whatever yall.
I will always draft someone who looks like they know how a draft works if im riding on a wide open stretch.
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this is not a good plan, honestly. It’s exactly what i was talking about above. It’s really not hard to pull up on someone, say what’s up, and ask to work in with them for a bit. Sometimes i’m super down to cruise quietly, or to chat about bike bullshit or whatever, other times i am riding to clear my mind and really really don’t want to deal with some fucking dork riding my ass. I never brake check, but I’ll definitely flick my left elbow and then soft pedal if they don’t get the message.
Drafting someone unannounced is like getting on a train car that’s empty save for one seat, sitting right next to someone, and then aggressively ignoring them.
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You guys realize there’s a middle ground between telling someone your life story to ask for a draft and aggressively avoiding all communication and eye contact while keeping it wheel to wheel, right?
Not a single person has ever asked me.
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I just say “can i grab your wheel?” and they say “sure” and then we ride and then i spend the rest of the time feeling real awkward about whether or not i should pull through
I could handle this.
I treat any interaction with other bicyclists like the start of a blog post on a recipe site.
Don’t worry, I’ll ask if I can work in with them for a bit, but first ten minutes about why I’ve really gravitated towards navy blue jerseys, starting with when I was a kid and my dad would wear navy polos when we’d shoot hoops out back…
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My commute is 9 blocks long, how do I keep getting into cat6 races?! Just now I was riding home on my new 26" mountain bike on knobby tires and I was stuck behind some supercommuter on a nice road bike cruising at like 11mph (13mph green wave) with his dog in his backpack. He kept kinda meandering around so it was really tough to pass him. I finally pass him at a light and put good distance between us so as not to be rude. Next block he FLIES by me going easily double his normal speed. Okay whatever man, you’re cool. Except that he then proceeds to try to pass a bus on the right that has already pulled over and has its doors open! I see him screech to a halt and almost hit someone getting off the bus. I of course passed the bus on the left and cruise the last block home.
Uh, you win? I might just start walking.
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If you’re talking about Folsom, it has been really bad lately. I think more people are getting the memo that Valencia fucking sucks, but now Folsom sucks.
Also, it seems quite possible that we’ve Cat6’d at some point. If you see a short nerd on a green Trek with yellow pedals and a bigass basket, that’s probably me.
Definitely Folsom. If you have a big ass basket it’s likely that I trust you and probably sucked your wheel. Sorry.
Have you ever seen the dude on Folsom who commutes on a pugsley? It’s insufferable.
I’ll never understand fatbike commuters.
Whenever it drops below 50 here they come out of the woodwork.
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We’ve got so many e-fat commuters out here year round. Never see them in the wet though. They’re always going like 7mph with an empty rear rack and an overstuffed tech-bro-branded backpack, no helmet or a non-dot motorcycle lid.
I liked fatbike commuting after a snow but I think I found that it was never really much faster/easier than my hybrid with studs
Otherwise I never saw those dudes as much of a menace. Let the goofballs have their fun
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No they’re totally harmless to everyone but themselves. I always cringe when I see that fat tire sized skunk stripe up some poor schmuck’s back.
e-fat commuters have been popping up a lot lately around here too, and they are the fucking worst i hate them so much
I don’t generally have a problem with fatbikes, or with ebikes. But put the two together and you have an item that only appeals to people who should absolutely not be riding a bike. It’s always some middle aged dude that doesn’t have the balls to get a motorcycle but for some reason feels safe on a chinese ebay deathtrap e-fatbike flying down the bike lanes at 40mph on knobby tires.
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e-fatbikers are also my least favorite
Something about it that I can’t quite put my finger on
“Should have bought a motorcycle” is pretty close
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Treating cycling infrastructure like a driver (fast and in the way)
Treating auto infrastructure like a cyclist (casually ignoring traffic laws… not that I mind this when done safely but they seem not to have developed this intuition)
Usually you only get to pick one
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I love fatbikes and e-town / e-cargo bikes independently although I definitely think they’re quirky
Much like the folks on the e-scooters, I’m sure the e-fatbikers are still car drivers at heart
Always makes me think about how much of an ethos/culture there is to cycling/bike commuting, even when you do it by yourself. The e-crew seems to have skipped all the lessons that you only learn by having to pull your own weight. Case in point, most of the traffic laws that cyclists bend are aimed at maintaining some amount of your momentum, which isn’t really a thing on these e-vehicles.
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