riding through busy streets with cars and other bicyclists around them. idiots?

i feel like an old coot when I curse them out in my mind. I'm also starting to feel this way towards those who listen to their ipod while riding. i would think that cutting out your sense of hearing what is going on around you is dangerous for everyone.

i have been guilty of this, but not on any major streets and never when there're cars. the people who listen to ipods are worse because they can't hear car horns or other riders.

yeah, i'm definitely talking about the major streets, i.e. Lincoln.

your problem is the "in my mind" part of that sentence.

I think it's pretty damn cool. Even cooler would be seeing a cyclist lying on the ground after being hit, calling for his own ambulance.

And then he could listen to his iPod in the ambulance. Do you think they would let him? After all, they've found that patients wearing headphones in the dentist's office reduces nagging worries and pain.

FINCH PLATTE ARE YOU BEING SARCASTIC?!

okay, i've done it on lincoln, but really late at night. the real crazies are the bicyclists who text-message. or the ones who ride lake shore at 11pm without lights.

yeah, i've done this a couple of times in relatively safe situations, and even then it feels unsafe.

here's a question for you bikers: let's say you have a one-way street with a bike lane. are bikers allowed to (or should they) ride in both directions in that bike lane? my thinking is "of course not" because if there are cars on the street, one bike lane is not wide enough for 2 bikes to pass one another. but i've been vehemently disagreed with on this issue.

i can't stand the jagbags who ride the wrong way on a one-way street and clip pedestrians who are crossing the street on the "walk" signal.

should be killed?

I always laugh when I see riders on bikes, SMOKING, with no helmet. I'd love to plow those folks over just to teach them a lesson.

You are correct, Aaron. There's a reason there are bike lanes going in specific directions, just like regular traffic lanes. So no, I would never go the wrong way on a one way street.

yeah, a bike lane is not meant for two-way traffic.

i try to observe road signs and not go the wrong way down one way streets, but i usually break it when the street going the way i need to go is heavy and there's much lighter traffic on a nearby one-way in the opposite direction.

Are you saying deaf people with one arm shouldn't ride bikes?

exactly, unless they have mirrors. and, really, mirrors on a bike? they probably have it bad enough as a one-armed deaf person.

We could give them glaucoma and arthritis.

why, does the second-hand smoke bother you?

I'm no old coot, but I'm right on that bandwagon with you with the ipod riders. Idiots.

i like the idea of mirrors on bikes. so far, though, the only people i've seen with mirrors on their bikes are still careless assholes that make me scream.

i get mad at bicyclists who:

- ride with no hands
- talk on the phone while riding
- whip around traffic like they own the road.

oh wait, i don't get mad... i'm jealous of them because i can't do it myself. never mind.

I have gotten the urge several times to tackle bicyclists who ride on the sidewalk

i ride on the sidewalk very occasionally. but i also ride really super slow and yield to everyone and everything around me. sometimes the street just isn't safe.

oh shit i forgot about the jackasses who ride w/ no hands.

i soooooooo want to be able to ride with no hands. sometimes, when i ride behind z, i see him take both hands off the bar, or he'll turn around and i just want to push him down, i'm so jealous.

sorry, james. it's the truth.

i guess it's more of i wish they wouldn't do it while riding right in front of me