Your Favorite Type Of Cyclist

What's everyone's favorite type of cyclist?

I've decided that my favorite type is the one that rides helmetless down the street against traffic all the while talking on a cell phone or listening to their iPod. (Bonus points if they're also a hipster.)

My favorite type of cyclist is the older man who seems to be riding a child's bike. A small child's bike. A small GIRL child's bike.

I saw a woman today listening to big headphones that covered her entire ear. How could she think that was reasonable?

When I'm riding through the city, frequently the sound of cars is the only way I know they're coming up on me. I couldn't imagine riding around deaf to my environment.

I saw a guy riding helmetless on Myrtle Ave talking on a cell phone. I couldn't believe it.

Boygabriel wrote: I saw a woman today listening to big headphones that covered her entire ear. How could she think that was reasonable?

Open ear headphones cover the entire ear, but still allow a great deal of sound to filter in (and out). Grado, of Brooklyn, makes exclusively open ear headphones. It's still more likely that they weren't open ear, but there is the possibility that she was only being half stupid, not completely stupid.

(small shy voice) I often ride helmetless.

But I never wear headphones or talk on my cell when I'm on my bike. I don't even OWN an Ipod, even.

Closer to topic -- while I understand the temptation, I've got a beef with adult riders who ride on busy sidewalks.

queencallipygos, not to shamelessly self-promote my own blog, but I don't know how you can ever ride w/o a helmet. It's literally the difference between life and death. Check out this guy who was saved by his helmet:

click here

Also, I too can't stand people who ride on sidewalks. I ride on the sidewalk only in rare cases, for short distances (like one block), and only if there isn't a single person on the sidewalk.

Boygabriel wrote: queencallipygos, not to shamelessly self-promote my own blog, but I don't know how you can ever ride w/o a helmet. It's literally the difference between life and death.

Oh, I know. In my defense, though -- at present I am a very, very cautious and tentative rider, and I've found that I tend to get distracted by fiddling with the helmet not fitting right, or with wishing I had more peripheral vision -- and that's actually a detriment. I don't never wear it -- on the big serious rides I do. But for the very slow, careful, quick jaunts from Myrtle and Clinton to the Greenmarket in the Park, I've found I actually have more trouble WITH the helmet, for the time being; right now it's possible for me to be spooked by, and slow down for, even PARKED cars.

I actually walk my bike on sidewalks if I have to take them; and I do walk my bike through some of the busy intersections. I just am not ready to ride it anywhere on Atlantic, say. Even that stretch of Vanderbilt from Atlantic to Prospect Park has me spooked at times.

Understood. My lecture is done.

You ended quicker than my mother did. *snerk*

One of my pet peeves cyclists on sidewalks. linkhttp://home2.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bikeped/bike-nyc.html .
Bike Riders under 14 years are not permitted to ride on NYC sidewalks.

" :roll: If you dont know you need to ask somebody"

My vote goes to the Mutant Cyclist of Death (okay--I added the 'of Death' part. Everything sounds even better when you tack on 'of Death' to the end of it). What happened to the Tall Bike subculture, anyway? Wasn't it just last year that the Village Voice proclaimed 'bike culture'--what a term, by the way--the next big thing to hit Brooklyn?

CHDiva wrote: One of my pet peeves cyclists on sidewalks. linkhttp://home2.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bikeped/bike-nyc.html .
Bike Riders under 14 years are not permitted to ride on NYC sidewalks.

" :roll: If you dont know you need to ask somebody"

Yeah, but when I ride with my little one, I ride on the sidewalk with him. Its easier for me to keep an eye on him, tell him to slow down, avoid obstacles, etc. He's still young and not a good enough rider to be in the street and I'm no good to anyone if I'm trying to keep an eye on him on the sidewalk while I'm out in traffic.

Citizen O wrote: My vote goes to the Mutant Cyclist of Death (okay--I added the 'of Death' part. Everything sounds even better when you tack on 'of Death' to the end of it). What happened to the Tall Bike subculture, anyway? Wasn't it just last year that the Village Voice proclaimed 'bike culture'--what a term, by the way--the next big thing to hit Brooklyn?

The Tall Bike Culture is still alive and well, it just never became a major scene in NYC. (probably intentional on the part of the tall bikers)

I'm partial to the pit-bull-powered skateboard (guy stands on skateboard while holding leash, pit bull runs).

Drunk riders.
Riding on the wrong side of the street.
Riding on the wrong side of the street in a bike lane.
Not using hand signals.

Also:
People who park their cars in bike lanes.
People in cars cutting off bike riders.
People opening car doors as bike rider approaches and there is enough traffic that swerving becomes a game of frogger.
People in cars backing up down the street (for more than a block) at normal driving speed then swerving into bike lane to avoid hitting oncoming traffic.

Greene-Eyed Monster wrote: Riding on the wrong side of the street.
Riding on the wrong side of the street in a bike lane.

Just wanted to ask you to expound on this a little, because I think I may have done this -- but out of my own understanding of the traffic laws. Which I may have wrong, so I wanted to check what you were describing.

It's my understanding that when there's a bike lane, that trumps the "right and wrong side of the street," unless it's clearly unsafe to do so (there's a whole fleet of bikes in the bike lane already coming at you head on, etc.). It's also my understanding that bikes can go two-ways on one-way streets.

So -- real-life example, we have Willoughby Street, which is a one-way street for cars, and has a bike lane on one side. I take Willoughby Street from Clinton Avenue to the park, and back. If I ride in the bike lane -- like I'm supposed to -- I'm riding against traffic, but I'm riding to the right. When I come back, I ride in the bike lane again, but I'm riding with the traffic - but, I'm also riding to the left.

Now, based on what I understand the laws to be, I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do. (I also make sure that I give bikers in the bike lane coming at me plenty of room.) Is what I'm doing anything that you're refering to, or are you referring to something else?...

It's also my understanding that bikes can go two-ways on one-way streets.

Bikes can't go two-ways on a one-way street. We're supposed to obey all the rules of cars.

It drives me nuts when I'm going down a one way street in a bike lane and another bike is coming toward me, especially if they try to force me to the inside part of the lane.

You know where I think I got confused -- I think I misread the regulations that say that a bike can ride on either side of a one-way street. In other words, I'm an idiot.
:-)
Thanks.

Well done people!

I think we had some excellent submissions. (And we got at least one traffic regulation cleared up.)

• the pit-bull-powered skateboarder
• the Mutant Cyclist of Death (I'm going to be on the look-out for him)
• the older man who seems to be riding a child's bike


Next time they go out for a ride they had better hope that Darwin's Theory is just that - a theory.

I saw another great example yesterday of how stupid people can be whe they get on a bike.

While I was riding north on 8th Avenue in Manhattan, a one way heading north, this woman turns onto 8th heading south. She didn't have a helmet on and she had a little dog perched in the basket of her bike. (No, the dog didn't have a helmet either.)

Did I mention the earphones connected to her iPod?

I really hope some of these people don't have children cause if they do the world is doomed.

I hate the wrong-way rider in the bike lane, too. It's so unsafe. Here is an article that explains why:

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/traffic/wrong.htm

I think most car drivers are more offensive than your average bike rider. I wish more people would get out of their cars and onto their bikes.