"Whites Only"?

"Brendon M. Troy" wrote:

"RonSonic" wrote
So ah, what part has he got wrong? snip
Or is your dudgeon all the explanation necessary?

Well, that and the quote, I would have thought.

The implication that all black people are poor, and that all that
all black people are interested in doing for recreation is
basketball (in overpriced shoes, no less). Those (followed up by
more generalization about what "black people like to (do)") were
what I took umbrage at, if it wasn't clear.

I dont see it as something he implied, but something you inferred.

psycholist wrote:

I have some black friends in Clemson and Anderson who are nervous
about riding IN A CAR through the rural areas of many South Carolina
counties. To be perfectly honest, I would understand completely if
you didn't feel comfortable riding on the roads down here where I
live. There are plenty of really sweet folks. Unfortunately, there
are also still plenty of Bubbas with rebel flags, too.

Since living in the South I've found the Southern stereotypes are no different
from their socio-economic counterparts elsewhere. In CA people say the same
things about the desert and Inland Empire. I know black people who will not
drive through the desert. Their concerns are not unfounded, either. Areas like
San Bernadino have extremely high crime rates, and plenty of miscreants cruising
around looking for trouble. In fact there may be more rednecks in CA than all
of the South.

Matt O.

Cheto wrote:

But isn't it a fact that Blacks are more likely to be the victims of
crimes perpetrated by other Blacks than by Whites? I think a solo
Black rider would be safer riding alone in a primarily White area
than a primarily Black area.

You might rephrase that to say safer in a prosperous area than a poor one.

Matt O.

Paul Turner wrote:

Claire Petersky

As long as I'm in the process of generalizing -- a friend of mine
has this theory about riding in rural areas of Washington State.
He believes that inareas where the predominate economic
activity is logging, motorists treat cyclists badly. Where the
predominate economic activity is agriculture, motorists do
not treat cyclists badly. Does this theory bear out in your
experience? If so, why do you think it is?

This is just speculation on my part, but then so is most everything on
this thread. I grew up in a farming area and I recall often being
stuck behind a tractor or other piece of farm equipment for a few
minutes. Everyone recognized the use of the roads to move such
equipment from place to place as legitimate and necessary, so they
didn't get upset if it added a couple of minutes to their trip. Maybe
that attitude carries over to being patient about having to slow down
briefly before finding a safe place to pass a bicycle.

I have found this to be true around here. While the farms are disappearing,
there are still plenty of tractors and hay trucks creeping along country roads.
People who have lived here awhile are used to that. Therefore they're more apt
to treat cyclists well too, and this has been my experience.

However, I once had a "discussion" with a redneck teenager who harassed several
riders on a club ride. I explained the law to him, about how it's his
responsibility to wait for a safe place to pass and then do so safely, just as
with any other slow moving vehicle -- tractor, construction equipment, etc. Of
course he didn't care, responding with "Well, maybe if you was doin' sumthin'
worthwhile..."

Matt O.

"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Of the readers who are not white males, let me ask: How frequent are
minor harrassments? How frequent are harassments that are really
troubling?

Incredibly rare, and rarer than they used to be. I've had my share of
incidents
too, but in the distant past. I've seen and heard of more road rage
driver to
driver than driver to cyclist.

This doesn't mean people don't feel vulnerable as cyclists though. In
fact this
is one of the biggest barriers to people taking up cycling -- they're
scared to
death of riding in traffic. Many people join cycling clubs because
they're
afraid to ride alone.

I've never really had a problem in traffic. I ride in town and other than
having a hard time crossing busy divided 4 lanes, no biggie. My problems
have been on relatively low traffic rural highways. It's easy for somebody
to act aggressively toward a cyclist when there are no witnesses....

"Pat" wrote in message
...

: Where are all the black riders? What is it about our sport that makes
it
: so unappealing to an entire race of people?
:
: Anybody have any theories?
:
:
: Could be they just aren't interested,
:
: But look at the ratio of white riders according to the total white
: population, then look at the ratio of black riders according to the
total
: black population. There may not be much difference,

Yeah, when people find out that I ride (and these are white people by and
large), they are astonished because none of them have ridden a bike since
they were 12 years old! They are just amazed that an adult would ride a
bike. In fact, they tend to make fun of it at first with a kind of "Aren't
you through with childish things by now?" attitude.

Pat in TX

I have an 18 mile commute(each way) that I do 3x/wk in the spring and
summer. When people see me arrive at work on my bike and ask where I live
they're shocked than anybody would do that voluntarily. Then again, the only
people in my area riding bikes are fitness riders on the Rails to Trails and
DUI riders.

Pat wrote:
: Funny you should mention that. In late Novemeber of 2004 my front
: wheel
got
: caught in some railroad tracks and I went down -- while moving at
: about 12-13 mph. Tumbled over a time, tore my jacket and brand new
: tights, and moved my left shifter out of position (I could not
: reposition it by hand
and
: had to ride back to my car without use of it). I was sore for a
: week, but
I
: did my first century the following weekend.

