I'm in a bad mood

[Dorothy Wood]

cheer me up!

I had a bad bike ride where I was honked at twice (once by a cab going over a bridge which scared the shit out of me and made me stop while going UPHILL, and once by a BMW driver, BMW drivers are the rudest, hands down. I was doing nothing wrong both times), several people ran red lights (all of whom were talking on cell phones), and I was cut off by a mini van. when I caught up with the mini van, the dude inside was flipping through a legal pad and talking on his cell phone with a pen in his other hand. while driving. which means he was steering with his knee.

I let out a guttural yowl more than twice, which is rare for me. pedestrians probably thought I was nuts.


anyway, now I'm working on a project at work that is for some customers I fucking hate, and it's a pain in my ass! and I don't even want to do a good job on it. but I will. :(


CHEER ME UP! :mad:

pls

[marsdaddy]

I got a new job. But it's delicate and requires timing for when I give my notice. Also, I'm going to work a lot harder, which doesn't really seem possible.

Help, any? :confused:

[abcdefz]

I hate it when I'm on my bike and a car honks at me for no reason. (Or to "let me know they're there.") (n)


I know that won't cheer you up, but I do empathize.

[Dorothy Wood]

yeah they were total, "there's a car behind you" honks. it's like duh! I'm on the road you have plenty of room! go around me if I'm soooo in your way!

one of my roommates moved out yesterday and the other one (my friend B) had to leave because the girl that came to help move was walking around our apartment blabbing about this and that, teasing and making fun of B's cat, etc. but the kicker was that she went on a long rant about how bikes shouldn't be allowed to ride on the road because they're in her way all the time. :rolleyes:

there are some shitty bikers out there though, I encountered a few of those yesterday. sunday drivers. sheesh.

human beings are the worst!

[na§tee]

do i turn you on (http://www.trendhunter.com/photos/20171), baby?

[Dorothy Wood]

AHHHHH!

[funk63]

HEY! I drive a bmw.

[Dorothy Wood]

well are you an asshole when you drive it?

by and large, BMW drivers are the most obnoxious people I encounter on the road as far as speeding and cutting me off or basically just always seeming in a rush and not paying anybody else any mind. Audi's are almost as bad. Mercedes drivers are usually more polite and careful.

it's a mixed bag with luxury SUVs.

[Bob]

what about pickup trucks?

[venusvenus123]

cycle on the pavement and piss off pedestrians instead :cool:

[TurdBerglar]

i like the uptight dads in nice neighborhoods washing their cars in polo shirts and steve irwin shorts who yell at me for going too fast THROUGH A NEIGHBORHOOD


motherfucker, im on a bike, dickhead.


i just keep doing laps and pass the dude like 6 times. it gets fun.

[Bob]

i dunno, bikes can knock you out if you're a pedestrian. i hate it when people on bikes feel immune to one-way streets, because whenever i cross one i generally only take half-a-look in the direction that nobody's supposed to be driving because hey, it's a one way street, but every now and then some asshole's riding a bike up it and they look indignant as you wait for them to pass, like "deal with it"

[TurdBerglar]

i think you need to deal with it, bob

[Bob]

i'll deal with it by clotheslining the next one i see, let them learn a valuable lesson

[TurdBerglar]

no you won't, bob

[Bob]

no but i'll think about it really hard

[TurdBerglar]

just carry around thumbtacks, bob

[jabumbo]

now, i can agree with you that motorists are pretty much terrible by the masses when it comes to cyclists on the road and all, but...


something that i am a strong believer in is that if you are going to bike in the road, then you have to actually obey the traffic laws. i immediately lose it on any cyclist who will blow through an intersection with a stop sign or a red light, and even worse is when they don't give some sort of signal for a turn (my biggest driving pet peeve as well).

so while i'm all about sharing the road, since i do so myself on occasion, you can fuck off if you aren't going to do it the right way.


(sorry if that didnt cheer you up any)

[Dorothy Wood]

bob, you're supposed to look both ways when you cross any street. durr.

I go down one ways, but I am very careful to look out for cars and people who might not expect me.

and as far as bikers looking indignant when they're waiting...it's because you're walking and if you stop moving your feet, you stop. if you're on a bike you've got to put on the brakes and then pedal hard again to get going. so it's annoying is all.

also, riding on the sidewalk is illegal here.

I dunno, I'm a pretty conscientious rider/walker/driver/human, so I tend to evaluate what the best possible or most efficient scenario for everyone involved might be and try to go with that. and if everyone would do the same, I wouldn't have to think so god damn hard all the time.

