[BVC-CHAT] "Why do they hate us?"

[Christopher Menzel]

On Aug 28, 2008, at 9:23 AM, Kevin Baker wrote:
> Thomas Woodfin wrote:
>
>> But I've also been watching the proliferation of cyclists on the  
>> TAMU campus and surround streets this past week as school starts.  
>> Their inability to understand that they need to obey the rules of  
>> the road as a vehicle is also mysterious.  It is as though they  
>> remember only riding their home driveways and front yards when they  
>> were 10 years old.
>>
>
> it's not just students. I was annoyed Tuesday on the TNP ride that  
> on the way out, way before we were riding hard, a good portion of  
> the riders were just a few feet from the yellow line. I think it's  
> going to be nearly impossible to get people who ride to and from  
> campus to obey the law and be considerate if folks who should know  
> better lapse so readily.

Well, speak up on the ride.  Sounds like a good ground rule that we  
ought to try to adhere to on the TNP.  Some of the participants might  
think that, because they are legal vehicles, they can ride however  
they want in the right lane.  In fact, while the law allows cyclists  
to ride two abreast, it also requires them to ride as near to the edge  
of the road as safety permits. Assuming this is about three feet, and  
three feet between side-by-side riders, this means that we should  
rarely have to take up more than half the road.  (Though, frankly,  
aren't we then as much of an obstacle as we would be if we were taking  
up most of the lane?  The wording of the curb requirement could use  
some work.)

 From talking to whingeing locals, it seems to me that the inability  
immediately to pass a bunch (i.e., to have to actually *slow down* for  
a few seconds) is one of the main things that hacks them off.  My  
response, when I have a chance and when I think I can avoid being  
snarky, is that a bunch is just another legal slow moving vehicle that  
you have to wait for until you can safely pass.  I then ask them if  
they also get upset when they have to slow down for school buses,  
tractors and other farm equipment, etc and, if not, what the  
difference is.  No one has ever been able to provide a rational answer  
to that.  I then ask why they hate America, as they obviously despise  
Freedom.  (Ok, I only *want* to ask the last one! :-)

That said, it seems to me that greater flexibility is (or at least  
ought to be) permitted on roads with low volume traffic.  On the  
Caldwell ride we are often echeloned across the entire right lane  
between Tunis and Hwy 50, as there is usually a crosswind and the pace  
is very hard, and the riders who are wheel sucking don't want to get  
dropped.  But there is usually very little traffic so that cars  
(sometimes with a bit of a wait that they'd have to make anyway even  
if we were taking up only half the lane, as noted above) can pass  
safely in the left lane.  Maybe we can get the law changed so that  
cyclists can ride as near to the curb as safety and *ego* permit! :-)

-chris