Cyclist spits at me and makes a buzzing noise !

[wturber]

"Yield the right of way" seems to be a concept that is absent with this group.

Learn to distinguish between yielding the right-of-way to someone who has it, and surrendering the right-of-way to someone who thinks his supersedes yours. If you make the distinction, I think you'll find that most assertive cyclists do the former, just not the latter. If it helps, imagine the cyclist is a street sweeper or construction vehicle that goes 15mph. If his behavior makes sense in that context, then it makes sense.

I live near a golf course and deal with slow maintenance vehicles on our local streets all the time. To a person, the drivers of these vehicles always stay to the right and make it as easy as practical for traffic to get around them and/or they stop on the right when the road widens to allow backed up traffic pass them. On average. two or more cyclists on these same streets do not do these things.

I'm not sure why you seem to think I need to learn how to distinguish yielding the right-of-way to someone who has it and surrendering it to someone who merely thinks they have it. The cyclists obstructing traffic tonight did not have the right of way. Even if I grant the practical benefits of riding groups breaking stop sign laws by a group acting like one vehicle (it will clear the intersection faster) and set that aside (and that there were two groups), many of these riders were simply violating a number of traffic laws. You are only allowed to ride more than two across on exclusive bike paths not on streets. And if you are "slower traffic" you are required to stay as far to the right as practical. Given the nice bike lane on this road, you can do that easily without slowing down other traffic.

In my neighborhood, it's a constant low level annoyance to negotiate with motorists who cede their proper right-of-way at 4-way stops. I appreciate their obliging gesture, but it all works better if we follow the customary procedure.

I see the same thing here. But I suspect that a lot if this is a result of drivers seeing that the typical cyclist can be expected to run stop signs while barely slowing down. The vast majority of drivers don't want to run over a cyclist. So they over-react and cede the right of way when they really shouldn't. And yes, this is mildly annoying. I mitigate this to some extent by using physical posture (up on my pedals and foot out as though I'm going to plant it on the ground) that most drivers seem to recognize as an indication that I'm preparing to come to a stop. Others, of course, just don't understand how the rules of the road apply to cyclists.

 

[Chalo]

I've been in the street parading with over 500 people, and have been directed onto a totally inadequate sidewalk by cops protecting the rights of way of hypothetical car drivers who weren't in fact present at all. That's the law as applied, and it violates all standards of ethics and common decency.

The streets are paid for by people, for people to use. No one person, regardless of method of transport, should ever presume to supersede a larger group of people simply because they believe their method makes them more important. (Toxins aren't people.) No absent group of people should take right of way from a group of people who are actually present.

My message to presumptuous car drivers: Chill. Enjoy your ride, because soon enough you won't be allowed to drive in public. And we'll all be better off for it.

 

[dogman dan]

Re cheater, I wouldn't mind riding in a shirt with cheater on the back of it. Even more, I wish I was still so young and strong I could just ride in that peloton. Beats me why it bothers them that you don't have to suffer ten times what they do. They are in the prime, and hardly suffer at all, even up the big hills, compared to somebody who no longer weighs 120 pounds. Later, they will learn to suffer more as they age too, but still why the hell should you? They should applaud you for being out on a bike at all still, and actually, in my experience, most do. But there will be an ass in every group of 100 people.

As for right of way, do insist on your road rights. However, that does not mean be stupid about your right of way. I annoy people constantly at 4 way stops. They think you will like it if they wave you through first. But personally, I will ALWAYS choose ride behind that car that is stopped, preferably after it goes. In front, one slip of foot and they floor the thing into you. It happens all the time, I have repaired a lot of store and office fronts, where the car drove into the building. It happens at stop signs plenty too. But they want me to ride across their front bumper so bad every time. I won't do it.

I insist on my road rights, and take the lane at stop signs and lights. I have had it with the right cross at the light, when I have the crosswalk signal flashing. My right of way is not nearly as important as eliminating needing any damn car to yield to me. Ride so you need no right of way is how I survive. Ride as if you are invisible has been the mantra for motorcycles since the days of Glen Curtis.


But you damn sure can ride different in a group, even if against local laws. For a time, bikes in my town got a lot of road room. This is because group riders carried paint can openers on their left middle finger. Get close to the peloton passing and SCRATCH. If you stopped to complain, it was even a worse outcome. That is gone now, but for a while, bikes got lots of room to ride in my town.

 

[wturber]

The streets are paid for by people, for people to use. No one person, regardless of method of transport, should ever presume to supersede a larger group of people simply because they believe their method makes them more important. (Toxins aren't people.) No absent group of people should take right of way from a group of people who are actually present.

