More Bicycling Rants
Posted by SBG on Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I had lunch with old friend Drew this afternoon and we were shooting the breeze, covering our favorite topics. The topic of bicycling came up again. First, some background. I wrote a while ago complaining about people riding on a very busy street during rush hour instead of on the bike path that is located maybe 6 feet away. As you may know, one of my most very loyal readers, Banjo, sells bike accessories. I like to bicycle and I come from a long line of motorcyclists, so I am aware of the tension that occurs between cars and cyclists, motorized or otherwise. I'm a safety first kind of guy on the road, and I will admit that I do get uncomfortable around bicycles, motorcycles and semi-trucks simply because of the size differential between my vehicle and the others. Either way, bigger or smaller, I'm on heightened alert whenever I'm around a vehicle of a different size.
Well, I was telling Drew about my latest I-can't-believe-this-idiot experience. I was driving home from work, in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the same street I talked about last time. I'm going the speed limit, which is to say 50 MPH. I'm boxed in and can't move. Here comes a candidate for early entry to the graveyard, riding against traffic. Hey fool. The bike path is five feet away. Other people are riding their bikes on the path. There's maybe a foot between the white line and the curb (I'll look at that on the way home). If you must ride on the road, get over on the other side.
So, Drew tells me he is driving down a similar type street in his neck of the woods. He happens upon a guy riding on the center line between lanes. He's waiting for vehicles to come by and he grabs a pickup and rides it down the street. I should tell you that Drew's brother was seriously injured in a bicycle accident many years ago, so this is a pet peeve of his. Obviously, both of these guys are breaking the law and should be ticketed (and they should have their asses kicked).
My point here is not to pick on bicyclists, because I'm a bicyclist, too. My point is to urge my readers to think. Don't be like these guys. Ride your bikes. I think it's a great thing. Lucy and I are going for a ride tomorrow. Be careful out there, though, because people cars don't always see you. If there's an accident, even if it's not your fault, if you are on a bicycle, you are going to pay. Oh, and wear a helmet. I do.
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While we are pet-peeving.... I get pissed off every time I see it: a family out for a bike ride. Junior(s) are wearing their helmets (it's the law in California), but mommy and/or daddy are not. WTF do they think they are teaching their kids?
There. Now I feel better.
But then SBG wears his helmet while typing up this half-baked crap. So you may want to consider the source here.
No, I wear a tin-foil hat when I type this stuff
Marty McFly looked so cool on his skateboard, hanging on to passing cars and trucks. As a kid, I never thought that would be dangerous, so I'm sure a lot of people have done it. Has anyone here seen skateboards hitch rides on vehicles?
I've done it on rollerblades...
...but it's still a terrible idea. We were on an empty street and the truck was going at most 10 mph.