The Dumb Cyclists and Pedestrians thread...

[Mr Purple]

In another from the 'I simply don't understand Americans' file there's currently a guy on the Trek Checkpoint Facebook group asking which hydration bladder is best for carrying his concealed carry pistol in.

Not sure what situation on a gravel ride calls for a gun, but there you go.

[jasonc]

In another from the 'I simply don't understand Americans' file there's currently a guy on the Trek Checkpoint Facebook group asking which hydration bladder is best for carrying his concealed carry pistol in.

Not sure what situation on a gravel ride calls for a gun, but there you go.

maybe he has to deal with bears or something

[Mr Purple]

In another from the 'I simply don't understand Americans' file there's currently a guy on the Trek Checkpoint Facebook group asking which hydration bladder is best for carrying his concealed carry pistol in.

Not sure what situation on a gravel ride calls for a gun, but there you go.

maybe he has to deal with bears or something

No. A Canadian has now pointed out he doesn't need one for bear, and the guy said it's because criminals have guns.

[jasonc]

No. A Canadian has now pointed out he doesn't need one for bear, and the guy said it's because criminals have guns.

Right

[bychosis]

In another from the 'I simply don't understand Americans' file there's currently a guy on the Trek Checkpoint Facebook group asking which hydration bladder is best for carrying his concealed carry pistol in.

Not sure what situation on a gravel ride calls for a gun, but there you go.

maybe he has to deal with bears or something

No. A Canadian has now pointed out he doesn't need one for bear, and the guy said it's because criminals have guns.

If a criminal comes at you with a gun, how are you going to access a concealed weapon in a backpack? Then if you do manage to get it out, you're more liekly to be shot by said crim. There is no logic.

[Andy01]

I agree.

It's actually given me some insight into how women feel in many situations.

The worst part I think is that feeling that you have to do everything absolutely perfectly or face what amounts to a death penalty.

I had an unusual one this morning. Riding on a shared path I was approaching a woman with 3 little dogs. I rang the bell and she saw me and started trying to round them up - 2 were off lead.

So, I stopped about 10m from her because one of the dogs walked into the path in front of me. Still completely stationary straddling my bike, I said to her "Please put them on the lead, this is not an off-leash area". She made some sarcastic reply, and then launched into a tirade abusing me for approaching a solo woman, and then started yelling "Get away from me, leave me alone".

I was seriously Say What .... I still hadn't moved from where I had stopped. At that point I responded by asking to just to move away. I was pretty !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! off that she was implying that I was harassing her - after she broke the rules by walking out of control off lead dogs on a shared path, and I stopped completely and asked her politely to get them under control.

I will be saving the camera footage in case the fruit-loop reports it to police or something.

Seriously deranged ... people like that give women a bad name.

[jasonc]

Andy - it's everyone's fault but theirs

[Anrai]

People who already know they're breaking rules tend to not appreciate having it pointed out, in my experience.
Interestingly last time I encountered off-lead dogs on the Hobart cycleway (which has a total ban on dogs but of course you'll still see 'em) they both moved completely off to the side when they saw a bike coming, either through prior training or a command quiet enough I didn't hear it.

[g-boaf]

So, I stopped about 10m from her because one of the dogs walked into the path in front of me. Still completely stationary straddling my bike, I said to her "Please put them on the lead, this is not an off-leash area". She made some sarcastic reply, and then launched into a tirade abusing me for approaching a solo woman, and then started yelling "Get away from me, leave me alone".

I've encountered one like that as well. You have to just admit they have right of way to do as they please and they can also make up all sort of fanciful claims and unless you have video of it, you have no basis to prove your point.

Actually they could even make up claims that your video is bad as well and that you are doing creepy stalking having the video recording going.

The last one I encountered doing that has disappeared fortunately - she never comes along the path anymore with her two dogs. I heard from other riders she was quite a serial pest, even some walkers knew who she was...

[Retrobyte]

Lucky for her I wasn't a car or a bus

[Mr Purple]

I was waiting to turn right at the lights onto Sylvan Road on Saturday, and the instant my light went green a couple on hybrid bikes waiting to cross my road at the pedestrian crossing decided then was the best time to cross.

I'd been waiting at that light for a minute or so, and they were there the whole time. They could have crossed at any time but they waited until the very moment I had a green light.

I made a not particularly aggressive comment about how badly they'd stuffed that up, and got a death stare in reply...

[g-boaf]

Another reason for mandatory rego for pedestrians:

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 2f6f6b8163

[mikesbytes]

The worst part I think is that feeling that you have to do everything absolutely perfectly or face what amounts to a death penalty.

That applies to some husbands too

maybe he has to deal with bears or something

No. A Canadian has now pointed out he doesn't need one for bear, and the guy said it's because criminals have guns.

If a criminal comes at you with a gun, how are you going to access a concealed weapon in a backpack? Then if you do manage to get it out, you're more liekly to be shot by said crim. There is no logic.

