First Ride

Jorg Lueke wrote:
On Apr 1, 5:03 pm, "Dave Mayer" wrote:
Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or the
flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a pickup.

Hehe, I'll post it when I have one of these

They are fun to watch. I had one about a month ago where the kid just
kind of ground metal at slow speed over 2 speed bumps. When he saw me he
forgot about the third speed bump and, yes, there were sparks.
I also heard him coming about 1/4 mile due to his 500 watt, 'boom'
music. He is one of the locals who likes to play those 20 Hz, 500 watt
sounds and rattle every bodies windows. I laughed when he almost left
the bottom of his car on the bump. Cops are high enough they can speed
over those so the speeding low riders are easy pickings right there.
Enjoy,
Bill Baka

"Dave Mayer" wrote in message
news:rJQPh.14268$aG1.10922@pd7urf3no...
"Tom Keats" wrote in message
...

When people see a bike up ahead of them, they've
just gotta get ahead of that bike; they've just
pathologically gotta. Doesn't matter how fast
you're going.

Yeah: there are drivers that will do everything to get around you. These
fall into 4 categories:

- Young guys in obnoxious, loud, jacked-up pickup trucks. The hip-hop,
white-trash demographic. These guys are genuinely dangerous, in that if
they don't peg you with their empty beer cans, they'll take your head off
with the rearview mirror. Particularly dangerous in rural areas, while
they are driving between their marijuana crops, or are basically bored and
see a chance run over a stray pet or to hassle a cyclist. However,
between the thumping of their 300-watt sound system, and their lack of
legal mufflers, you can hear these guys blocks in advance. As a cyclist,
the best is to just to dive for cover....,

- Young guys in beat-up nondescript white panel trucks, racing the crap
out of the company vehicle between service calls. These guys made the
mistake of graduating with useless BA degrees, and now are ****ed-off with
their jobs, their lives and everything. Dangerous, in that they just want
to get their workday finished as fast as possible, and in general have
nothing to lose.

- Teenage girls blowing through stop signs in little sports-utility
vehicles. Between applying makeup in the rearview mirror and having a
cell phone essentially grafted to their heads, lack of attention is the
problem here.

- Egomanic/monomanics On A Mission, invariably driving 300-series BMWs.
Pointless ambition and associated impatience (gotta sell that condo and
score that commission!!!) and driver multasking the problem here.

But don't take this personally. Riding a bike safely is a Zen thing -
you must not carry with you any sense of justice, or any ego or have any
other preoccupations. In a driver/bike confrontation, the bike will lose.
Ride defensively, yield the right of way when there is any doubt, and
constantly assess and anticipate the motivations of the moving targets
around you.

Nevertheless, a rare sweet moment will occur, such as when bad drivers try
to race you past speed bumps. I like the shower of sparks effect,
particularly coming from the undercarriage of a Volvo station wagon. Or
the flying-load effect, when tools shower out of the back deck of a
pickup.


You have learned well Grasshopper. keep it up