BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I didnt realize they could actually get tickets for boarding riders not at stops.. I just thought it was policy.

If anything stu, I would say you are persistent and resilient. If anything, you can take pride in overcoming the challenges presented.

Aside from the flat it sounds like you more or less "won". Chasing buses around on a bike sounds kind of fun. Personally, I'm usually heads-down in a bus schedule until I look up to see the back of the bus I wanted.

Hah, stu just has them all memorized.

Well at least you didn't run into one of those longitudinal storm grates...

Stu, this thread sounds as good of an excuse as any to bring up tonight's ACTC meeting for those who might be interested.

What time do you have to wake up?

@ndromb, I'm usually up by 6, occ earlier.

@impala26, right! Tonight's ACTC meeting (which I will miss) is mainly about PAT finances for the coming July-June year. EDIT: Oh, right, time and place. PAT Board Room, 345 Sixth Ave (Heinz 57 Building), 5th floor, 5:30 p.m. Bring ID to get into the building. First elevators on left.

@netviln, I carry a "cheat sheet" of connections. I need to know 10 routes to make this commute, but only have Perry Highway memorized.

@salty, yes, and as I noted, I can miss a G2 in front of the Carnegie Library on Smithfield and still make it, running, at the Hilton. Quote: "I haven't missed that bus, it's merely in front of me."

But more I was pointing out all the issues that have been brought up in recent threads: Riding in the bus lane. Threading through stopped traffic. Yielding to pedestrians. Not blowing through red lights. [Not] Riding on the sidewalk. Being visible and predictable. Taking the lane when necessary. Generally adhering to the law and not being a jerk. All of that in a five-minute dash through heavy rush hour traffic.

And then not spending 47 minutes changing a rear tire in dress clothes without tools, a patch kit, or cleanup supplies. And still making it to work on time. Resiliency = *life's a bitch* + *still walk in on time smiling* ... I guess. (Thank you!)

And all the damn glass on Pennsylvania roads. How many fewer flats would we cyclists have if there were an [*insert "enough-to-matter" number of*]-cents deposit on glass bottles?

changing a rear tire in dress clothes without tools, a patch kit, or cleanup supplies

Stu = MacGyver

Stu = MacGyver

+1

Quote: "I haven't missed that bus, it's merely in front of me."

Like.

That also aptly describes the problems my boyfriend used to have with any form of mass transit.

Stu, you are my hero.

Stu,

You must have an awesome place out there to commute like that. Do you have a lot of land for gardening or something? Why don't you move closer? Did you already have a house when you got the job, didn't use to bike, etc? I've been honestly curious for a while after reading your many (excellent) posts on here.

Why don't you move closer?

Because then he would have to reregister with a new board username.

dwillen +1

Well played sir.

Ha ha

I work pretty close to where Stu lives, and I hate commuting here. Stu is one BAMF (brave ambitious multiple-form) commuter.

Some of the history is in this blog.

We moved here to be close to my wife's job. I chose the spot because of recently having had a good experience with using transit, and the house was close to both the Perry Highway and McKnight Road buses.

I've been in this house 19 years, and am now 3/4 through the mortgage, not likely going to move. No, do the opposite: Change suburbia to suit me.

@Stu - I ran into a guy at the "Bike Center" at the Century Building this morning. He lives out near you, in McCandless. Says his route is Rochester to Perry Highway, back roads through West View Park, back to Perry Highway and into town on that. He did say he sometimes turns left at West View instead, and comes in on Brighton (I think). Are there better options? He was lycra'd and fit, so don't think traffic or terrain are a real concern.

Stu, I'm in virtually the same boat - the house I bought was close to the job I had at the time, I'm most of the way through the mortgage, and (to me) it's easier/more pleasant to beat up on my municiple goverment until they give me bike lanes / sidewalks than it is to find another decent paying job close by or move to hell (Cranberry).

I realized this year I could be miserable and moan and complain about my municipality's lack of support for non-single car transportation, or I could make friends on council and at the planning department and obnoxious them in to fixing it. The latter, while potentially just as unproductive, is at least entertaining.

