Way to ruin all my fun little daydreams about dinos running around inside my engine on the way to work every day, butthead!!!
As others have stated, the reason why cars are required to have insurance and bikes aren’t is because a car can cause a helluva lot more damage than a bike can. Same thing goes with license argument. Having said that I’d personally wouldn’t mind seeing a bikers-ed add on to drivers-ed courses, because I’m tired of seeing bikers on the sidewalk in buisness zones or riding against the flow of traffic at night, w/out headlights.
If I’m taking up the lane it’s because there no way to safely share it and I’ll move over as soon as it’s safe. I’ve also been known to pull over and let cars/trucks pass if there isn’t room to safely share the lane and I’m holding people up. I’ve spent enough time stuck behind RV’s on the Seward Highway* to know how frustrating that is, and don’t wish to be a similar source of frustration.
When there are a lot of cars backed up in the left lane at a light, and you are driving in the right do you stop behind them or pass them up on the right? Because that’s exactly what a cyclist is doing when they pass a bunch of stopped cars on the right at a light. Because as the link in my OP points out the right most portion of the lane is a defacto bike lane so I’m perfectly justified when I pass you up at red lights under those circumstances. Also it’s completely legal in some circumstances for us to hop on the sidewalk (ie in areas where bikes aren’t verbotten on the sidewalks) to bypass traffic and then switch back to sharing the road with ya’ll drivers. This complaint strikes me as being motivated more out of jealously than actual annoyance. 
I, and I think I can speak for most bikers here, would be more than happy to get the hell off the road if there existed seperate bike routes for us to use. If you want the roads all to yourself I suggest you lobby your local government to spend more money building up a bicycle friendly infrastructure. I thank you for your support on this issue.
Actually I do want to thank you for actually responding to the real point of my OP instead of venting your spleen about my choice of words in the title.
- This comment made specifically for the benefit of CanvasShoes
Sign me up for the anti-anti-anti-fat brigade.
I’m lucky enough to live in a city usually named one of the best places to bike in the country, and am able to bike to and from work 9 months of the year. Here we have bike lanes and bike paths that have helped make the commute safe and easy. I live 5 miles from downtown and my commute is only about 1/2 mile on a busy street, the rest is all bike paths. The most dangerous part of my commute is dodging a dogleash by someone walking a dog.
Not only those reasons, but we have drivers who are courteous to bikers on the roads. There are so many cyclists you almost have to be. They know the laws and follow them. I can;t imagine how much harder things would be if the drivers weren’t as aware as they are here, they deserve a lot of the credit. We also have a strong Bike Fed and other groups that push for change and rights. The road planners plan for bikes too, not think of what to do with them after a new road is built.
Some of the things that have been said by people here just wouldn’t fly in Madison. With people who think bikes are toys and are not part of traffic, you’ll never succeed in making bikes accepted part of traffic. Bikes ARE traffic, and have every right (and responsibility) that cars have. For every bike on the road, that’s one less car you’d be stuck behind spewing fumes, think of it that way.
Well, if she was in a Trans Am he couldn’t even see her ass. I think he just wanted to insult her like she insulted him.
Personally I like the part about waffle and roast beef powered as opposed to exploding Dinosaurs.
Anyway, how can you rant and be PC at the same time - I mean that would put a strain on the whole thing and take the joy out of it.
Actually, I disagree with this. Bike trails tend to get clogged with joggers, slow bikers, casual walkers, etc. They also promote the cager notion that bicycles do not belong on the road. (“If you are s’posed to be on the road, why’dey build dat?”).
Bike lanes are better, but not perfect, They also promote the idea that bikes must be segregated from cars. Plus cagers think we are required to remain in the lanes at all turns. I’ve had them honk and yell at me for leaving the lane to make a left turn…even when they were already in front of me!
I’d also like to point out, that when I was riding in the big city, cars cost me more time than I ever cost them. My 0-10 is much faster than any car. Its amazing how every car behind you at a light wants to burn rubber off the mark, but any car in front of you is satisfied with a casual glide at the green.
It seems that this andymurph64 is just a flame and run type. No attempts to defend his selfish whining.
And yes, we know it ain’t dinosaurs, but “dead ancient microorganisms” just doesn’t have the same impact, y’know.
No. No it doesn’t. There just might be a hint there about some of the other topics addressed in this thread. Ya’ think?
Thanks for the memories (I usually hide in town during the entire tourist season).
Oh, and you should have included that it’s the 7th level of hell Funky!!!
Picture this (if you will), a hot summer day (okay, only 70 degrees but that’s equivalent to about 90 in the states). A two lane highway (yes, one lane south, and one lane north).
Many many motorhomes driven by tiny, little, old people who can barely see over the steering wheel.
The Seward Highway, (the REAL Seward’s Folly :D) south of Anchorage, and heading down to the Kenai, is a twisting winding trail, and only in the last 5 years or so have they started adding a decent number of passing lanes.
Anyway, back to the tiny, frail, old, folks captaining the motorhomes. They drive, oh about 40, if you’re lucky (in a 65 mph zone), and slow for any signs of wildlife (including the mosquitos, which can double as passenger aircraft). Do they pull OVER into the hundreds and hundreds of long wide paved pullouts designed especially for them and their kind?
Oh HELL no! Grandpa slows down even more so that granny can get snapshots out of the window over the dining table. Meanwhile a line of Anchoragites, CHOMPIN’ at the bit with fishing fever is lined up behind them for miles.
Ach!! You statesiders all have it easy, Easy I tell ya!
Simple, you pile on the stuff that is actually germane to the behavior and attitude that fueled your rant. In a case like this we could’ve gotten a rant about the selfish, ignorant, overaggressive, arrogant roadhogging, nasty, bitchy Trans Am driver – all of which would’ve painted a picture of how inappropriate her behavior was and what an awful person she seemed to be in general.
Instead we got the cheap and easy insults. Overweight as a pejorative, white trash as a “descriptor” and bitch so that we were clear that the OP was about a woman.
It would be so nice to see just one rant about a woman who did something really inexplicable behind the wheel that had a little finesse and a little effort behind it instead of going for the easiest hip-pocket insults on hand. Get creative, people, that’s not too much to ask.
Simple, you pile on the stuff that is actually germane to the behavior and attitude that fueled your rant. In a case like this we could’ve gotten a rant about the selfish, ignorant, overaggressive, arrogant roadhogging, nasty, bitchy Trans Am driver – all of which would’ve painted a picture of how inappropriate her behavior was and what an awful person she seemed to be in general.
Instead we got the cheap and easy insults. Overweight as a pejorative, white trash as a “descriptor” and bitch so that we were clear that the OP was about a woman.
It would be so nice to see just one rant about a woman who did something really inexplicable behind the wheel that had a little finesse and a little effort behind it instead of going for the easiest hip-pocket insults on hand. Get creative, people. Go for descriptions instead of cheap jabs. That’s really not too much to ask, and will get you much further in the grand scheme of things.