biking etiquette

eddiesmith1

Hey, bikers riding against traffic, GTFO of my way.

Hey bikers riding side by side on a bike path, get a Fing mirror and GTFO of my way.

Hey, dude in $1000 worth of lame looking cycling clothes, try and pass me with a bit more than an inch of clearance, I didn't know you were entering me into an imaginary criterium. Oh, and GTFO of my way.

Hey, bikers with 200 lumen strobing bike lights, I have epilepsy and I hope I you hit a tree after I seizure and veer towards you. Strobes are not for bike paths, they are so traffic can see you.

What's your issue, how hard is it for you to pull around and give a rider a couple of feet. you're the kind of driver I hate whether I'm in my car on my bike or walking

sillygoosie

Felt like I needed to add a little something else to this after my ride yesterday.

If you are super precious in your head to toe branded kit, on your full carbon Orbea, taking a training ride in prep for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, GTFO the multi use path. If you are that badass you belong on the road. No one needs to go that fast on a path full of Sunday walkers and leisure cyclists. If I could catch you, I would kick your *kitten*. I know I was going about 15mph (the speed limit on the MUP) and you blew past me like I was an elderly pedestrian. You, sir, are a douche who is going to kill someone.

So what's with the Orbea hate? Considering the veritable bike stable in your profile pic (including that new Tango 7 29er and, uh, are those Bontrager Race X-Lites on the red Trek?), I doubt you only ever just putz along. Haters gonna hate...

There is definitely no Orbea hate, or any other hate for all the beautiful, well made bikes that I could never afford. It just happened to be the one that whizzed by and almost knocked me and everyone else off the path.

And I do putz along sometimes because believe it or not, there are days when I ride for the sheer pleasure going somewhere and being outside. When I'm on a mission for speed and training, I take it to the roads. Please don't call me a hater. That word just doesn't fit in my vocabulary. Can you agree that the MUP is not the appropriate place to train for speed?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

I ride on the sidewalk for the half mile from my house to the mountain bike trail. I pretty much only MTB and really didn't know you weren't supposed to. There are rarely pedestrians on this stretch of sidewalk.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Felt like I needed to add a little something else to this after my ride yesterday.

If you are super precious in your head to toe branded kit, on your full carbon Orbea, taking a training ride in prep for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, GTFO the multi use path. If you are that badass you belong on the road. No one needs to go that fast on a path full of Sunday walkers and leisure cyclists. If I could catch you, I would kick your *kitten*. I know I was going about 15mph (the speed limit on the MUP) and you blew past me like I was an elderly pedestrian. You, sir, are a douche who is going to kill someone.

So what's with the Orbea hate? Considering the veritable bike stable in your profile pic (including that new Tango 7 29er and, uh, are those Bontrager Race X-Lites on the red Trek?), I doubt you only ever just putz along. Haters gonna hate...

There is definitely no Orbea hate, or any other hate for all the beautiful, well made bikes that I could never afford. It just happened to be the one that whizzed by and almost knocked me and everyone else off the path.

And I do putz along sometimes because believe it or not, there are days when I ride for the sheer pleasure going somewhere and being outside. When I'm on a mission for speed and training, I take it to the roads. Please don't call me a hater. That word just doesn't fit in my vocabulary. Can you agree that the MUP is not the appropriate place to train for speed?

I guess it depends on the day. Sunday, the first day of nice weather in over month, when every one's grandma was out of a walk? Probably not a good day to train for speed on the MUP.

Also, yeah, "hater" is a dumb word. Silly was talking about a specific person.

Azdak

Felt like I needed to add a little something else to this after my ride yesterday.

If you are super precious in your head to toe branded kit, on your full carbon Orbea, taking a training ride in prep for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, GTFO the multi use path. If you are that badass you belong on the road. No one needs to go that fast on a path full of Sunday walkers and leisure cyclists. If I could catch you, I would kick your *kitten*. I know I was going about 15mph (the speed limit on the MUP) and you blew past me like I was an elderly pedestrian. You, sir, are a douche who is going to kill someone.

So what's with the Orbea hate? Considering the veritable bike stable in your profile pic (including that new Tango 7 29er and, uh, are those Bontrager Race X-Lites on the red Trek?), I doubt you only ever just putz along. Haters gonna hate...

There is definitely no Orbea hate, or any other hate for all the beautiful, well made bikes that I could never afford. It just happened to be the one that whizzed by and almost knocked me and everyone else off the path.

And I do putz along sometimes because believe it or not, there are days when I ride for the sheer pleasure going somewhere and being outside. When I'm on a mission for speed and training, I take it to the roads. Please don't call me a hater. That word just doesn't fit in my vocabulary. Can you agree that the MUP is not the appropriate place to train for speed?

Except for the Chicago lakefront. You ain't stopping those yuppies with anything short of an RPG.

AlwaysInMotion

Felt like I needed to add a little something else to this after my ride yesterday.

If you are super precious in your head to toe branded kit, on your full carbon Orbea, taking a training ride in prep for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, GTFO the multi use path. If you are that badass you belong on the road. No one needs to go that fast on a path full of Sunday walkers and leisure cyclists. If I could catch you, I would kick your *kitten*. I know I was going about 15mph (the speed limit on the MUP) and you blew past me like I was an elderly pedestrian. You, sir, are a douche who is going to kill someone.

So what's with the Orbea hate? Considering the veritable bike stable in your profile pic (including that new Tango 7 29er and, uh, are those Bontrager Race X-Lites on the red Trek?), I doubt you only ever just putz along. Haters gonna hate...

There is definitely no Orbea hate, or any other hate for all the beautiful, well made bikes that I could never afford. It just happened to be the one that whizzed by and almost knocked me and everyone else off the path.

And I do putz along sometimes because believe it or not, there are days when I ride for the sheer pleasure going somewhere and being outside. When I'm on a mission for speed and training, I take it to the roads. Please don't call me a hater. That word just doesn't fit in my vocabulary. Can you agree that the MUP is not the appropriate place to train for speed?

Except for the Chicago lakefront. You ain't stopping those yuppies with anything short of an RPG.

So this one particular racer was exceptionally rude. Your beef is with him, right? Be glad you couldn't catch him - chasing down a cyclist and ranting like a mad woman is probably considered even less socially acceptable than being an inconsiderate bike-jerk on the MUP.

I'm sorry this particular cyclist added fuel to the "roadies and racers are jerks" stereotype. I'd really like to see this (and all other) stereotypes die. (The "Chicago yuppie RPG" comment above is a prime example of stereotyping.) Rude cyclists are actually not that common - a quick informal survey on the side of the trail would bear that out. Nice people > Jerks. But that one rude cyclist triggers a perception bias that often gets applied a bigger population of cyclists (ex: all racers, all Chicago hipsters, etc). There are plenty of racers/roadies who don't condone speeding or being a menace/nuisance on the MUPs. Some of us are actually good bike stewards.