resipsa

Dear Guy on the Cantilever Brake- and Road Shifter-Equipped Trek,

I see by your shaved legs and somewhat high cadence that you too enjoy riding quickly. I commend you for it. I would note, however, that a love of speed means neither that you are the final arbiter of others' actions nor that you are particularly fast.

Telling me to watch my "etiquette" in beating you off the line after we had stopped for crossing traffic is rather silly, given that I gave you some six feet of room in doing so, and especially given that in the Boston area, there is no bicycling etiquette followed by anybody. Were there actually any rules of the road on point, I would surely have followed them; there were none, however, and I did not. I simply noted that you were accelerating slowly and that there was a lot of room on the right. Moreover, you certainly did not follow any code of conduct when you decided to sprint to catch up with and pace me later - a mere 2 feet to my left - when I had already indicated that I was trying to merge into the lane to my left. Hypocrisy does not sit well with me, nor should it with anyone.

Such hypocrisy was regrettably only further illustrated when you blew past me while I was stopped at a red light one quarter mile up the road. I can find no justification for chiding me for breaking unwritten rules, while flaunting those duly enacted by the General Court of the Commonwealth.

Lack of justification notwithstanding, I do understand why you felt the need to do so. It can't be easy to go through the pains of shaving your legs regularly, and by your breathing rate and perspiration when I first came upon you, it's certain that you were giving it your all. To then have someone like me pass you with ease between signals must be frustrating. If I too had what can only be an inferiority complex, the thought of gaining an "advantage" in the "race" would have been an obvious move, though still one lacking in sense.

I therefore implore you to think about the disconnect between your words and your actions and to work on getting that cadence up. Road cycling, after all, is more an endurance event than a sprint.

Yours Truly,

The Guy on the 14 year-old Cannondale

summitseeker

+1

ChrisO

Obviously you were in the wrong. With shaved legs and a fast spin, this person is clearly way cooler than the rest of us; he couldn't possibly be wrong.

resipsa

Only partially so. His cadence was significantly higher than your average commuter, but my own is/was (and in this context, I say this shamefacedly) quite a bit higher than his. In my defense, my left knee acts up when I mash too much. =)

thenomad

Open letter from Pot to Kettle:

ChrisO

^^^that's funny!

I have the same problem, only the right knee.

apricissimus 

Here's the deal with jumping ahead of people at lights: People do this all the time, and it's aggravating. Cyclists will do this even if they know (or ought to know) that the person in front of them is faster and will have to pass them again. What you should do is this: Stay behind for the time being, and if you really are faster, you'll pass him in due course.

I'll have to defer to your judgment since I wasn't there and I don't know how slowly he was accelerating. But people jockeying for position at red lights, and jumping ahead when it turns green, is annoying.

Maybe there really is no bike etiquette in the Boston area. But that's a shame, don't you think?

resipsa

Hey! You're Black! =)

But seriously, I just think that telling someone off for breaking fake rules and then breaking real ones to "beat" them is a real jerk move.

ChrisO

Yep. Or in the very least, explain your fake rules to me so I can chuckle at you.

apricissimus 

Was this light that he ran also on Mass Ave.? Where was it?

alan s 

A few hypocritical comments I've heard recently:

Two women riding side-by-side on a bridge sidewalk told me "the bridge is not for passing." Excuse me, but if you are going to block me, at least try to make sense.

Another rider complained of my lack of proper etiquette for not announcing my presence, but when I mentioned she knew I was there the whole time due to a mirror and frequent glances back, she didn't have a response. A few days later, she passed me on the right side with out a sound (I was in cool down mode), which not only lacks "etiquette," but is really unsafe.

With a little experience, hopefully these riders will learn they don't know it all, and what's more important is getting there safely.

resipsa

We stopped (and I passed) at the Linnean Street light (Simon's Coffeehouse), though were it not for the left-turning traffic in front of us, I can only assume he'd have blown it too.

He then blew the following (at least): Shepard/Wendell, Chauncy/Everett, Waterhouse, the next light with the crosswalk, Sidney (the firehouse), and both Memorial Drive lights. I was stopped at some of them, others I saw from behind.

