May 7th, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
Sidewalks
When I am driving somewhere and I see people walking or riding their bikes on the road I try to get out of their way. However, if there is a sidewalk / bike path and they are to elitist/stupid to use it; then all bets are off.
Driving to work today, I see a guy walking on the side of the road. There isn’t that big of an area for him to walk in either. On the other side of the road there is a sidewalk. A perfectly good, unused sidewalk. Does he use it? no, because he is to stupid / inconsiderate.
I know in some places it might be illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk, but that is not the case where I live and work. It is definitely not illegal to walk on said sidewalks either.
Back to biking. We have a 6-8′ wide path along John Street that bikers refuse to use. Its not the normal “lets go for a bike ride” bikers though, its the douche bags in spandex and jerseys that can’t manage to use the bike path. There is ~1′ or less of paved area beside the road on John Street, mostly because there is an EIGHT FOOT WIDE PATH right beside the road.
Another thing that is common among spandex-wearing douche bags is riding 2 wide on roads where there is barely / not enough room for them to ride at all. Normal, non-spandex-wearing bikers understand that this is stupid and dangerous, but do the douche bags? no. In fact, they often swerve into traffic because they try to ride 2 wide and get to close to their douche bag partner and then have to swerve into the road. Is any of this a good idea? NO. Where do I see it the most often? John Street, with the 8′ wide bike path of course.
I understand that bikers have a right to the road as well, but that also means that they have to obey traffic control devices. How often do you see bikers run through a stop sign? More often than you see them stop at one, thats for sure.
Anyway.
Don’t hit bikes, and beeping is dangerous as well. I do recommend yelling at them to use the damn bike path, and flipping them off. Both work well, especially at stop lights. Don’t worry, they are douche bags bike riders, they won’t attack you or anything.
One Response to “Sidewalks”
I miss flipping people off.
It’s dangerous in NC. People take it too seriously down here. In NY you can have a good natured high spirited bird flipping / horn honking and people understand you don’t mean any harm. They usually honk back equally indignant.
In NC they’re not nearly as understanding.
By Burns May 7th, 2008 at 11:11 pm