RSS
Home
The bicycle menace, part 2
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
You learn something new every day. I learned that I might have been wrong about Entitled Biker being a subset of the cycling community.
If the emails and comments I received in response to my last column are any indication, Entitled Biker is the norm rather than the exception. Either that or the responses are from Entitled Bikers who take offense and having it pointed out.
The second thing I learned is that cyclists have poor reading comprehension skills. I also learned that cyclists are really, really hated by loads of people.
I never thought my column would get such a visceral reaction, especially since my previous column, iPods and Darwinism elicited nary a peep. So, I thought I'd use today's column to address some of the issues raised by the angry bicycle enthusiasts who got their spandex panties in a bunch.
Speaking of reading comprehension, nowhere did I say it was all bicyclists. I singled out one kind of rider. I did not call for the deaths of cyclists. I simply wished for it. Although, I must admit that I "mis-wrote" that sentence. What I meant to say was that I wished more Entitled Bikers would be hit by trucks. It's the same wish I have when some jackass is driving like a maniac on the highway. I wish for him to wind up in a flaming ball of twisted metal.
And yes, dressed from head to toe in those stupid spandex outfits is ridiculous. You're not Lance Armstrong and you're not riding in a race.
My walking on the wrong side of the pathway also elicited criticism. Apparently, the part where I wrote--" But all through my walk I had to switch from side to side in order to avoid bicycles coming from both directions. The pathway is rather small so, accommodation needs to be made by pedestrians and riders alike."-- was not clear enough. Each lane has to be shared by pedestrians and bicyclists. Let’s put it this way. If I had turned around 180 degrees I would have not been on the wrong side. Get it?
One email suggested that I get a bike. Well, I have one. I used to ride it all the time until I got hit by a car. I've been a bit leery ever since. Even before that I tried scrupulously to avoid crowded avenues when riding. I looked for the road less traveled, so to speak. I wanted no part of having to worry about what some idiot driver was going to pull. I didn't entertain the notion that I had as much right to the road as those who motored.
The avenues are death traps. There is no way in hell you'd catch me on 6th Avenue. That's just suicidal. The sad part is I had to watch out for other cyclists as well.
It's quite odd that all the vitriol is directed at me and none at Entitled Biker. Not one comment or email agreeing that the type of rider I targeted is a menace. I take that to mean the cycling community has no problem with the speed demons with attitude.
While surfing the interwebs looking for cycling related stories I noticed that any criticism of cyclists is met with hostility or rationalizations as to why cyclists don't have to obey traffic laws etc. So, I guess the comments I've received here are pretty much par for the course.
Check out this doozy of a comment from the Times City Room last November. The article was about an informal study by Hunter College students and professors looking at cycling behavior. "Hey, bikes are not cars and trying to foist all car rules on cyclists is ridiculous. Riding bikes is such and [sic] overriding benefit in so many ways cyclists earn and should receive more benefits for doing the right thing - not be faced with annihilation by STUPID STUPID drivers."
As a response to this nonsense I direct you to my last column where I quoted a blogger. "You see, while motorists are just assholes, bicyclists are self-righteous assholes. “
This comment is a good one: "Bicyclists in NYC are just like conservatives- they love to think of themselves as under constant attack. Any time a bicycling issue comes up on one of these blogs it's nothing but complaints...why do cyclists feel that they alone should not have to deal with the realities of city life?"
The above raises an interesting question. What makes bicyclists think they deserve special treatment? Why should they expect and demand the city lay out tons a dough so they can enjoy a pleasant and safe bicycling experience at the expense of other needed services? And what makes them think motorists should take special care in their presence? Hell, motorists don’t even pay attention to other motorists.
When the city does cough up dough, like $28 million last year alone, they continue to whine. “There are potholes. People park in my bike lane. Whine. Whine. Whine. Me. Me..Me. You deal with it just like the rest of us deal with the pain in the ass it is to live in NYC. NYC does not exist to make your life more pleasant. You want pleasant? Move to the suburbs or move back there, as the case may be.
I take heart in knowing that I am not alone in my stance. Again, I did a little googling. Reading through many of the messages threads accompanying articles on bicycling issues, I was stunned at how many people hate bicyclists and that’s not just NYC. It reaches from coast to coast. Even in such bike friendly cities like Boulder and Portland, Oregon the messages boards are filled with anti-bicyclist anger. If you’re pissing off people in places like that, something’s gotta be up.
One search result was a letter to the editor of the late, lamented Rocky Mountain News by a cyclist, of all people, which read in part, "One thing that always strikes me about so many of my "fellow" cyclists ... is how rude and arrogant cyclists tend to be...I see them rocketing silently out of darkened underpasses causing elderly strollers to leap into the brush alongside the path and rushing in silence up behind unsuspecting families with pets and small children, never uttering a word of warning nor braking as they whoosh past in a furious flurry of clownish Day-Glo Spandex.
These wannabe Lance Armstrongs, glowering in sneering superiority from their wheeled perches obviously believe their self-exalted position exempts them from common courtesy. From my own experience, their attitudes are, if anything, even worse on the streets.
There's a very, very good reason so many view those of us who are cyclists as rude, arrogant jerks. Most of us are.”
Ouch.
Related Articles:
Comments