I started this thread as a place to whine, so I'll continue the theme.

Thursday night I bought a headlight so my daughter could have a nice bright light on the bike she borrowed from a friend to ride Flock of Cycles.

Saturday my son managed to lose his light -- that I bought and installed and he's been using daily since October 2008 -- on a bus ride up McKnight Road. It apparently rattled loose on the bus rack.

Grrr.

I apologize for not reading the whole thread, but I wanted to say that I once had a driver force the rack down despite the bent flange so that I wouldn't have to wait for the next bus. That was really cool (despite the fact that he could have potentially damaged the rack even more).

today i made it from braddock hills to allegheny commons only hitting two red lights in 35 minutes...

good things will come your way!

As regards "can't win:"

I was at Taylor Street turning left onto Friendship Avenue at a red light tonight when a woman in an SUV behind me honked. "Red light means stop," I said to her, and she replied "right turn on red." I didn't feel like moving over for her but she raced around to the left to do a wide right turn from the left part of this ambiguously single/double-lane street... just as the light turned green.

If a car were occupying the middle of the lane, I don't think she would have honked or flashed the lights so she, the second vehicle back, could take advantage of a right turn on red. Why do I get the impression that if I had gone through the red light, she would have muttered to herself "freakin' bikers running red lights" whereas since I stopped at the red light she honked and hassled me.

Can't win, indeed.

I've had that happen a lot, especially on 5th Ave. Stop at a light and *honk honk honk*. Turn around and shrug, point to the light, person yells "right on red!!?". Yea, if nobody was in front of you, you could totally turn right on red.

Dan, that happened to you and I on the way to the Big Pour--it was a classy looking guy in a Lexus IS.

Makes me think of the discussions last summer about retesting drivers to see if they know traffic law. The right-on-red rule is relatively recent, about 1980. It's entirely possible that someone over 50 does not know what the law says. They didn't learn the change in rules then, and haven't since.

If I can, I look behind me, and if the driver is signalling, *and* the lane is wide enough, sometimes I scoot over and wave them by. I hope that doesn't make people feel entitled.

(but never if they honk)

Yea Nick, thats right. It has happened before to me, and not just in Pittsburgh. I usually move over too, sometimes even if they are honking and I'm in too good of mood to be pissed off at some jackass in a hurry.

That happened to me this summer at Negley @ Friendship. Guy blasted on his horn, I turned around & glared and THEN, being a nice guy for once, I moved over so he could make his turn - as he pulled next to me to make the turn he yelled at me, "is it so wrong to ask you to move so I can turn?" as I feebly responded "you shouldn't honk at cyclists!" In such a hurry he has time to chide me. Dick.

When I am in a car I have a rule that if someone behind me honks at me to make that turn on red so they can do it too, I stay put. Same as on a bike.

I like when I'm stuck in traffic, at a light and some fool honks, as if I should move so he can be that much closer to the red light. You know cause I'm on a bike and he's in a car.

Just like the guy who squeezes you into parked cars so he can rush to that red light 1/2 a block away. I tend to try to keep my cool with drivers, as they have the 2-ton upper hand, but in those cases I always zip by and give a smug smirk. I hate smugness, but those jagoffs deserve it.

k, so I didn't realize this was a renewed thread, read Stu's original post, forgot that I'd read it before, and decided to comment with simply "Stu - you are my hero" not realizing I'd already done that until I read lower. At least I'm consistent, if not suffering from dementia?

I always look back to check for signals, and pull to the side they're not going so they have a better chance at turning - in a car or on a bike. If I'm not paying attention and I'm honked at, I take it as a deserved reminder to look up. If I'm paying attention, their honking is not merited, and I respond by CONTINUING to drive/ride exactly as responsibly as before, unmodified until actual circumstances change.

My stepdad knows you can turn right on red, and usually refuses to. He's unclear whether it's habit or a "I don't have to so I'm not going to bother" or he's decided it's not safe. Probably all three. Just because you often CAN, doesn't mean you have a god given right to do so. And many people do it when it's posted illegal.