I have no problem with pelotons running stop signs or taking up the whole street when they aren't interfering with other people's equal rights to use the same road.

Skip to the 3 minute mark.
[youtube]gBY6ACqcDBw[/youtube]

And this behavior is more of an annoyance than a big deal. I just thought the juxtaposition of this poor behavior and one of the participants yelling "cheater" was a bit ironic.

 

[wturber]

Re cheater, I wouldn't mind riding in a shirt with cheater on the back of it. Even more, I wish I was still so young and strong I could just ride in that peloton. Beats me why it bothers them that you don't have to suffer ten times what they do. They are in the prime, and hardly suffer at all, even up the big hills, compared to somebody who no longer weighs 120 pounds. Later, they will learn to suffer more as they age too, but still why the hell should you? They should applaud you for being out on a bike at all still, and actually, in my experience, most do. But there will be an ass in every group of 100 people.

Over 8000 miles and this is the first time. And heck, maybe the guy was joking. Hard to tell for sure.
So yeah, most cyclists are fine or at least indifferent about the ebike.

I'm commuting back and forth to work. They are out on a sport ride. Two different things. Two different bikes.

 

[markz]

They are jealous of us eeeeeeeeeeeeee-bicyclists!
It is really that simple!

 

[fechter]

If someone calls me a cheater, I tell them Lance Armstrong was a cheater.

 

[The fingers]

If someone calls me a cheater, I tell them Lance Armstrong was a cheater.

Doper.

 

[neptronix]

It's rare that a Lycra fetishist even has the ability to catch up to my bike to lodge a complaint.

I am also never seen NOT pedaling, unless I am in the car lane doing 45mph. I've had the most problems with car drivers yelling at me to get off the road, despite the fact that I can exceed the speed limit of every city road here.

Not many ebikes in my area, so people are not used to how to deal with them. I just ignore the car people and stay in the road. Sometimes I pull a passive aggressive move by getting side by side at them at a stop light, and hammering on the throttle to blow past them when the light turns green.

 

[El_Topo]

If someone calls me a cheater, I tell them Lance Armstrong was a cheater.

Don't fall into the trap of countering baseless accusations with another baseless accusation.
I have no cycling background whatsoever (except a friend who is fairly successful as an amateur cyclist) but I have a decent knowledge about PEDs and I can tell you there is nothing wrong with what Lance Armstrong did, his downfall is just another expression of authoritarian tendencies in the western world and how certain substances are criminalised because of political interest and/or sheer stupidity while others who are equally or more harmful aren't because there is economical interest in not doing so.
Criminalising PEDs was a political farce in the same way as criminalising marihuana was a way to incarcerate US-American blacks.

On topic:
I would ignore any "motor" sounds that people make except maybe laughing about them or call them a clown but if anyone spits at me I would make it very clear that it could have serious health ramifications for him the next time.

 

[AHicks]

Jealous, possibly with a personality disorder. Not worthy of any further thought on your part.....

 

[Chalo]

Jealous, possibly with a personality disorder. Not worthy of any further thought on your part.....

Definitely not jealous of someone who "needs" artificial augmentation to do what he does. Contemptuous, almost surely. Misplaced contempt, almost as surely. There are so many worthless car spuds that it's hard to see them as contemptible as they are.

Worthy of further thought: Can I do what he does? Should I try?

 

[wturber]

Definitely not jealous of someone who "needs" artificial augmentation to do what he does. Contemptuous, almost surely. Misplaced contempt, almost as surely.

Assuming there's a degree of seriousness (that it wasn't just a joke) to the comment, yes, I think contempt is probably it. Many of these roadies are riding bikes in the $1000 and up (some of them way up) range, $100 team jerseys etc. The jerseys are often for teams that the rider does not belong to. My bike is a $200 used Craigslist find with a milk crate on the back, a front basket, gaudy lighting, fenders fer Chissakes, and two bike bells. I'm wearing a $6 day-glo nylon "T" from Wal-Mart and Starbury sneakers. I'm exhibiting nothing for them to desire except, perhaps, bike speed. And that speed is probably viewed (in one sense correctly) as "unearned." So yes. Contempt. Not jealousy.

Worthy of further thought: Can I do what he does? Should I try?

Yeah I've thought about it. I've done sport/personal challenge (on just my own power) riding in the past. Other than possible social aspects it holds little for me now. I play competitive table tennis these days for that kind of thing.

If I were to do road cycling again for a challenge, it would probably be in preparation for Paris-Brest-Paris, something that is well beyond what I've done in the past (century rides, two day 150 mile rides). I'm not sure why that ride has always intrigued/attracted me. But it does. Maybe it's because I haven't been to Europe and this would be a good excuse. Maybe because it's a very old and fairly absurd ride. Odds are that I won't do it. I'd have to do a ton of prep. But it has been an itch I've wanted to scratch for about 30 years. And time is running out.

