You are hereA funny story from the other day...
A funny story from the other day...
Yesterday afternoon I was sent an interesting account of some poor cyclist behavior, and the corresponding response by the people in the car. This is an account from the car's perspective, but written by a regular cyclist. Read on for excitement:
i just wanted to tell you about something that happened last night, probably a common experience, but none the less, is poignant for the current tensions in bike / auto relations.
so i am in a car with friends leaving the melvins show last night, on red river and fifteenth, stopped at the traffic light going north. a van is stopped beside us. while waiting and talking about how stoked we were on the show, in between the two cars, comes along some messenger looking dude on a fixed gear, tries to snake between our car and the van and proceeds to knock our rear-view mirror off, and scrape the side of my friend's girlfriends car. fucking dude bolted off and we were stuck there waiting for the light. this little shit, totally crashed into my friend's car and tried to escape, instead of doing the right thing, and either pulling off to the side to apologize/inspect the damage, and at least acknowledge what he did, even if he couldn't afford to pay damages.
this type of shit makes us all look like sneaky creeps out there on the road. i know when i get into skirmishes with cars, i expect them to pull over and inspect my damage. this should work both ways. you have a great forum for addressing ethics on the road, and this is why i wanted to bring this story to your attention.
its such a crappy thing like this to see take place. all of the people in the car were fuming, hating on this cyclist, but i take that to mean that that aggression is transferable. plus, now their minds are only made up of negative experiences, nothing positive.
man, we wanted to destroy this dude. he got away - we were stuck at the light and he must have turned off through bass concert hall. we spent about fifteen minutes looking for him, he would have been in serious trouble as we were three large fellows ready to pull some jump out boys shit on him. couldn't find him. i'm the only one of the group who actively bikes,(no car), and i heard them all cussing this poor schmuck and it was weird. i wanted him dead too, but all the anti-biker shit they were saying, really made it known to me that there is serious resentment to fixed gear fags, and regular roadfags. people just hate us.
alright thats it. hope i didn't ramble too long. love your blog and your writing, and you generally stand up for all the right shit. i'm definitely not a violent person, but that dude's behavior, crashing into a car, and trying to get away, you cannot pull that shit on the car driving public. guy was playing with his life. i see stupid ass fixed gear fags doing this all the time. no regard for anyone else on the road. it's starting to make me want to marginalize them. i know its a bad generalization, but something, that keeps getting negative reinforcement every time i turn around.
Be nice y'all, and if you fuck someone's shit up do the right thing and make it better. It's this behavior that makes us all look like assholes, and gives the anti-bike opposition ammo for their bullshit arguments.
the formula for respect is : number of gears multiplied by number of brakes subtracted by the number of spandex shorts owned. So as the numbers clearly show fixed gears are at the bottom of the barrel.
Im okay with the bottom of the barrel. Just shut the fuck up and ride your gears and your brakes or whatever bike you have thats fine with me. Ill keep riding my fixed gear. How did stopping and doing the right thing turn into a fixed gear bashing post?
Sterling
Keep your slim fitting pants on, i'm only joking.
Well, I'm speechless... I used to think that cyclists were somehow better/nicer than motorists... *that* was pretty naive and stupid. I'd better quit reading the comments.
... and some drive cars, and some ride bikes.
Just try to do the right thing, even when it's inconvenient, and that'll put you ahead of 90% of the people out there.
When are you guys going to stop talking shit on fixed gears. Im so sick of it. The whole point of this blog was about stopping when you fuck up and thats what all of us fixie fags did. So where is the respect. Does that go out the window cause i ride a fixed gear. Why does it matter if I film (me being the hipster kid with the camera on the scooter). I dont ride a fixed gear cause its cool i ride it cause i like it. Ive been riding bikes my whole life and i will continue to do so on a fixie or not. Simon dont speak unless you know the whole situation and quit hating on fixed gears.