The other day I was on Forbes in Oakland, where there's multiple lanes, and some jagoff with NJ plates got on my ass and blasted on his horn, at which point I got even MORE in the lane. He hooked around me just to hit the red light at Craig. Boy did I glare at that MFer when I passed by him...

The other day I moved ,slowly, between cars on Butler, so I could pass the line of traffic. There was no room on the right. I get in front of some kid at the light, he's honking, so I roll back and say " what's wrong champ? He says, "your pissing me off", bikes should follow the law if thier gonna be on the road, you're weaving through traffic." I replied, I'm navigating between two cars stopped in traffic, I assure you son, no laws were broken." He's says again "well your pissing me off". "I'm sorry, if your feelings were hurt, maybe it's the fact your spending all your hard earned wages on your silly car and yet, your not going anywhere.

@SuperStu Change suburbia to suit me.

Gasoline at a $20 a gallon should do it. Wait a few year and it will happen.

As I've said for years, my goal in life is to make it possible for America to live without use of the automobile. Everything I say, and everything I do, supports that goal.

Gas will be $20/gal, someday, but to even think that is tantamount to burying yourself in a Cormac McCarthy book -- apocalyptic chaos. I really don't think we want to go there. Or be taken there, kicking and screaming. My cynical side fears the chances of that happening are at least 50-50, maybe within a decade.

I do want to be able to ride my bike anyplace I can currently take my car, and get home, in one piece, on a regular schedule. How can we get there? How can we live without being essentially forced to use a car?

So I push using transit and riding bikes to do damn near everything. I'm fond of quoting Elbert Hubbard, and I'll do it again: "If you would make men better, set an example."

i refuse to make a right on red in my truck all the time. most intersections in this city have very poor sight lines and i don't think its a safe thing to do. if you are stuck behind me, tough shit.

I wasn’t sure which thread to attach this to, and I didn’t think it deserved a new one, so this is written from the car driver’s perspective.

It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, I’m in my tricked out Japanese coupe with the loud muffler headed toward the South end of the Glenwood Bridge. Life would probably be better if that lady in front of me would just speed up a little. Never mind, as soon as we’re off this ramp I’m going to floor it and pass her. Come on lady speed up, what are you waiting for? What? Is that a guy on a bike? Screw him. I don’t care if he has the right of way and we have a yield sign, just keep going. Look at that biker trying to make eye contact with me, yeah stick that right arm out fella you are NOT getting in front of me! (Narrator: at this point the twenty-something asshat in the shiny souped-up car must have hit the accelerator.) BOOM!! What the hell did the lady in front of me stop for?

No one was hurt, the bumpers were toast, and I continued on my way into Homestead to pick up my photo for the tag game.

I want to wear a big sign that says "just pretend I'm a car and shut up."

Having a large, wide car part attached to the front of the bike would make attaching that sign quite a bit easier.

Marko, I go past that merge four times a week, but luckily I've only had about one vehicle not yield, which happened to be a dump truck. The worst part is further down the road where I have to merge into a (now due to overpass construction) one lane road

Started off the day by replacing a tire that had two big puncture holes from a nail that I ran over maybe a month ago. Went through diagonally and punctured the sidewall

My temporary fix of putting patching sandpaper between the tire and tube had worn out and the innertube was starting to escape

So I take the tire off and half my axle falls off. I thought I might have just done a really crappy job at tightening the cups and cones, but upon a closer look, the axle was actually snapped!

I had to go to work in about 30 minutes and didn't have any axle laying around. I somehow managed to get all the bearings back in place and get axle back on and, relying solely on the skewer to hold everything together (I'll try and get a replacement tomorrow)

So then I'm riding along precariously to work... Crossing the Glenwood Bridge old dude honks at me on the bend. I do something I haven't done in probably about a year, I give the guy the finger, I think he gave me the finger back. Communication fail.

About ten seconds later another dude honks at me. This time however my composure is better, so instead of giving hi, the finger, I do nothing, which is really all you can do when cars are going by you at like 20-40 miles an hour.