As regards the ebike and "should I try?", well no, at least not instead of e-biking. The point of the e-bike is to retrieve dead time spent driving a car and replace it with an enjoyable activity that gives me the physical and mental benefits of outdoor exercise at little or no economic cost. I've cut my car time by about 80%. Probably saved $1000 in gas but am probably still $1000 in the hole in net costs. When I passed those riders last week, I was actually cranking pretty hard with my heart rate at about 140. I can get as much exercise on my ebike as I do on my road bike. I just get where I'm going faster when I do it. Which means I often go farther and I ride more frequently - because it is way more practical. These are the things that some of those roadies probably fail to understand - hence their misplaced contempt.

 

[markz]

Only question is, if that cyclist spits at you, and said spit lands on....
Scenerio 1 - Your shoe
Scenerio 2 - Your pants or coat
Scenerio 3 - Your shirt
Scenerio 4 - Your skin (hand or arms)
Scenerio 5 - Your face but not in any cavity
Scenerio 6 - Your face, in a cavity (eye, mouth, ear, nose)

What do you do????

 

[Tommm]

Only question is, if that cyclist spits at you, and said spit lands on....
Scenerio 1 - Your shoe
Scenerio 2 - Your pants or coat
Scenerio 3 - Your shirt
Scenerio 4 - Your skin (hand or arms)
Scenerio 5 - Your face but not in any cavity
Scenerio 6 - Your face, in a cavity (eye, mouth, ear, nose)

What do you do????

And what if they spit 6 times and tick all the boxes? :lol:

 

[dogman dan]

Depends on if there is 10 of them, and 1 of you, or 10 of you, and one of them.

To make an assault charge stick, against 10 lying witnesses, you'd need the video.


You could speed ahead of them, on a really fast bike, then drop the tacks. But not if you expect to see them again at a stop light.

 

[RunForTheHills]

Depends on if there is 10 of them, and 1 of you, or 10 of you, and one of them.

To make an assault charge stick, against 10 lying witnesses, you'd need the video.


You could speed ahead of them, on a really fast bike, then drop the tacks. But not if you expect to see them again at a stop light.

There is always this method:

 

[Howlermonkey]

Ah.....I was looking for a gif from "breaking away". Glad someone posted it.

 

[Rassy]

You could speed ahead of them, on a really fast bike, then drop the tacks. But not if you expect to see them again at a stop light.

Come on Dan, don't give the jerks any ideas. tacks aren't particular about whose tires they flatten. A few years ago I was on a charity ride where someone had thrown out tacks before the ride started. A friend ended up with three flats on her two wheel bike, Yep, repaired the first two flats and then she picked up another tack 5 miles down the road. I picked up two tacks on one of the front tires of my trike, but the slime in the tube instantly sealed the tube when I pulled the tacks out.

 

[mattthemuppet]

there's one roadie I see occasionally on my commute who never acknowledged my wave. Stopped bothering after a couple of times. Most other cyclists are pretty friendly, though I don't see that many in San Antonio on the route I ride. Not particularly bothered if people ignore or don't like me, but I do get alot of pleasure from the people who do wave.

 

[markz]

^That other cyclist probably thinks you are a cheater.

 

[Tommm]

^That other cyclist probably thinks you are a cheater.

Or he has a prosthetic arm.

 

[markz]

I was called a cheater by a passing roadie today, first time in a long long time. I was just at a casual cruising speed lazy pedaling along.
Funny thing is, the guy that said that probably drives a vehicle, so if that be the case that roadie is a hypocrite, whereas me I ride every single day for everything. The other thing is, when he was beside me he slowed down and said now I know why you were cruising along, but when he sped up to get in front and was 15' ahead of me he said cheater, which is a little cowardly. Best to say whats on the mind right from the start.

 

[sleepy_tired]

Anybody who loads their bike onto the back of the SUV to go to their favorite "riding spot" is more of a cheater then any ebike rider.

Anybody who loads their bike onto the back of a pick up so they and their buddies can ride to the top of a mountain bike trail is much more of a cheater then any ebike rider.

 

[Chalo]

Anybody who loads their bike onto the back of the SUV to go to their favorite "riding spot" is more of a cheater then any ebike rider.

Anybody who loads their bike onto the back of a pick up so they and their buddies can ride to the top of a mountain bike trail is much more of a cheater then any ebike rider.

No kidding.

If you're replacing car trips, you're not doing the same thing as they are.

If you're trucking your e-bike to go molest backwoods trails, well, there's probably no saving you.