Bloody iPods

[AlexS]

Bell be beggared! The best thing I got from the army was a parade ground voice!

Seriously, when I cycled to work on the Pacific Hwy and Pennant Hills Rd. I didn't have too much trouble. I figured it was easier for me to watch out for generally predictable vehicles than to ride on the footpath and watch out for unpredictable pedestrians. And yes, I occupied the left hand lane. There's not enough room for a car to squeeze past me safely if I ride in the gutter, and if you have to go part way into the other lane, you may as well go all the way. And don't come that crap about how cars should have right of way. You're one person driving, I'm one person riding. As I see it, we each have the same rights, and cars, being inanimate objects, don't have any. Besides, if there weren't so many cars on the road, I could ride much faster.

The real problem was early on Sunday mornings in Lane Cove National Park, when I rode a tandem. Now this is a great time and place for both pedestrians and cyclists, as there are no cars on the road before the gates open. The roads are wide enough for both, provided the pedestrians keep to the side, and cyclists keep to the left. It would be better if the pedestrians kept to the right, so bikes don't sneak up on them, but as long as they're on the side, it doesn't matter - just ring the bell or call out 'passing'.
But their were always the idiots who walked in a group, spread out across the road. I gave up warning them, because they were too unpredictable. They would go left, right or stand and stare like a rabbit in the headlights. Much safer for all concerned to go past them without warning.

[Bodgy]

Let me venture a dissenting opinion.

Whilst I do ride a bike (not on road tho) I think that the cyclists who insist on riding on major highways in peak hours, are a bunch of selfish bastards. You often see one lone cyclist holding up maybe 40 cars. The roads in Sydney are abominable, ie the Pacific Highway, often two lanes either side. I would like someone to explain how come a single cyclist, who pays no rego, CTP, insurance, Pink slip, petrol taxes nor full tolls has the right to impede full paying drivers who often have two plus people in the car?

Furthermore, apart from the bastardry, what pleasure do they derive from breathing petrol and diesel fumes, taking their life in their hands and pyssing off dozens of commuters?

Beats me! I would venture that they either have something to prove (relative to the dimensions of their genitalia) or it's a power thing.

[AlexS]

1. I pay rego, insurance, pink slip etc. even when riding my bike, but, since wear & tear on the roads is proportional to the 5th power of the mass of the vehicle, I'm subsidising motorists when I ride my bike.
2. It's not me who's holding up the traffic, it's all the other car drivers. If they weren't there, I'd be able to get to work faster too. Have a look round, most cars only have the driver, some have 1 passenger, very few have more.
3. It's not a power thing or having anything to prove. It's just a matter of not using money or resources that you don't have to. If you don't see it that way, then fine, drive your car, but try not to block the lane when I'm trying to get past.

[Schtoo]

Hmmm...

On the bike paths, maybe a sign where people can get on/off the path stating what the modus operandi of the path is. Slow movers stay left, etc, etc.

Works fine for the most part over here. Footpaths have a line of yellow rubberized tiles running down the middle where there isn't much room to move, walkers on the left, right is open for bikes. Sensible really, because practically everyone has a bike. No rich/poor thing, just that for short trips, it's easier to park a bike than a car.

One thing I did do to my own bike for those that can't pull their head of of their back end is fit bigger brakes.

Nice big disc brakes, front and rear.

How much is my bike worth, I gave up counting a long time ago. What I do know is that only the frame and the seat are the same as when I got the thing. And half of the changes were after parts wore out.

Yeah, done a few k's on the treadly. Gave up counting there too.

Now, you want to deal with a brace of school kids covering the footpath, half the road and weaving all over the place, listening to their music and sending messages on their phones while holding an umbrella to keep the rain off them.

You might learn how much of a pain in the back end a clown on a bike can be. Even when on another bike.

Nice thing is you can say practically anything you like to them, they aren't going to work out what you called them. :confused::eek:

[Bodgy]

1. I pay rego, insurance, pink slip etc. even when riding my bike, but, since wear & tear on the roads is proportional to the 5th power of the mass of the vehicle, I'm subsidising motorists when I ride my bike.
2. It's not me who's holding up the traffic, it's all the other car drivers. If they weren't there, I'd be able to get to work faster too. Have a look round, most cars only have the driver, some have 1 passenger, very few have more.
3. It's not a power thing or having anything to prove. It's just a matter of not using money or resources that you don't have to. If you don't see it that way, then fine, drive your car, but try not to block the lane when I'm trying to get past.

Alex - wasn't meant to be personal, I wrote it before your post was up.

Regardless, I can't see any logic in your response, in particular the assertion that the cars have only the single driver. On my way to work, the inside lane is predominately a transit lane, ipso facto, there are no single occupants trying to get past the cyclist.

I am also only talking about peak periods.

Does this mean goodbye to a passing grade?

