spirochete to cyclists: I HATE YOU. I hate you so much and I hate your next 15 generations

I hope your bikes melt down and your little helmets crack and and you lose a bike seat up your butt.

Do you ride on the bike path RIGHT NEXT TO THE STREET? HELL NO! You ride right in the street and hold up traffic.

Do you ride single file as traffic goes by? HELL NO! You ride in pairs while blocking traffic and we're all at your mercy driving at bicycle speed for miles on end.

Do you ride in a responsible manner? HELL NO! You cry that you have just as much right to the street as I do in my car yet you run EVERY SINGLE stop sign, turn without signaling and whatever illegal maneuvers you can think up while wearing a Doritos branded spandex team shirt.

I seriously hate cyclists so much.

Original Post by spirochete:

Well that's the law. Obey it or get off the road with your spandex outfits.

 I agree all people on the road need to obey the traffic laws, but what's your problem with bikers wearing spandex?

Original Post by trhawley:

I don't know if they still do it or not but when I live in Westchester Co., NY they would close a 7 mile stretch of the Bronx River Parkway for 4 hours every sunday during the warm weather months for cyclist to have use of the roadway.  Motorists would have to find alternate routes.  I bet that would really piss you off wouldn't it Spiro.

Well not exactly since my irritation is navigating around people clogging up traffic with their blantant disregard for traffic patterns, traffic laws and my sanity. I guess I'd be mad if that route was the only way I could get somewhere I need to go, but who wouldn't get irked at that

"...but who wouldn't get irked at that..."  Someone who understands the concept of sharing.  Were you an only child?

*sends spiro soothing white light to calm her fractured nerves and cool her rage*

as long as you don't have anything against bikers being on the road, we're ok - cause they never wear spandex and are generally fairly bad-assed  :)

Right on kathygator!

Original Post by santonacci:

Original Post by spirochete:

Well that's the law. Obey it or get off the road with your spandex outfits.

 I agree all people on the road need to obey the traffic laws, but what's your problem with bikers wearing spandex?

 They can be wearing clown suits for all I care. Spandex is the trademark of the cyclists that I'm talking about.

and ok trhawley, you'd be happy about waiting four hours to drive somewhere because they closed the only road there. Good for you.

The reality is that sometimes cyclist group together and take control of the roadway for their own safety.  If motorist were to give cyclists a little more respect and a little more room when passing then this behaviour wouldn't be necesary.

ahahaha I keep doing this double post thing. Ok I'm going running. Eveyone get in your cars and mow me down.

"and ok trhawley, you'd be happy about waiting four hours to drive somewhere because they closed the only road there. Good for you."

They didn't close road, they just designated it for cyclist only.  Yeah we would get some walkers, runners, and rollerbladers out there as well but cyclist are ok with sharing.

Are you missing the point on purpose?

Most cyclists are okay with sharing.  Others think that they're entitled to get in the way of cars.  The latter make me angry. 

Don't care about them riding three abreast unless it makes it impossible to get around them.  That's not sharing; that's being obnoxious.

There was a point?

You should never pass a cyclist while remaining in the same lane that they are riding in.  This is unsafe and in many, but not all, states illegal.  If the cyclists have to ride three abreast to get you to understand this so be it.

I question how illegal it is.  I suppose an argument could be made that a bicycle is a vehicle and therefore should be passed as you said, but I doubt it holds much water.

Doing a quick Google, I see a lot of three-foot passing laws, but not full-lane.

The next time I see cyclists I'm going to first pass them legally and then slow down to a snail's pace and trap them behind me.  If they try to pass legally, I speed up and stay ahead through the passing sections.  If they try to pass me illegally, I rammmmm them off the road.

There is no such thing as sharing the road.  That only applies to vehicles traveling the same speed.  If cyclists want to "share the road," then pull the f*** over and let us pass.

See:

http://www.safe-route.org/laws/passing.php

Don't know how reliable it is, but it's something.

Original Post by dcyounts:

 If they try to pass me illegally, I rammmmm them off the road.

Have fun in jail, hold onto that soap real tight. 

Soap-on-a-rope...

Original Post by trhawley:

There was a point?

Well that answers the question.

 

You should never pass a cyclist while remaining in the same lane that they are riding in.  This is unsafe and in many, but not all, states illegal.  If the cyclists have to ride three abreast to get you to understand this so be it.

First of all I'm all for someone's safety. Ranting aside, I don't want anyone to get hurt. I do have to ask though, do cyclists just pick and choose what laws they want to obey? You said yourself that cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as a car. You don't see cars driving three abreast down the street in one lane. If you do, you certainly shouldn't.