JohnBrooking

I thought it might be fun to have a thread devoted just to getting things off our chests that bug us when bike commuting. I did find a Cons of Bike Commuting thread from last May, which seems similar, but I don't think is quite the same. What I have in mind are external things (other people, infrastructure) which annoy you while commuting. So I hope no one minds if I start a new thread.

I'll start it off with some of the less obvious ones:

1. Weight-activated traffic lights. (If no car is around to trigger it for you, you either wait for one or run it!)

2. My office's building management, which cannot seem to get it through their heads to make sure the bike rack is shovelled when it snows. (I've complained several times over the last 2 years, and they'll go out and shovel it when I complain, but somehow they never get around to adding it to their standard procedure so that it's done every time. Car drivers don't have have to shovel their own parking spots!)

CitiZen

3. loose gravel on the road
4. sidewalks with no curb cuts
5. hearing car radios even with their windows closed

late

Hi John,
did you get my message? I worry about traffic, and it'd be nice if I had a locker,or some place I could secure my bike stuff.

RonH

6. cold weather.
7. cold rain
8. leaves and pine straw that hide pot holes
9. stop lights and stop signs in the middle of a hill
10. roads that are shareable and somehow become narrow two blocks down the road
11. pedestrians who step off the curb even though they see me coming toward them

Paul L.

1 Streets that have hives of stoplights timed to go red for bicycle speed vehicles.
2 Kids driving with friends that question my sexual identity to impress said friends.
3 Drivers who sit behind me honking and can't get over the fact there is a cyclist in the road and just pass me.
4 Headwinds.
5 Forgetting something
6 People who say, Oh I could never commute, I work too far away (only those that live within 30 to 40 miles though, you can commute one way many times in that situation)
7 People who look down on fenders but don't ride in the rain.
8 Cyclists who right turn into the bike lane in front of me when I have right of way.
9 Bike rack relocated and mounted sideways onto the side of the building so MTBs stand upright correctly but my Roadbike falls over, twisting the wheel.
10 drivers of trucks/SUVs who have noisy wheels and rev their engines when they finally get a big enough break in traffic to pull their garbage truck sized vehicles around me.

Well there is my top 10. Glad to get that out.

Oh here is number 11- underestimating how cold it is outside when leaving for work so I arrive frozen.

PurpleK

1. Development patterns of cul-de-sacs, dead ends and loop streets preventing convenient and efficient alternative routes on low volume streets.

2. Even worse, streets barricaded to eliminate short cuts by speeding motorists, but prevent through travel by unoffensive cyclists as well.

GradStudent

Underestimating how much hungrier I'll be because I biked in, and not packing enough food.

UncaStuart

25. Wrong-way cyclists
26. Wrong-way cyclists at night (without lights in ninja clothing)
27. A commute route that goes through a district of auto repair shops or hardware stores (debris!)
28. A commute route in the country where you batter your way through clouds of horseflies (ouch!)
29. Having to play leapfrog with a city bus on a busy street with many bus stops

nick burns

Glass & other sharp debris in the roadway.

Potholes

Those little puddles left behind after the garbage truck squishes its load.

Parents who have to drop their kid off right at the front door of the school, and don't care that they're holding up traffic.

People who don't look behind them before they open their car door.

iowarose

Jaywalking people who read the paper while crossing the street right in front of you. Hello!!

(I work at a university, so lots of clueless students around)

hi565

IS it just me or does your avatar look like peter gabriel?

one thing i hate, is people giving me no space then moving over to give me even a less amount of space, also i hate people slowing down behind me when there is a wide open road.

JavaMan

I can only think of one thing. Buses! I hate Buses!

You can't hear them coming up behind you, then they cut you off and stop right in front of you.

Tom

JohnBrooking

30. Long line of cars to go straight or right at a light, and motorists moving over onto the shoulder to allow cars turning left to pass them, although it is clearly marked "Single Lane Only" and now they are blocking me from passing them on the right! (See thread about this on Safety and Advocacy board.)

BTW, hi565, I didn't notice that UncaStuart looks anything like Peter Gabriel, but maybe I haven't seen any recent pictures of PG. Looks like you're a Rush fan too, although I'm not so fond of their more recent stuff (> Signals, 1985?).

P.S. to lane: Got your message, just don't have anything else to say at this time.

BostonFixed

Ice on the roads, black,glare or sheet ice.
I hate it all.
There is nothing more that I hate about commuting than ice on the roads.
I can deal with snow, cold, rain, etc. but ice, no way.
I still ride on icy days though, I just dread them. I don't run studded tires.

Map tester

38. Cyclists who ride dangerously, and make us all look bad--doesn't futher the cause.
39. Road calming programs (DOT) that make roads too narrow for bikes and cars.
40. Cold fingers in winter.

drroebuck

32) L.A. road rage
33) Small commuter count when I'm out there
34) Afternoon head-winds

pyze-guy

Cows. Too many cows.

legalize_it

riding though the ghetto and having every young man that sees me yell "gimme your bike" sure heres my bike

hmmm what else bugs me.... those drivers that speed up to pass me to get to stop at the red light, intersection after intersection. (sorry im one of those cyclists who doesnt wait around for red lights)

lamo scenesters/messengers in philly who dont acknowledge other cyclists presence on the coldest days of the year....i give them a nod, its only polite to nod back right?

i think i dislike this the most: cars closely tailing on single lane narrow roads laying on the horn nonstop.

maybe ill have more later. if i go out for a ride ill probably come up with a few more

sbhikes

Finding this in the street in front of my driveway all the time:

umpadumpy

Runny nose throughout the entire ride

hi565

now do you get what i was saying?

and i agree with the rush stuff, signals ws ok, wait talk about rush in my RUSH THREAD.

Ivan Hanz

45) Dogwalkers on the bike path who think Rover, them and their leash should control all 12'.

46) 33 degree rain.

47) Drivers who can't be bothered to turn-signal while speaking on their cell phone.

48) Diesel fumes, especially in the morning with a hangover

RonH

People who don't bother to look before crossing in front of me while talking on their cellphone.

TrevorInSoCal

Actually that can be to your advantage. Cars passing too close? Slime their windshield with a "snot rocket" .

-Trevor

FLBandit

Pressure sensitive gates that aren't sensitive enough to open for a bike.
Semi-Trucks
People who throw things. (Yell all you want!)
Debris in the bike lane. It all accumulates there.
I'm sure theres more!