logistics associated with starting a new riding group?

Prisoner at War wrote:
On Feb 15, 6:39 pm, John Forrest Tomlinson
wrote:
On 15 Feb 2007 11:05:57 -0800, "Prisoner at War"

I must disagree. AFAIK, bicyclists have always had road rights, as do
even pedestrians.
Even pedestrians?
Really? So you can just walk down a typical road or street as much as
you want - no need to be on the sidewalk? I did not know that.

Sure, jaywalkers, joggers, lil' ol'

babushkas...

Babushkas? I haven't heard that since my Polish aunt took me for a walk
through her Polish neighborhood and explained what all those head
scarves were called.
1953!
****. Time flies.
FWIW. Back then I could ride my bike on the sidewalk. There must be a
kids can, adults can't rule.
Bill Baka


I don't know how all
these NY grannies get killed on Queens Blvd. Don't the friggin'
drivers see someone in the middle of the god-damned road?? It's a
goddamned five or six-lane boulevard; how the freak does it get
christened "The Boulevard of Death" year after year? Why don't these
goddamned motorists slow the **** down and watch where the **** they
goin'??

Prisoner at War wrote:
On Feb 15, 4:21 pm, Bill Baka wrote:

I was thinking Guilliani(sp?). Bloomberg is a total unknown to me? Does
he drive a gas guzzling SUV or get limo'd everywhere he goes? Has he
EVER ridden a bike?

LOL -- Bill, consider this your personal invitation to NYC for the
annual Five-Boro Bike Tour in May!!

Guilliani must be the Governor that's in the news, then.

No, Bloomy's been mayor for the past, what, five or six years now. He
takes the subway to work most days, though for the weekend he has his
own jet or two for undisclosed getaways. Seeing how he grew up middle-
class in Forest Hills, I'm sure he had a bike once. Since he's just
another old Jewish guy, he might even be a member of the Easy Racers
Recumbent Riders Club!

Many city kids never get a chance to ride a bike,
due to money, theft, and parents concerns over the freedom to go into
bad areas. The closest I have ever come to a big city was growing up in
the Chicago suburbs where I could ride into the city, but chose to ride
away from it. Riding in Chicago seemed so improbable that even at 14 I
took the Metra train and hooked up with the 'El' subway/skyway system
then took buses to things like the museums. I don't know if Chicago is
bike unfriendly by law, but my common sense tells me I want to be in a
car in that city.

One of my great life ambitions is to simply bike ride in Chicago. I
hear the waterfront is especially attractive for that, with designated
lanes and scenic views.

I was born there and I have and it is. If the wind is coming off the
lake it tames the hot days for a great ride. You can almost ride along
the lake all the way up into Wisconsin but there are a few 'iffy' places
where you probably don't want to get off the bike, much less leave it
unlocked. Near the museums is good riding. If you wind up inside a
museum plan on it taking at least 2 days to get your fill.

Riding with cars, weaving through traffic, is a great bicycling
experience, Bill. I've even done it with a recumbent during summer
rush-hour in NYC, through Times Square and all! It's not dangerous at
all if you know how to ride a bike and not be distracted by imagined
fears.

I ride with the cars in my small town of about 30,000 and it isn't a
problem, but I have had bad car days in San Jose (Silicon valley), and
would not want to try a bike on most roads. That is one of the places in
this country where rush hour begins at 5:00 A.M. and ends at 11:00 P.M.

New York doesn't seem to be that different in terms of
population density, so is it ridable or what?

New York's got bike riding, Bill -- and honestly, you can even ride on
the sidewalks, for all the fascists around! Most cops would rather
chase robbers than bicyclists, and most New Yorkers are still
immigrant enough to recognize a bicycle when they see one, and not
mistake it for a "vehicle."

Just mind your speed, of course.

