BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I'm outta town, otherwise would be stoked for this.

Last year this was the best day ever.

I think I can do it again. let me think about it. I wish they would announce the parking spot locations for a little more lead time.

Flock of Cycles will have a mini golf course on Forbes in Oakland.

I'd like to try. Do we have a general timefame?

last year the sites were mostly going down by 4 or 5, I think. Especially the ones downtown. So it was an afternoon ride. We started around 12 or 1 and ended at OTB. Does that sound right ejwme or anyone else who made it the whole ride?

hey guys,

Tree Pittsburgh will have a park, but we are only opening it in the early part of the day! We will be giving away coffee in front of 5427 Penn starting at 8am... um, you may say, why? Isn't there a coffeeshop across the street? But we wanted to give out something and well... they don't open til 9:30.......

some enjoy a cuppajoe in a mini tree nursery surrounded by young trees in the middle of penn ave. HOW IDYLLIC!

if you like facebook, we even made an event. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120525888047615

If someone plans a ride in the 11-2 range, I'm in.

I'll do it. I'll post more info on Monday. Stay tuned.

Bump for more info....

Tabby, that sounds like a good description of our ride. We said meet at BPGH spot at noon (12:30?), then tootled around hitting a fair number of them and ending at OTB, but we didn't end up completing the course until after 4:30 (the downtown ones were taken down, they end at like 4 or 4:30). I think we got to OTB for "dinner". It was a lot of fun. I'm out for injury this year.

Last year's Highlights:

- Theater on Penn where we got to sit, enjoy popcorn, and watch Real Life unfold on a stage.

- Glass blowing demonstrations (so shiny!)

- Tree Pgh gave away seeds to plant a tree (I think it was them, might have been Mattress Factory or something, or both, they were cool)

- Bathroom stop at Childrens Museum (who also had an awesome spot)

- OTB with the cycle powered water gun that shot into traffic (and remarkably irritated some drivers, I wonder how they deal with rain?)

One of the Best Days Ever, I agree with Edmonds. If the current weather holds, this year could be better than last

I started a new thread here: http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/parking-day-ride-2011-this-friday

I changed my original plan and will be leading a ride starting in Oakland, having a second meeting time in Downtown to catch up with more riders and will continue on to the South Side.

excellent highlights. I think the tree seeds were from the Andy Warhol or some conservancy group. I know it was on the North Side and everyone walking by was like, "what do you mean do I want seeds to plant a tree? I don't have a yard". And then we planted a seed through a fence in a grassy lot.

Surprisingly, none of those same sites are doing parking day this year. Tree Pgh is, but that is over in Garfield. I got a super cool t-shirt from them last year. oh, and OTB is too. I wonder if it will be the same set up. That was oddly angering to some drivers.

OTB was squirting cars?

yeah, they had bicycle powered lighted "walkway" along their parking space(s?), and a bicycle powered... I'm tempted to call it a water cannon, but it was more a super soaker kind of thing but you didn't have to pump (you could point it into traffic (or other locations) and it would drizzle on people's cars), and maybe there was another bike powered thing, I was too hungry/thirsty to notice much else. But yeah, some drivers were peeved at water hitting their cars. Water. Not vomit, urine, blood, chemicals, eggs, or anything else potentially hazardous or damaging, but water. Probably cleaner than rain.

But to clarify, OTB wasn't squirting cars. They provided the public access to a device that the public could then use to squirt water onto cars. And 99% of the public (including car drivers) thought it was the awesomest thing ever.*

*proven via very scientific survey of all the smiles I saw when I went in to get a beer. LOADS of smiles.

Meh, I would've been pissed too. The weather does dictate what vehicles people drive. If it were a hot day a small amount of water drizzled on the car could be water spots/etching in a matter of minutes and could require buffing to remove them.

I am willing to bet that the ones that did get pissed off have no real clue how to take care of their paint to begin with though, so they just found the first available outlet for some other frustration.

Now most people wouldn't care but I don't see how it can be positive for bicycle awareness and having drivers not mad at us.

Meh, I would've been pissed too. The weather does dictate what vehicles people drive. If it were a hot day a small amount of water drizzled on the car could be water spots/etching in a matter of minutes and could require buffing to remove them.

I am willing to bet that the ones that did get pissed off have no real clue how to take care of their paint to begin with though, so they just found the first available outlet for some other frustration.

