(okay, cyclist, etc., you know what i mean.)
I drove my car this weekend for the first time in a while to visit my folks. I didn't get too far before I had to make a somewhat sudden stop in my vehicle. I immediately reacted by signaling "slow" with my left hand down. My hand of course collided into the seat, and then I realized what I did. And then I laughed.
... i'd be amused to hear of similar such indications others might have had in this vein. You know you're a biker when...
heh, yeah I often find myself driving like I ride my bike. There are these vertical drain grates in the driveway up to my work building. On my bike I make sure to cross them diagonally. Of course in my car they don't matter at all, but I still find myself watching out for them and trying to cross them at an angle as if my car tires could fall through.
You know you are a cyclists when you are eyeing up the 4 feet of space between parked cars and stopped traffic.
(You know you know Stef when you ask anyone spinning something if they "know stef?")
Finding yourself leaning forward and breathing heavy while driving up hills.
To park in front of my house facing the correct direction (it is important to me, even if nobody else on the block does it) I need to drive straight up a big hill, make a right, go down the hill, make another right and park, essentially go around the block. Of course on my bike, I just bike the most direct route up a slightly smaller hill and make a "left" into my front yard. 9/10 times I end up on biker-auto-pilot driving the bike way, and have to either turn around, or park on the far side of the street.
What is even worse is walking through the hospital on my way to lunch. When I'm coming to a busy 4-way intersection I always have this overwhelming urge to throw up a signal to let everyone know I'm going left. I've never actually done it though.
You know you're a biker when every light colored pair of pants you own has a chain-shaped oil stain on the cuff.
The last one of these I got when I was taking a bike off the front of a bus one day, and for whatever reason, had the chain facing me.
love the topic.
i hardly drive any more, but sometimes i drive my gf's car, and oftentimes i give her directions, since she's really bad at finding her way around. i find myself taking and directing her to take routes that i chose for their suitability for biking purposes. for example, i always seem to think the fastest way to the strip is melwood/gold way/melwood and down either herron or brereton. and the best way out of town almost certainly includes a dirty dozen hill.
i also find myself doing these sorts of things when i'm walking. for example, i might be walking down a sidewalk, and have to move over to avoid an obstacle, and even though i walk faster than just about everyone else, i always find myself glancing behind me to make sure no one's coming up. perfectly reasonable on a bike in automobile traffic, but it serves no purpose as a pedestrian.
When I run, I really wish more bikers, bladers, and pedestrians would glance back before making a sudden move.
"Pothole!"
"Slowing..."
Both phrases that came out of my mouth whilst driving home yesterday. Thankfully, no one else was in the car.
I drove to the grocery store this weekend for the first time since attempting to give up the car (the boyfriend doesn't have a bike and had to go too). I started in produce, and eyed it up in terms of weight and what wouldn't get crushed, then remembered that I had a car and gleefully filled the cart with all the heavy stone fruits and melons I would normally avoid in such quantity. I forgot again halfway through and tried to talk the boyfriend out of buying an extra coconut milk thing (it's on sale) because it was "too heavy to lug up the hill". That got me a hug and a pat on the head, he's so patient with me.
And I'm new at this, too. I'm guessing it gets worse.
My dad was learning to drive from his father when he was 16 and had the darndest time steering - it took him a few trips to realize that the steering wheel is much more effective at changing the course of the car than leaning. So it's genetic.
When I run, I really wish more bikers, bladers, and pedestrians would glance back before making a sudden move.
And, as a ped, you never can be sure that some 3456 isn't riding his bike on the sidewalk.
On topic: when you have a tan line just above your knee. In December.
brown arms white hands
When I drive a car, I always take forever to park--I want to get the angle just right and I don't get that much practice.
When I'm pushing a supermarket cart, I move my thumb as if to ring my bell to say hello to someone I know, but there is, of course, no bell mounted on the handle of the cart.
If people (who will be driving a car) need directions, I will instinctively avoid routing them on Bigelow Boulevard or other such roads which are nasty for bikes but designed for automotive traffic.
My biking mindset probably also makes me drive more efficiently, accelerating and decelerating slowly, sometimes avoiding a complete stop by watching the cross-direction traffic signal.
