Road or Sidewalk?

In article ,
says...
(R15757) wrote in message ...
Frank Krygowski wrote in part:

IIRC, roughly half of serious bike accidents are the fault of the cyclist,
usually violating a very clear law...

I think you refer to car-bike collisions.

True. Sorry for the lack of precision.

But car-bike
collisions account for no more than 20% of all bicycle
accidents/injuries.

True. They're not extremely common.

The rest are what--wipeouts.
Wiping out on sand, potholes, ramming into curbs, et
cetera.

Yes. And running into other cyclists (as often as cars!) and hitting
loose dogs, etc. IOW, just simple little crashes.

And most of that wrecking is done by kids and beginners.

Sure. As it's always been, back into the 1890s.

When you start talking about experienced, adult
cyclists, it's a very different story. Experienced
cyclists are much less likely to wreck in the first
place,

... logically enough ...

but the likelihood that any particular wreck
will be a serious car-bike collision increases with
experience.

That's oddly phrased. To look at it another way: After (say) ten
years of cycling, an adult is much less likely to just lose his
balance, or slip on gravel, or get his shoelace caught in the chain,
or forget where his brake levers are, etc etc. So if he _does_ crash
(a rare event) it's more likely to be with a car. He's eliminated
most other crash sources.

He's also likely to be going faster than a less-experienced cyclist, so
any collisions will likely have more serious results as well.

.....

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On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:39:11 +0000, Claire Petersky wrote:

"maxo" wrote in message
news
The classic "pass" around here is the guy that MUST get past you because
you are a cyclist (!), then slows down and cuts you off making a right
turn. [slaps forehead and says duh...] I get a couple of these per day
even with my "assertive" style.

I had one of these Must Get Around Cyclist drivers yesterday -- a big black
Ford Imposition,

Are you sure it wasn't a GMC Denial? Or a Chevy Subhuman? I'm looking for
other catchy names too. He he.

or whatever those things are called. It just got around me,
and duh, there was a flagger -- why did the driver think I was slowing down?

I scootled around the hulking SUV, and chatted with the flagger. I mentioned
in a sort of jolly fashion that the driver of the car behind me nearly put
me into ditch so he could get up to the front first. All smiles, he said he
saw that behavior, and suggested that I go ahead of the vehicle to ensure
that he drove through the construction area at a safe enough pace, which I
did.


Excellent, and if he complains, tell him that you're playing "Indy" and
you're the "pace care". Oh, what fun!

Good on the flagger, though I hope he didn't **** the guy off, as
satisfying as that is, you've got the potential of creating an enemy out
of a simple adversary that way. :/ not good--I've done it many times
myself. Oh well. Resume riding ladies and gents, nothing to see...

(clip) You should never ever EVER ignore an asshole like that. Always
carry some rocks or something to throw at them.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh, yeah! I'm sure most conflicts could be resolved with a handful of
rocks, if people weren't so "ignorant."

Leo Lichtman wrote:
(clip) You should never ever EVER ignore an asshole like that. Always
carry some rocks or something to throw at them.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh, yeah! I'm sure most conflicts could be resolved with a handful of
rocks, if people weren't so "ignorant."

that's true. you'll need something much larger than a handful of rocks.
try, maybe, your u-bolt.
--
david reuteler

Badger_South wrote:

I'm trying, believe me. It's just that sometimes, being a noob at
street riding, it can be a little overwhelming.

Trouble with getting in and out of clips is that I keep looking down
and lose my bearing and swerve a bit.

This can definately be an issue. I do much better with SPDs. Have you tried
them?

Matt O.

In article ,
"Pete" wrote:

"Florence Henderson Had A Mullet" wrote

In the Cincinnati suburbs where the roads are horrid, riding on the
sidewalk is often the safest way.

Pray tell...what specific suburbs in Cincinnati? I ride here, and I've
never, ever, had reason to take to the sidewalk. Not once.

Cincy is no worse than many, many other places. Better than some.

Pete

I've done some riding in the Sprindale/Glendale area and it isn't too
bad. I've had a couple redneck encounters, but if I pick the right
roads (wide enough) I can get along. The worst part is the roads are
terrible - broken up pavement.

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 04:03:10 GMT, "Pete" said:

Pray tell...what specific suburbs in Cincinnati?

Villa Hills, Edgewood, and Delhi Township. Buttermilk Road in Crescent
Springs is one place where riding on the sidewalk makes a big
difference.

In article ,
Badger_South writes:

The key for me is that although it feels good, momentarily, to go for the
'revenge' angle, my conscience gets the better of me and I spend days
ruminating and worrying about consequences. Then I'd start thinking in an
empathetic way about the perp, and feeling bad about doing anything to
them.

I guess the ol' reptilian part of our brains generate our immediate
reactions, and then the cerebral cortex processes 'em later.
I imagine it's better than the other way around :-)

Best is to keep below the radar, and be smooth and silent and swoosh on by,
IMO.

And I say this as a guy who'd
rather fight at the drop of a hat...it's what I do - BJJ/Mauy Thai) ;-p

(Jeeze, can't believe I misspelled: it's Muay Thai.)