Now most people wouldn't care but I don't see how it can be positive for bicycle awareness and having drivers not mad at us.

dah, you beat me to it.

Autoality Nick?

Yep. It took me a few months to figure out who you were. I don't know why the screen name didn't click before.

Honestly, I'm kind of taken aback that the weather could ever be factored into what someone drives on any given day. There are people that buy more than one car and will only drive certain ones in the rain? This has to only be an extremely small fraction of the population.

This has to only be an extremely small fraction of the population.

It's probably about the same size of the population that rides bikes regularly.

There are people that buy more than one car and will only drive certain ones in the rain?

Three+ cars per driveway is pretty common in the suburbs. I myself had a 4-car/3-driver household about 20 years ago. Some of these are antiques or classics, but there are several within a half mile with a late-model "nice-day car".

Ignoring those who have vehicles they don't drive in the rain, spraying water on someone car will cause damage. Some of us have thousands of dollars tied up in products to take care of the paint. A downpour cannot be avoided, someone playing with a hose can. A downpour is also better than a small spritz of water.

What do you do when someone in front of you has overactive washer jets? Or a stray sprinkler gets pointed toward the road? I see puddles on the road all the time when it hasn't been raining, from a variety of causes.

Once upon a time I had an expensive sports car. I drove it around in the rain with the top down, which was a lot of fun. Sometimes birds even pooped inside of it, and once or twice a bird even pooped on me, which I won't say was fun, but oh well. I guess you could say I can't relate.

Don't tailgate and drive around them.

I am far less meticulous now, but the point remains the same. Some things are just not cool, hosing down cars is one of them. The image alone, of cyclist hosing cars just seems bad.

If there was a guy in a truck driving around with a squirt gun hosing cyclists you better believe there would be 3 threads on it.

I am all about bikes and having fun, but squirting cars just builds more to the us v them sentiment.

Not to mention, if some liquid was sprayed on my car by people on the side of the road laughing, I don't know if I would necessarily know it was water.

The point is, treat others how you would like to be treated.

"F- 'Em If They Can't Take A Joke."

- J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

But that is not a joke.

I am a huge gearhead, but people who treat their cars (or motorcycles, or bikes) like some kind of religious artifacts annoy me. I used to get hours of enjoyment making fun of sportbike riders who spent more time polishing their bikes than learning to ride. But then again, I was one of the group. "Cyclists" spraying "cars", could send a bad p.r. message, I get that. But still, they're machines, not Faberge eggs, drive it or put it in a museum for goodness sake. Also, Rat rods rule.

It's always been my understanding that having a bird poop on you is good luck.

Not a religious artifact by any means, but I certainly don't want anyone else going out of their way to do anything to it.

So what would you do if someone, from a car, sprayed you with water? Not a lot, but right in the face.

Yes, unless I requested it, wouldn't like it, I understand that, wasn't really my point. And cyclists shouldn't spray cars, bad message, get that too.

My point is that the fetishization of mechanical objects, i.e. some anal retentive getting bent over some water droplets on a thing that is meant to function outdoors, is ridiculous.

Might as well get one of those really nice Kitchenaid stand mixers, put it on your counter, and never put a drop of food in it. Which, I know, people do.

I can't argue about how people use their possessions, but I get it.

I have seen people get bent out of shape over a Dewalt drill getting dirty, as well as a hammer getting cruddy.

Yes, if someone came into my garage and sprayed my Craftsman tool chest with water, I would be pissed, I was trying to think of an equivalent scenario, and that was it.

I kind of see it like ... ok, like the woman I saw in the grocery store tell her kid to put back a potato he'd picked because it was "dirty". No joke.

Spraying a liquid on someone's body or directly in their face is vastly different from spraying a liquid on an inanimate object designed to function in the great outdoors (where, on occasion, there is unpredictable liquid). Spraying only the bicycle would be a good example, but I usually aim for sprinklers and ask for a squirt when I'm riding.

Edmonds, there's a reason you store your tool chest in your garage and not on your porch, and you don't use your tools outside in the rain (or maybe you do, depending on the tool and your style). Now if someone came over and sprayed down your nice patio furniture with water, that's a better analogy. Even a table with a glass top, so, yes, when it dries, there's evidence it happened. Granted, people don't pay $20-40k for patio furniture, but that's a whole separate discussion.

That reminds me... the people that always claim that miniscule evidence of everyday use (such as waterspots) diminish the value of a vehicle over time seem to very often be the same people who don't actually own the vehicle for very long.