Sidewalks being illegal does not make much sense unless some hot shots
tried 20 MPH and actually caused accidents that got the law passed.
8 MPH on a sidewalk beats 20 MPH in traffic, for me, at least.
Bill Baka

Again, glad you're part of the Rebel Alliance, Bill! Yes, I think
5mph-8mph on the sidewalk with a bike isn't bad at all. Bicyclists
really ought to be more considerate, I agree, but to categorically
deny bikes sidewalk access is just ****ing fascist, and a remedy worse
than the problem it would solve.

More folks die from cars running onto sidewalks than from being run
down by bikes. Why not ban cars, for Muhammad's sake??

Makes sense to me. In the spirit of safety I might just nudge some hot
shot doing 20+ on the same sidewalk into a tree. OOOPS. His bad.
Bill Baka

On 17 Feb 2007, Prisoner at War wrote:

Seeing how he grew up middle-
class in Forest Hills,

Bloomberg grew up in the Boston area. Very much middle-class.

I'm sure he had a bike once.

We know he knows how to ride one. At one point he purchased a $550 mountain
bike. He promptly got hassled for spending so much on a bike. He then gave
it away. I don't think he ever rode it. Or maybe he rode it once.

One of the places he jets off to is his Bermuda house. It is possible he
has a bicycle to get around the neighborhood.

Don www.donwiss.com/joyrides (e-mail link at page bottom).

Don Wiss wrote:
On 17 Feb 2007, Prisoner at War wrote:

Seeing how he grew up middle-
class in Forest Hills,

Bloomberg grew up in the Boston area. Very much middle-class.

I'm sure he had a bike once.

We know he knows how to ride one. At one point he purchased a $550 mountain
bike. He promptly got hassled for spending so much on a bike. He then gave
it away. I don't think he ever rode it. Or maybe he rode it once.

Any politician worth a damn would have told them to eat **** because he
wasn't wasting the money on a limo and driver. $550 on a bike is less
than the car and driver for one day, most likely.

One of the places he jets off to is his Bermuda house. It is possible he
has a bicycle to get around the neighborhood.

Private jet??
Bill Baka

Don www.donwiss.com/joyrides (e-mail link at page bottom).

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:41:05 GMT, Bill Baka wrote:

One of the places he jets off to is his Bermuda house. It is possible he
has a bicycle to get around the neighborhood.

Private jet??

Yes. Bloomberg does all his flying on his private jet, at his own expense.
He only takes $1 a year in salary from the city. He is generally considered
to be worth $4 billion.

Don www.donwiss.com/joyrides (e-mail link at page bottom).

Don Wiss wrote:
On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:41:05 GMT, Bill Baka wrote:

One of the places he jets off to is his Bermuda house. It is possible he
has a bicycle to get around the neighborhood.
Private jet??

Yes. Bloomberg does all his flying on his private jet, at his own expense.
He only takes $1 a year in salary from the city. He is generally considered
to be worth $4 billion.

Don www.donwiss.com/joyrides (e-mail link at page bottom).

Then it doesn't make sense that someone would rag on him for buying a
$550 mountain bike. At that price it probably was NOT made in China and
might have been made in the USA. I would think he should have gotten a
cheer for not contributing money to China for junk metal with wheels.
?????
Bill Baka

On Feb 17, 8:59 pm, Bill Baka wrote:

What pedestrian lanes?

The ones he mentioned in his first post in this sub-thread (no. 19 in
the dejanews tree view today).

If they can get away with "I didn't see him." they can, especially if it
is after sunset.

We're talking about *legal rights* here.

I can coast down some hills at 50-55 MPH, and that is a vehicle speed.
No matter how hard I try, I can't run downhill at 55 MPH.

Bill the Human Bullet can shoot out of a canonball at 55mph and no
he's not a "vehicle."

Darwin applies. Like the fool who walked in front of a train while zoned
out to his I-Tunes. He cut himself out of the gene pool very
effectively.

Darwin's evolutionary theory isn't about gene pools -- results. It's
about process. People like to quote science for their silly little
arguments (like using animals to justify human behaviors) but they
often miss the subtlties of what they're citing.