The other day, someone asked me how to get to Ohiopyle. I told them. Then they explained that they were driving, and I realized that I have no idea how to get there by car.
backs of your legs, nice and tan/freckled/burnt/etc. front, pale as a ghost.
i used to give my stef (b) directions for how to get places in and around downtown only to realize i was giving her directions based on messengering there in the 90s, complete with no longer used building names and telling her to go the wrong way down one ways and in the bus lanes. i'm mostly better now.
The other day, someone asked me how to get to Ohiopyle. I told them. Then they explained that they were driving, and I realized that I have no idea how to get there by car.
+1. I've done similar things driving in town, where I head towards the river, only to realize that my Subaru is not going to fit around the Ft. Duquesne switchbacks. Bit embarrassing, that.
After avoiding cars for 3 months, you decide that it is probably all right to occasionally go places in a car - but then you don't get the opportunity for another month (or two).
You don't consider Smithfield a bus lane
"You don't consider Smithfield a bus lane"
Hahaha, a bit off topic but, About a month ago i was riding down Smithfield from 6th on my way to SS and a cop flew up behind me and did the annoying noise they do when blowing through intersections so i pulled over and he said "You're not a bus, you can't be in the bus lane!" I laughed and asked him why he was in the bus lane..He wasn't impressed.
Also, you know you're a biker when you check out passing cyclists/bike riders setups just as a car junkie would.My girlfriend is used to it now as i do it with cars and bikes..Haha.
The other day I caught myself looking at the 4-way walk signals (which I ride through, politely and under control), then realizing I couldn't use them in my car.
Trying to give someone directions from Sahside to DuquesneU, using 10th St Bridge. I -almost- gave them instructions in climbing the 210 steps (which I have carried the bike up), then reconsidered when I realized they planned to drive there.
when the only parking tickets you get are the result of forgetting to move your car to the other side of the street for street cleaning... and then not realizing it until its time to pay double 
...when you know people's bikes before knowing the people.
...when you are actually driving a car, you do the speed limit
@erok YES! i get more flack when i drive than when i ride these days for exactly that reason.
/ thought i was logged into my account. oops.
stef does drive like a little old lady though...
"You don't consider Smithfield a bus lane"
Haha very true 
...when you spend all day at work looking forward to your commute home.
@saltm513: ugh, same here on the parking ticket situation! I keep meaning to put a repeat reminder in my calendar.
when you grab your helmet and get in the drivers seat (did this today).
even so, it might not be that bad an idea.
you get lunch with a friend and she has to wipe grease and dirt off your face from locking your bike to a pole.
Biggest problem is my behavior at intersections: I approach them slowly, conserving momentum in case there's nobody coming so I can hammer thru that badbo...oops!
I've caught myself getting ready to jet at intersections time and again. It actually scares me a little.
Also, I get impatient with cyclists on the road, still can't get my head around that one!
Biggest problem is my behavior at intersections: I approach them slowly, conserving momentum in case there's nobody coming so I can hammer thru that badbo...woopsie!
I've caught myself getting ready to jet at intersections time and again. It actually scares me a little.
Also, I get impatient with cyclists on the road, still can't get my head around that one!
@Saltm - When you grab your helmet and get in the drivers seat (did this today). even so, it might not be that bad an idea.
1) Hour by hour (but not mile per mile), you have more chance of a serious head injury leading to death in a car than on a bike. 2) It's been shown scientifically that helmets for drivers do save lives. Not so for bikes.
I hate it when a person who always drives a car show "concern" for my safety in a way that portrays them as a adult and me as something else.
Sometimes I point out these facts to them. Sometimes I point out how unlikely it is that I'll kills innocent children on my bike.
Mostly I just rant "You're driving a car and you are talking to me about safety? A CAR? WTF?" In any case, I rarely let it pass.
...when your conversations quickly turn into "best route from a to b" arguments
when the only parking tickets you get are the result of forgetting to move your car to the other side of the street for street cleaning... and then not realizing it until its time to pay double
Had quite a few of these. Now we own a house with a garage.
...when you are actually driving a car, you do the speed limit
So true.
