[treal512]

Quote:

My new bike just arrived. Vintage MacLean's Featherweight fixed gear.
 

 
Good looking bike!

 

[Redcarmoose]

My new bike just arrived. Vintage MacLean's Featherweight fixed gear.

Looks fast as. Hell.

 

[PleasantNoise]

So I've been off the bike for about 3 weeks, basically I got sick pretty bad so that knocked me off it for 2 weeks, and during that time Uni started up again, and my Girlfriend has moved to the city, so I've had to spend a lot helping her get her feet on the ground, making sure she doesn't get lost or starve or something silly.
Anyway, today I'd had enough of not riding, so I went out after uni (in rush hour)  I dunno if I'm the only one, but I really enjoy riding in heavy traffic, I like having to weave my way in and out of backed up traffic, gunning it at the lights to get away from the traffic, riding past frustrated commuters in their silly cars, and generally feeling like the roads suit me better than the cars they were built for.
Anyone else feel this way about riding in traffic?
 

 

[customcoco]

Quote:

So I've been off the bike for about 3 weeks, basically I got sick pretty bad so that knocked me off it for 2 weeks, and during that time Uni started up again, and my Girlfriend has moved to the city, so I've had to spend a lot helping her get her feet on the ground, making sure she doesn't get lost or starve or something silly.
Anyway, today I'd had enough of not riding, so I went out after uni (in rush hour)  I dunno if I'm the only one, but I really enjoy riding in heavy traffic, I like having to weave my way in and out of backed up traffic, gunning it at the lights to get away from the traffic, riding past frustrated commuters in their silly cars, and generally feeling like the roads suit me better than the cars they were built for.
Anyone else feel this way about riding in traffic?
 

I love the way people in their cars look at me when I clip my shoes and just get out of their reach so easily.
 
That said, I've ridden a bike in a very crowded city like NY. But where I am automobilists have absolutely no consideration for cyclists, and most of them just don't know how to drive. That makes for a pretty dangerous combination.
 
What's funny though, is that that sudden rush of adrenaline allows me to ride faster than I could without it. It really gets me high.

 

[Icenine2]

Speaking of driving in traffic.  I'm riding locally one morning and approach a four way stop in our town.  I see a Dad in a van with little kids stopped directly across from me, to my right an old lady in an Acura who has not come to a stop as I have.  I proceed in the the intersection having stopped and made eye contact with everyone there. I'm half-way into the intersection looking at the old lady when she proceeds to head toward me on purpose where I have to stop and hope she doesn't hit me.  She's looking at me the whole time then flips me off with both hands!!!  The Dad in the van is looking at me in disbelief I wasn't hit then yells out "Incredible!".  What a trip.

 

[Silent One]

Yup, I've gotten that rush riding around here in Los Angeles. This experience gets multiplied on a return trip too late with loss of daylight.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I was hit from the side in a campground of all places. The car decided just to run the stop sign and I was thrown about 30 feet into some gravel. The only thing I cared about was if my Colnago Master/ C Record was hurt or not. Lucky it just bent a quick release. After ridding the streets for years and years I have to say, Roller-blades are way more dangerous!

 

[treal512]

Quote:

So I've been off the bike for about 3 weeks, basically I got sick pretty bad so that knocked me off it for 2 weeks, and during that time Uni started up again, and my Girlfriend has moved to the city, so I've had to spend a lot helping her get her feet on the ground, making sure she doesn't get lost or starve or something silly.
Anyway, today I'd had enough of not riding, so I went out after uni (in rush hour)  I dunno if I'm the only one, but I really enjoy riding in heavy traffic, I like having to weave my way in and out of backed up traffic, gunning it at the lights to get away from the traffic, riding past frustrated commuters in their silly cars, and generally feeling like the roads suit me better than the cars they were built for.
Anyone else feel this way about riding in traffic?
 

 
It doesn't sound like I'm in an area as congested as yours, but yes, I love riding when there is (or isn't!) traffic. When I'm following traffic, I can usually match the speed of the cars because they're not fast enough and I generally take every shortcut possible, so I'm never around the same vehicles that obviously get frustrated that they're having to drive behind or nearby a cyclist for very long. It's a lot of fun, but I don't prefer it because there's a lot of hot heads and diesels in the college town I live in. I chalk these experiences up to most of them being young, ignorant and/or caught up in the typical aggressive driver-mode because they're stuck in a car while I'm gliding around.
 