Sterling
you go do what ever you fuckin' want bro and don't let anyone tell you different...everyone on this planet does whatever they want and you should too... you shouldn't restrict yourself in any way and don't listen to any of one who complains about you enjoying yourself...and remember if some lil' bitch starts to cry give 'em a couple 'WONKS' and show 'em the road!
kenny why you bent out of shape?
taking up arms the second someone badmouths someone on a fixed gear is exactly what all of us should try to avoid because usually the person who is recounting the stupid shit we can do on bikes has been riding fixed gears longer than most of us have been able to walk (except you kenny, cuz you old.)
on the other side, i just talked to sterling about what happened the other day and although kenny did buzz that lady, it all got smoothed over just fine, but i guess simon wasn't able to hang out at the light long enough to see that. it is frustrating when people assume things and pass judgement without knowing all the factors involved, because that is also what the cops and big-truck driving bros do.
and swyny, who are you? you probably aren't the only dude riding a conversion in your neighborhood anymore now that you've moved here from the greater dallas area, but here in austin, and especially here on this website, people usually know what they are talking about. lecturing bike culture veterans like simon and jason about the purist virtues of fixed gears definetaly pegs you as an out of towner. stop by Fast Folks (you know, that fixed gear bike shop?) or any of the ATXfixed/fixed only events and i can probably find a few volunteers to tell you all this to your face. then we will introduce you to whoever you don't know and then we can all be friends, UNLESS you continue to use poor grammer and a worse attitude.
it's so easy to pose and preen on the internet, but jason started this site to bring the community together. put your real names on here, check the calender and show up to events and meet the people you see posting their opinions. that's what ATXBS and the ATX bike scene in general are all about.
deuces
dancakes
atxfixed.blogspot.com
fastfolks.com
thirdcoastfixed.com
i have lived in austin since 1983
1978 schwinn varsity with monkey bars riding wheelies in the suburbs
drinking lonestar stubbies smoking on four finger bags
i dont like people calling people names like Simon did in what started this whole debacle
or pegging me as Jason and the rest of you have
you dont know me at all yet you mysteriously think you do
and so you come up with words describing me as "zen-like" someone who drinks "kool-aid" someone who "moved here from the greater dallas area" some "dude" who rides a conversion around the neighborhood
i ride japanese fixed gears tubulars no brakes deep drop bars
i didnt realize i was lecturing about the purists virtues of fixed gear bicycles
all i did was come up with a little scenario for Simon (who i truly hope realises it was just NOTHING much)
and which i thought was kinda funny in a totally mis-understood way
sorry i stepped on so many of you alls toes
thats an apology mrdancakes which i hope will end this even at the highest levels of veteran cyclists
UNLESS you want to meet up with me face to face
my attitude will be as light as feather or it can sting like a bee
This may sound lame to a small group of you, but give respect and you will be more likely to get respect. If it does sound lame to you then you sound dumb to me. Not stopping when you fuck someones shit, or running a stop at 30 doesn't make you look like a better/braver rider. It makes you look like a soon to be recipient of a Darwin award. Of course calling people fags doesn't make jock boy look cool either. For a rider you can either perpetuate the growing conflict of the public vs. cyclists or you can show them that we deserve the rights we have to be on the road. Yes there are bad drivers that don't deserve the right to the roads because their shit driving endangers your life with their car but that doesn't mean you have to turn into an asshole.
i'm a commuter, no fixie, and so often on Congress, i'll be stopped behind cars at a light on my bike and some dude will fly by. if i had happened to move an inch over, he would collide with me. i always think about that as some dude does this and goes through the intersection. that has happened to me on numerous occasions. it sucks. and it pisses me off.
sure, i stop and roll, but i don't do shit like that. yeah, it makes bicyclists look bad
at the same time, now that i'm venting, what sucks is the arrogant male cyclist. like, one night, my husband and i were meeting friends for happy hour at trudy's by campus. talk about shitty intersections with little visibility. well, we were turning out and we didn't see this guy on a bike till after we began the turn, but as soon as we saw him, we stopped.
and he went by.
we were pulling into our parking space and i look out the window and the dude is there, all self-righteous and shit. i was so pissed. i was just like, 'dude, fuck off, i ride my bike daily, we stopped as soon as we saw you, we didn't hit you..blah blah blah. but the thing is, the only reason that guy could do anything like that for the most part, is because he is a guy. if you are a woman, it is too scary. i've had enough bs from drivers when i've flipped them off.