It was especially annoying from him because I could clearly see him continue along 885 which turns into a one lane road about a mile ahead. So I wasn't even in the lane he needed to be in. (I was basically in a lane that turns into an exit)

Okay, so I continue along and get to Lebanon Road. About maybe a quarter mile up I hear a dog bark, which isn't unusual. About maybe twenty second later some mangey dog comes out of nowhere and is semi-viciously barking and chasing alongside me.

To this I respond "FUCKING CHRIST!" Luckily the traffic is moving fairly slow so I swerve into the middle of the lane and now the dog is on the road still chasing me as I'm pedaling uphill, a car following behind us. Eventually the dog gives up.

I continue on to work.

a squirt bottle of ammonia works great on dogs

Ha ha. Bet you looked ridiculous to the driver following you.

Beats hell out of my initial story. You go, Pierce!

this isn't as bad as some of the other stories, but I feel pretty stupid about how today went and how I handled it.

woke up to find that the mirror on my bike had broken off, so now I have to physically turn to see what's behind me, which is hugely distracting. Carrying my bike down the concrete stairs to my building, the maintenance guy hasn't shoveled or salted once all winter, so I slipped and fell down all the stairs, bruised up my leg, and my bike landed on top of me. Of course, since it's pretty warm, everyone thinks it's okay to be a big dickwipe and ignore the perfectly empty other lane on the street (which also heads inbound), and they just stay behind me, which is unnerving.

Then on the way home, I get more people who refuse to pass me, which also makes me nervous. I try to move over and wave them by, and they won't go. It makes me feel like they're angry for some reason, or going to hit me. Then a guy is behind me, lays on the horn, passes with very little room, stops (if you were in such a hurry to get by, don't fucking stop), and says, "you got a lot of nerve giving the finger when you're on a bike." I yelled, "you got a lot of nerve almost hitting me when I'm calling the cops, you fucking cunt!" I seriously screamed this. It doesn't even make sense.

He drove off, I pulled over, got out my phone, but I didn't call, because I'd forgotten the guy's plate number, and nothing really happened to justify calling 911. So I stayed there on the side of the road, crying my eyes out, coughing, and nearly throwing up for about 10 minutes. The whole rest of the way home (most of it was walking uphill), every time a car pulled over to park, I felt legitimately panicked and scared.

I should be used to this kind of douchebaggery by now, but I guess part of me wants to believe that people are generally pretty nice. They probably are until you surround them a ton of steel.

People *are* generally pretty nice. It sucks that you ran into such jerks today. Today I was happy that my lobster claw gloves have a single-digit pocket right in the middle for my vestigial 3rd claw. I definitely waved it at couple of honking cars this morning while walking my bike downtown.

RF - the day you get used to that kind of douchebaggery is the day the douchebags win. Their behavior is inexcusable, and shaking, nauseating outrage is a sign that you are a conscious, feeling human being. While there are more calm and sometimes more effective responses, there is no more human response than yours. I'm not sure anybody should ever feel stupid for being human, though it is a common human reaction to self-reflection.

*HUGS* Tomorrow is a new day.

thanks. I was already having a bad day, and I just felt awful after that happened.

RF, I sure hope your week has been better since that other day you had.

I had, not the worst day, but it was surely a little disheartening, so I will rant.

I was having a fine day, bused in to work, and after work was going to meet some people at the Bettis Grille on the North shore, and those people were going on to some videotaping of a thing at Heinz Field. For those who may not know, Bettis Grille is maybe 1/10th of a mile from the stadium. So I had a lovely walk through town, across the big bridge over the river to the restaurant, and had a bit to eat. When we were done, these people briefly debated whether or not to get in their cars to go to the stadium. One actually got in and moved their car, about 500 feet. I had a quick internal dialog that kind of went "WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?" Then I had a nice walk back across the bridge to the Hilton.

I feel better now.

RubberFactory, I don't want to pile on or seem rude, but you're upset that people won't pass you, then you're upset when people pass you, but don't pass in the correct way. Then you're upset because you gave someone the finger and they had the nerve to confront you about it.

If you don't want a confrontation, don't confront anyone. Learned my lessons with this one.

If you don't want cars to pass you then take the lane.

If you want cars to pass you, then move out of the way.