Today, while on the effin' BUS, we came up to an intersection where I always turn left while biking, which, in pavlovian fashion initiated my arm into motion. However instead of throwing the "left turn" handsignal I would do on my bike, I reached for the "stop requested" cord! WTF?
...when you go to other cities on vacation, you take photos of bike lanes
maybe that's just "you know you're a Pittsburgh biker when..."
erok,
I was in SF last weekend for the first time and couldn't keep my jaw off the ground after seeing how many friggin cyclists there are there. On-street car parking spaces repurposed as bike rack spaces? amazing!
But, pretty much every person I visited with out there lamented at how many of the bikers act like idiots. This was confirmed when I saw a helmetless cyclist texting while riding down the crowded bikelane.
you say "nice rack" and mean it differently than how it's usually said. this happened to me at giant eagle yesterday morning.
I got really excited when a cute boy was eyeing up my bike yesterday.
When Snowmageddeon hit and there was three feet of snow on the ground, I checked the PennDOT webcam site to see if the Eliza Furnace Trail was passable for my commute. And when it wasn't I parked at the Swineburne Street lot and walked the rest of the way in to town.
... when you have grease marks on the back of your legs and don't realize nor care much...
Lately I seem to have grease marks all the time, and usually don't realize it until I notice black smudges on my sofa
...when the right cuff of all your pant legs are torn up, but the left side looks new.
I always seem to have perfect chainring prints on most of my shorts. Probably from flipping the bike over, changing tires or whatever. I also don't care. It looks kind of cool.
I sometimes catch myself trying to check my Take-a-Look rear view mirror while walking down the street. Except that I only use it on my cycling glasses.
I sometimes catch myself trying to check my Take-a-Look rear view mirror while walking down the street
Me too, especially when pushing a stroller on the trail.
Come to think of it, a mirror on the stroller wouldn't be entirely amiss...
+1 on every pair of pants having a chainring print on the right leg.
Also when every pair of pants has a big faded print of a bike saddle on the ass.
Once a fellow cyclist and I were driving in my car to my house and as we approached a set of tracks without saying a word we both posted up to unweight the car as we crossed the tracks. Of course we both did it in jest and not out of habit but it was hilarious.
This is totally sexist, flame me if necesary, but...
when you find attractive women with flabby underdeveloped leg muscles completely uninteresting.
Chainring prints are all good until you embed a ring in your flesh, which I've managed to do twice in the past year... ugh, maybe I'm just clumsy.
@ Salty - My friend, Steve, had a chainring tattoo in his calf that lasted from 7th grade to 11th grade.
I have a decent 2 inch or so chainring scar on my calf since I was around 14 or so. Sucks stomping down and not having a pedal there.
if i ever get an actual tattoo, it would likely be a black chainring print on the inside of my right calf.
right now, i have 5 little holes from a chainring on the outside of my right calf. huh?
It seems to mainly happen to me when I'm trying to either back up or pick the bike up and turn in place while still standing over it.
Last time I did the latter, I'm not sure exactly how (I was in a hurry, of course) but I more or less put the bike down on my ankle and may have helped it along by sitting on the seat. It was nasty, thankfully it was only 2 teeth or I may have been headed to the hospital.
My theory is I'm used to a MTB, but now that I have a road bike the reduced standover clearance forces my feet closer to the rings - so when I try to do crap like this I have less margin for error.
(non-related)
@salty ...... were you getting a growler at the EEB this past saturday? I think I saw you there but wasn't sure so I didn't said hi.
I sometimes get too excited when I pedal, and have had on-and-off holes from the chainring on my right calf.
haha, yeah - exact same situation, i thought it was you but wasn't sure (plus i'm much shyer in person than on the interwebs)... so, belated "hi", hope you enjoyed your beer - that place was a madhouse.
When Snowmageddeon hit and there was three feet of snow on the ground, I checked the PennDOT webcam site to see if the Eliza Furnace Trail was passable for my commute. And when it wasn't I parked at the Swineburne Street lot and walked the rest of the way in to town.
When Snowmageddon hit, I got up two hours early getting ready to ride my bike in to work.
