Braving the Deep, Deadly South on a Bicycle

Sun Devil said:
I actually agree with this. Bikers have as much of a responsibility to themselves and others just as car owners and motorcyclists.
Click to expand...

So, children should be banned from riding around their block, because they're not old enough for a license? Ridiculous.

Responsibility must be proportional to the amount of burden you place on society. Bikers do not present the same safety costs, nor do they contribute to wear and tear on the road nearly as much. There's no reason to slap the same regulations on a vehicle that contributes virtually no road wear and virtually no danger as you do on a two ton death machine that travels at 65 mph. That's unjust, that's allowing car drivers to escape responsibility for the much greater burden they place on society than bikers do.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Yea it was a problem when I was living down south. I thought the cycling would be great because you have more warm months that you can ride but between roads that don't have paved curbs and a large population of drivers openly hostile to cyclist and law enforcement who essentially don't give a rats ass for cyclist finding a safe place to ride could be one hell of a challenge.

It amazed me how even the sight of a cyclist would enrage the rednecks down there. Most were fat lard asses who were to fucking chickenshit to get out of their trucks but they had no conscience about running your ass over.
Click to expand...

I've ridden several hundred miles over the past year, and I actually haven't really encountered a single instance of active hostility. I have a bike mirror and keep watch of people behind me, but 99% of people slow down and give me 3 feet (as the law says they should), and the rest didn't slow down but at least gave me room. I do often get nervous when I see a car behind me and just get off the road for them to pass when I'm not certain if they're going to move over, but, so far, there hasn't been a single person yet who's just barreled through, so it's never actually proved necessary (I am still going to continue be conservative about this in the future, though; I don't want to be on the road when I finally do meet that guy who just barrels through). Nor have I encountered anyone flipping me off, or throwing shit at me, as I've seen people claim in numerous places online.
 
Tyrion the Imp said:
I've ridden several hundred miles over the past year, and I actually haven't really encountered a single instance of active hostility. I have a bike mirror and keep watch of people behind me, but 99% of people slow down and give me 3 feet (as the law says they should), and the rest didn't slow down but at least gave me room. I do often get nervous when I see a car behind me and just get off the road for them to pass, but, so far, there hasn't been a single person yet who's just barreled through, so it's never actually proved necessary (I am still going to continue be conservative about this in the future, though; I don't want to be on the road when I finally do meet that guy who just barrels through). Nor have I encountered anyone flipping me off, or throwing shit at me, as I've seen people claim in numerous places online.
Click to expand...
If you're riding on the side of the road (or the shoulder) I generally don't give a fuck. But if you're in tandem, in the middle of the road, going 5mph, I will not stop for you. In fact I'll go back to make sure I did the job right.
 
IWI Tavor said:
If you're riding on the side of the road (or the shoulder) I generally don't give a fuck. But if you're in tandem, in the middle of the road, going 5mph, I will not stop for you. In fact I'll go back to make sure I did the job right.
Click to expand...

That's the problem in a lot of the south, no damn shoulder. They seem to appear in the agricultural areas, so that tractors can ride on the highway without interrupting traffic, and these shoulders are awesome, better and much wider than any bike lane. But then, once you get into a pine forest area or something - well, you had better have looked on Google Maps beforehand for an old highway route nearby, because you don't want to be out on that road for long with no shoulders (longer than you would need to cross a bridge).

As for being in the middle of the road, in most places it's your legal right to take the whole lane. Such a strategy may be aggressive, but it increases visibility, and therefore overall safety. I don't get why car drivers have to get so pissed about us taking "your" lane, it's not necessarily safe to be shoved off out of sight to one side. It's really the safest thing to do when conditions are bad, or to force people to move into the next lane rather than try to unsafely squeeze past you on a single lane that's too narrow for that. I don't get why car drivers have to get so pissed off about this; entitled assholes. The only time I ever hear people honking their horn is when I have swerved a little to the center within their sight; it doesn't matter the fact that I moved to the right when I saw them behind me a mile back (because I am not nearly aggressive enough of a biker to seriously try taking the lane) when they come by a minute later, they honk.