Jeez, I read too fast! I thought you wrote that your "left shoulder"
was out of position. Maybe I just have shoulders on my mind lately.
I remember your accident now. How much did it cost to get that
shifter repaired?

Free. I just took it to the LBS and they had it back in place within
minutes. Plus they adjusted the brakes and lubed the chain.

mbarbee1 wrote:

Seems like more black people are riding here in the DC area than three
years ago when I first started riding. Of course, people have always
used them for commuting inside the city. But I've even seen a few
black guys on the trail outside the city this winter. And during the
summers I have seen some black guys riding what seemed to be
expensive road bikes and who were in very good roadbike riding shape.
Actually I wonder if there is a club out towards MD that has a
significant percentage of black members. I ride with a regional
recreational club, and yes, we are a rare sight in this club, but I
know I'm not the only and probably far from the first black person to
ride with them.

When I was in college I competed on the ski team. On every trip, some of the
group had a pool going for the first person to see a black skier. I don't think
it was mean spirited as much as a comment on how few black skiers there were.
We found this amusing, and a little sad. Maybe our way of expressing it was
inappropriate, but that's 20 year olds for you. We could go a whole weekend at
Mammoth without seeing a single black skier, out of 15-20,000 skiers. Of
course, 20 years later, there are black skiers everywhere, every weekend at
Mammoth.

FWIW, I was a conscientious objector to this little game.

We were all introduced to certain activities as kids, which we continue into
adulthood. Where I grew up, we all rode bikes everywhere, surfed, swam, sailed,
played volleyball, and other beachy stuff. Tennis was big too in the 70s. Kids
were into the "big three" American sports, but not so much. OTOH, where my
cousins grew up on a military base, football, basketball, and weightlifting were
the thing. They didn't need bikes for transportation, because everything was
right there. 25 years later, I still ride a bike and sail, and my cousin still
plays basketball and lifts weights.

Compared to 20 years ago, kids are exposed to far more on a hundred channels of
TV, and more again when they go off to college or whatever. So there's a lot
more cross-pollination going on. Pretty soon everyone will be doing whatever
makes them happiest, and that's just great.

Matt O.

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 16:26:53 GMT, RonSonic
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 08:46:39 -0700, Mark Hickey wrote:

"Roger Zoul" wrote:

wrote:

Is there a chance that black folks feel too vulnerable out on the road
alone? FWIW, I once lived in an area of the country where that might
have been reasonable. (That's one of the reasons I left.)

I have to admit that these kinds of thoughts always creep into my head on my
solo rides. I just ignore them and keep going.

Good for you... I once lived in an Asian country where (for various
reasons) there were spikes of anti-Western sentiments. I too had to
consider the possibility that someone might feel it prudent to reduce
the Western population in that country by one with a twitch of the
steering wheel, but didn't let that stop me either.

The way I look at it, if prejudice keeps you from doing what you want
to do, the weenies win, and we can't have that! Sadly, we live in a
world where we can legislate equality (which is a good thing), but we
can't legislate the attitude of the individual. Hopefully those who
are truly warped will die off and not pass along the behaviors to
their offspring.

Last year in St Petersburg, Fla, the KKK held a rally. The turn out of Klansmen,
NeoNaz, fellow travellers, sympathizers and immediate family was five (5).
That's right, the Klan held a rally and got five people to show up. There were
about 40 newsmen and 200 some counter-protesters. Even that was a historically
low turnout since the Klan isn't even worth protesting anymore.

Evil really hates being yawned at.

Ron

I believe it. Interesting though, recently i was watching a PBS show
about Malcolm X, who grew up in Michigan. I was surprised when they
said that (at the time,anyways) Michigan had an even higher Klan
membership than any state in the Deep south. I don't know if that
statistic remained the same in the years after the 1930s.

On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 18:19:10 -0500, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:


Home of the $695 ti frame

That's a very good point. Letting social pressure dictate your leisure
activities is counterproductive. This isn't the third reich! The truth
is you're much more likely to have a stupid crash on the railroad
tracks or slip on a slick painted line than get mowed down by some
racist idiot. We don't let the possiblity of falling and hurting
ourselves stop us from cycling and that's much more likely.

Funny you should mention that. In late Novemeber of 2004 my front wheel got
caught in some railroad tracks and I went down -- while moving at about
12-13 mph. Tumbled over a time, tore my jacket and brand new tights, and
moved my left shifter out of position (I could not reposition it by hand and
had to ride back to my car without use of it). I was sore for a week, but I
did my first century the following weekend.

l
I've fallen on tracks a couple of times in the past 2 years. Last July
the same thing happened to me, but I was going pretty slow because
they were really old bumpy railroad tracks. I was worried that the
wheel had gotten f*cked since we were pretty much out in the middle of
nowhere, but the wheel was okay; and I had just gotten new shorts!
NOthing was torn or damaged and I went on to do a nice long ride, but
I was pretty sore the next day and I had the hugest bruise on my right
hip. It was just so STUPID.