BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

i had adjusted my brakes & went out for a quick sping, while i was waiting for lights i was passed by atleast 6 differnt maroons rolling ninja-mode. this may be an ugly fall season.

Traffic has just been bad this past week in general. Clueless people doing stupid things on the road. I hate the end of August. I commuted twice this week and both times nearly got left hooked.

everyone please be safe out there!

The Cyclist's Prayer

Lord, I am a cyclist.

Hear me pray.

I am just a lowly cyclist

I have freakishly big legs and no chest

But Lord please hear my prayer

I have a few requests

Let us pray

I. O Lord give me fitness

For getting up the hills

I don't know why I haven't gotten faster

With my new bike, heart monitor and magic pills

I know what need to work on

It's my sprinting, (and climbing, flats and downhills), I hear

I promise I'll start training

I promise, for sure, next year

Let us pray

II. O Lord grant me harmony

With my significant other

Those personal relationships

can really be quite a bother

while I understand the problem

it should never interfere

with what we all know is important:

riding, racing, and gear.

(For us single people:

Lord find me a (chick/guy) who rides

Who is hot, and faster than my ex

Or at least someone who'll let me take off riding

And come back and still get sex)

Let us pray

III. O Lord give me definition

In my calves and in my thighs

And grant me clearer vision

When lactic acid clouds my eyes

And for my eyes give me shades

That I wear even in dark weather

I give me lots of clingy lycra

(In fluorescent euro colours, I think it makes my butt look better)

Let us pray

IV. O Lord give me titanium

For the lightness that it brings

And carbon fiber, and 11 cogs

And new suspension fork springs

And disc brakes, and custom wheels

And two hundred dollar chainrings

And see me through my bankruptcy

When I buy too many things

Let us pray

V. And in conclusion, Lord please forgive me

When I'm dropped off the back or sucking wheel

Or when I crash in a stupid way

Like when I had that banana I was trying to peel

Or when I block people in the singletrack

(Is all that cursing for real?)

I'm trying. I'm getting better.

Now hurry up and give me a new bike.

Copyright 2001, The Cycling Source

Not cool. I feel like I'm reading the comments section of the PG.

With all the universities moving in at once, there's a lot of new cyclists in town, all with the casual invulnerability of youth.

@ bb you are right. And that is why (I think) efforts like http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/bicycle-commuting-101-event-for-college-students are very important. So I have an idea. How about similar classes (or whatever) for students of different universities and everyone who would like to attend under BikePGH supervisions. Member of BikePGH would provide experts and show/teach different techniques. Basically this littleyellow idea extended to higher level.

What was odd was he seemed to be with another rider who stopped behind the car at the light. He also had one light, a white blinky facing backwards. These things lead me to believe that he fully understand he was in the wrong.

So, how do/should you engage people who do thins like this?

Call them Lance?

@Marko or, just yell "doper!" at them. sort of the cyclist equivalent to mick's "drunkard!" for motorists

Ericf, that is the only prayer I will say.

This morning, I ran the red light at 40th and penn (I was heading inbound on penn). I simply underestimated my speed, and when the light turned yellow, I started to brake, but realized that by the time the light turned red and I came to a complete stop, I'd be dead center in the intersection. At that point, the safest thing for me to do was keep going, as the 40th st traffic was still not moving. I only tell this story to sort of get across that you never know what the person is thinking - the cars around me probably thought I was just a douchebag scofflaw who disregards the laws, but I was really thinking about what I did wrong and how I can avoid it next time. I usually try to give drivers the benefit of the doubt, as well, because of this (though some are simply jerks).

If you entered the intersection on yellow or nearly yellow you were fine in my opinion. Maybe pushing it but not breaking the intent of the law. The scofflaws are those who enter seconds after it turns red.

It had just turned red when I entered the intersection - I simply couldn't stop fast enough, so my only option was to run. Next time, I'll be moving a little slower so that it doesn't happen again.

Erica, with my collective experience with cycling, motorcycling, and driving, as well as all of the safety courses I have taken related to them, I can not reason a reasonable excuse for his riding.

The scenario could have been he saw red, looked both ways, didn't see anything and went. He didn't consider that just because your light is red it doesn't mean the opposing light is red as well.

It should also be mentioned that 5 years ago, that guy quiet possibly could have been me.

I don't want to sound like someone blaming cyclists for the problems, but I will be the first person to recognize that there is a problem on the "us" side. I will also be the one to stick my neck out and say that not much is really being done to combat it.

I have talked about these types of issues with several people and the general response is, "you can tell people to stop at lights, but if they want to run it they will."

I don't really accept that--it's a cop out.

I agree that there's a problem, and I was also a part of the problem when I first started biking. I would blow through signs and lights, ride on sidewalks, wore headphones and flip flops, and always felt dumb waiting through lights. A big part of what changed that for me were the times when I would ride around with co-workers, and while they don't follow the law perfectly, they were much safer than I was. If only it were more practical to have a buddy system of sorts, I think [hope] that instances of this would drop. I like to use peer pressure in a good way. If only it were easier to do so.

In the meantime, when I see cyclists obviously blowing through lights, I see if any drivers are paying attention, and I pull one of these:

Just as a way of saying, "Thankfully we're not all like that."