I think you're honing in on the one bad driver and not realizing how good people were treating you. If people aren't passing you, perhaps they are turning soon or are just being patient.

Just try and relax out there. I'm worried about you!

Perhaps the guy behind you didn't pass you because he was nervous.

A lot of people are still not accustomed to dealing with different modes of traffic and so he might have not been sure what to do.

I'm curious what road you were on. He also might have felt he couldn't safely pass you with oncoming traffic or that a bend was up ahead, or maybe he was close to turning off the street and didn't see the need to pass you in that scenario.

It's hard to communicate on the road. If he realized that he was causing you to feel endangered he probably would have acted differently.

A slightly less confrontational way to show that you're upset is to wave your arm in a kind of "WTF? dude?" way, but that doesn't always help either.

Hope your other travels are better.

Usually if I want someone to pass me, I'll move to the side and wave them by. I did that at least 3 times to the same car on penn, and they didn't pass me. I may be imagining things, or just altering my own perception of what actually happens when people pass, but it seems like people get angrier and pass even closer when I do take the lane. This week, I've reverted to the "Stay all the way to the right, oh my god there's a car behind me what do it do" phase that I was in when I first started riding.

Hmm. I'm curious what part of Penn. Penn Ave sucks.

If you're around Lawrenceville area, the side street Coral AveComrieWoolslayer is waaaay better IMO

Sometimes you just have to play it by ear, and occasionally people will be jerks

I was on penn between 11th/16th when I tried waving people past.

I was riding on the sharrows in the strip when the big empty lane was being ignored.

I don't know, maybe I'm just extra nervous now since my mirror broke off, and I don't have as good a picture of what's behind that's making me nervous. definitely getting that replaced when I get paid next friday.

I know this was discussed in previous thread, I know a lot of people are uncomfortable looking behind them. Someone made the suggestion of finding an empty parking lot and practicing looking behind you while holding a straight line. Even thought you are getting your mirror replaced, I highly recommend honing your skills of confidently looking behind by turning your head. Never know when your mirror will break again. Best to be prepared.

I don't worry at all about cars keeping pace a reasonable distance behind me. I'd much rather have them behind me than trying to pass without room or right hooking me. Just relax and enjoy your bike ride. Don't worry so much about the cars behind you.

I've confronted people by giving them the finger when I have the lane and they honk. I feel like it should be like a movie scene. I stood up to the big bully, his posse should all just stare at him while the on lookers laugh. He backs down and becomes my slave. That happened once. People on the street cheered. But it only happened once. The other times my heart starts racing and I am seriously scared. I feel like cars are following me when they're not, people honking at other cars are honking at me, and everyone is out to get me. I know I shouldn't confront people because it litterally makes me sick, but in the heat of the moment I always hope for that movie ending.

I can't control what's behind me. All I can do is be visible, predictable, and react to what is beside or in front of me. I try and remember that, but I've never had a mirror so I don't feel like I'm missing information like you do.

I have had a car just sit behind me, going up hill, refusing to pass in the available lane beside me, on 48 in Monroeville where everybody else was going like 50mph when I was moving maybe 12mph. Rush hour, I took the whole lane (one of two, so it's fair). She was middle aged, driving an older sedan, and had lots of opportunities to take the other lane. I like to think she thought she was protecting me, saw me all the way from Gateway HS to the other side of the 376 underpass (where I took the shoulder so she could feel comfortable driving on or passing me or whatever she needed to do). I waved as she passed, got no reaction positive or negative. Who knows, maybe she was just spaced out, following what's in front of her.

On the occasion when I have had a car behind me who just couldn't or wouldn't pass, even when there is wide open road, I pull over for a second and put a foot down. I would rather waste 10 or 15 seconds than ride for any length of time with some unknown floating behind me, whether malevolent, benevolent, or benign.

If they are behind you, and following you, then they see you, are aware of you and showing you deference. Isn't that what we want? If they choose not to pass, that's their deal.

Isn't it better knowing they are back there, as annoying as it may be, than to have a car come flying toward you out of nowhere, catch you by surprise and knock you off the road?