[anthonyd]

Hey technology has given us cures for diseases that would normally have wiped out half the population - net result : a population boom!

iPods are just mother natures way of using our own technology to even the odds!

[Sturdee]

There simply isnt enough money to build separate paths everywhere. Thats not being a greedy government, its a fact of life. (We want more hospital beds, schools, roads and police....and more tax cuts!!)


Now, we've also done a report on bikes in bus lanes and the prioritisation of bicycle infrastructure funding, shall we discuss those?

Sorry Adam, but I disagree. We do have greedy governments whose sole purpose seems to be to get as much money from the taxpayers and spent it on advertising campaigns, mainly to get themselves re-elected.

For example the federal government currently is spend ing $ 45,000,000 to tell us how good the new industrial relation s law is for us. There is one advertising campaign after each other wasting our money but there is not enough to do the real things that are needed.

The Victorian government is fantastic in thinking up all kinds of new taxes eg their latest in charging inner city areas $ 800 per year for renting out a permanent car parking space. Or the exorbitant increase in land taxes that is forcing business to the wall. Then the increases in water charges and we have commercials of Bracks flying in a chopper over dams telling us how good he is.

In any case the roads and footpaths in suburban areas are paid for by the adjoining owners as well as the footpath and kerbing on main roads and not the government.

So to get bike paths in all new subdivisions it would be paid by the adjoining owners similar to them paying for the footpaths. The government would only have to pay the connecting bits in parks etc and now on existing roads where it could utilise part of the roadway like buslanes.

Peter.

[Ratbag Oz]

As a commuting cyclist I find it very dangerous, inconsiderate and intimidating of motorists that choose to squeeze past you whilst in a roundabout, or even worse whilst entering one.
This is not far removed from your "blind corner" situation.
If the corner is truly blind, then you should sit behind the cyclist until it is safe to overtake. I'd rather the motorist lose 5 seconds out of their pathetic life than choose to use their car as weapon and squeeze past when the potential of an unseen on-coming car exists in a blind corner.

In this particular situation, there is only a problem when the cyclist is not using their assigned lane (there is one, and they often don't)
and also the roads are so twisty and steep that even when doing 20 - 40 km an hour (it is virtually impossible to do any more than that if you did want to) a cyclist who is hardly moving on the hill can appear suddenly, as can oncoming traffic.
As I said, though this does annoy me (mostly because I am worried for the saftey of the cyclists ) I have never been in an extreme enough situation to be made truly angry, or have a "close call"
I just wish people would take a bit of responsibilty for their own safety, it seems a common problem these days that people rely on the not-so-common courtesy of others, and get annoyed when it isn't there

Which brings us back onto the original topic.........

[Harry72]

Mate like Pauly from Fat Pizza would say... "Moit u needz some big ass subwooferz on them wheelz, seriously crankin aye" at least then they'd feel you coming!

[ozwinner]

Plenty Rd runs from Whittlesea to South Morang 10 miles or so, its as flat as a shyte carters hat.

It has a bike lane on both sides that would be 6' wide.
Traffic travels at 100 kms.
So why do the bike riders always ride on the line??

Al :confused:

[bitingmidge]

So why do the bike riders always ride

Dunno about there, but on our main roads, the actual smooooooth as a baby's bum hot mix surface stops exactly on the white line, and the verge has some other rough as bags undercoat mix.

It's MILES easier to ride on the smooth stuff, even though it doesn't look any different from the drivers seat of a big truck!

cheers,

P

[ozwinner]

I thought as much, but why risk life and limb, just for a smooth ride??
Actually the bike track is made of the same stuff as the road.

Al

[silentC]

The pathway here was built by the local Rotary club with money that they raised by selling raffle tickets. I'd fall off my chair if any level of government even contributed to it, let alone doing something about it. They go off and do all these studies (which I'm glad to see keeps someone in a job) but what do they ever actually DO about it? If they divided that 45 mill they spent on propaganda amongst all the Rotary clubs in Australia, then you might actually see something get done.

Now, regarding the white line: I always ride on the line because it enables you to see and dodge all the crap that has fallen off and out of piece of ##### cars and onto the road. It also makes it easy to see the potholes. If you ride on the shoulder, you're riding through all the broken glass, twisted metal and other crap. Any motorist who is unable to overtake me without swerving out into the oncoming lane shouldn't be in charge of a motor vehicle to begin with

Anyway, I'm resigned to the fact that it is our problem by default. We just have to live with it. I dread the holiday season when our population increases by a factor of 10. The locals are usually smart enough to keep left. It's the city people who don't seem to have a clue and they're the most indignant because they're on holiday and we're supposed to just take their crap because apparently we need them :mad:

[craigb]

And here I am currently shopping for a bike.

Maybe I should rethink my decision? It sounds like it's not safe at all

[Clinton1]

Get a motorbike instead - much safer
Same idiots to watch out for, but when you get totalled at least it is at a speed to make it worth it.