All of this was on Mass. Ave.

jimmuller 

+1, resipsa

• A jerk is someone who passes else not because he wants to go faster but because he wants to look like he wants to go faster.
• A jerk is discourteous and never recognizes when another cyclist is being courteous.
• A jerk doesn't understand that road position should correlate to speed, fast riders go in front.
• A jerk passes then doesn't maintain his speed.

I encountered a jerk on Saturday on the Minuteman. I'd slowly caught up to a woman making good time on an upright, and stopped behind her for a road crossing. When traffic cleared we crossed carefully single-file to accommodate some children and skaters. As we did so a 20-something dude on another upright bombed by both of us and jumped forward about 20 yards. A hundred yards later when the path was clear of all traffic I took the opportunity to go around her, and with all that extra speed decided to take him too. I really wanted to go a little faster anyway but the thought in my head was: You want to ride that way, buddy? Try to follow me!

He tried. I watched him my mirror. Guys like that stick their elbows out and hunker their heads down when they're pumping hard. After a quarter mile he'd lost about 50 yards. At half a mile he gave up. At the next road crossing he caught up when several of us stopped for traffic. I got the better start at the crossing but the same chase scene played out. Somewhere approaching Bedford he disappeared entirely to the rear.

It was soooo satisfying!

Mr IGH

This what gets your panties all bunched up? Sheesh, you need some teenagers in your life!

woodway

Riding the MUP home a few weeks ago, I looked in my mirror to see a guy I had passed sucking my wheel. I motioned him back with my hand, but a couple minutes later I saw he was still there, so I verbally asked him to backoff and reminded him that it was bad-form to jump on another cyclists wheel without first asking if the other cyclist is OK with it. His response? "It's guys like you that give cycling a bad name". Huh? I just kept pedaling.

I have had other encounters like this with cyclists where their behaviour was rude or unsafe or both. I've learned to just let it roll off and to enjoy the ride.

rhm

I totally agree with OP, but a better title might have been "open letter from the preacher to the choir."

resipsa

Hehe. That's certainly part of it, but it's also addressed sincerely to him in the hope that he reads BF.

2su

people actually say, "watch your bike etiquette" ??

resipsa

I believe the exact quote was "watch your etiquette, buddy." At the next light he blew through, I yelled out to him "watch the rules of the road, buddy."

2su

ha ha! i live a sheltered and/or oblivious life.

thdave

The only beef I see here is that he blocked your way when you wanted to go left. It could be that your signal was not clear or he didn't see it, both of which are understandable.

I don't heed comments like that from others, mostly because I can't hear well when I ride, but also because it's not an insult. Unless I get insulted, I mind my business and stay friendly.

alan s 

Yeah, there are "etiquette rules." These are above and beyond common sense safe riding. More along the lines of not bothering/annoying your fellow rider. Some people seem to take them rather seriously and get all worked up if you breach, but most don't get too worked up. Anyone who gets really bothered by"etiquette" probably has other issues in their life/personality.

jimmuller 

I think 2su wasn't questioning whether there were rules, but rather, whether anyone actually talks like that! (I would assume some 's apply too.

Well, to the extent that we can all be tarred with the same brush by those who find cyclist a bother, we all stand to lose when one of our community acts boorishly. And one can feel for the parents of children on a MUP when a cyclist seems threatening, whether the threat is real or not. The point being that it isn't about etiquette. It is about courtesy and common safety.

In the OP's case, he was accosted directly by the perp. I'd say that sort of challenge warranted a reply, or that a visceral response was certainly understandable.

travelmama

Not worth getting bent over. Next time confront the guy rather than hoping he will read a thread. You will feel much better afterwards.

tjspiel

Though I don't think I've ever been intentionally rude to a cyclist or a pedestrian, I've done things that I consider in retrospect to have been poor judgment. Typically it's because I was in a hurry or just not paying enough attention.

I wonder if mister hairless legs has any remorse over his actions or if he has just written his own open letter on another forum.