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"I ride like every car on the road is out to hit me"
I have heard this many times through the years. If you ride like every car on the road is out to get you, how do you ride on the street without complete paranoia that your are going to constantly be hit, by the hundreds of cars that pass you and why would you ride on the street? I have never understood this statement. If I felt every car on the road was out to hit me, I could never ride on the street. I would be too scared.
when I'm on two wheels, I ride like nobody sees me, like I'm invisible.
I just assume I'm not seen because drivers typically look for other cars, not cyclists or motorcyclists.
If that is the Case Spiraldemon, then how do you ride in a lane with the confidence that they aren't going to see you and hit you....please explain more
it helps heighten your awareness of the cars around you. If you think everyone is out to get you, well then you are sure watching the fuck out for everyone aren't you?
I don't know what other people do, but i ride with the assumption that cars will do what they want, regardless of my presence in their blind spot. it basically means being ready to corner at a moment's notice and being aware of the road conditions that could affect that.
meh. It's just another way of saying to ride defensively... the exaggeration is for effect.
It's true though, I kind of just assume not necessarily that they're "out to get you" but more like they might at any time make a stupid move (like a U-turn right in front of you... which happens to me a lot). You just need to take little precautions, such as keeping an eye out for people in parked cars who could swing open a door as you ride by.... or riding with a hand over your brake, if you suspect a car might do something stupid or unexpected. It's the equivalent of how they teach you to cover your horn while driving if you suspect another driver might make a stupid move.
sexy,
the thought of getting hit is always somewhere on my mind, but I choose to ignore it. you can't be paralyzed by fear. I choose to be willfully ignorant when riding on two wheels.
and I always admire 'mericans who actually know how the Canadian national anthem starts :)
Also, while we're on this topic... does anyone find they actually feel safer on a bike than in a car? I was trying to explain it to my mom over the holiday, and couldn't. I think it has to do with how a bike is easier to maneuver in an emergency situation... or something. I don't like feeling boxed in.
Honestly. I've been seeing tension rise between cyclist and Drivers. And I have almost gotten doored thrice in the past month. On purpose. While The vehicle is moving in traffic, passengers open their door on me and scream a snarky remarks. I am completely against drivers. Just last sunday around 5:30 in Korea town an over weight female opens the passenger door just past Vermont and 8th and Screams that "I'm a stupid dumb bitch and that I should pedal faster". The audacity!
LOL! Tarmonster, it's TOTALLY always the fat women that give me a hard time too. They're just angry because we make them feel guilty about their combo meals.
LMAO! Combo Meals. I havent been able to afford a combo in SOOO long. Srsly. God! Whats up with females hating on other females for no apparent reason. Makes the rest of us look bad.
oh, and I feel safe on both ends of the spectrum...riding and driving...
but that's because I'm very attentive at all times... when I'm riding, I pay attention to drivers in one way and I do a lot of listening to what's coming up from behind and looking at what's on the road ahead, but when I'm driving, I pay attention to drivers in a different way...
There are definitely more "outs" on a bike. But as far as getting hit I think I'd rather be in a car with the airbags and such. but I know what you mean CDN
That's also my theory about why so many assholes buy SUVs these days, when they clearly don't need a car that big. Buying a gigantic car makes it so that morons don't have to worry about actually learning how to drive safely. Oh, and it makes it convenient for all of the hypothetical off-roading, and camping trips that they will never take.
When I drove (I don't anymore), I found that biking made me a better driver. I was way more aware of bikers than I otherwise would have been. A whole new layer of traffic (or layers -- pedestrians, too) was exposed to me. And driving made me more aware of the pitfalls of cycling. Knowing when it's hard to see a biker has made me extra-careful in those circumstances, and it's these times that an extra effort to make eye contact is really important. If they see a person looking at them in the face, if they recognize it as a human being on wheels rather than an inanimate object, they'll treat me like a human being on wheels. That is to say, I might move, probably in more or less a straight line, at a predictable speed. Telephone poles and recycling containers don't do that.
On chicks: (Was it la duderina who brought it up?) I've found that chicks hate on chicks because of jealousy, because they feel their way of life is being threatened, because they feel they are being judged and come up short. Interestingly, I get a lot of the same comments from dudes when it's two chicks riding together that I get from women when it's just me riding alone. The dudes see two women on bikes and assume we're lesbians (which is a very strange leap of logic, indeed). We are threatening to the dudes because dudes are irrelevant to lesbians, and I guess that's a really big deal to some people. The women feel low for not being physically active enough (and therefore pretty enough, attractive enough), and so THEY feel irrelevant, and they lash out. The irony, of course, is that "attractive enough" as perceived by some women is "lesbian" as perceived by some men. Go figure.
But really, I don't care much what people think about me as long as they treat me okay. The eye contact thing helps, as does smiling, talking to THEM like they're human beings, and otherwise enjoying the ride. It's funny how hard it is to be a jerk to someone who's having a really good time.
"But really, I don't care much what people think about me as long as they treat me okay."
I agree.
As for everything else, I don't know. I'm pretty scared of riding alone in the streets. I'm afraid of getting sideswiped or just completely ran over from behind. However, I also take precautions. My hands are always on the breaks, I watch parked cars, I give eye contact, which is really important, but I'm still scared. I wasn't afraid of driving a car until recently, when I thought I was going to crash on the freeway. Plus I can't "hold my line" very well in those lanes- I think my eyesight is bad. Although the times I've driven, I have learned to watch for cyclists the most, and I always give them their space. Hoorah!
Then again, I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I feel like I'm waiting to get hit by a car. I want to get it over with, as sad as that sounds.
I wish taht peopel would respect our bicycle space. I mena how many lanes do you need to feel safe on the road? A cycleist and his/her bike. Probably weigh less than 200 pounds while an automobile weighs up to 2 tons. And we're pumping our crazy legs. When will they realize we our the greater of the two?
I will help you with that, chynna. I will borrow my parents car and you will stand with your bike in the street. I will lightly bump into your rear tire and BLAM you have been hit and your "going to get hit" karma will be gone!
I feel like you can't really win indefinitely, something will inevitability happen if you spend enough time on the road, no matter how skilled you are on a bike. It's an unfortunate reality, but if you are prepared your can minimize the damage. If you ride with tons of lights, reflection and visibility, you minimize your risk of being hit, but then that also made me an easy target recently, I had 4 tails lights, a bright yellow bag with reflectors at the time I got grabbed while riding. Although being fucked with is preferable to being hit certainly.
I get what you mean Sexy about you can't really feel like all cars are out to get you, or you will just be paranoid. However lately I have trouble thinking of anyone driving a car as anything close to being a friend or someone I can trust, I don't trust any driver on the road anymore, and know hidden among the perfectly fine folks are ass holes and the careless and they can strike at any time and more and often enough to be concerning.
The desire for safety, one of the fuels that drove the SUV rush is a sham. The rollover hazard of top heavy SUV's combined with more reckless driving because of perceived safety, negates their potential safety benefits while making the road more dangerous for everyone. Sometimes this desire for safety is "for the children", but look how that turned out when a woman recently in the Valley killed a child rolling through a marked crosswalk in a school zone during a moment of "distraction", while dropping her kid off to school. She was traveling fairly slowly, but the design of SUV's makes them far more likely to crush pedestrians rather then flip them onto the hood, especially for shorter folks like kids.
Anyone who is really interested in the psychology driving, I highly recommend Tom Vanderbilt's book Traffic, it was pretty mind blowing to me and I read blogs and articles on road use all the time.
Regarding people owing SUV. I think the safety excuse is just a justifier to owning one. Mainly people like to own them for the style of them,,,,go figure? I can see people with kids wanting to have one of those for the simple fact of having massives amounts of room for the kids their toys and all the other stuff you may choose to carry in the task of taking care of them. I took my Dad to Pasadena for a few hours the other day and the stuff I felt I needed for him was ridiculous. My trunk was filled, might have been partly for my "must have to have" folding bike in the trunk...never know when that might come in handy.
After having not driven a car for five years, I defiantly became a much more cautious driver. Some would call me a grandpa driver. I don't feel you can go too slow in a car. That pisses some people off, but I think it is much more safer just in case of something happening or a accident. I see people driving all crazy on the freeway and remember when I first started driving I would drive all Fast and Furious. I look back on that now and think how stupid and dangerous that was, but never gotten in any accident driving like that....I thank my lucky stars. Being alert and paying attention is so important in Driving, riding and walking. Most every accident I have been in has been because of not paying attention.
Dude, be be careful with that car, I had a crazy driver barely touch my back wheel (a side hit where the car barely brushed my tire) it trashed the rim and bent the frame. This was at super slow speed.
Regarding chicks on bikes. That is simple. Chicks on bikes are super hot, and you know what that does peoples hormones. So chalk up those bad reactions to overactive hormones (j/k)
During my last days of owning my car, I drove meticulously at or below the speed limit on all roads and freeways. I tended to get one of two reactions, either people would get immediately pissed off rev up and swerve around me, or they would pause, notice my going "slow" was actually the speed limit, and sit for a while before finally getting impatient and zooming around. The concept of speed limits is a joke, people don't get tickets for breaking the speed limit, they get tickets for traveling 30 mph over the speed limit, if at all.
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Ridazz Roulette!
"I ride like every car on the road is out to hit me"
youz guys need to get one of these, I SWEAR for cereal.