I had a rough day.
#1
Domestic Domestique
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I had a rough day.
On my way to school this morning, I was hit by a car. Totally my fault, confusing intersection and I went when I shouldn't have. Probably 35-40mph impact speed but just glanced of the side of the car. I'm fine, bike is ok but the wheels are a little wobbly.
On my way home from school, I was taking the lane on a 4 lane street as there is no shoulder and a posted speed limit of 45mph. A cop pulled up next to me and told me I should ride as far right as possible. I told him taking the lane was the safest for me but he argued and I backed off. Immediately after he took off, a car buzzed me because... I wasn't taking the ****ing lane.
After that, on a two lane, I was taking the lane for the same reasons, and a motorist honked at me and gestured that I move over for him.
What the ****? I rarely get honked at. Even rarer is a cop telling me what his dumbass interpretation of the law is. And I've never been hit before... All in one day.
I recently moved here and I am completely unimpressed with the cycling infrastructure. I'm working on communicating this with the local governments.
On my way home from school, I was taking the lane on a 4 lane street as there is no shoulder and a posted speed limit of 45mph. A cop pulled up next to me and told me I should ride as far right as possible. I told him taking the lane was the safest for me but he argued and I backed off. Immediately after he took off, a car buzzed me because... I wasn't taking the ****ing lane.
After that, on a two lane, I was taking the lane for the same reasons, and a motorist honked at me and gestured that I move over for him.
What the ****? I rarely get honked at. Even rarer is a cop telling me what his dumbass interpretation of the law is. And I've never been hit before... All in one day.
I recently moved here and I am completely unimpressed with the cycling infrastructure. I'm working on communicating this with the local governments.
#3
Senior Member
How do you get from you making a mistake and two dweebs acting like they know the law to thinking MI needs more cycling infrastructure?
#4
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I moved here from a great place to be a cyclist to a place solely dominated by car culture. I know what cycling infrastructure does and regardless of what happened today, this area needs more.
#5
long time visiter
That sucks! Glad it wasn't a direct hit.
One piece of advise would be to print off your local cycling "rules of the road" and keep a copy with you when you ride. I do this in case a cop ever picks an arguement with me. I'm stubborn and would never give in to a wrong interpretation of cycling rules.
One piece of advise would be to print off your local cycling "rules of the road" and keep a copy with you when you ride. I do this in case a cop ever picks an arguement with me. I'm stubborn and would never give in to a wrong interpretation of cycling rules.
#6
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That sucks! Glad it wasn't a direct hit.
One piece of advise would be to print off your local cycling "rules of the road" and keep a copy with you when you ride. I do this in case a cop ever picks an arguement with me. I'm stubborn and would never give in to a wrong interpretation of cycling rules.
One piece of advise would be to print off your local cycling "rules of the road" and keep a copy with you when you ride. I do this in case a cop ever picks an arguement with me. I'm stubborn and would never give in to a wrong interpretation of cycling rules.
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Anyway...here is a shot from their website www.elevengear.us/trafficmaster.html
#10
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sorry to hear that, hope you're okay.
if its any consolation, i live in a fairly bike friendly city, and still get honked at regularily. it's not the location, its the population unfortunately.
get bright, take the lane. find a slo-mo triangle and strap it to the bike or you. A front bright flashing light is equally as important as a good rear array, which should be at least a two Planet Bike Superflashes, one on each seatstay, minimum.
Take care, don't mind the honks. think of it as a character builder.
if its any consolation, i live in a fairly bike friendly city, and still get honked at regularily. it's not the location, its the population unfortunately.
get bright, take the lane. find a slo-mo triangle and strap it to the bike or you. A front bright flashing light is equally as important as a good rear array, which should be at least a two Planet Bike Superflashes, one on each seatstay, minimum.
Take care, don't mind the honks. think of it as a character builder.
Last edited by Bekologist; 01-21-10 at 09:26 AM.
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You moved to Detroit and did not expect it to be dominated by the car culture? What did you expect from the birth place/home of the big 3? You can not be that naive.
#13
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I commute regularly. I made some adjustments where money allowed but I've been commuting off and on by bike since I was old enough to ride.
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The car culture is just trying to discourage you from riding your bicycle. I say, give 'em the finger and keep riding.
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Now would you like some good news regarding this?
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Actually, I hear Detroit is trying very hard to reinvent itself, with a major push toward sustainability. Since so many people have moved out, I also hear that the roads there are overengineered for cars as of now; as such a bunch of road diets are being planned. The big three are no more (well, except for Ford) and people are beginning to recognize that Detroit needs to diversify if it wants to survive.