/vent over. thanks
but I witnessed a similarly annoying incident when driving downtown last thursday (may 14th) at about 7pm.
I was driving east on 7th street and stopped at the lights at congress. they'd been red for a couple of seconds, when a stereotypically attired dude on a fixie blew through the red at about 30mph, more or less clipping a pedestrian. The lady was rightfully furious. Next, up pulled a pack of fixie cliches, maybe 5 of them, all male, artfully tattooed, scoop neck t-shirts, tight cut off pants etc., They pretended to admonish their friend to the lasy for his careless riding, whilst playing off all cool and fuck you behind her back to a video camera on a scooter that was being used to film their hilarious antics. Aside from them being arrogant, unapologetic, poseurs, the whole bikes buzzing pedestrians and traffic on video is so 2005. what? you never seen a lucas brunelle video before? That shit's pre-you tube and done to death.
P.S: pedestrians get fucked over by cars more than anything except roadkill, so bikers don't need to make it any worse for them. Also, this isn't NYC, we don't have tons of pedestrians to spare and a pedestrian is another person not driving.
Fuck you Simon and Lucas Brunelle. I was one of the riders in that pack of fixies and nobody clipped the older woman at 7th and Congress. In fact we all sat there and talked with her for the remaining red light. So keep on sitting in your car and thinking of more useless things to blog about you Fucking Punk Bitch!
Heh, didn't I pass y'all too? I think it was on Nueces around 8th or 9th Street, when I was looking for a spot to park my busted-ass Blazer with the chopped top. I believe y'all were blocking traffic so you could safely film someone bombing the hill.
Simon has done more for the Austin cycling community than a dozen fixed gear videos ever will. He shows up to the important meetings, and rallies other do to the same. He's been at the bike advocacy (and a lot more) for longer than most of the fixed gear kids I know have been allowed into porn shops so feel free to your opinion, but in my book Simon's still ten times more badass than the best fixie tricking punk. I love all y'all, but I calls 'em like I sees 'em.
wonk, wonk, motherfucker....
Hmmm.... I'm not sure what the point is here. Perhaps the person who wrote it doesn't understand the context?
I think it's easy to take for granted what other people have done in the past to preserve bicycle rights today. Consider that back in the 1950's and 1960's, there were serious considerations as to whether bicycles would continue to be allowed on streets at all. I'm glad there was some "wonk" back then to ensure our right to bike in the street. Would you prefer to be in jail instead of riding your bike?
Today, it is unfortunately still legal to kill and effectively murder a bicyclist on an Austin city street. I'm looking forward to the day that some "wonk" is successful at finally ensuring that it is actually illegal to kill bicyclists in Austin. Would you prefer that there are consequences for motorists who kill bicyclists?
Of course, a "wonk" typically works with others. The "wonk" and.... What should I call you, willo4? How do you fit into the community? Okay, so the "wonk" and people like willo4 and the rest of the group benefit from people imagining how to respect one another and then actually respect one another. willo4, what would respect look like?
I think maybe willo4 doesn't care too much, if at all, how he/she is able to have a bike and the road to ride on. willo4 doesn't really care if he/she bites the hand that feeds him/her. Does this sound right? I am guessing that willo4 will realize someday, in some way, just how important all the other people in his/her community are and how important willo4 is, too.