But even substituting any word up there for "vehicle" and I still won't understand it - I just don't think that way, it's not a bike/car thing. Cloth frays, knees get scarred, things show wear and tear. Without the markings of the passage of time, where's the proof you had any fun?

And getting angry over it to the point of a heated verbal altercation is really a perspective I just can't fathom.

I guess now-a-days if you are lucky enough to afford more than one car (or even one car), you can do what you want with it...

@ejwme: I agree.

alright people, this happened a year ago so can we let it go, please? if you want to see what OTB has set up for their parking space this year, come on the parking ride Friday! Go to the new parking thread for info and quit topping this one. thanxsomuch!!

Tabby, this is the internet--nothing ever goes away. ;P

ejwme, I'll have to disagree on your idea that overly-obsessive people don't keep cars very long. In my experience, the opposite is true. I know quite a few old guys who have classic motorcycles and cars that they have meticulously cared for over decades and decades, some of which are worth a notable amount of money because of this care. Now, is the use of time economical? Probably not, but that isn't to say there is something to be said about dedicated car care.

Edmonds, I am all about driving/riding the crap out of things. My CB350 gets about 1,100 mi/month (with hardly any trips over 20mi), and I've beat up on every car I've had. The thing is, that's my choice. If someone chooses to do the opposite, that's up to them. Do they deserve to be made fun of, sure. Do they deserve to have someone purposefully get in the way of their choice?

They aren't hurting anyone, and someone being anal retentive over there things doesn't affect you at all. If you want to be bothered by water spots, you have the right to. However, no one has the right to spray cars with water, as seemingly harmless as it may be.

If I still haven't won you over, consider that some of these people can probably be diagnosed obsessive-compulsive (not all, but certainly some--I spend a lot fo time with people like this). Isn't purposefully making them tick a bit cruel?

With that said, I make a living off these obsessive people, and even though I don't always agree with it, I respect it. Without this source of income, I probably wouldn't have the time I dedicate to bicycle advocacy--so, if you need a reason to lay off the obsessive car owners, use that.

That last paragraph is a pretty weak argument, if you replace "make a living off ... obsessive people" with "...robbing banks" or "...selling meth to school kids" would that be alright?

So, to recap:

Squirting someone with a squirt gun without their consent makes you an a-hole.

Getting completely bent out of shape about you or your posessions being squirted with water makes you an a-hole.

Is that about it?

Sorry, it was a [poorly executed] joke, but I really don't think obsessing over a car is the same as robbing a bank or selling meth...

I have plenty of characteristics that make me an ahole!

Nick, give me some of your business cards so I can hand out after I squirt people. (JOKING, not squirting anyone!)

But, I get your points.

@Ejwme: The issue comes down to mine and yours. I would mind if someone sprayed my bike, my car, my dog, or my guitar. Those are all items that could be seen on the street on a sunny day. Just because you may not mind if your bike/car/dog/guitar gets sprayed with what you feel is a harmless amount of water does not mean everyone else would't mind.

Let's ignore the damage factor and just consider respect for personal property. Rain cannot be controlled. If my car/bike/dog/guitar get wet because of the rain I can only be mad at myself. If someone hoses them down on a sunny day, it is on them.

For all we know the next driver to get sprayed might associate bicycle with being pissed off because someone sprayed their car and the next cyclist they see gets ran off the road, or worse.

Water. It's water.

If someone is going to associate bicycle>anger>gonna-run-me-over-a-cyclist, that person was just looking for a rationalization anyway.

My take-away is this: rainy day or not, if you don't want your car/beloved thing getting wet, leave it at home.

By the same token, spraying people that don't know they are going to be sprayed aint cool.

So if I were to stand in my yard and hose every cyclist and pedestrian? Should they should have expected it?

It is not your property.

@orionz - Perhaps you didn't read to the end of my post, so I'll cut and paste it here: "spraying people that don't know they are going to be sprayed aint cool."

I saw it. I agree.

I was kind of mixed after your first part (if you dont want it to get wet). Ultimately if it is that big of a deal leave it at home but I think it is more than reasonable to believe that people should leave other peoples property alone.

Agreed. But people are assholes. It's why we lock our doors at night and our bikes to parking meters. We are human, and we can't be trusted to do the right thing.

Exactly.

So there is a ride tomorrow...

I plan to be there. And I will not be dressed as a viking.