These are the tires on the bike I was using:
This was the result:
I made it about 500 feet when I realized that I had to turn around. Ended up walking to a coworker's house to hitch a ride. Then I got sent home from work because we ended up closing for the day.
"When Snowmageddon hit, I got up two hours early getting ready to ride my bike in to work."
Most of my two hours was spent shoveling my wife's car out so she could drive in, but I made it all week with my Nokian Extreme 29ers. I didn't have to work on Saturday or Sunday, though, so I had a couple of days to let things settle out before I hit the roads. Would've been great to have a set of Endomorphs and lots of chainstay clearance...
People I know use Snowmageddon as a reason I can't give up my car (why they're so attached to one of my possessions I have no idea), so I point them here:
http://cycleandstyle.com/2010/02/iditarod-on-a-snow-bike/
I point out I'm not trying to do that, and that my stuck car and overwhelmed municipality trapped me in my house for two weeks ANYWAY. A bike might have allowed me to get to work when the car was stuck.
People I know use Snowmageddon as a reason I can't give up my car (why they're so attached to one of my possessions I have no idea)
Even one person doing giving up the car contradicts their world view, causing cognitive dissonance.
"You can't live like that."
People I know use Snowmageddon as a reason I can't give up my car
Ah, yes, Snowmageddon, when all the roads were cleared immediately and everyone's car was completely accessible, definitely not packed under two feet of snow. Right?
Snowmageddon, I remember quite clearly, was when being a pedestrian was your best bet. I covered a lot of ground by bike and with some old cross-country skis.
I saw a number of cars that were never dug out until the snow melted, probably a month long all told.
Two thoughts:
1. Maybe that will prove to have been an eye-opening experience for the owners: they got along pretty well without a car for a whole month. Maybe they could go longer at it.
2. If I owned a car and paid to insure it, and it didn't move for a whole month (such as, February 5 to March 5, 2010), I'd see if I could get my insurance money back.
the way I see it, I won't need to learn to drive until I move back home, and that would only be for groceries and stuff (I plan on opening a restaurant back home, and I'd have to drive out to local businesses/farms to pick up product). Until then, if I need to get to work and can't take my bike, I know people who drive. I can also walk. There are buses. It's not necessary for others to give their cars up, it's just that I don't feel that I need one.
I used to get a similar when I didn't have a bank account. I lived as a fully functional member of society for two years with no ties to any banks. I felt like I didn't need it, but people never understood how I could do it.
back when i worked at triangle we pretty much all cashed our paychecks at schwartz market. i would say the majority of us didn't have cars, bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, insurance, etc. as a group we were pretty off the grid. hell i didn't even have a lease or utility bills. there was a good three year or so period where i might as well have not existed electronically, the only record was my tax return. on new years eve 2000 i was cheering for y2k and very disappointed when it failed to happen.
Rubberfactory, sounds like you have a cool plan. When you open your business you could get one of these and technically you would still not be driving a "car";
When you can say "gnats are just extra protein".
Thanks, ewjme!
when all of your flats start to look the same...
and i just got another dang parking ticket!!!
Ieverhart If I owned a car and paid to insure it, and it didn't move for a whole month (such as, February 5 to March 5, 2010), I'd see if I could get my insurance money back.
I inherited a car once. Sitting unmoved for a month so was standard operating procedure. It's doubtful that I could have gotten any refunds from an insurance comapany.
It would be like asking your health insurance company to refund you your share of the fortune they spent opposing Obama's healthcare plan.
A truly nice idea, sure. It ain't gonna happen.
FWIW, when I did have four cars (1989-92), I was able to finagle a cheap rate on two of them because I was driving them < 6,000 miles a year. Ignoring the fact that home->work was 24 miles, I could honestly say I had a < 3-mile commute, and so qualified for a discount. I'd started riding buses and commuted 2.8 miles from a park & ride to work (same spot ejwme was working until recently).
Most insurance companies will let you not insure your car for a period of time (i.e. if you garage it all winter). But, of course you have to do that in advance - they're certainly not going to refund your money after the fact.
What Stu said is also true - your rate definitely depends on your commute distance and/or yearly mileage. Although I still pay way too much for the two cars I own and almost never drive - I think it works out to almost 25 cents a mile. Geez, I should get zipcar.