I can speak for a couple of "wonks" in the local bicycling community as to how they became "wonks". They found that a lot of people were just talkers. Those talkers just complained and complained about the situation, but didn't take any serious action. These complainers could simply blame their problems on someone else, usually some motorist or some politician. But the future "wonks" started taking action. They would rather just keep on biking or doing whatever else they were doing, but without taking any action, their only recourse to fix the crappy street environment would be to complain. So instead the future "wonks" took action. Before they knew it, bicycling conditions were actually improving. Now there were new bicyclists coming onto the scene, and this was good. Years later, even more came onto the scene and streets. Then one day, one of these fresh, new, bicyclists complained that these people were "wonks". And that is how these people, working for better bicycling conditions for everyone, became "wonks".
will aka willo4 go's harder than any one i know. any time i need to see a friendly face he's there with a big ass smile and nothing but good. many of the great pictures you see on this very blog come directly from him. he contributes, he knows how to have a good time with out getting his chamois in a bunch. maybe you should spend some time getting to know people in the bike community outside of your circle before calling them out and saying they don't care.
and before you go on and lecture me i know who you are. and really i dont care, so maybe i'm a wonk too.
LEARN2RESPECT
KTHNXBY
phetusjamie, I think you read into something I said. I'm suspecting that you projected something onto my words that wasn't there. Maybe you were seeing sarcasm where I was just asking a sincere question? What exactly was it that I said that was so offensive to you?
Please consider that I was responding to an attack on Simon from Will: "wonk, wonk, motherfucker...." That gives the impression that he doesn't like or appreciate "wonks". Will is friendly? Probably at other times, but certainly not here.
As Simon pointed out, it is because of "wonks" that we do not have a mandatory all-ages helmet law in Austin. Unfortunately, there was not enough community support for "wonks" in 1990's Austin or we wouldn't have any helmet law. That's a reason that I find it so self-defeating when bicyclists attack those who have volunteered their time for years or decades to improve bicycling conditions in Austin. I would rather have time to make movies than deal with policy, but too many people ignore policy, so all of the work is put onto just a few people. I would hate to see bicycling conditions in Austin deteriorate. Since not enough people have stepped up to the plate to help, I feel compelled to help.
I'm really not sure what naysayers are suggesting that I, Simon, and Jason do. I hear so much complaining from these people here -- part of the bicycling community -- complaining and hating on people volunteering their time to be "wonks" that I really do wonder why I should bother. Why am I being attacked? That is so nonsensical. Should we stop going to meetings? Should we stop reminding people that we need their support, their ideas, and their volunteer hours?
I have no interest working to divide the bicycling community, but when people call you a "motherfucker" or suggest that you "eat a dick", it is difficult to find common ground.
To be clear, phetusjamie, you _not_ know who I am, especially since I do not know who you are.
In a years time, when fixed gear bicycles are no longer fashionable and you've switched to whatever the latest cool thing is: moped, dirt bike, hybrid SUV, I'll still be riding my motherfucking bicycle...
fixed gears were THE FIRST BIKES ever made Simon
they are NOT going to go away and will long outlast your lame punk ass
ive got a spare fixie which i would enjoy seeing you try to ride through heavy rush-hour downtown Austin traffic
i also have a video camera and id be willing to make some pix of you
pix which aint from 2005 and which will be all over youtube
never having been seen before or since
with a million hits
because your incredibly dense and miniscule melon along with the rest of your lame punk ass is going to be face down at 7th and Congress underneath the front tire of
1. a Cap Metro bus
2. a yellow cab
3. an F350 dually with cattle guard
4. my fixie
5. all of the above
and la piece de resistance
i unlike you speak the TRUTH
p.s. lay off my fixie friends with their video/scooter crew
theyre purists and youre not
Purer?
Purest?
