Dumbest ride ever

I've been complaining about my Swiss group ride and yesterday, I was
supposed to go on an even worse ride with triathletes (but what else
would you expect from them) who ended up not showing up. So I rode
alone but when I got to Versaille, there were 4 bike messengers on
fixed gear bikes doing their Sunday group ride outside Paris. I rode
with them mostly out of anthropological interest. Soon came the red
light at which were parked numerous cars, they slowed down to about
30kph and the first 3 made it through, but as there were a bunch of
pedestrians crossing (with their green light) the 4th guy saw it would
be difficult, tried to slow down, probably hit his front brake and
slid out and flew off the bike hitting one of the pedestrians. Luckily
for him, he was laying on the floor in such a sad state that the
pedestrian didn't have the heart to hit him back. He was wearing a
skateboarding helmet so was totally sweating in the 25C weather, and
didn't have any gloves so hurt his hands. His buddies came back to
help him up. When they started again, his friends went through the
next red light, but I thought he may have learned his lesson because
he waited. That theory was disproved at the next red light.

Anyway, the worst riding I've ever seen, because despite all the
badness I've encountered, it never actually ended up with random
pedestrian assault.

From what I could tell, their ride consists of the guy feeling
strongest at the time riding as hard as he can and every one else
tries to stay on. So far, pretty similar to a lot of rides. Where it
differs is their handling of red lights: The first guy rides as if
he's alone and is able to handle the danger, the others feel obliged
to follow, but by 3rd or 4th in line, the situation at the
intersection has changed so that it's no longer possible for the
person to pass and the inevitable accident. Since they're messengers
and do all their city riding alone, they obviously have not figured
out that you can't ride in a group this way without having accidents.
Since they're stupid, they keep doing this even after it leads to an
accident.

-ilan

In article
,
ilan wrote:

I've been complaining about my Swiss group ride and yesterday, I was
supposed to go on an even worse ride with triathletes (but what else
would you expect from them) who ended up not showing up. So I rode
alone but when I got to Versaille, there were 4 bike messengers on
fixed gear bikes doing their Sunday group ride outside Paris. I rode
with them mostly out of anthropological interest. Soon came the red
light at which were parked numerous cars, they slowed down to about
30kph and the first 3 made it through, but as there were a bunch of
pedestrians crossing (with their green light) the 4th guy saw it would
be difficult, tried to slow down, probably hit his front brake and
slid out and flew off the bike hitting one of the pedestrians. Luckily
for him, he was laying on the floor in such a sad state that the
pedestrian didn't have the heart to hit him back. He was wearing a
skateboarding helmet so was totally sweating in the 25C weather, and
didn't have any gloves so hurt his hands. His buddies came back to
help him up. When they started again, his friends went through the
next red light, but I thought he may have learned his lesson because
he waited. That theory was disproved at the next red light.

Anyway, the worst riding I've ever seen, because despite all the
badness I've encountered, it never actually ended up with random
pedestrian assault.

From what I could tell, their ride consists of the guy feeling
strongest at the time riding as hard as he can and every one else
tries to stay on. So far, pretty similar to a lot of rides. Where it
differs is their handling of red lights: The first guy rides as if
he's alone and is able to handle the danger, the others feel obliged
to follow, but by 3rd or 4th in line, the situation at the
intersection has changed so that it's no longer possible for the
person to pass and the inevitable accident. Since they're messengers
and do all their city riding alone, they obviously have not figured
out that you can't ride in a group this way without having accidents.
Since they're stupid, they keep doing this even after it leads to an
accident.

Thanks for the report. As the pedestrian I'd have put the boot in.

--
Old Fritz

On May 9, 3:05*pm, ilan wrote:
I've been complaining about my Swiss group ride and yesterday, I was
supposed to go on an even worse ride with triathletes (but what else
would you expect from them) who ended up not showing up. So I rode
alone but when I got to Versaille, there were 4 bike messengers on
fixed gear bikes doing their Sunday group ride outside Paris. I rode
with them mostly out of anthropological interest. Soon came the red
light at which were parked numerous cars, they slowed down to about
30kph and the first 3 made it through, but as there were a bunch of
pedestrians crossing (with their green light) the 4th guy saw it would
be difficult, tried to slow down, probably hit his front brake and
slid out and flew off the bike hitting one of the pedestrians. Luckily
for him, he was laying on the floor in such a sad state that the
pedestrian didn't have the heart to hit him back. He was wearing a
skateboarding helmet so was totally sweating in the 25C weather, and
didn't have any gloves so hurt his hands. His buddies came back to
help him up. When they started again, his friends went through the
next red light, but I thought he may have learned his lesson because
he waited. That theory was disproved at the next red light.

Anyway, the worst riding I've ever seen, because despite all the
badness I've encountered, it never actually ended up with random
pedestrian assault.

From what I could tell, their ride consists of the guy feeling
strongest at the time riding as hard as he can and every one else
tries to stay on. So far, pretty similar to a lot of rides. Where it
differs is their handling of red lights: The first guy rides as if
he's alone and is able to handle the danger, the others feel obliged
to follow, but by 3rd or 4th in line, the situation at the
intersection has changed *so that it's no longer possible for the
person to pass and the inevitable accident. Since they're messengers
and do all their city riding alone, they obviously have not figured
out that you can't ride in a group this way without having accidents.
Since they're stupid, they keep doing this even after it leads to an
accident.

Guess it pays to be the one pulling when they're coming to an
intersection.

R