Bikers on Roads

[GoShow97]

This thread is a pretty obvious "lynch the biker" example. See every post by the thread author.

.

No it's not.

 

[clones_jer]

That stuff is pretty silly, isn't it?

yes.

Bikes are legal to ride on the road ... actually illegal on most sidewalks.

There are 5 Iowans who bike instead of driving a vehicle as their primary mode of transport. The other 3 died of exposure last winter.

The arguements don't hold any water.

 

[Phaedrus]

and finally, as my keyboard smokes, No biker would rather die to prove a point, so quit acting as if they would. They don't want extra attention, just a little extra breathing room without necessitating a commando-roll that so many of us haven't had the opportunity to perfect in the war zone.

This is where I think you go wrong, and only here. Lots of bicyclists do so with a chip on their shoulder, and I've seen plenty examples of bicyclist "passive-aggressive" behavior, where they do something "just because they can" and end up giving the rest of them a bad name. Heck, there are large groups of bicyclists who get together just to harass motorists. None around here, but in other places in the US.

But I like your smoking keyboard mention. Niiiice...:yes::smile:

 

[DaddyMac]

That stuff is pretty silly, isn't it?

At least with some people.

Some others aren't so bad :wink:

 

[clones_jer]

This is where I think you go wrong, and only here. Lots of bicyclists do so with a chip on their shoulder, and I've seen plenty examples of bicyclist "passive-aggressive" behavior, where they do something "just because they can" and end up giving the rest of them a bad name. Heck, there are large groups of bicyclists who get together just to harass motorists. None around here, but in other places in the US.

But I like your smoking keyboard mention. Niiiice...:yes::smile:

Personally, I've never had a bad experiance with a biker while driving. Of course I've never hit a deer either ... so maybe I do have some subconcious warrior reaction time in me.

As a biker I've only had the one encounter where the old man brushed the bike in front of my with his mirror.

This is probably an arguement about attitudes as much as occurances.

 

[DaddyMac]

Again your opinion, sorry.

Umm, there wasn't an opinion stated in that post.

Look GoShow. I can see this is of major personal issue to you. You clearly fear for your safety when riding a bike. That's fine, and a legitimate concern.

So what I suggest is next time you decide you want to go for a ride, to maximize your safety you stick to the trails or whatever cul-de-sac may be in your neighborhood. Most trails will cross a street or highway at some point. You probably will want to get off your bike and walk across the interesection. If you are in a rural area, you may consider bringing a whistle, maybe even an air-horn. If there's a 55 MPH county road (likely), packing a few rescue flares might be worth the effort.

 

[SplitIdentity]

This thread is a pretty obvious "lynch the biker" example. See every post by the thread author.

The opportunity to kill from inattention is a given is operating a motor vehicle. Much like you must control your super-commando physique and Norris-like abilities when you're amongst ordinary humans, so to must the driver of a vehicle take responsibilty for his lethal potential.

It's a lot like estimating the amount of chores you do around the house. When surveyed and monitored they find that almost everyone estimates over and they remember with clarity the time they perform them, but quickly forget times their partners do.

There are thousands of bike / car interactions that go unnoticed because everything happens smoothly and nobody has a problem. These are quickly forgotten and replaced with the "******* biker/motorist" metality at the first discomfort by either party.

and finally, as my keyboard smokes, No biker would rather die to prove a point, so quit acting as if they would. They don't want extra attention, just a little extra breathing room without necessitating a commando-roll that so many of us haven't had the opportunity to perfect in the war zone.

You're missing the point almost everybody in this thread is trying to make. You assume that the people who are annoyed by bikers on county roads never ride bikes for exercise, or don't enjoy riding on the road from time to time. The point is, again, that riding in packs on county roads is not only dangerous for the bikers, but puts drivers in a terrible position to cause injury to these people. There are HUNDREDS of miles of bike paths in the state of Iowa, use them. There is no reason to ride in packs and backup traffic for miles simply for a leisurely aerobic exercise.

You're putting yourself in danger, and you're putting others in a bad situation. No decent person out there sees a biker on the road and says, "Son of a *****, I wanna bash their brains in with my super-awesome care!" No, they may get annoyed, but they try to make sure the bikers are safe, and then show their displeasure with a simple hand gesture after waiting to pass for who knows how many miles.

Again, by bikers putting themselves in such an unsafe situation, it's annoying for more reasons than just having to slow down for a little bit. It's annoying because bikers seem to think that they own the road and completely disregard much bigger vehicles, and they ride on some extremely unsafe stretch of highway that causes extra stress on drivers because out of nowhere, BAM, there's a bike.