"Fixie" riders are "purists" and other cyclists aren't? Way to drink from the kool-aid, my friend. Let me guess, when you ride you describe it as a "zen-like" experience because of being more "connected to the road". Keep living up to to that stereotype.
by "purists" i mean purists to riding fixed gear bicycles
period
its not a generality about cycling in general
anyone who rides a bicycle is a friend of mine from the littlest kid on a tricycle to the most dazzlingly dressed racer on a 10K cinelli and every single cyclist in between
Jason i dont drink fucking kool aid
and i am not your friend - yet
come on man if all you can come up with by guessing what i think about when i ride is cliches like "zen-like" and "connected to the road" shoots thats weak
as far as stereotypes go your friend Simon used the following words to describe the fixed gear cyclists he saw wing a pedestrian "fixie cliches artfully tatooed with scoop neck t-shirts tight cut off pants" if thats not stereotyping then what is it?
also when someone starts - and Simon started this whole thing - calling people "arrogant unapologetic poseurs" (snickering behind someones back) i feel compelled to respond
its just not nice to call people names
i admit i went a little over board in my compulsion to respond
i was just poking a little fun at someone who i hope was doing the same and can handle a little verbal exchange from time to time
i think if we all got together and shared an ice-cold jug of "electric" kool-aid we might could end up being friends
L'Chaim
I'm just trying to understand this "purist" thing you're stuck on. Does them filming from gas-powered scooters make their fixie riding more pure? Does putting the bike in a car and driving it home after a hard days' ride make it more pure?
The reason I assumed your firm placement in the zen-like road connectedness school of fixed gear riding camp was because every other statement in your previous message played into the stereotype of the over-testosteroned asshole fixed gear rider with a chip on his shoulder and an entitlement issue. I figured I'd just carry the stereotype to it's logical conclusion.
I mean honestly, between the lack of grammar or punctuation, inability to form paragraphs or even a somewhat flowing sentence structure, poor grasp of the history of the bicycle, penchant for making childish physical threats, and general ignorance for the players and topics at hand, I did kind of go for the low-hanging fruit in insinuating your one-mindedness with the majority of the fixed gear clones of late (maybe '05 or so). You gave me so much more to work with so I'm right there with you, picking the tired cliched repetitiousness of your message out of the smorgasbord of opportunities it presented was "weak". It was memorial day, I was lazy. Please accept my apology.
My original question to you still stands though. You've shown that beyond riding a bike you can also TALK shit, but Simon's spoken volumes with his ACTIONS in the community over the years. So what have you done for the cycling community again?
P.S. I own a brakeless fixed gear bike, deep-v t-shirts and tight pants. I also have a road bike, a mountain bike, a BMX, a 'cross bike, spandex, regular clothes, messenger bags, backpacks, stupid short-brimmed hats, helmets. For the official record I hate on everything and everyone, myself most of all. Don't get butthurt if I call anyone on their shit, as I'm more full of it than any 3 fashion fixie kids and that's even after accounting for volume. Since I clock in at 215 I'm practically two of them to begin with. Everybody drink a beer (or think sober thoughts, Chris), calm down, and let's all go for a bike ride. Critical Mass, Friday 5pm.
you are one heck of a writer Jason
and i am not even going to try and compete with you
as far as actions go i was instrumental in starting the delivery of meals to poor people at meals on wheels and more on bicycles
i have been delivering meals to the poor on bicycles for six years
the next time i see you i will introduce myself
but then you know me already dont you?
one thing i am not is a fixed gear rider with a chip on his shoulder
i am a nice person most of the time i just go off every now and then
i apologize for this to you and everyone else who reads contributes backs atxbs.com
as for the whole punctuation grammar sentence structure thing i do it in E.E. Cummings memory
It's great to hear what you've done with MOW(AM), I stand corrected. You seem like a good guy in person so I'm giving the benefit of the doubt, but the veiled (or not so veiled) threats of physical violence bothered me. It's this kinda stuff:
"your incredibly dense and miniscule melon along with the rest of your lame punk ass is going to be face down at 7th and Congress underneath the front tire of... my fixie"
"if i wanted to scare someone i wouldnt write about it i would just do it"
"UNLESS you want to meet up with me face to face my attitude will be as light as feather or it can sting like a bee"
that pisses me off and makes me grumpily verbose. I dunno, to me it just seems like some cheezy Clint Eastwood "Do ya feel lucky punk?" act, an act for which there's no need. Most of us cyclists face life or death at the bumper of an F350 on a daily basis, so the internet tough guy routine is not going to have a positive impression. I know what you mean about going off though, obviously I can spew forth the verbal diarrhea myself when riled. Whatever, it's all in good fun.
thanks for your words Jason
no more threats from me on your website
Hey if you guys really want to shoot an honest piece on Austin's bike culture it may behoove you to interview Simon about his whole part in the matter, and not act like a dick and threaten to crush his "dense and miniscule melon" under the front tire of your "fixie".
