Fear the Citizen-Avenger

[lonesoldier84]

I had just come down the blue line. orange is braking. red is the Citizen-Avenger.

well.....as I approached the whole thing I noticed no cars at all, and nobody was sitting at the bus stop bench and there were no cyclists anywhere in the vicinity of the corner.....so I picked up on the throttle to pick my speed up, braked a touch, and draped myself off the side of the bike and leaned her into the corner. I was not pushing to the limit....just enjoying a nice, clean, empty corner.

Then WonderMan showed up. This citizen-avenger, mounted on his trusty 12-speed steed, saw me as he was riding up the off-ramp against the flow of traffic. He was well off to the side of the road, and clearly saw me as i was COMPLETELY straightened back up and picking up speed and making ground down the off-ramp and he was heading straight for me. His split-second reaction was to teach me a lesson....so....

he swerved his bike DIRECTLY into my path. I couldnt believe what the hell I was witnessing. I braked VERY hard (not so hard as to lift the rear or to lock anything) but still pretty damn hard (hard enough to cause a front end slide if there was even some kind of low-traction road-imperfection). I had ample distance to slow to a crawl because *OMFG WOW* i was NOT riding dangerously.

I pretty much stop 3 feet from him staring at him, in COMPLETE AMAZEMENT at what this guy had just done. I think even he realized how retarded it was for him to move in front of, and STOP in front of a motorcycle travelling at speed....because his face turned red and he looked at the ground and started muttering "I'm sorry". Then he rolled on back up the off-ramp (still on the same side of the road as he had started on). I slid over to the side of the road as I considered turning the bike around and chewing him out....but I was still in complete amazement at what I had just witnessed that I rolled down the off-ramp and carried on down to groat road.

Somebody give that man his medal.

 

[stryken]

Did he not realize that although both on two wheels you were probably around 15 times heavier than he not to mention momentum! Wow, would have tempting indeed to double back around and give him the old side kick on the second time through. Glad you suffered no ill fortune from it though.

:Sport:



.....:jawdrop:


:mikebike:

 

[stryken]

... oops ... had to remove double post

 

[lonesoldier84]

... oops ... had to remove double post

its ok....you got dual-thanks for it!!

 

[RyanK]

Somebody give that man his medal.

lol.

Glad to hear you're riding within your limits & still having fun. It is amazing how many people think we're always just reckless daredevils...

 

[Tremulant]

I'm still trying to figure out how that interchange works...crazy canadian roads!

Cyclists really piss me off sometimes. They have this stupid mentality that because they are putting themselves in danger by riding on the road that motorists have to yield to they're every whim and fancy. My wife and I ride our bicycles on the road, and we do our best to just stay right out of the way of traffic. I can't believe that guy actually did that...self righteous prick.

 

[Denver_FZ6]

Good braking AND restraint. :rockon:

 

[The Toecutter]

Yea..... it's best not to tell the part where you beat the ever livin crud out of him until you got bored with it.... :rockon: :spank:

 

[Botch]

Wonder if he's from this group...

Incident frustrates cyclists / Critical Mass riders, Ogden officials, police meet

 

[scottsst]

I would have stop my bike got off then walked up to him ripped him off his bike and tosed it in to traffic! people like that piss me off they really think they are part of traffic and they ARE NOT. I can't stand cyclist like that the Critical mass people are a huge problem up here in Seattle with all the think green people around town. in the past year or so they have staged " rallies " around town blocking traffic and causeing huge traffic problems. I think last time some one went road rage on one of them putting the rider in the hospital for a week or so.

 

[Tremulant]

I would have stop my bike got off then walked up to him ripped him off his bike and tosed it in to traffic! people like that piss me off they really think they are part of traffic and they ARE NOT. I can't stand cyclist like that the Critical mass people are a huge problem up here in Seattle with all the think green people around town. in the past year or so they have staged " rallies " around town blocking traffic and causeing huge traffic problems. I think last time some one went road rage on one of them putting the rider in the hospital for a week or so.

Yeah, same thing happened in San Francisco last year while I was there...I can appreciate the fact that they want to promote clean transportation, but to do it in this way is just plain stupid and dangerous.

 

[scottsst]

I have alway thought gorilla like tacticks are not the way to make things haapen in the modern world. but hey they are gona keep trying to do it like this untill someone gets killed. but if they think the way to get there point across is to flood the streets with bike's only to piss cager's off with them even more let them. I will enjoy reading about it on the darwin awards web site

 

[RyanK]

Wonder if he's from this group...

Incident frustrates cyclists / Critical Mass riders, Ogden officials, police meet

yikes...They sound like they're there to cause problems... You can see them taking up 3 lanes of traffic in the video

 

[boo68]

IDIOT!
Glad you made it out of that situation unscathed.


We, in Massachusetts and I am sure other states, pay millions of dollars to make BIKE paths for these people for them to keep riding on the roads. The sad thing is about bicyclists, is they think we can just stop on a dime or something, I am not sure what they think.. well, maybe they don't.

grrrr..

