[quote=kmcdon]
So, since I turned off that means I lost, right?[/quote]
It’s only a lose if you turn off to seal a win, rather than turn off because that’s where you’re going.
yes, following your actual route can never be considered a loss
you know the other person is losing if you see them turn down some random dead end; that happened to me a few weeks ago
They are tearing up all the streets in downtown MKE because a) resurfacing and b) installing street car rails. So the whole grid is fucked, particularly this week.
Today, even with my nimble sidewalk-riding skills, I was still forced to detour.
There are some sections that have pedestrian crossings, which let me cross where cars can’t, but this particular intersection was totally blocked off from every direction. I turned around and headed back up the block to see another lady making the same mistake on a basket cruiser. I made my way up and down to the next block over, but somehow she managed to out-alley-cat me back where I had turned around and ended up a block ahead of me.
Recently moved to LA and haven’t been able to cat6 because beach cruisers, and I just have my creaky All-City commuter right now, but tonight was prime.
Dude on a Tarmac with 404s in Herbalife kit crept up behind me, cruising east on Venice Blvd just after the expo path. We exchange leads a couple times until Redondo intersection turns yellow, he unclips to stop and I take the light before it turns red, out of the saddle in the drops. I hope he smelled the musk of my backpack, because that is the smell of dedication.
The city has started doing radar speed enforcement for bikes in a popular park, during peak commute hours, while they continue to ignore all the cars blowing stoplights and going 60mph down residential streets.
Today I finally saw them on my ride in. So I ramped it up to 14.99999mph (the maximum legal speed for bicycles) and rode past.
Her (while pointing a radar gun at me): Hi! Have a nice day!
Me: GET A LIFE!
Her: :nonplussed emoji:
I hope I see her again tomorrow.
lol
That’s absurd.
Was she a real cop or just a parking ticket writer type?
It was a pair of park rangers, one doing radar, one ready to chase people down on the MUP in a pickup truck.
I wore my helmetcam today and of course they weren’t there. It’s actually been a point of contention since last week- they just spend dog knows how much to rip up the old bike lanes and replace them with “BIKES” and a seperate “BIKES - SLOW” lane, indicating that there’s a fast lane.
BUT NO, along with the separated lanes they also brought in the radar patrol, and (cyclists) are up in arms about it. The pedestrians don’t seem to care, but they also have their own seperated fucking lane, so the fast (14.9mph) bikes, pedestrians, and slow bikes never cross paths.
It’s the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
[quote=kmcdon]The city has started doing radar speed enforcement for bikes in a popular park, during peak commute hours, while they continue to ignore all the cars blowing stoplights and going 60mph down residential streets.
Today I finally saw them on my ride in. So I ramped it up to 14.99999mph (the maximum legal speed for bicycles) and rode past.
Her (while pointing a radar gun at me): Hi! Have a nice day!
Me: GET A LIFE!
Her: :nonplussed emoji:
I hope I see her again tomorrow.[/quote]
So you came across someone who was doing their (menial) job, they were nice to you, and you were a dick in response?
Congratulations!
Park rangers have to deal with enough shit already. Don’t blame them because they’re following orders.
Basically, yeah. I’m no angel but the whole situation is stupid and everyone hates them for being there. I don’t like the person who’s actively trying to nail me for speeding on a bike, while all around me clueless texting drivers get of scot-free. Fuck that ticket writer, and fuck the city for thinking it’s necessary.
Didn’t you just say that it was a park ranger? Park rangers aren’t cops.
Do you know what park rangers do pretty much every day? They do what they’re assigned to do.
Sounds like she got stuck doing something she didn’t really want to do, tried to make the best of it by being cordial to you, and you responded by being rude.
Basically, you’re the angry aunt who’s yelling at the cashier because the store won’t accept her expired coupon.
I mean, park rangers are 100% law enforcement officers, so they are actually cops.
And you can call me an angry aunt all you want, I’m OK with that. I’m from (basically) Philly and I know that my abrasive attitude isn’t going to go over well with everyone, it’s also not going to go away.
Maybe, just maybe, if they didn’t spend a shit-ton of money to put up brand new “non-slow” bike lanes (when the old ones were perfectly fine), and then immediately start ticketing people who don’t go slow in them to recoup their costs, the entire cycling community in my city wouldn’t be raging about it, but what do I know.
Fuck them. I’m not sorry.
I’m just saying dude, why not direct that rage towards a place where it would actually be beneficial? For example: actually taking it up with the city and talking to people who have the authority to do something about it.
Being a (basically) Philly guy and chirping at someone who was trying to be nice to you is pretty juvenile and self-centered and, for the most part, a waste of everyone’s energy.
who knows, maybe she quit because so many people were mean to her for doing the job she was assigned to do and they didn’t have anyone to replace her the next day?
One can hope.
Stop and chat next time? A simple conversation with the ranger/cop/whatever has the potential to accomplish far more toward actual policy change than a ride-by griping ever will.
having been on the receiving end of much misplaced rage in the pursuit of a relatively meager paycheck, I’m perpetually meek and mild to even the most officious service providers. It’s a personality flaw, I think.
I used to be like you.
Walking through life being an abrasive, loudmouth to everyone who rubbed me slightly the wrong way out in the world.
My lovely wife pointed out that it was, as Derek said, pretty juvenile and self-centered and, for the most part, was a waste of everyone’s energy.
So now whenever I feel like griping at some dick riding his bike on the sidewalk while I’m walking my dogs or a guy in a car who cuts me off trying to park, I just don’t.
I let it roll off my back.
Because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter at all.
Any you know what?
I’m a happier and better person for it.
Definitely not trying to one up, just agree with the sentiment. I used to be a very angry person and it can still happen occasionally as I’m sure you all know through my contributions to this thread. I have bones in my right hand that will never heal because of fighting. I’ve broken more windows on cars and gotten in more fights with drivers than probably most people on tarck. And I’m definitely not proud of it. These days if I get into the shit with someone it’s most often because they were getting into with someone that couldn’t/shouldn’t deal with it and I’d rather take the flak than some old dude or young college girl on a cruiser.
That said, because of all my years being a gigantic jerk I realized it affected me far more than I ever realized. A small thing, like Rusty said, someone being rude and riding their bike on the sidewalk or whatever. I would lash out at that person and escalate the situation. My emotions would escalate even if theirs didn’t. So even the most low-key version of a confrontation still had bad repercussions on my mood, let alone the ones where the person reacted.
Now if someone is being rude I either feel sorry for them or if I’m feeling ‘confrontational’ I let them know they’re being rude in a polite way. Because you have no idea what their day is like, who they are, what they’re going through, or if they were even aware of what they did.
A good example is one time I was catching the end of a yellow light, not even the red, full blown yellow. Some pedestrian started to cross early. We didn’t even have a close call but as I passed him he said some comment about how I’m a dick for blowing the light. I turned around and caught up to him a block later to confront him in a dickish way. The second he saw me he apologized. Not in some fearful way because he was being confronted on the street but in a heartfelt way. He said that the second he talked shit to me he realized he was being a giant dick. In turn that made me realize I was about to be a giant dick. We both chatted about how we were having equally really bad days at work, exchanged names, shook hands, and left peacefully.
I try to think the best about people now because you don’t know them or what the story is. Sure, some people are clearly jerks and fuck whatever is going on in their life to take it out on others but they are the rare exception. Most people are probably just doing their shitty job or trying not to think about making rent next week.