I've seen Simon at every major bike event in town, not just as a spectator but as one of the main organizers, for YEARS. Before I started this stupid website Simon ran the BikeTakeover mailing list, was (and is) an INCREDIBLY active member of Yellow Bike, showed up at the Critical Mass rides when they didn't number in the hundreds, and I could go on but maybe you should ask him yourself.
So what have you done?
A.They have been stimulating the asian market with the consuption of overpriced bikes/bike parts that have NJS on them.
B.Plotting a mass "fixie" takeover which entales every bike that is not a "fixie" being melted down and used to make a gigantic "fixie" alter in which they can do pretentious cool stuff in front of.
C. Make sweet videos or as I guess they are calling them now-a-days "pix" (I guess cause it rhymes with fixie) Which will in turn give them gratification foreign to the instant kind they are use to getting from running a red and looking back at the sucker still parked at the light.
D. Keeping the anti-derailleur/kevin bacon fan club going strong.
Duh.
... if he wanted to ride a fixie or not.
Continuity: During the bike race Jack's bike toggles back and forth between a one-speed-no-brake track bike and a typical multi-speed street/road bike.
to clarity a couple of things folks:
1. I love all bikes, fixed gears included. I'm aware of their origin, how later, what were almost exclusively track bikes, were adapted in the 90's by bike messengers for simplicity and maintenance reasons. But fixies have fallen into a similar area of macho as guns, hummers and the police force - they often attract the wrong kind of people. In the case of fixies: macho, confrontational, competitive dudes, throwing their weight around because they can.
2. I'm glad that there are more people on bikes regardless of the reason, because more people on bikes is the ONLY proven factor in making roads safer for bikes. I do resent the fixed gear becoming a fashion accessory. that's what I was implying in my previous post. Fixed gears will stick around, it's the people and the numbers that will change in time as the cool factor wear out. Trends never last, there isn't enough money in it. Thank you for your continued support of capitalism.
2. swyny or any of you threatening me in your posts, do you really think I'm scared by that? Your comments read like the ones i see on the statesman blogs. You know, the ones written by car drivers about bicyclists. Your comments peg you as no better (and no less empty) than them.
3. posting photos and video online of your friend's antics and going "harder than any one i know", has it's place, but don't confuse self-promotion with giving back to the "bike community". go deeper. volunteer some time teaching bike maintenance/safety to kids (i.e. the next generation of either bicyclists or car drivers) thru yellow bike, bike education to UT students thru orange bike, set up bike shops in mexico or cuba with bikes across borders, help trail building with austin ridge riders, work with one of the local advocacy groups to push for better bike infrastructure. Ask yourself, why is there no helmet law in austin? what did the street smarts task force do? who are the bicycle advisory council? what's in the bike master plan? who changed city council opinion about bikes? how does this affect me? Why am I not part of it?
4. Sterling: if your friend Kenny had hit the lady on the crosswalk at that speed he would likely have killed her. and for what? Next time, if you guys want to seem sincere in your apologies to onlookers, stop filming (i challenge you not to use that footage), get off your bikes and apologize for nearly seriously injuring someone. What did you expect the lady to do, confront all 6-7 snarky young white males and demand the type of apology you should have been offering? When I pulled away from the lights, she was still on the side of the street she started on, looking dazed.
5. How we behave: this isn't a criticism, just something a lot of us (myself included) need to think about - being white, hetro and male in our society affords us a lot of privilege that not everyone has. The danger is believing you are entitled to do what you want with that power, regardless of the consequences towards others or how it just reinforces the inequalities. Think about that in relation to race, class, gender and sexuality, then maybe go up to monkeywrench books and buy a book with a deeper analysis of that.