Another angle with having a gun is whether having one increases your chances of being shot. Most of the time the objective of having a gun is to get you do whatever they want you to do, for example hand over your wallet. If you pull a gun then the criminal is going to see their life at risk and may shoot you to prevent you from shooting them

[g-boaf]

Argh, why do riders do this stuff...

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 5d6155600a

Stupid.

Mind you, I do agree with this bit in the article:

“Cyclist did the wrong thing, but a motorcyclist teaching anyone about road rules is like Madonna singing Like a Virgin,” they wrote.

So true, when you see how motorcycle riders behave around my area, the traffic light going green is treated by the groups of them as a MotoGP start and going way above the speed limit, but oh no, that's just "having a bit of fun" and it seems to be excused - especially by their own crowd.

[bychosis]

Argh, why do riders do this stuff...

Its obviously because no rego...oh, wait... I just watched a dash cam aus compilation of multiple cars doing exactly the same thing.

Yes, it was stupid, but for this singled out rider there's dozens waiting patiently for the traffic lights to change (for all the cars)

[g-boaf]

Argh, why do riders do this stuff...

Its obviously because no rego...oh, wait... I just watched a dash cam aus compilation of multiple cars doing exactly the same thing.

Yes, it was stupid, but for this singled out rider there's dozens waiting patiently for the traffic lights to change (for all the cars)

That's because cars should have rego. Oops, I forgot, they do. Motorbikes have rego as well and we see what lovely law abiding road users some of them are.

[jasonc]

So we all agree - motorised transport needs registration, licensing, insurance and laws enforced

[Cyclophiliac]

So we all agree - motorised transport needs registration, licensing, insurance and laws enforced

Yep, and it appears we have all of those except for one.

[jasonc]

So we all agree - motorised transport needs registration, licensing, insurance and laws enforced

Yep, and it appears we have all of those except for one.

The law as are too lax, at least in qld. I like the extremely low weight limit in WA. A 60, or 65kg, weight limit us way too high. 20-25kg is closer to right

[CmdrBiggles]

So we all agree - motorised transport needs registration, licensing, insurance and laws enforced

Yep, and it appears we have all of those except for one.

The law as are too lax, at least in qld. I like the extremely low weight limit in WA. A 60, or 65kg, weight limit us way too high. 20-25kg is closer to right

Many e-scooters are in the weight range of 20 to 25kg
There are a few however weighing more than 40kg.

[jasonc]

Yep, and it appears we have all of those except for one.

The law as are too lax, at least in qld. I like the extremely low weight limit in WA. A 60, or 65kg, weight limit us way too high. 20-25kg is closer to right

Many e-scooters are in the weight range of 20 to 25kg
There are a few however weighing more than 40kg.

I would also be ok with under 20kgs as the limit

[uart]

Had run in with Vera Stemlooker this morning. On the bike path (going down through the tunnel on the Ferleigh for the Novocastrians here), I'm going about 30kph and there's a rider coming up through the tunnel towards me. Looks like an experienced rider, decent bike and kitted out, so I'm not even thinking about having any problems. Then suddenly about 10 to 15 m away he starts veering left to right over towards my path, and I notice that he's head down and watching his f##king stem bolt. I yell at the guy and he straightens up his path just in time to avoid a collision, but it was a tense moment.

Fortunately this is far from an everyday occurrence, but it is something that I get sometimes on bike paths, and it's nearly always someone head down and watching their front wheel or their stem instead of watching where they're going. Does anyone else here get this issue sometimes?

[find_bruce]

Had a special person today - rode up on the right hand side of me so he could turn left, then complained I was in his way. Unusually for me I was polite & suggested he look where he's going

[Mr Purple]

Keep on running into groups of idiot teenagers while going around Cootha. All usually on dual suspension mountainbikes and weaving randomly including occupying the middle of the road on blind corners while struggling up the hill.

At least today's group was going up at the same time I was, and kudos to anyone climbing Cootha, particularly on a bike that heavy. But you may want to reconsider blocking the road and yelling abuse at the guy overhauling you at a great rate of knots.

They found out two things simultaneously. What 10W/kg looks like, and that you'll get a little bit of constructive feedback on the gaping chasm between how tough you think you are, and how tough you actually are. And be completely unable to do anything about it because the commentator is doing about three times your speed.

I suppose they weren't on e-scooters at least. But where they were trying to block the road would have gone very wrong if I'd been a car rather than a bike. Dumb, teenage stuff, but these guys are genuinely risking their lives and that of anyone riding the other way.

[g-boaf]

And it’s equally amazing how the “tough talking” teens are usually look to be the weight of a bus and lumbering along.

I let fly with a commentary on one of those types in front of his mates years ago. Maybe he went away and thought about it.

The teens I usually see now in my local area are reasonably okay, usually just want to know about the bike because it looks a bit unusual/extreme.

Or they can’t compute that pedal power can keep up with their e-device.