 

[clones_jer]

You're missing the point almost everybody in this thread is trying to make. You assume that the people who are annoyed by bikers on county roads never ride bikes for exercise, or don't enjoy riding on the road from time to time. The point is, again, that riding in packs on county roads is not only dangerous for the bikers, but puts drivers in a terrible position to cause injury to these people. There are HUNDREDS of miles of bike paths in the state of Iowa, use them. There is no reason to ride in packs and backup traffic for miles simply for a leisurely aerobic exercise.

You're putting yourself in danger, and you're putting others in a bad situation. No decent person out there sees a biker on the road and says, "Son of a *****, I wanna bash their brains in with my super-awesome care!" No, they may get annoyed, but they try to make sure the bikers are safe, and then show their displeasure with a simple hand gesture after waiting to pass for who knows how many miles.

Again, by bikers putting themselves in such an unsafe situation, it's annoying for more reasons than just having to slow down for a little bit. It's annoying because bikers seem to think that they own the road and completely disregard much bigger vehicles, and they ride on some extremely unsafe stretch of highway that causes extra stress on drivers because out of nowhere, BAM, there's a bike.

you greatly exagerate the amount of trails. Most are not paved or fit for a road bike. Most are in our major "cities". Heck I have to ride 5 miles to get to the nearest trail and I'm in Cedar Rapids.

Not everytown is as well equipt the college towns you're used to.

Is this all because of one bad experiance you had? And the biker was probably in the correct lane, but not over far enough for your liking ... and oh lordy, you had to tap the brakes!!!

 

[DaddyMac]

You're missing the point almost everybody in this thread is trying to make. You assume that the people who are annoyed by bikers on county roads never ride bikes for exercise, or don't enjoy riding on the road from time to time. The point is, again, that riding in packs on county roads is not only dangerous for the bikers, but puts drivers in a terrible position to cause injury to these people. There are HUNDREDS of miles of bike paths in the state of Iowa, use them. There is no reason to ride in packs and backup traffic for miles simply for a leisurely aerobic exercise.

You're putting yourself in danger, and you're putting others in a bad situation. No decent person out there sees a biker on the road and says, "Son of a *****, I wanna bash their brains in with my super-awesome care!" No, they may get annoyed, but they try to make sure the bikers are safe, and then show their displeasure with a simple hand gesture after waiting to pass for who knows how many miles.

Again, by bikers putting themselves in such an unsafe situation, it's annoying for more reasons than just having to slow down for a little bit. It's annoying because bikers seem to think that they own the road and completely disregard much bigger vehicles, and they ride on some extremely unsafe stretch of highway that causes extra stress on drivers because out of nowhere, BAM, there's a bike.

Oh man, what a bunch of exaggerated garbage.

Backed up for miles? Cars aren't backed up for miles on RAGBRAI, for the love of all that is holy.

I hope you never run into a deer or raccoon or a piece of debris in the road. If you aren't competent enough to look out for a bicyclist.

BTW - posts and issues like this are EXACLTY WHY it is best for bikers to ride in packs. I'll never disagree that bikers should do all they can to not impede the flow of traffic to the best of their ability. But you guys are placing stock on your arguement that many, if not most bikers are poor traffic citizens. The overwhelming majority cause zero issues.

 

[BigBake]

Again, it is a risk. Operating any type of vehicle on the road is a risk.

As a licensed operator you obligated yourself to avoid other users of the road and not cause them harm by following established laws. If you can't do that as a cyclist or vehicle driver then stay off the road.

 

[DaddyMac]

you greatly exagerate the amount of trails. Most are not paved or fit for a road bike. Most are in our major "cities". Heck I have to ride 5 miles to get to the nearest trail and I'm in Cedar Rapids.

Not everytown is as well equipt the college towns you're used to.

Is this all because of one bad experiance you had? And the biker was probably in the correct lane, but not over far enough for your liking ... and oh lordy, you had to tap the brakes!!!

Resetting that cruise control can be a *****....

 

[SplitIdentity]

you greatly exagerate the amount of trails. Most are not paved or fit for a road bike. Most are in our major "cities". Heck I have to ride 5 miles to get to the nearest trail and I'm in Cedar Rapids.

Not everytown is as well equipt the college towns you're used to.

Is this all because of one bad experiance you had? And the biker was probably in the correct lane, but not over far enough for your liking ... and oh lordy, you had to tap the brakes!!!

I've actually had far more bad experiences than good ones, and I know I'm not the only one. Like I said, I'm all for riding bikes, as long as it's done in a safe/smart way. But riding on a county road, in a pack, without any regard to other drivers is what gets me. Growing up in Indianola I ran into this problem many times on HWY 92 and the branching smaller highways. Now here in Ames, from time to time I'll make a visit to Slater to visit a relative and during the summer experience packs of bikers doing their thing on South Dakota St. or X Avenue.

