You Need to Purchase One - Today...

[coskigirl]

The scary thing is that while I'd like to believe that reporting these incidents and getting these drivers ticketed will make things safer, it really won't. Most likely all it will do is help us to avoid being blamed for an incident, perhaps causing a driver to be ticketed and held financially responsible for our injuries. In the best of the worst (or best of the worst?) cases it might give our families some financial support if we are killed by one of these idiots.

Some days I wonder if it's worth it but then I get on my bike and I know that I love riding enough to take the risk. I'm not a mother so maybe I'd think otherwise if I had a child relying on me. For now the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

[Eleeski]

@coskigirl You are probably right about the cameras not having an effect on safety. But if we keep riding, it does get safer. Bike friendly places like Palo Alto and Portland have much better safety statistics for cyclists because people see and interact with cyclists and are used to dealing with them. San Diego has become much more bike friendly - and my personal experiences riding to the office are better.

Regarding your kids comment, we caught a lot of flak for letting (encouraging) our kids to ride the 20 minute ride (at peloton pace) to school. They survived. Life is richer if you don't let fear keep you from what you like.

Eric

 

[oldschoolskier]

I just erased my rant about bad cyclists.

It is a shame though that we must pass laws to ensure driver respect, but don’t give drivers a reason to not respect you. Share and respect must go both ways.

It is a losing proposition.

 

[coskigirl]

@coskigirl You are probably right about the cameras not having an effect on safety. But if we keep riding, it does get safer. Bike friendly places like Palo Alto and Portland have much better safety statistics for cyclists because people see and interact with cyclists and are used to dealing with them. San Diego has become much more bike friendly - and my personal experiences riding to the office are better.

Regarding your kids comment, we caught a lot of flak for letting (encouraging) our kids to ride the 20 minute ride (at peloton pace) to school. They survived. Life is richer if you don't let fear keep you from what you like.

Eric

I really try not to judge how people raise their children and I wouldn't have had even a second thought about it. Just last week I had a peloton of Boulder Junior Cycling pass me while I was unloading my mountain bike from the car to start a ride on a trail. All polite and their coach said hello to me. My only thought was "I wish I'd been able to start really cycling at their age!" My comment was more about whether I'd be willing to risk leaving my own kids without a mother. I really don't know, because I'm not in the situation. I probably would still ride but I can't say for sure.

I just erased my rant about bad cyclists.

It is a shame though that we must pass laws to ensure driver respect, but don’t give drivers a reason to not respect you. Share and respect must go both ways.

It is a losing proposition.

I agree, bad cyclists certainly play a role in how drivers react to all cyclists. I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to rant at cyclists behaving poorly. The city of Boulder seems to have it even worse than where I am in the county with both self-important cyclists and college kids who I assume are just clueless. My situation yesterday was an issue with clipping in which caused a momentary lull in my forward progress and causing a slight movement to the right which apparently made her think she should just pass me. Even if she had waited behind me she would have made it through the light. There was no reason to put me in that position.

Another issue I run into is drivers being too polite and cautious either waving me to go against traffic rules which depending on the number of vehicles and cyclists in the area can create confusion or I'm often using my stop sign to grab a drink of water or adjust something and I don't want to go yet and really wish they wouldn't have stopped where they don't have to. Or those that hang just off my tail being overly cautious on their pass so I am not sure if they are just being cautious or if they are about to haze me or do something else scary.

On a better note, I had an experience last year or the year before where I was stopped in the bike lane at a red light. A pickup truck pulled up next to me (and I tend to be more nervous about trucks) and the rear window went down. I was totally expecting either someone to make rude remarks or to throw something at me. Instead a teenage girl sitting next to 2 teenage boys said good morning and asked how my day was going. She probably has no idea that it not only made my day but every time I go through that intersection I think of her and am reminded of the kindness of strangers.

 

[martyg]

I really try not to judge how people raise their children and I wouldn't have had even a second thought about it. Just last week I had a peloton of Boulder Junior Cycling pass me while I was unloading my mountain bike from the car to start a ride on a trail. All polite and their coach said hello to me. My only thought was "I wish I'd been able to start really cycling at their age!" My comment was more about whether I'd be willing to risk leaving my own kids without a mother. I really don't know, because I'm not in the situation. I probably would still ride but I can't say for sure.



I agree, bad cyclists certainly play a role in how drivers react to all cyclists. I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to rant at cyclists behaving poorly. The city of Boulder seems to have it even worse than where I am in the county with both self-important cyclists and college kids who I assume are just clueless. My situation yesterday was an issue with clipping in which caused a momentary lull in my forward progress and causing a slight movement to the right which apparently made her think she should just pass me. Even if she had waited behind me she would have made it through the light. There was no reason to put me in that position.

Another issue I run into is drivers being too polite and cautious either waving me to go against traffic rules which depending on the number of vehicles and cyclists in the area can create confusion or I'm often using my stop sign to grab a drink of water or adjust something and I don't want to go yet and really wish they wouldn't have stopped where they don't have to. Or those that hang just off my tail being overly cautious on their pass so I am not sure if they are just being cautious or if they are about to haze me or do something else scary.

On a better note, I had an experience last year or the year before where I was stopped in the bike lane at a red light. A pickup truck pulled up next to me (and I tend to be more nervous about trucks) and the rear window went down. I was totally expecting either someone to make rude remarks or to throw something at me. Instead a teenage girl sitting next to 2 teenage boys said good morning and asked how my day was going. She probably has no idea that it not only made my day but every time I go through that intersection I think of her and am reminded of the kindness of strangers.

Some people, on road and mtn, just act like dicks. One of the little things that I do is go out of my way to wave to motorists when on the road. On trails I always yield to hikers, pet their dogs, and wish them a good day.

We, as cyclists, also have to take some degree of responsibility as to how others view us as a group. Whenever we are out riding we have the opportunity to make an impact - positive or negative.

Hit me up if anyone is coming to Durango. IHBC this weekend - big event.

 

[coskigirl]

Some people, on road and mtn, just act like dicks. One of the little things that I do is go out of my way to wave to motorists when on the road. On trails I always yield to hikers, pet their dogs, and wish them a good day.

We, as cyclists, also have to take some degree of responsibility as to how others view us as a group. Whenever we are out riding we have the opportunity to make an impact - positive or negative.

Hit me up if anyone is coming to Durango. IHBC this weekend - big event.

Completely agree! When hikers yield and go into the vegetation when out on the mountain bike I always try to comment that they didn't need to do that but thank them. If I can offset some of the jerks it makes for a better experience for both the hikers and me.

 

[oldschoolskier]

@coskigirl @martyg, well said and observed.