Boy, you sure got him good…
[quote=“danger_scott”][quote=“jim”]i remember when those dudes were in town and a lot of people were actually excited. still no idea why. are these MASH dudes really becoming celebrities in the “scene?”
[/quote]
The black guy with the beard lives near me and I always see him and yell crap like “MASH IT” at him in very insulting ways.[/quote]
Out of everyone who replied in this thread and the mirror threads on the roadie forum and fixed forum over at BF… I’d say you’re sitting in a pretty lonely corner with that opinion.
Please, then, enlighten me. Besides Scott who likes it because he can see his neighborhood, no one has yet to explain to me what they find so interesting about watching random guys ride bikes down the street while cutting off cars and occasionally skidding.
I find it odd that Lance would ride with these guys, but my point is not about the specific clips showing him (though they were boring as well), but is instead that these videos as a whole are rather quite dull and I fail to see the appeal. If you or someone else should care to elaborate as to what it is you find so entertaining, I’m open to watching them again in the hopes I can pick up on it.
I like it because it is faster riding than what I can do. It is inspiring for me so I can go out and push it more but at the same time have fun.
Just curious but what kind of riding do you do ben?
Ben, you’re asking for reason in something that has more to do with emotion than anything else.
Lance should post his bike in the “murdered out” thread.
I’m not sure how to answer that because I’m not sure what you might really be getting at. I go out for rides on my road bike --occasionally group rides, but usually by myself on back roads. I run errands on my touring/commuting bike. I typically ride my fixed gear bike when I don’t need to carry anything and know the place I’ll be locking is decently safe.
I prefer solitary, late-fall road bike rides, though I do enjoy riding through city traffic. I don’t sprint through traffic though – either in terms of speed, or in terms of cutting in and out – because I consider city riding to be dangerous and prefer to minimize my chances of getting hurt (same reason I always wear a helmet) and because I know I’d be pissed as a driver if I had cyclists doing that to me.
I recently did a bike tour around lake michigan and am going to be getting a mountain bike soon because I’d like to explore that side of cycling.
If your question is really whether or not I ride as fast as I can down city streets with no destination and apparently no regard for others, then the answer is no. And perhaps that’s why I don’t understand the videos.
As far as emotion goes, I get the idea of getting jazzed up by watching people ride. But these particular videos don’t do it for me. They’re just random people riding random streets to me. If they were racing, or were names I knew, or were my friends, or were riding through my neighborhood, then I might find it more appealing. Then again, I also don’t really enjoy watching videos of guys riding single track even though some of them are mind-blowingly skillful. But that I think has more to do with never having done it myself and not being able to ‘experience it’ in my head than actual lack of entertainment.
I was just curious because their (MASH’s) style of riding does not appeal to everyone. Very well understood why it doesn’t appeal to you.
[quote=“tarckatina”]http://mashsf.com/videos.php
Austin and Garret videos.
What do ya think?[/quote]
That’s the first Mash video I’ve seen. It was embarrassing to see them riding like assholes in traffic. Bad example for kids and bad image for cyclists everywhere. I’m one who has to ride everywhere, not just for kicks, so I have to deal with motorists whose views on cyclists may very well be formed from dealing with this crap. Would you want your own mother to go out for a simple errand or car trip to work, nearly hit a one of these clowns, and have her day ruined? I wouldn’t. Motorists develop an aggressive attitude of “they’ll get what’s coming to them.” Pretty soon, the streets are a combat zone. Call me a square, but this is inconsiderate, adolescent bullshit. Don’t fool yourself. Many kids, probably kids you know, or your relatives kids, will see this, imitate it, and wind up hurt and dead. Parents will hear about the injuries or deaths, and forbid their kids to ride. That’s the natural evolution, not a hysterical overreaction.
Austin cyclists worked damn hard to make it a bicyclists friendly community where they share the road. But these idiots are going to set the cause back twenty years. You don’t think there’s an influential element just looking for an excuse to get bikes off the street? Keep sleeping. Before long, streets will be off limits to bikes, and then these rebels can boast about running from cops and riding illegally. Yay, another source for cheap kicks!
But, who gives a shit right? As long as these guys get to do what they want in their own time, it’s every man for himself.
The spinning and riding with Lance was cool.
I know all the impressionable teenagers are really into fixed gear culture and all, but I don’t buy your argument one bit. You really took that slippery slope argument off the deep end didn’t you?
And- a square? Really? Is this 1960?
Edit: I feel like I was just trolled, I hope that was a troll.