 

[mcteague]

IDIOT!
Glad you made it out of that situation unscathed.


We, in Massachusetts and I am sure other states, pay millions of dollars to make BIKE paths for these people for them to keep riding on the roads. The sad thing is about bicyclists, is they think we can just stop on a dime or something, I am not sure what they think.. well, maybe they don't.

grrrr..

I'm a long time bicyclist and I don't make any of these judgments. How often are cyclists pulling in front of you? Believe me, if you think motorcycle riders come in 2nd in a collision imagine how the cyclist makes out.

IMO bike paths are too dangerous to use. They get used by walkers, roller bladers, dogs, kids and just about everything else. You cannot ride a straight line for long, at any speed. It is legal to ride on most roads but many non-cyclists seem to think we are only there to make them slow down for 10 seconds.

There will always be jerks and a jerk on a bicycle is still a jerk. Just like the ones in cars and on motorcycles. What I can never understand is the ANGER so many people have towards cyclists. There has to be some deeper reason for the resentment other than just having to slow down and pass safely.

Tim

 

[Tremulant]

What I can never understand is the ANGER so many people have towards cyclists. There has to be some deeper reason for the resentment other than just having to slow down and pass safely.

It's the same reason people think everyone on a sportbike is a dim-witted motorhead who is going to die in a fiery crash. People make stereotypes based on a few bad examples, and those Critical Mass people aren't helping us cyclist's case at all...

 

[The Toecutter]

If you stop and think about it when people get in their cages they feel safe and empowered...and a cyclist is a weak target in their mind so you get the rage,and then in return the cyclist get's tired of this and then they re-act so you get what you got here...

 

[lonesoldier84]

I'm a long time bicyclist and I don't make any of these judgments. How often are cyclists pulling in front of you? Believe me, if you think motorcycle riders come in 2nd in a collision imagine how the cyclist makes out.

IMO bike paths are too dangerous to use. They get used by walkers, roller bladers, dogs, kids and just about everything else. You cannot ride a straight line for long, at any speed. It is legal to ride on most roads but many non-cyclists seem to think we are only there to make them slow down for 10 seconds.

There will always be jerks and a jerk on a bicycle is still a jerk. Just like the ones in cars and on motorcycles. What I can never understand is the ANGER so many people have towards cyclists. There has to be some deeper reason for the resentment other than just having to slow down and pass safely.

Tim

i have more respect for cyclists than i do for other motorcyclists. ive ridden through rush hour traffic ONE time on a bicycle and omg i was terrified. everyone was ripping by me and leaving inches in some cases. I even had a semi truck buzz me. THAT was an experience i wont soon forget.

I then promptly stayed off the roads and stuck to the sidewalks or the grass.

Bicycles do NOT belong on the roads. they slow down traffic (10 seconds for every car that has to pass one adds up after about 15 cars one behind the other) and they endanger their own lives by not riding on the sidewalks or the grass.

there is no need to be on the roads. Some roads have a shoulder built in....cyclists can fit in nicely there. but roads without shoulders (i.e. MOST roads excluding freeways/highways) are just hindering traffic and endangering cyclists.....all because the cyclists want to play with the big boys.

For the record ever since that i was out riding through rush hour traffic halfway across town.....I have always kept to sidewalks and grass. Sure sometimes you have to ride around a pedestrian or two.....but thats the way it has to be.

We do not live in china where bicycles have the right of way and special traffic lights and entire lanes for them. Also, there are not 850,000,000 of them in any given village.

If anyone is going to fight the system here fighting to change legislation is the way to approach this......not jamming the roads will a ton of bicycles without ANY warning or any build-up.

 

[boo68]

I'm a long time bicyclist and I don't make any of these judgments. How often are cyclists pulling in front of you? Believe me, if you think motorcycle riders come in 2nd in a collision imagine how the cyclist makes out.

IMO bike paths are too dangerous to use. They get used by walkers, roller bladers, dogs, kids and just about everything else. You cannot ride a straight line for long, at any speed. It is legal to ride on most roads but many non-cyclists seem to think we are only there to make them slow down for 10 seconds.

There will always be jerks and a jerk on a bicycle is still a jerk. Just like the ones in cars and on motorcycles. What I can never understand is the ANGER so many people have towards cyclists. There has to be some deeper reason for the resentment other than just having to slow down and pass safely.

Tim

Tim, I apologize I didn't mean to imply all bicyclists were that way.. and I should have clarified that I live in a very 'touristy' place where groups of people ride their bikes in the road, across the road without looking. I have no problem slowing and stopping (a lot) for crosswalks, but more than half the people don't even stop to cross they just go as fast as they can. Of course drivers of cars dart out too. Sorry

 

[gearheadstu]

Bicycles do NOT belong on the roads.

Bollocks. Thanks for resetting my "dumbest thing I've heard today" meter.