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Actually, I hear Detroit is trying very hard to reinvent itself, with a major push toward sustainability. Since so many people have moved out, I also hear that the roads there are overengineered for cars as of now; as such a bunch of road diets are being planned. The big three are no more (well, except for Ford) and people are beginning to recognize that Detroit needs to diversify if it wants to survive.
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All you can do is support your local bicycle advocacy group. I'm doing my best to support the Florida Bicycle Association.
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I bought this Traffic Master jersey from Eleven Gear a couple of months ago. It has the United States Universal Vehicle Code, §11-1205 printed on the sleeve, including of course all of the legal reasons that you are allowed the full lane. Cops where I live don't know the law either.
Too bad it's not actually the law. Oh, your state may have based it's laws on it, or borrowed from it, but your actual laws would be what's in your state's (and cities, counties, parishes, whatever) lawbooks, not what's in the UVC.
I guess logistically, it would be hard for them to sell versions customized for each state (and even worse, customized for each city.)
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Michigan depresses me even when I'm driving. The thought of bike commuting would take some getting used to.
OP, sorry you had a bad day.
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The genesis of Trek was a bike shop in Madison, Wi. The company itself was started in Waterloo Wisconsin. The owners had a distribution company in Milwaukee.
Michigan depresses me even when I'm driving. The thought of bike commuting would take some getting used to.
OP, sorry you had a bad day.
Michigan depresses me even when I'm driving. The thought of bike commuting would take some getting used to.
OP, sorry you had a bad day.
Wisconson... OK... I thought it was up there in that Great Lakes region somewhere... Thanks
#23
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I bought this Traffic Master jersey from Eleven Gear a couple of months ago. It has the United States Universal Vehicle Code, §11-1205 printed on the sleeve, including of course all of the legal reasons that you are allowed the full lane. Cops where I live don't know the law either. So I can jam my sleeve in their face and tell them (in my fantasy of course) "I know you can't read, and couldn't comprehend this law if I read it to you, but you can be darned sure THE JUDGE and my frikkin' ATTORNEY know it word for word"
Anyway...here is a shot from their website www.elevengear.us/trafficmaster.html
Anyway...here is a shot from their website www.elevengear.us/trafficmaster.html
#24
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Wow, that is a BAD FREAKIN' DAY-glad it worked out ok.You can true up those wheels, andI guess chalk it up to a learning experience.
I'm in NOLA-we aren't a bike friendly city, but there really isn't much bike car antagonism yet either.
It is easy to make a mistake when riding.Riding for transportation is basically a boring repetitive activity and it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMAN BEING TO ALWAYS STAY 100% FOCUSED when doing boring repetitive tasks-PILOTS, smart well motivated, well trained folks fly planes into mountains because they become kinda" tunneled visioned" hypnotized by the nature of it.Same story with driving a car long distances.
Maybe the interaction with the cop and the annoying driver threw you off your game? I sometimes rerun such incidents in my head and lose my concentration on the task at hand. Maybe you just screw up-everyone does it-nature of a boring task.
I'm a big lover of bike lanes-none in NOLA- but I don't want to get into that here.Not a big enough believer to argue about it-I just like them in Flagstaff AZ when we go to the La Quinta for 6 days to beat the heat of NOLA in the summer9when we have the $$ we go-and they allow dogs/cats-a big plus)
Glad it worked out ok,
Charlie
I'm in NOLA-we aren't a bike friendly city, but there really isn't much bike car antagonism yet either.
It is easy to make a mistake when riding.Riding for transportation is basically a boring repetitive activity and it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR HUMAN BEING TO ALWAYS STAY 100% FOCUSED when doing boring repetitive tasks-PILOTS, smart well motivated, well trained folks fly planes into mountains because they become kinda" tunneled visioned" hypnotized by the nature of it.Same story with driving a car long distances.
Maybe the interaction with the cop and the annoying driver threw you off your game? I sometimes rerun such incidents in my head and lose my concentration on the task at hand. Maybe you just screw up-everyone does it-nature of a boring task.
I'm a big lover of bike lanes-none in NOLA- but I don't want to get into that here.Not a big enough believer to argue about it-I just like them in Flagstaff AZ when we go to the La Quinta for 6 days to beat the heat of NOLA in the summer9when we have the $$ we go-and they allow dogs/cats-a big plus)
Glad it worked out ok,
Charlie