If you cancel your insurance, and then start it up again, you may not get all the discounts.
We had to prove we had prior, continuous insurance coverage for the past X years to qualify for a discount when we changed companies.
You know you're a biker when you come in from a ride in the rain on one of the fenderless bikes, and your daughter says to you "Looks like you were hanging upside down and, um, had an accident."
(Yeah, same daughter who rode in the Flock ride the other night!)
Driving east on Water Street through South Side Works, about to turn left onto the Hot Metal Bridge and... OMG!!! how the h*&$ is this car going to fit onto the on-ramp to the walkway??
The moment passes...
Biking through the strip this morning, I saw RubberFactory's SuperBlue bike parked outside of her bakery. It was like seeing a celebrity.
Members of RubberFactory's fan club.
haha, I now always wonder if the people I see on bikes are people I see posting here. I know that (obviously) some are, but I'm always thinking "HEY I KNOW THIS oh nevermind that's someone else."
Since I work right in the front window of Mancini's, I get to people-watch a lot, and there's tons of bikes each morning. Noah, which one are you?
My favorite bike that I see every day is the one with the smaller back tire and the 2 ft-long wooden pannier. I"m so jealous of that guy.
pink & black striped bike... blue helmet... black milk crate on back, not wooden though
as i rode past and realized you worked at mancini's, i decided i had to ask... they use lard in the bread don't they?
yes, it's listed in the ingredients on the plastic bags. The Multigrain is vegetarian, and on fridays and saturdays, we have foccacia (vegetarian) and Ciabatta (vegan-friendly).
You'll also see bikes from my coworkers, the dude at prestogeorge, and a few kids from Peppi's parked on the other side of the street (because the Wholeys won't let us park on our side of the street. This isn't the worst they could do, but I could go on and on about the Wholeys).
how can you make non-vegan french bread? or any lean dough?
"I don't know, I just work here."
Pretty much my only bread experiences have been working at mancini's, and a few here and there at school. I've made french bread with egg whites in it, but I can't say how traditional it actually is.
pain peint?
"There is NO blue food!" --George Carlin
we were in the bikepgh office and saw your blue bike on the front of a bus once. someone shouted "look - it's the blue bike from the messageboard!"
i don't think we would of gotten that excited if brad pitt walked by. well maybe.
You know you're a biker when you look at a bike-unfriendly business or employer and say to yourself (if not someone who actually works there), What this place really needs is a bike rack, maybe a bike corral. Or some other sort of bike infrastructure (cameras, actual security, removal of a stupid policy, etc.).
or if for every new place you go, you assess how bike friendly it is.
I met a friend for lunch today. I arrived first and got a table. He arrived second and got a second table. I realized this and we got together. I said, "How could you not know I'm here? My bike is right out front." He said, "How would I know that's your bike?" Biker: looks at bikes, knows who is inside. Non-biker: looks at bikes, doesn't know who is inside.
Haha, imagine, there's enough cyclists in Pittsburgh that your friend doesn't automatically assume that the bike must be yours! That's new...
Lyle's right, but more it's a training-the-non-bikers issue. If you'd driven your car there (assuming you have one), there are a bazillion cars all around and a couple dozen in the lot, but in a glance he'd know you're there because he'd recognize it; i.e., he didn't say "How would I know that's your car?"
"we were in the bikepgh office and saw your blue bike on the front of a bus once. someone shouted "look - it's the blue bike from the messageboard!"
i don't think we would of gotten that excited if brad pitt walked by. well maybe."
yeah, I love taking the 54C around to South side from the strip. It was probably the week I was having tire trouble and ended up at Thick every single day.
to get even more off topic, I just wanted to say that I'm most likely moving to Lawrenceville (and more importantly, away from E Carson st) in November when my lease it up! I'll probably see more of you around then
Aaannnnnd back on topic, today, I locked up my bike outside South Side Giant Eagle and went inside to shop a bit. When I came outside, I walked over to the bike racks and stopped dead in my tracks and my jaw dropped. Someone who saw me would have thought I walked out to see that my bike was stolen, but my reaction was caused by what was IMO the most beautiful bike I'd ever seen. Sea foam green, perfect shape and build, I was gawking at it as though it was a hot boy.