It's not just the fact that I have to tap on the breaks for several miles, but the fact that I always seem to come up to them on the other side of a hill or a curve. I'm not thrilled about the thought of hitting somebody, so I'm not thrilled about being put in that situation simply so somebody can get their exercise. I'm also not thrilled when they stay in their pack formation (which again, happens more often than not) and make it much more difficult for me to pass when I do have the opportunity to.

 

[DaddyMac]

Again, it is a risk. Operating any type of vehicle on the road is a risk.

As a licensed operator you obligated yourself to avoid other users of the road and not cause them harm by following established laws. If you can't do that as a cyclist or vehicle driver then stay off the road.

Ok - well that's the simple way of putting it.

 

[clones_jer]

I've actually had far more bad experiences than good ones.

This is usually reserved for the guy that keeps getting dumped over and over again but ... ever think it might be you?

 

[clones_jer]

Resetting that cruise control can be a *****....

major cause of tendonitis of the thumb

Again, it is a risk. Operating any type of vehicle on the road is a risk.

As a licensed operator you obligated yourself to avoid other users of the road and not cause them harm by following established laws. If you can't do that as a cyclist or vehicle driver then stay off the road.

I'm repped out, maybe you could have posted this 200 posts ago and we could have moved on. :biggrin:

 

[DaddyMac]

Growing up in Indianola I ran into this problem many times on HWY 92 and the branching smaller highways. Now here in Ames, from time to time I'll make a visit to Slater to visit a relative and during the summer experience packs of bikers doing their thing on South Dakota St. or X Avenue.

Well, since you've identified these routes as being likely to have an inordinate amount of bike traffic, isn't it incumbent upon on you to do the safest thing possible and alter your route or drive a bit slower so as to minimize the risk to all parties involved?

Isn't that what you are trying to say?

BTW - this is particularly the case if S. Dakota causes you so much stress as we've already mentioned it's a designated bike route?

 

[Cyclonick182]

I go back to what I said earlier. Drive like you wanna live/stay out of jail no matter what form of transportation you're operating and I dont see the problem.

 

[ajk4st8]

I guess I just see a lot of bikers in the Ankeny area riding on busy roads at dangerous times. I always pass bikers with a full lane and treat them just like another car.

You can basically ride your bike from Ankeny for a long long ways. I never understand why people dont make a point of using bike trails. I never could figure out why (other than the being too lazy to find a trail).

I hate driving my truck in Ankeny with the bad and very aggressive drivers in that town. I sure as heck wouldn't care to let some stupid driver kill me on a bike just for going on a simple recreational bike ride.

 

[GoShow97]

Umm, there wasn't an opinion stated in that post.

Look GoShow. I can see this is of major personal issue to you. You clearly fear for your safety when riding a bike. That's fine, and a legitimate concern.

So what I suggest is next time you decide you want to go for a ride, to maximize your safety you stick to the trails or whatever cul-de-sac may be in your neighborhood. Most trails will cross a street or highway at some point. You probably will want to get off your bike and walk across the interesection. If you are in a rural area, you may consider bringing a whistle, maybe even an air-horn. If there's a 55 MPH county road (likely), packing a few rescue flares might be worth the effort.

Dude, please show me one post that I made that would support any kind of fear that I have for riding my bike.

Please show me on epost where I even remotley showed any concern about riding my bike?


Your response only tells me that YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION. :no:

 

[Cy Heavy]

You're missing the point almost everybody in this thread is trying to make. You assume that the people who are annoyed by bikers on county roads never ride bikes for exercise, or don't enjoy riding on the road from time to time. The point is, again, that riding in packs on county roads is not only dangerous for the bikers, but puts drivers in a terrible position to cause injury to these people. There are HUNDREDS of miles of bike paths in the state of Iowa, use them. There is no reason to ride in packs and backup traffic for miles simply for a leisurely aerobic exercise.

You're putting yourself in danger, and you're putting others in a bad situation. No decent person out there sees a biker on the road and says, "Son of a *****, I wanna bash their brains in with my super-awesome care!" No, they may get annoyed, but they try to make sure the bikers are safe, and then show their displeasure with a simple hand gesture after waiting to pass for who knows how many miles.

Again, by bikers putting themselves in such an unsafe situation, it's annoying for more reasons than just having to slow down for a little bit. It's annoying because bikers seem to think that they own the road and completely disregard much bigger vehicles, and they ride on some extremely unsafe stretch of highway that causes extra stress on drivers because out of nowhere, BAM, there's a bike.

You can be as "annoyed" as you want, according to the Iowa Code, bicycles have the same right to the lane as any other vehicle:
The Iowa Legislature

Yes, in an accident between a bicycle and a car, the bike will probably lose. We get it Phadeus and Go Show. That is a risk we take to be on the road - where we have a legal right, and responsibility to be. I also know when I'm driving in my Full size Yukon SUV that if get in an accident with a semi I also probably lose.