Edit 2:added linkage cause I feel like being a fallacy monger right now (I fucking hate slippery slope arguments). I really hate it when people try to say, when a car cuts another car off, or a person on a bike off, its just that person being an asshole; but when someone on a bike does it suddenly it has implications that apply to all people on bikes everywhere. What makes you so certain that the person who got cut off isn’t just going to consider that specific person on a bike to be an asshole, instead of making sweeping generalizations? What is so special about people on bikes that would make then the exception to this standard reaction of “what an asshole,” and turn it into “people on bikes are assholes?” You’ll often find motorist have a general dislike for anything that slows them down, which is the major source of hate for people on bikes, and that isn’t going to change one way or the other if few more people ride like dicks.
It wasn’t a troll and I completely agree with him. He may victimize himself but honestly he has a point.
On the other hand being a subdued downtrodden cyclist in a world of cars makes me want to ride like they ride.
Everyone rides like this in china. No one follows traffic laws.
And critical mass is every day!
[quote=“bold”]It wasn’t a troll and I completely agree with him. He may victimize himself but honestly he has a point.
On the other hand being a subdued downtrodden cyclist in a world of cars makes me want to ride like they ride.[/quote]
Fight the power!
To answer the general question, why do people enjoy these videos: because I can’t always ride my bike all the time. Those times when I’m too tired to ride but I still want to watch something that interests me, mash and other videos are basically bike porn. I get to absorb the feeling of going really fast on the road when I can’t do it myself. The same reason I watch cooking shows when I have nothing to eat.
that’s kinda the same reason i don’t like MASH.
We live in a world where cyclists are bound by traffic laws, but whose rights are overlooked by motorists. The day motorists stop passing too close (legally speaking in many states) not affording me my lane, and being generally obnoxious, dangerous and full out stupid is the day I will stop shooting lights and roundabouts, jumping stop signs, and riding the center line to jump left hand turns. I certainly understsand that isnt for everyone, but as a person who most of the time commutes and moves by bike, you are just as likely, if not more likely, to get hit when you dont ride in an assertive manner. You can preach to me all you want about safety, but while i’ve gotten several horns and the occasional finger riding assertively, the only times I’ve been clipped, run from the road and/or forced out of turns were when I was taking it easy and not asserting my presence.
this
They fit their entire bike in those padded boxes? Man, seems like taking the fork off is a bit excessive for bike transportation.
[quote=“stormy”]I know all the impressionable teenagers are really into fixed gear culture and all, but I don’t buy your argument one bit. You really took that slippery slope argument off the deep end didn’t you?
And- a square? Really? Is this 1960?
Edit: I feel like I was just trolled, I hope that was a troll.
Edit 2:added linkage cause I feel like being a fallacy monger right now (I fucking hate slippery slope arguments). I really hate it when people try to say, when a car cuts another car off, or a person on a bike off, its just that person being an asshole; but when someone on a bike does it suddenly it has implications that apply to all people on bikes everywhere. What makes you so certain that the person who got cut off isn’t just going to consider that specific person on a bike to be an asshole, instead of making sweeping generalizations? What is so special about people on bikes that would make then the exception to this standard reaction of “what an asshole,” and turn it into “people on bikes are assholes?” You’ll often find motorist have a general dislike for anything that slows them down, which is the major source of hate for people on bikes, and that isn’t going to change one way or the other if few more people ride like dicks.[/quote]
Because bikes are in the small minority, the bonehead cyclist’ actions represent a greater percentage of activity the motorist will see. Your being willfully ignorant if you don’t realize cyclists are held up to a higher standard, and their actions don’t stand out to motorists who in the real world, so make sweeping generalizations. Giving up and choosing a selfish-anarchist attitude is the way of the weak. True, some motorists will have a dislike for all cyclists regardless of their behavior, and there’s nothing we can do to change them. And that makes it all more important to ride in ways that will positively influence motorists who have a more open mind. It’s very short-sighted to think that any gains we’ve achieved are permanent, and can’t be easily reversed by people looking for an excuse to take away our rights. And it’s a loser’s attitude that chooses to promote activity that hurt the cause. Maybe we’re just seeing the difference between those cyclists who plan on doing it for years to come, and those who will move on to some other selfish activity when it becomes hip.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a traffic safety nazi. I do what I have to do to be safe. If it means getting a head start on a light that about to turn green, I’ll do it. If it means going head and riding through a red light that NOT going to change because the bike won’t trip the sensor, I’ll do it. But this isn’t a video of bike commuters doing what they had to do to adjust. This was a video of pinheads actively seeking ways to make the ride more dangerous.