OT, but I twice this week I had really positive experiences arriving someplace and discovering that I couldn't lock up my bike nearby. Why is that positive? Because both places had bike racks, and they were *full*. 20 years ago, when I moved to Pittsburgh, that Just Didn't Happen.
heh. today i went to the 9th & penn parking garage to park and freaked 'cause each 3 rivers rack had a bike... and those racks aren't particularly conducive to pairing up, at least if one is using a mini-ulock and has to sidle up right against the rack
I find that when I ride my bike to work I spend the day thinking about the ride home more than about what im supposed to be working on.
You know you're a biker when your opinion of cobblestone roads has evolved from "oooh, quaint" to "biblical anger"
Don't worry, at some point that evolves into "wheeeeeeee".
+1 salty.
speaking of that, will there be a 2010 edition of the pittsburgh roubaix, does anyone know?
+2
i aim for the cobbles. this causes much anger from my wife who is scared of them still.
Don't worry, at some point that evolves into "wheeeeeeee".
... still waiting.
I hate going up cobbles (it just makes difficult hills like 20 times harder) but going down cobbles... I admit I am a complete child and have to make sounds to hear my voice go all bumbly with the bumps. Usually a semi descrete "uu.uu.uu.uu.uuh" but sometimes I get more creative, and have been laughed at by pedestrians I didn't see. I'm also a little afraid of them, I can't really reconcile the two emotions, nor do I feel the need to.
ej, yes! I was trying to figure out how to represent the uu.uuu.uu sound in print! Ha! I get almost dissapointed when the cobbles don't do a good enough job. Thanks!
I was looking through pictures from the beginning of summer, and found these, and they made me really happy
Ah, my old bike. the red one with the cable lock that weighed a ton and was too big for me.
an overflowing bike rack is so bittersweet.
Not seeing a LOT of overflowing racks downtown thsi week. Numbers actually appear to be down since June (at the racks). Doesn't help that the PNC Plaza (Wood at Oliver) is underconstruction, and the usually overflowing racks have been moved to Liberty Avenue, where they are much less utilized (usually overflowing with 16+, now averaging 3 or 4). This morning, found one bike in the Smithfield PPA garage portico due to construction, down from 11 there earlier this week. Haven't figured out where they all are now. Also, watched a woman locking a third bike to a Three Rivers rack outside the Regional Enterprise Tower. She said she knew the person who owned the bike she was "locking in" so it was ok....Triple locking at a Three Rivers Rack because all other options are full is great -- on some level(s).
The weather forecast may have scared people off today; or maybe it's just that "summer is over".
The last three times I was in a bike shop, I saw people buying bikes "to ride around, wherever", but they didn't have fenders on them. Always makes me a little sad, feels like watching someone buy a convertible without a roof.
Those photos show exactly what is wrong with that style of rack!
did you ever notice that water (or whatever your beverage of choice when commuting may be) tastes a lot better when it's refrigerated by the cold air and wind, than it does when you put it in the refrigerator? I noticed this on some of the above freezing days this week, when I threw my water bottle in the fridge. Took a drink, and thought, "I kind of miss the 5 degree weather from the other day..."
RF, I just noticed that in the middle photo of the bike-rack sequence above, the bike to the right of your old red one - with the helmet on the seat - is mine! Gabe takes it down to AIP fairly often.
You know you're a cyclist when you laugh at someone who asks if they can validate your parking. (I do this at Right by Nature all the time, and then have to immediately apologize since all their employees are so nice.)
does calling for curb side pick up count as odd?
What kind of car will you be driving? um... a no door dark blue SUV
You know you're a cyclist when you laugh at someone who asks if they can validate your parking. (I do this at Right by Nature all the time, and then have to immediately apologize since all their employees are so nice.)
I wish there were more cash-out parking facilities. Sigh.
You know you're a biker when you find it necessary to comment on someone's Facebook post lamenting that winter is so horrible and they can't wait for it to be warmer so they can get back on the bicycle. After just having come in from a 22-mile ride in slush.
You know you're a biker when you find yourself saying "I had to drive on Thursday...".