 
Quote:

Speaking of driving in traffic.  I'm riding locally one morning and approach a four way stop in our town.  I see a Dad in a van with little kids stopped directly across from me, to my right an old lady in an Acura who has not come to a stop as I have.  I proceed in the the intersection having stopped and made eye contact with everyone there. I'm half-way into the intersection looking at the old lady when she proceeds to head toward me on purpose where I have to stop and hope she doesn't hit me.  She's looking at me the whole time then flips me off with both hands!!!  The Dad in the van is looking at me in disbelief I wasn't hit then yells out "Incredible!".  What a trip.

I've had a similar experience. I was at a full 4-way stop and as I started to take my turn, an Acura to my left decided it was his turn as well. So I braked and stopped cycling to let him pass only to see that he was set on stopping in the middle of the 4-way intersection directly in front of me. It was a while ago, so I don't remember the exact gestures, but it was something along the lines of the asian man driving looking at me blankly while his asian wife passenger waved her hands around with some attitude. It was pretty obvious they didn't live in town (parents of some freshman, I'm sure), so I followed them to the next light that was a very short distance away.

When I pulled beside the driver, him and his wife (mostly his wife) proceeded to tell me how I should ride my bicycle. When I asked them about their duties as police officers enforcing road protocol by stopping in the middle of the intersection, it was brushed off by the wife's endless squawking until I decided to end the interaction by making some direct comments to the driver about sharing the road. It was interesting to me that they actually stuck around to speak about the incident, but the woman verbally dominated the driver and pretty much disrupted any sort of possible headway.
 
Never a dull moment!

 

[PleasantNoise]

Quote:

 

I've had a similar experience. I was at a full 4-way stop and as I started to take my turn, an Acura to my left decided it was his turn as well. So I braked and stopped cycling to let him pass only to see that he was set on stopping in the middle of the 4-way intersection directly in front of me. It was a while ago, so I don't remember the exact gestures, but it was something along the lines of the asian man driving looking at me blankly while his asian wife passenger waved her hands around with some attitude. It was pretty obvious they didn't live in town (parents of some freshman, I'm sure), so I followed them to the next light that was a very short distance away.

When I pulled beside the driver, him and his wife (mostly his wife) proceeded to tell me how I should ride my bicycle. When I asked them about their duties as police officers enforcing road protocol by stopping in the middle of the intersection, it was brushed off by the wife's endless squawking until I decided to end the interaction by making some direct comments to the driver about sharing the road. It was interesting to me that they actually stuck around to speak about the incident, but the woman verbally dominated the driver and pretty much disrupted any sort of possible headway.
 
Never a dull moment!

My Father used to cycle a lot, and if cars cut him off, especially at intersections he would bang the roof of their cars (partly in anger, partly to tell them they'd done something wrong)
Anyway. one day my Mother was having coffee with a friend. and the friend mentioned that my father had banged on the roof of her car one day and couldn't work out why.
She hadn't realised that she had run a stop sign, almost hit him, and then totally ignored the whole incident.  I don't know how some drivers can be so unaware of their actions.

 

[Icenine2]

Wow!  Those are some interesting+scary stories.

 

[Insidious Meme]

Not a big fan on riding on the road as I've been on the local MUP alot lately. But I'll have to get back there again. Just keep your eyes open.

 

[Redcarmoose]

​

Not a big fan on riding on the road as I've been on the local MUP alot lately. But I'll have to get back there again. Just keep your eyes open.

My 200 mile rides used to be composed of a lot of river bed side roads. Still there are dangers. I think the best riding is on the side of country roads.

 

[nxtgenlva]

Here is mine!

 

[J.Pocalypse]

Nice and dirty. Like a mountain bike should be! 

 

[ferday]

might as well post a few of my rides LOL.  i'm mostly into MTB, seeing as i live in mountains i guess that makes sense.  picture missing my carbon singlespeed and my crown jewel, an intense t29 which is brand new, no pictures yet