and not everyone drives a noisy SUV).
I don’t honk at bikers, but I do swing wide of them if I can, or else slow down until I can get around them, they make me really uncomfortable, and the driving on the roadway when there is a bike trail a measly few feet off of the road is silly (and yes, these are actual designated bike trails, or multi-use trails, [jogging, hiking, rollerblading] trails, NOT sidewalks).
Road Rash, that’s great that the trail is finally done. It’s too bad now, though, that my commute to and from work doesn’t take through Memorial Park anymore. It’s probably for the best, though, since I was almost always distracted by the people using the exercise trail. Loneliness not only sucks, but it makes you a worse driver, too.
CanvasShoes, Houston does have some bike trails, but there aren’t many. I think there’s only like ten different ones; many of them aren’t in the nicest areas of town. We’re just not a bike-friendly city.
Y’know, I’ve basically come down to the point where I, if I had a bike anymore, just say its not worth it to ride on the road. Use the sidewalks, there are too many people not paying enough attention. I see bikers all the time, and yes, they have a right to be there, but the sidewalks aren’t ever used by walkers (unless they want to walk two miles to anything with no sidewalk connections at the really old intersections), so why tempt fate with all those zooming cars?
I fail to understand why anyone takes umbrage at the term “white trash.” Have you ever seen white trash? Turn on Jerry Springer, and there they are in their gap-toothed, mulleted glory. Why would anyone speak up for those genetic accidents?
Wrong.
Using the sidewalks is illegal in many states, and is much more dangerous 9 out of 10 times due to turning or backing cars which will not be able to (or more likely won’t look for) you on the sidewalk. Add in dogs, kids, uneven walks, curb cuts, sidewalks which end without warning ect. and the sidewalk is the worst place to be.
I always wanted to print a bible-sized book with a short version of the road rules that apply to bikes. The book would only have one printed page repeated over and over. That way when you meet Ms. Trans Am at the next light you could whip out your handy dandy book, rip out a page (any page, hee hee) and hand her the rules for her edification while yelling “Here. Learn something, moron!” (or some such thing).
I’m in Houston, too, but don’t ride anymore. I do recall how many cars seemed to like experimenting with how f-ing close the could get to my bike and me without actually touching it/me. I put a short stick (it was a broken, orange flag rod, fiberglass, about 2 feet long) across my rear rack. It hung out just enough to make cars give me a wider berth. It seems that many cars don’t mind actually clipping a bicyclist as long as the bike/rider doesn’t scratch the cars paint job!
WHooooosh… 
I though for sure you were going to say:
"and clock that asshole right in the head with said Bible sized book, and say “see a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and ride away laughing madly”
I suppose that not being “white-trash” immediately entitles you to perfect teeth. :rolleyes:
I’m taking a chance on being whooshed; it’s hot today, dammit! 
I’ve always preferred the way the Germans handle this to the US way. The Germans make the sidewalks twice the width of American ones and clearly mark one half for peds and one half for bicycles. Cyclists obey the same rules as peds and only have to worry about cars at crosswalks. Much safer, in my opinion.
That said, I agree with the rant 100%.
Share the road, bitch!:mad:
Tally
I remain sick of the pc police. Sick to death.
That is all.
It’s not about PC.
It’s fine to insult someone based on their behavior, but it’s not all right to insult them based on their appearance.
Period. How is that so complicated?
No one is saying, “Hey! I’m a road-hogging asshole, and I resent that you’re insulting my people!”
Get it? the only part of the OP that is offensive is the dig at the woman’s appearance: the criticism of her behavior has not been challenged. (Though, personally, I tend to write off a rant that can’t do any better than reflexively call any female subject a “bitch.”)
Nope. I get it.
I also get that if something someone says about someone else forces you to feel guilty about a common shortcoming, well, consider the source. There are tons of ways to satisfy your mind that the speaker in question is just an ignorant sonofabitch, and isn’t really worth the consideration.
Then again, maybe they are. In this case, a rant about the poster’s spelling ability…
BUT. That’s still a personal attack. Not a commentary on behavior.
Jeez, people.
It paints a picture, doesn’t it? It conveys exactly the image in the speaker’s mind. Just because the vocabulary is a little ahem limited, I doubt there was a question in anyone’s mind just what the visual was.
Consummate example of total package imagery…Roseanne in She Devil.
We can argue whether it is right or wrong until Roman Polanski comes home, and I digress. I certainly did not mean this to be a hijack, nor did I mean for it to degenerate into another sizeism thing. Maybe my opinion will change tomorrow. It could happen.
Carry on.
I don’t think there’s any whooshing going on here, just look at Zoe and lissner’s posts. Nothing sarcastic about them.
The OP was being descriptive people. He was painting a picture. Why is that so hard for you people to understand?? Yeah, he wasn’t nice about it. It was a rant, he wasn’t supposed to be nice about it!
The rant wasn’t about her weight (he was nice enough to say “overweight” instead of “fat cow” which should’ve appeased the PC police just a bit, IMHO) or her car, or her socio-economic status. It was about her behavior. The remarks about her appearence were used to add to the rant and describe the offender.
Sheesh.
I understand, really. But do have a thing or tow that I will suggest that you think about.
See, I think that deep down many folks want for there to be a group that it is still OK to make fun of whole cloth. Fat people, bald people, white trash (to name a few) seem to be just about the last holdout of this type of humor (now that we really can’t make polish jokes, black jokes, or what have you).
Bottom line, though, is that it is still hurtful and something that we would all do well to avoid. Sorry to bear the bad news, but there are no groups of people that it is ok to stereotype.
Another thing. I would suggest that throwing around the term PC in a pejorative sense is wrong. You have bought the lie put forward by the folks that still want to be bigots. Striving to be politically correct and to have sensitivity and compassion for the feelings and needs of others (while speaking out if others are not doing the same), far from being something that should be mocked, is something that we would all do well to work at.
<snip>"…the only part of the OP that is offensive is the dig at the woman’s appearance:…<snip>
bolding mine
Ummmm…yep got it right.
HER appearance
not anybody else’s
hers alone
solo
unique
lone
single
by herself
how many ways can I describe it? The OP was ranting about THAT ONE PERSON and THAT ONE PERSON ALONE!!!
Nobody else!!
Geez, my sister is 5’ 2" and weighs 240 pounds and yet, somehow, I never got the impression that he was insulting her.
<snip>"…there are no groups of people that it is ok to stereotype."<snip>
re-reads OP again
nope…no groups mentioned here at all…just one person…
I dunno… I have a real problem with people using the roads for recreation rather than transportation. I am thinking about the neon-spandex clad ilk that ride in formation, obviously not transporting themselves to work/school/etc. They are endangering themselves and others by using our transportation infrastructure for their sport. What if I set up a volleyball net across a major thoroughfare? Would that be acceptable?
As a (mountain) biker myself, I am always very courteous to bikers, even if they’re roadies. Under existing laws, they have all the rights and responsibilities of other vehicle operators. I also support spending tax dollars to enhance the infrastructure for use by non-hydrocarbon powered vehicles.
I lump these bikers in the same category as I do the people driving a car at 20 mph in a 35 mph. A slight twinge of inconvenience, followed by a legal and courteous overtake, with accompanying dramatic eye-roll. Oh yeah, if my bike rack’s on back, I may give a half-wave from the steering wheel.