Unfortunately it applies in reverse too, like the girl in
San Jose who ran down 4 legal cyclists with her Bronco while searching
for a tape on the passenger floor at 45 MPH. They had a bike lane.
She, and the logging trucks are reasons why I ride on the wrong side of
the road in some bicycle unfriendly areas. No bike lane or shoulder on
either side but usually a ditch to dive into for emergencies. One
section is cut out of rock and the only way to get past is to look for a
break of about 1/4 to 1/2 mile and then haul ass, uphill.
That could get a riding group sued if anyone actually planned a ride
through that pass.

Yes, going the wrong way individually would probably be regarded
differently than going the wrong way en masse.

That was the post, wasn't it?

What?

Bill Baka

On Feb 17, 8:45 pm, Bill Baka wrote:




I've read more than enough 'Lincoln', good and bad. Anyone who exercises
their 'right' to a lane in my part of California 'will' become a
statistic sooner or later if Jesus himself isn't sitting on his
shoulder. Logging trucks coming around a corner flatten first, then,
maybe, stop to see what the bump was. My riding is not for city sissies.
Bill Baka

LOL...well, I'll agree with that: folks think urban biking is
dangerous. Not so! I'd rather meet a semi in the crowded warrens of
Manhattan than in the middel of nowhere, with no speed bumps, traffic
lights, or witnesses.

On Feb 17, 9:03 pm, Bill Baka wrote:


babushkas...

Babushkas? I haven't heard that since my Polish aunt took me for a walk
through her Polish neighborhood and explained what all those head
scarves were called.
1953!

You sure it was Polish? That's supposed to be a Russian word, heh.

****. Time flies.
FWIW. Back then I could ride my bike on the sidewalk. There must be a
kids can, adults can't rule.
Bill Baka

It's so stupid. Mark my words -- the ****ing lawyers will have us
registering for license plates if the idiots who run bike clubs keep
acquiescing to all this stupid ideology about helmets and sidewalks
and bells. Can you believe it, I was kicked off a ride off for not
having a water bottle! Despite long rest stops every fifteen to
twenty miles. Of course, what the asshole really wanted to get me for
was not having my helmet on -- while I was off my bike, serving as a
drop!

I tell ya, the jerk lawyers I deal with even on weekends....

On Feb 17, 9:15 pm, Bill Baka wrote:
Prisoner at War wrote:


Guilliani must be the Governor that's in the news, then.

Hehe...so you're the Angry White Male that got all the Repugs in
office during the '90s, eh? Haw haw....

I was born there and I have and it is. If the wind is coming off the
lake it tames the hot days for a great ride. You can almost ride along
the lake all the way up into Wisconsin but there are a few 'iffy' places
where you probably don't want to get off the bike, much less leave it
unlocked. Near the museums is good riding. If you wind up inside a
museum plan on it taking at least 2 days to get your fill.

Yeah, I can't wait to check out Chicago...just wondering whether I
should bike there...but first, gotta do Philly! Oh, biking is so
funnnnnn...recumbents are so comffyyyyyyy....

I ride with the cars in my small town of about 30,000 and it isn't a
problem, but I have had bad car days in San Jose (Silicon valley), and
would not want to try a bike on most roads. That is one of the places in
this country where rush hour begins at 5:00 A.M. and ends at 11:00 P.M.

Yeah, out in Kalifornia it's the law to have a car, tsk tsk. But my
point is that rush hour should be all right, since traffic ain't none
too fast and all.

Makes sense to me. In the spirit of safety I might just nudge some hot
shot doing 20+ on the same sidewalk into a tree. OOOPS. His bad.
Bill Baka

Yep, I agree about that. I also think reckless drivers, particularly
drunks, ought to have their licenses *permanently* suspended, and
spend at least five years in prison for driving without a license at
all. People want to pick on bicyclists when of course the real
problem are those idiot drivers with their cell phones and martinis.