[Bob]

bob, you're supposed to look both ways when you cross any street. durr.

right, and i do, but it's like, i cross the same one-way street every single day. after about the billionth time of checking down the wrong way and not seeing anything coming, you start to get a little relaxed about it, you know? the check becomes something of a routine rather than an actual check, and you begin to forget why you're looking, so it's easy to make a mistake from that perspective. so if on day billion and one there's a bike coming, it's not too unreasonable to have a close call, you know?


and as far as bikers looking indignant when they're waiting...it's because you're walking and if you stop moving your feet, you stop. if you're on a bike you've got to put on the brakes and then pedal hard again to get going. so it's annoying is all.

no no what i meant was, i'm about to cross the street, but i see a bike coming the wrong way, so i stop, and i'm making eye contact with them as they pass and i can see this look like "ugh, you caught me doing something i'm not supposed to do, fuck you". alls i'm saying is, if i'm crossing the street and a bike comes at me from the wrong way and there's a kerfuffle, i shouldn't be the one that has to feel like an asshole

[TurdBerglar]

i very highly doubt that a biker cares or even realises he's on a one way street


so that look is probably more of a "what the fuck are you looking at, dude" type of look

[befsquire]

well are you an asshole when you drive it?

by and large, BMW drivers are the most obnoxious people I encounter on the road as far as speeding and cutting me off or basically just always seeming in a rush and not paying anybody else any mind.

as a beemer driver, i probably fit the profile

i am only an asshole if the person in front of me is being a dick -- for example, if the speed limit is 65, i assume the fast lane means 70 or 75, so if you're going to sit in the fast lane going less than the speed limit, i'm likely to try to get you to move. at least, that was the old me. the new me doesn't drive far enough for the speed limit to come into play.

[Caribou]

Hmm, Seems that bikes are treated a lot differently in the US of A than over here. I actually used to think that hardly anyone in America rode a bike. Are there many cyclists on the road? Do you have special bike-lanes? Do you have to wear a silly little helmet?

Over here there are more bikes than people (every person owns at least one), there are bike-lanes next to every road and people are so used to cyclists that they look out for them.

Maybe you should move over here Dottie. And then eat cheese while riding your bike to a coffeeshop.

[Planetary]

i went right into the side of a car on my bike a few weeks ago. put a big dent in this guys door. he pulled out of his drive dead quickly and i didnt see him. went arse over tit. it was quite crazy. came out unscathed though. since then the bike got stolen. from outside a crown court and there's no cctv. wtf is that about?! (n)

bikes hate me

[befsquire]

^ depends on the state

here in florida, if you're over a certain age as a bicyclist, you don't have to wear a helmet. and in most places, we have bicycle lanes. if there aren't lanes, then bikes and cars are to share the road equally. unfortunately, most cars act like they own the road. i would ride my bike if my bike were in working order. and if it weren't disgustingly hot out at 8:00am. and i didn't have to wear a suit to work. and drag files and a laptop computer. and other stuff i can't think of right now.

[Planetary]

im pretty sure i just ruined your reply with my moaning post. oh well

[Caribou]

Oh, I actually got hit by a car last week. I wanted to cross, but waited to let him go first. He waited, so I assumed I could go, but then the bastard went as well. He first hit me softly and then hit his gas-pedal AGAIN.
I fell onto the pavement, my leg caught under my bike. He got out (didn't even help me get up!) and said "Oh I didn't see you. You were riding by so fast!". Wtf, I was standing still!
So, my hands were scraped and covered in blood and my leg hurt, but I jumped on my bike again because I had to get to work. There I found out my leg had a bunch of MASSIVE bruises. And even worse, I had my work discount-pass in my pocket and it broke when I fell.
Now I have to live for 2 weeks without 60% discount. :'(

[Planetary]

hey at least you still have a bike

[Caribou]

hey at least you still have a bike

Yeah, true. But bits of it are being held together with hair-elastics. :D

[jabumbo]

i wish i was in shape so i could ride my bike to work. right now i could probably do it, but then again, i dont really want to cruise down the road with boots and a hard hat on.

but the office is only 4-5 miles away, so if i was actually fit i could do it all the time.

[mikizee]

A driving study was done here recently in Australia and it found without a doubt BMW drivers are the most selfish drivers on the road.

So there. Its been scientifically proven.

[marsdaddy]

In San Francisco, they're proposing allowing bicyclists to not follow the rules of the road. Separately, I know that there are states proposing allow motorcyclists to drive without helmets.

I'm cool with those both, as long as those people who don't follow the rules and don't wear helmets sign a "do not resuscitate" order. (!)

[paul jones]

I shit my pants at work last night when a daddy longlegs came out of nowhere and attacked me in the face.It was fucking massive.I did the Rain Man panic thing,like when the smoke alarm went off in the kitchen.

[marsdaddy]

^Ha! DEADLY DADDY LONG LEGS!

[paul jones]

^Ha! DEADLY DADDY LONG LEGS!

they're fucking evil

[Dorothy Wood]

Hmm, Seems that bikes are treated a lot differently in the US of A than over here. I actually used to think that hardly anyone in America rode a bike. Are there many cyclists on the road? Do you have special bike-lanes? Do you have to wear a silly little helmet?

Over here there are more bikes than people (every person owns at least one), there are bike-lanes next to every road and people are so used to cyclists that they look out for them.

Maybe you should move over here Dottie. And then eat cheese while riding your bike to a coffeeshop.


ooh, I actually love der nederlands. I went to amsterdam with a group when I was a teenager and loved it there, especially the bikes, and I didn't even ride a bike then.


they actually want to make chicago into a bike friendly city. it's already got bike lanes and such, but people in cars are still dicks. there's been a rash of people getting injured and killed lately, which is scary, but I still ride. I should wear a helmet, but I don't. I keep putting off buying one.

I go about 8 miles a day at least, my job is about 4 miles away. today I had band practice, so it was about 7 miles to practice from work, then 5 back to my house.

the freedom of it is really great actually, even if it's dangerous most days. also, I could crack somebody's head open with my thighs. :cool: