To paraphrase Jack Nicholson

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

Herd mentality. Phooey.

I'm with you. One of the many reasons I ride alone. It's not just that
they're hazardous to other road users, they're also hazardous to
themselves and each other. When I see a pack of cyclists, I go some
other direction.

RichC

In article <[email hidden]>,

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

Herd mentality. Phooey.

Just on the way back from a balmy/drizzly 1hr hill-hump. On the last
leg home, it's all good bike lane, but coming the other way were two
fat clumps of club riders, all decked out in their matchings and
riding about four wide and a few dozen deep.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I wonder how many of these club riders complain
about Critical Mass ...

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

I find nothing wrong with your complaint at all. Remember folks, a
driver is going to remember a single cycling jerk much longer that a
whole bunch of courteous ones

- -

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

"May you have the winds at your back,
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

Herd mentality. Phooey.

Just on the way back from a balmy/drizzly 1hr hill-hump. On the last
leg home, it's all good bike lane, but coming the other way were two fat
clumps of club riders, all decked out in their matchings and riding
about four wide and a few dozen deep.

Fairly light vehicular traffic, but it's a 45mph street with several
nearly-blind curves.

Of course the cars ought to wait until they can safely pass, but I'm
sure they got tired of waiting after the few polite horn toots that I
heard. When they did pass, the club riders were so thick that the cars
had to swing nearly to my bike lane to overtake them.

Whether or not you're an ass has no correlation to the number of wheels
you're piloting.

I know this is controversial, that this topic's been beaten to death,
and that I'm pitching it to all the cyclists, but it's worth bringing it
up again so others can hear divergent opinions.

If/when I ride in groups--particularly in situations like this--I either
stay single file or I make proactive use of my dorky h*lmet mirror to
make sure that I don't needlessly inconvenience/enrage the car people.

Can't we all just get along?

[/RANT]

I'm with you, Neil.

This is the main reason I could never stand to ride with the OC Wheelmen.
Their group rides were like a food fight in a junior high
school cafeteria. Stop signs and traffic signals were widely
ignored, two whole lanes were often completely blocked, etc. This tried
the patience of even the most bike-friendly community (Irvine, CA).

My current club (www.nrvbike.com) are generally wonderful about safety
and road manners. Even our big events like MoM/WRR
(www.mountainsofmisery.com) are quite orderly.

Matt O.

Matt O'Toole said:

This is the main reason I could never stand to ride with the OC Wheelmen.
Their group rides were like a food fight in a junior high
school cafeteria. Stop signs and traffic signals were widely
ignored, two whole lanes were often completely blocked, etc. This tried
the patience of even the most bike-friendly community (Irvine, CA).

I road with our local club once this summer, and they ran stop signs
too. Additionally, part of that ride was on a MUP, and when someone
had a flat while on the MUP, the group stopped, comletely blocking the
trail. Approaching riders were announcing their approach but the group
was chatting away, oblivious to everything but each other.

I was somewhat surprised that a bike club would have such poor road and
trail etiquite.

Rich

Neil Brooks said:

Herd mentality. Phooey.

On the last
leg home, it's all good bike lane, but coming the other way were two
fat clumps of club riders, all decked out in their matchings and
riding about four wide and a few dozen deep.

This is exactly why I stopped riding with the local bike club. Clubs tend to
give a lot of lip service to safety and courtesy, but I rarely see it
practiced on the road. And the larger the herd, the worse the behavior is.

Art Harris

Neil Brooks <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> [RANT]
:> Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.
:>
:> Herd mentality. Phooey.

[snipped rant]

:>
:> Can't we all just get along?
:>
:> [/RANT]

You think that's bad? Today I saw to ladies riding together taking up the
entire lane. Normally, in that venue, that's no problem. But there was a
car behind them going 15 mph for quite a ways (opposing traffic). Patient
driver, if you ask me. By the time they got near me (I'm going the other
way), I just gave them a "look". Finally, they decided to get in single
file to let the car pass. The next few times I saw them I gave them smiles.

Back to your story...whenever I have encountered 'pelotons' on the road they
always are clumped up as you describe, forcing cars to wait to get by.
Safety in numbers, I figure.

I don't think we all can just get along....too many assh*les.

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

Herd mentality. Phooey.

Just on the way back from a balmy/drizzly 1hr hill-hump. On the last
leg home, it's all good bike lane, but coming the other way were two
fat clumps of club riders, all decked out in their matchings and
riding about four wide and a few dozen deep.

Does their matching gear state which club they're in? Write a letter to
the officers of the club and complain. There's no excuse for this kind of
antisocial behavior.

From reading your brief rant, I think you would write a good letter.

You could also write an open letter in the local paper if you think that
would be helpful.

Reid

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

I think the operative word here is "some". Just like some people drive
like jerks, some bicycle that way too.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:57:24 -0600, <[email hidden]>,

Rich said:

I was somewhat surprised that a bike club would have such poor road and
trail etiquite.

They're cagers in bike costume, that's all.
--
zk

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:32:44 -0400, <[email hidden]>,

Roger Zoul said:

Back to your story...whenever I have encountered 'pelotons' on the road they
always are clumped up as you describe, forcing cars to wait to get by.
Safety in numbers, I figure.

It's much safer and quicker if the pack behaves as a single vehicle.
You don't want cars intermingling with the pack.
Think like a bus.
--
zk

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 16:17:49 -0400,
<[email hidden]>,

(Chris Zacho 'The Wheelman') said:

I find nothing wrong with your complaint at all. Remember folks, a
driver is going to remember a single cycling jerk much longer that a
whole bunch of courteous ones

So what?
--
zk

22 Oct 2005 20:39:53 -0700,
<[email hidden]>,

Bob said:

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

I think the operative word here is "some". Just like some people drive
like jerks, some bicycle that way too.

They're probably jerks on skates and ski hills too.
--
zk

Bob said:

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

I think the operative word here is "some". Just like some people drive
like jerks, some bicycle that way too.

Of course you're right. I was intentionally careful not to lump them
all into the same category.

To Reid's comment: I didn't catch which club it was, but will look
online to see which one might have had a club ride today that took
them down X street at Y time. Most of the more 'organized' clubs do
put their itineraries on the net 'round here.
--
Live simply so that others may simply live

Zoot Katz <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:32:44 -0400,
:> <[email hidden]>, "Roger Zoul"
:> <[email hidden]> wrote:
:>
:>>Back to your story...whenever I have encountered 'pelotons' on the
:>>road they always are clumped up as you describe, forcing cars to
:>>wait to get by. Safety in numbers, I figure.
:>
:> It's much safer and quicker if the pack behaves as a single vehicle.
:> You don't want cars intermingling with the pack.
:> Think like a bus.

You're exactly right. They were like a big bus....only they looked more
like a swarm of bees...

In article <[email hidden]>,

Neil Brooks said:

Bob said:

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

I think the operative word here is "some". Just like some people drive
like jerks, some bicycle that way too.

Of course you're right. I was intentionally careful not to lump them
all into the same category.

snip

To "paraphrase" Mr. Shakespeare:

A jerk by anyother name is still a jerk!

HAND
They are out there!

Zoot Katz said:

22 Oct 2005 20:39:53 -0700,
<[email hidden]>,

Bob said:

Neil Brooks said:

[RANT]
Some club riders should shampoo my crotch.

I think the operative word here is "some". Just like some people drive
like jerks, some bicycle that way too.

They're probably jerks on skates and ski hills too.
--
zk

This is the second time this month you and I seem to agree, Zoot. This
must not continue or both of us will start to have doubts about our
mental health. <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt