On the one hand, I might have just slowed down, gotten behind the cabbie, and taken the lane.
On the other hand, I hate fucking cabbies.
Quite a dilemma…
[quote=“surfimp”]Maybe I need to take the brakes off so I’ll feel less safe and go slower? 
The worst part is that I have spawned, twice in fact… two boys. The younger one is definitely going to be hell on wheels, too. I need to chill the fuck out for their sake if not my own. At least I always wear a helmet and have some life insurance… LOL
Anyways, I figured some public humiliation might be the ticket. Keep it up![/quote]
Stupid post of the day.
If you need an excuse to be all too super cool for brakes, just do it. Don’t find justification for it.
what happened? that sucks man, i hate hearing about it. the shitty thing is you don’t even need to ride like a jackass to get jacked.
last weekend i was hanging out with friends and we got a call from a girl one of them knew who was left bleeding on the side of the road after a car clipped her from behind and drove off. no turns involved and this road has a bike lane - either this driver was straight up murderous or some oblivious asshole texting without the decency to at least make sure she wasn’t dead. when we got there she had lots of gnarly scrapes, one on her thigh that had swollen up pretty severely. somehow her bike was okay.
I doubt I can find a similar rush in a controlled environment. I still skate, but mostly mini ramps now and I defnitely don’t get that rush I get on my tarck bike. I don’t ride like a jackass though.
But then again my image of riding like a jackass are idiots carrying umbrellas text messaging on the phone coming down the wrong way headed towards me…pretty much half of the bikes out on the road here.
im using my brake less now that its wet/rainy
im a sucker for fun 
I got hit head on about a year ago. This is after I started to mellow out my riding style. I was all anti-tarcked out with gloves, helmet, brake, lights, obeying traffic laws. All served their purpose, except the brake, which in the brevity of time between sight and impact left me little more time than to get my fingers on it.
My knee is still fucked up. I’m still fearful waiting for some dumbass to put me in the same position. I don’t want to have to put up with these consequences but it did a lot to shape how I perceive being safe on the road. Crazy fun times are good with buddies, when you’re more visible, but I avoid pushing my luck so I don’t end up like I did last year but by my own bidding.
i’ve wrecked every bike i’ve ever ridden. some were my fault (following someone too close) some were not my fault (getting the right hook). i don’t ride like a jackass either. shit just happens.
you fuckers stay safe.
[quote=“artblur”]sometimes living on the edge makes life a tad more interesting.
i’m not being critical… just trying to offer advice…
maybe you could find something else that gives you a rush in a more controlled environment… like going to an indoor rock climbing gym or [color=#FF0000]racing at a velodrome[/color].
that being said… according to my personal beliefs (which may be completely wrong): when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. A little risk isn’t what’s gonna take you out.[/quote]
Hey!East Coast Dude! Dont send this Hot Mess to the velodrome… He’s going to end up on one of my local tracks!!!
I have the same problem. It’s getting better with age but still at 32 I find myself doing really stupid shit all the time.
this was my problem a few weeks ago. i was taking unnecessary risks just beacause i felt i could handle them and come out okay. one day i had a pretty big scare that made me change my actions.
on my way home from class and ready to have a beer and play some xbox live, i was bombing a hill though the high school across the street from my house. it was kinda moist, not rainy, but the road was moist from earlier rain. i’m bombing this hill which comes down to my street, which gets a little busy in the afternoons. so i’m about thirty feet away and i pop into a moster skid and drop my chain, flying down the hill towards traffic. i quick pulled my right foot out and did a ted shred and stopped about three feet away from going headlong into traffic. then i get off, put my chain back on and start heading home, but my adrenaline is up so high from dodging that bullet that i make my right turn (and my house is a quick left after that) and nearly get taken out. as i’m waiting to make my left into the driveway i hear tires screech behind me and see a green dodge ram pickup skid to a halt about two feet behind and a foot to my left. scary ass shit, and i’ve reassessed my riding since.
Perfect - thank you.
I am enough of a fatalist to know that when your time comes, it comes, somewhat irrespective of what you’ve tried to do (or not do) to forestall it.
That said, risky behavior sure ups the odds of brining the pain down on yourself. Of course there’s nothing you can do to prevent the random rear-end, except not ride. But then you might just fall down in the shower or off a ladder or whatever.
I do always wear a helmet and I run front and rear brakes. Lights when it’s dark and/or rainy, and obey almost all traffic signals (more than most bike riders and many cars in this town). I have very few altercations like the one described above, at most maybe once every couple months.
Thanks all. At 33 years old, and having lost 35lbs through the magic of being 95% car-free, I think the relative overdose of testosterone and the other hormones / compounds / etc released by riding are just sort of overwhelming my system right now. But then again, my bike riding time is some of the only “me” time I have, so maybe it’s not overly surprising I make the most of it, in an admittedly stupid way.
and theres the matter of pedestrians. adrenaline from riding, just like and skating and backflips and farting is great, but if you hurt someone else its no good.
at first you made it sound dangerous
i have accidental death and dismemberment… its nice to know if i get taken out my wife will be able to pay off our house.
Me too, plus if I died she’d get to pick out a brand new hubby. That could be fun!
Heh I did something similar recently. Was zipping down the Williamsburg bridge into Manhattan. The ped path empties into the median, and the median kind of ends rather abruptly (lots of the giant traffic cone barrel things). So I hop down the curb to try and enter traffic and my chain drops. I’m in the middle of an 8-lane road (there’s a good bit of space there, but once the space runs out, it’s all car). I just hop off my seat and Fred Flintstone my way to a halt, about maybe a foot away from crashing into traffic.
Where is all this traffic in Santa Barbara? Am i missing something?
Apparently? Do you live here, or just opining from afar?
at first you made it sound dangerous[/quote]
Actually, it’d make more sense to say “brakes… helmet… health insurance”
The past 6 weeks have made me realize why I need health insurance:
1 Broken foot
3 stitches my hand from stabbing myself
both were involving bikes but neither were riding regularly