Bicyclists - Best way to punish drivers who endanger you

In article .com,
wrote:

Preston Crawford wrote:
On 2005-02-23, Scott en Aztln wrote:


Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.

That's a compliment, I suppose. Since Mr. Spock is intelligent and
logical.

To apply some logic:

What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks when
they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
after they sweat.

All that shows is that bicycle enthusiasts live in a dream world.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:49:24 -0800, "Claire Petersky"
wrote:

Just for fun, I decided to really pay attention today to how many cars I
encounter on my commute, and how many may be delayed by my presence. The
ride is about 5.5 miles, just to the P/R.

Thanks for the idea, Claire! I applied in to my 7 mile trip home.
First two miles, 5-lane secondary arterials, nope, everybody who
wanted past me got by with no delay. Onto 4 miles minor artery,
delayed 2 cars by about 20 seconds following a light (right lane not
wide enough to pass safely), then they caught up with the rest of the
traffic at the next red light -- no net delay. One car got behind me
at the following light, same situation, cost him about 25 seconds --
this one got through the next two lights, but he was behind the
traffic he was trying to get around by getting behind me in the right
lane where the road widened for a light; I don't think this was a net
delay, either. Finally, one car was caught behind me at a stop sign,
lost another 20 seconds. (He let me know how unhappy he was by
revving his cute little Corolla engine!) But then he made it up to
the next red light, which would have caught him anyway; no net delay.

There seems to be a pattern developing here...

It seems like the concern about bikes delaying cars is a complete non issue.
Yes, it's a possibility, but just looking at my little personal study, it
would appear not to be significant. The cars all take major arterials, and
are only on these little side streets and tertiary arterials trying to get
from their houses to the major arterials and back. Meanwhile, as a cyclist,
a pleasant low-traffic tertiary arterial is the perfect road to use, and I'm
not going to be on the major roads in the way of all the cars.

I'll occasionally get on a major artery, usually for a block or so. I
don't feel guilty, because (a) I am traffic, and (b) I don't hold up
traffic nearly as much as I did the other day in the car when the
jackass behind me wanted to push me 15 miles over the speed limit
(which is at the bleeding edge of safety, based on what I've seen)
through a narrow, winding stretch of interstate. I bet I held that
poor driver up 30 seconds or more!

Pat

Email address works as is.

On 2005-02-24, Matthew Russotto wrote:
In article .com,
wrote:

Preston Crawford wrote:
On 2005-02-23, Scott en Aztln wrote:


Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.

That's a compliment, I suppose. Since Mr. Spock is intelligent and
logical.

To apply some logic:

What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks when
they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
after they sweat.

All that shows is that bicycle enthusiasts live in a dream world.

Yes, a dream world filled with facts and numerous personal experiences
that confirm these facts (I threw you a couple websites explaining the
science behind it, did you read them?)

We could go on like this forever, but clearly you are one of those people
who would argue that the sky isn't blue just to win the argument, so why
don't we declare you the "winner", you can go buy a "all sweat stinks"
medal for yourself and you can where it whereever you go in your car.

Meanwhile, I have a bike to go jump on and a workplace to go stink up.

Preston

On 2005-02-24, wrote:

Scott en Aztln wrote:
On 23 Feb 2005 19:39:39 -0800, wrote:

What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks
when
they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
after they sweat.

Correction: ONE pedalcyclist hads made this claim. And has no way to
prove it.

Well, there have been others who have agreed that they have no such
problem. But if you refuse to believe me, that's your option.

Not only have we agreed, but I posted 2 websites that explained the
science behind it and dared our stinky car-loving friends here to go
Google this subject and see what they got. There are literally hundreds of
websites and postings to the Usenet that discuss this subject and the
conclusion is almost always the same. So not only are they ignorant to the
facts, but willfully so, since I've given them places that prove that it's
more than just you and I who agree that there is no problem.

Preston

On 2005-02-24, Scott en Aztln wrote:
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:04:19 -0600, Preston Crawford
wrote:

Frank is no mutant. You just aren't too bright.

Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.

That's a compliment, I suppose.

No, that's sarcasm.

I guess you aren't bright enough to have realized that.

Actually, mine was sarcasm too. Who isn't bright now? I was trying to
counter your insipid sarcasm with sarcasm of my own. So they'd like,
cancel each other out in some kind of sarcasm-cancelling collision. And
you totally missed it.

Preston

On 2005-02-23, Matthew Russotto wrote:
You're just wrong. Clean people who sweat don't stink. That's a fact with
very few caveats.

It's simply entirely false.

No, it's not. Yes it is. No it's not.

You stink, Matt. We get it. I don't. Frank doesn't. All the cyclists that
have commuted at every job I've ever worked at (and there have been a lot
since I live in hippie bicycle land here in Portland) and didn't take
showers also didn't stink. You apparently have quite the stink issue.
That's fine. Doesn't make it fact.

It's the bacteria that stinks.

The bacteria cause the odors, yes. But the bacteria are ubiqtuous.
Even if you washed them all off (and you can't), you'd acquire new
ones from the environment immediately.

Not fast enough. I'll grant you, that if my morning commute were a
century, then yeah, I'd stink, because eventually I would start to pick up
bacteria from the environment and sweat through it. But aside from that
you're just wrong. And you stink, apparently. A fact for which I feel bad
for you.

Preston

In article ,
Preston Crawford wrote:

Yes, a dream world filled with facts and numerous personal experiences
that confirm these facts (I threw you a couple websites explaining the
science behind it, did you read them?)

Your "personal experiences" only confirm that
1) You typically don't notice your own body odor unless it's exceptionally
bad and
2) Most people are too polite to mention your odor.

Here in the real world, after a reasonably long bike ride (such as the
~10 mile commutes mentioned elsethread) you're going to have a strong odor.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

I've heard of bikers carrying a small length of chain so that drives
can see it. That way you can ruin there paint if they get to close.