I can relate to the temptation to get a good, sporting li'l
mid-street, 2-man donnybrook going, but in the long run it's
not really very creative, constructive or productive. And
it might end up blocking traffic.

Besides, most of those blowhard drivers don't seem to want to
finish what they start; they prefer to cut 'n run. And I think
that's the key to dealing with these stupid little 'encounters'.
They're mostly just meaningless razmatazz. I theorize that when
they bug us, it's because we didn't get the chance to have the
last word. Or /any/ word, for that matter. But -- who really
wants to perpetuate razmatazz? So, like you say, "Best is to
keep below the radar, and be smooth and silent and swoosh on by."

In fact fantasize even more drastic things, but then blow it off.

Or just think about the scene in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' where
Gregory Peck just wipes the spit off his face.

Well, now, I don't know if I could follow my own advice in that scenario,
but, well, OK. ;-/

I just thought it might be more inspirational to think about
examples of other people's self control, than to indulge in
revenge fantasies about hurtin' people. The Cuba Missile Crisis
and when Saddam Scud'd Israel might offer some other examples.
As a virtuoso of denial, I just mostly think about nice stuff,
like how well my zinnias are coming along (which is excrutiatingly
slowly right now.)


cheers,
Tom

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On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 13:08:07 -0400, "Matt O'Toole"
wrote:

Badger_South wrote:

I'm trying, believe me. It's just that sometimes, being a noob at
street riding, it can be a little overwhelming.

Trouble with getting in and out of clips is that I keep looking down
and lose my bearing and swerve a bit.

This can definately be an issue. I do much better with SPDs. Have you tried
them?

Matt O.

I'll have to look that term up. If you mean special shoes and clips, nope,
I'm too chicken. Eventually, though I may get to that level.

I went out and practiced on the toeclips, and getting in and out and I'm
doing a -lot- better. Don't even have to look - just a glance down once I'm
in to get centered - I tend to get the left foot too far inboard and then
the shoe rubs the crank arm and I have to struggle a bit to get centered
even though the straps are loose. Shouldn't be long now, though...thx for
the help! ;-)

-B

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:22:57 -0700, (Tom Keats) wrote:

In article ,
Badger_South writes:

Besides, most of those blowhard drivers don't seem to want to
finish what they start; they prefer to cut 'n run. And I think
that's the key to dealing with these stupid little 'encounters'.
They're mostly just meaningless razmatazz. I theorize that when
they bug us, it's because we didn't get the chance to have the
last word. Or /any/ word, for that matter. But -- who really
wants to perpetuate razmatazz? So, like you say, "Best is to
keep below the radar, and be smooth and silent and swoosh on by."

The best solutions I've seen are

1. somehow bring them over to your side - maybe using humor, or a shared
event (great example was relating to 'America', or 'FDNY' after 9/11, with
a flag on the bike or a sticker. I've been thinking about handing out
business cards, with my name and website, and a 'promote biking - leave
more gas for the big SUVs' with a humorous smiley' or something. Anything
you can do to make yourself an individual. I like the grin and goofy waving
like you're hard of hearing, too.

Maybe a slogan on the back of the jersey to get 'em on your side or provoke
a laugh, like:

"my -other- bike is a chain-gun equipped Hummer firing spent Uranium
shells"

2. an act of mild civil disobedience - Claire's schtick of writing a
message in the dirt on the back window springs to mind. Maybe it would be
fun to have bumperstickers printed up and pull one out and slap it on the
SUV "this beast unfriendly (or friendly) to bikers". Of course this would
be if humor or personalization fails. It give you a vent, while not really
provoking the driver (who may not know you put a sticker on his car).

3. pulling out something that looks like a cellphone and mime-ing calling
the cops and pointing at the perp. That usually sobers 'em up quick. At
least they may think twice the next time.

4. writing down the license number (or pantomiming it), and then if the
behaviour is egregious, calling the cops and placing a complaint(*). Helps
to have witnesses - maybe a biking companion. Enough complaints against a
certain driver and the cops may go talk to him.

(*)(Funny how the cops will pull over a biker and 'talk to him' for going
around corners in a park too fast, but it takes an act of congress to get
'em to go talk to a 'bad' driver.)

In fact fantasize even more drastic things, but then blow it off.

Or just think about the scene in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' where
Gregory Peck just wipes the spit off his face.

Well, now, I don't know if I could follow my own advice in that scenario,
but, well, OK. ;-/

I just thought it might be more inspirational to think about
examples of other people's self control, than to indulge in
revenge fantasies about hurtin' people. The Cuba Missile Crisis
and when Saddam Scud'd Israel might offer some other examples.
As a virtuoso of denial, I just mostly think about nice stuff,
like how well my zinnias are coming along (which is excrutiatingly
slowly right now.)

Heh-heh. Good one. If you can think 'big picture' it can help defuse your
immediate gut response. That's the main thing. Don't mess up your adrenal
system and the rest of your ride. One thing I do is use the 'anger' to
motivate me to do an extra lap of my route. That'll show 'em, eh? g

-B


cheers,
Tom