In Mississippi, however, as part of the compromise for the 3 foot law (really sad that there had to be any compromise on this at all, a 3 foot law is common fucking sense), we are legally required to stay as far to the right as possible.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Nothing in North America even remotely comes close to being in the tropics when It comes to humidity.
Click to expand...

The American south is subtropical, other parts of north America like Panama are indeed tropical. As well, it often gets to 90% humidity and 100 degrees in the dog days of summer here, you can't get a lot worse than that.
 
IWI Tavor said:
Then DON'T GET ON THE ROAD. YOU HAVE A SIDEWALK FOR GOING SLOW. USE IT!

See what I mean about how fucking ENTITLED cyclists feel? They don't pay for the roads, but they feel they have a right to burden those of us that DO, and get mad when we want them to follow the exact same laws we have to? Cyclists should follow all the same rules, regulations, and registration as cars, if only to take the wind out of their arrogant sails.
Click to expand...

We don't have sidewalks in most of the south, and, again, the most dangerous place for a cyclist to be is on the sidewalk. Lot's of pedestrians are killed by cyclists who choose to take their bike onto the sidewalk, but cyclists only pose a minor annoyance on the road. IMO, cyclists should be banned from the sidewalk, and required to ride on the road. As for a shoulder, yeah, I ride on a shoulder wherever it's present, but it's usually not.
 
Teflon Don said:
My truck weighs 2.5 tons. Stay the fuck out if my way. You will lose every time. We built bike paths for you fuckers. Use em
Click to expand...

This is why I hate bike lanes. They're for pansies, real men ride on the road, and bike lanes for pansies give the impression that bikes don't belong anywhere but on them to entitled auto-drivers, which couldn't be further from the truth.

This is also why cars should be banned from the road. Cycle or stay home.
 
Tyrion the Imp said:
We don't have sidewalks in most of the south, and, again, the most dangerous place for a cyclist to be is on the sidewalk. Lot's of pedestrians are killed by cyclists who choose to take their bike onto the sidewalk, but cyclists only pose a minor annoyance on the road. IMO, cyclists should be banned from the sidewalk, and required to ride on the road. As for a shoulder, yeah, I ride on a shoulder wherever it's present, but it's usually not.
Click to expand...

No sidewalks? God, the South is such a fucking pathetic place! Hurry up and finish your education so you can GTFO of there.
 
Teflon Don said:
So then you are out if my way and it is a moot point. Stay out of my way and you have no worries. Get in my way and your will have your leisurely ride listening to Celine Dionne's greatest hits interrupted by my loud horn. Your choice
Click to expand...

It was actually a lecture on Italian city states.
 
Threedee said:
No sidewalks? God, the South is such a fucking pathetic place! Hurry up and finish your education so you can GTFO of there.
Click to expand...

Eh, it depends, there are sidewalks in urban areas like Hatteisburg and Gulfport-Biloxi, and a *few* sidewalks in smaller cities, but obviously there's not going to be a sidewalk following a long country road. You generally feel lucky that there's asphault rather than dirt or gravel.
 
I have an interview coming up for a job as an offshore ROV technician, working 3 weeks on 3 weeks off. As soon as that goes through, I'm going to spend my off time on the transcontinental bike journey I had been talking about before I injured my hand and winter hit, going as far as I can for 3 weeks, flying home for my 3 weeks on, and then flying back to where I was in the bike journey to pick it back up.

Also, the main purpose of the job is to raise enough money to comfortably move somewhere else and get a job as a programmer (there are few compsci jobs in Mississippi). That may be Austin, or San Fransisco (the tech industry's mecca; also is like the bicycle mecca, seriously, look at it on google maps with the bicycle layer on, there are more bike lanes than roads practically). Huntsville or Raleigh are also possibilities, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top