Simon
i wasnt trying to scare you Simon
just visualizing
if i wanted to scare someone i wouldnt write about it i would just do it
and having never scared anyone except in the case of protecting someone i love or care deeply about it was all just a little fun and games with words
i hope you were doing the same
calling people names and stereotyping is not nice
so i apologize to you for that
maybe you would care to do the same
i like your ideas on volunteering and educating
You are greatly over exaggerating Simon. Kenny stopped no less then 5 feet after passing her. Then he got off his bike and proceeded to apologize to her. He even walked her back across the street. How much better could the situation have been handled. Then at least 3 or 4 people apologized to her following that. I didnt film it and i didnt think it was funny no one talked shit on the lady. We all had a laugh in the end cause Kenny actually knew the lady. Why the fuck do you think we are some super douche bags. All of the kids at that intersection are nice dudes. And did not just pick a fixed gear because its fashionable. Every single one of us has ridden bikes our whole lives. Im a filmer as well and i film everything not just fixed gears i do it for art not to make the next big you tube video or to show people going for it. I do it cause i love it just like riding my fixed gear,bmx,road bike, or skateboard. Maybe i should film you telling your version of the story. I think it has enough drama to be a great film. You need to get over yourself man im glad your helping out the bike community but ive heard enough from you and everyone else. Just do it. I dont need to hear about it. That does not give you any right to bash on fixed gears or the people that ride them. Im sure if you took the time to get to know any of the kids at that light you would see that we are all nice caring people who do it cause we love it. Im not sure who swyny is but chill the fuck out with all that.
P.S.
I wish i had the footage so i could show everyone how full of shit your are. I do however have several hours of people enjoying the fuck out of there bikes. Thats what you guys(me included) should be doing. Not hating.
Sterling
this post got mis-threaded, or prob i fucked up posting it. anyway, it makes more sense if it's down here instead of at the top of the comments... s
I'll admit I did over react in my first comment. no one likes being called a cliche or a poseur or arrogant, you are right, and I don't know y'all, so I probably did get a different perspective of the incident from inside my car. over the last two years I've seen ridership increase massively, along with dumb, dangerous shit happening on bikes. there are a lot of new faces riding in this town and sometimes it's easy to assume, because i don't recognize them through the bike channels that i travel, that many are newbies.
I will say that, if someone (i.e. me) who is fairly bike savvy and pro-bike misinterpreted that interaction, think about all the stuff we do on our bikes on a daily basis that is misinterpreted by regular car drivers. i still ignore traffic signals and watch the traffic instead because it feels safer. And I know there is no way (nor should there be) to get everyone to adhere to a standard behavior, but we as bikers do need to think about our aggressive behavior on the road and how it is interpreted by drivers. I was trying to point that out in my last comment.
And the majority of the bad behavior I see daily or on rides, seems to be coming from young, white, hetro males, but the consequences are dealt with by the whole bike community. I'm guilty of that myself. I've had 3 pretty major, physical interactions with car drivers in the last year and the last time, when i felt like i was defending my girlfriend who got badly cut off, she told me afterward that she felt my behavior put her in a more dangerous position than if I'd walked away. She couldn't of (likely wouldn't have), as a woman, done the dumb shit I did and got away with. that made me reassess my behavior.
Sterling: I'm confused about which rider was kenny. The rider I was referring to that almost clipped the lady blew late through the red on congress and was basically at the top of the hill at 7th and brazos before he turned and came back. that's not 5 feet, so maybe we are talking about different people.
can we all take a deep breath, get off the internet and go ride our bikes...?
Sterling says:
"You need to get over yourself man im glad your helping out the bike community but ive heard enough from you and everyone else. Just do it. I dont need to hear about it."
------
Whats your point tomwald?
Sterling
It's probably too subtle a topic to discuss over a blog comment area.
We can talk about it in person if we meet on a ride or somewhere else.
Ill be on a pink track bike. Feel free to stop me.
Sterling