I would categorize someone who doesn't pass me under ideal, clear circumstances as just a crappy, unpredictable driver, and I don't want that behind me. And their behavior might cause some other, even stupider, driver to try to pull off some yet stupider move.

I want people to be able to drive thier fkn cars, they're not twenty feet wide.

if they're following for a while, they probably think they're going slow enough to update their facebook status from their smart phone & say something snarky about 'cyclist stupidity.'

I have, on occasion, been that driver patiently following the cyclist at, oh, 10-18 mph. Usually because there's a red light ahead, or I'm just going to make a right turn anyway, but sometimes because they're being a squirrelly gutter bunny, riding in the door zone and furtively looking behind, and wobbling all over, and I know they want me to just get by them, but there's really no safe way to get past. I wouldn't do it even if they wave me by. Those cyclists really frighten and frustrate me. Some people turn frightened and frustrated into angry.

I've been both. Once I learned to take the lane -- especially learning about door zones and the need to take the lane -- I got a lot more comfortable riding in traffic.

Explaining this to church-going friends, however, has been difficult. Note that I would typically arrive at church on a bicycle, and those were the greater part of the non-cycling humanity I came across on a regular basis. The word I want to use to describe my change in attitude is "ballsy". Or something like that. This frequently proves incompatible with church lobby conversations.

I've changed churches a couple of times, but I don't think I've changed many minds, not that I was expecting to. This is the suburbs and exurbs, anyway. To them, the majority of cyclists are loonies, tree huggers, liberals, often all at once.

I'll get a few more people to listen to me when gas hits $4 again.

I'll top this thread with another story of incredibly bad luck.

The day started well. I had a noon meeting Downtown, and chose to bike it rather than bus. Made it in record time, no problem at all. So far, so good.

I did notice that my tires were a little low, so taking the advice from yesterday, decided to top up the tires at the first bike shop I came across. After taking the Reizenstein picture, that would be Performance Bikes. Yep, I was running only about 25# in both front and back. Topped up to my usual 80# and off I went.

I got as far as Highland and E Liberty Blvd, and BOOM! And that tube was just out of the box on Saturday! Damn. Blew the sidewall out of the tire, too.

Back to Performance, walking the bike. Mechanic put a brand new tube and tire on. Paid and out the door, head again for home. I get to Collins and E Liberty Blvd. BOOM! Wtf?!

Can't even push it, it's so blown. I carry the back of the bike back to Performance a second time. They look it over, pronounce the rim unusable. No big surprise there; this is my spare bike, and the back rim really was in bad shape. I'm surprised I didn't have trouble before. But it got me from McCandless to Verona on Saturday (the flat I got was truly earned, if you saw the huge piece of metal I picked up), and through Philadelphia on Sunday, and Verona to Downtown on Monday, and McCandless to Downtown to East Liberty today, so I had no reason to suspect a serious wheel problem.

Performance had no direct replacement, so I called FreeRide. If I could make it before the class started in a half hour, I could get a wheel. OK, fine. I *ran* to FreeRide. Dug around a bit, got a wheel, happily handed them a few bucks, and walked back to P.B. All this time, I'm lugging 10 pounds of laptop & stuff.

Wheel put back on, but did not use the freewheel from my old bike but rather used what came on the new-to-me one. Mistake! Turns out that cassette was incompatible with my chain. Skipped horribly! But by now, P.B. was on the verge of closing, so I'm pretty much stuck.

It's now dark, and I hadn't had dinner yet, so pushed the bike around ELib until I found affordable food at a place with wi-fi. (Oh Yeah! ice cream) Eventually got a P1 into town and a 12 home, so the day also ended well (well, kinda well). But that middle of the day sure sucked.

Thanks to Lyle, Joe F, salty, robjdlc, TransitGuru, and a few other people not on our board -- as well as the mechanics at P.B. and a volunteer at FreeRide -- who offered help, advice, and/or just a smile at one point or another during the day.

Aw sorry. If we were home, we could have helped you out

Good. Grief.

Stu, your patience with... well, everything, continues to inspire me.

I can testify to the incredible size of the scrap metal that made it into your tire last weekend. A Puncture Of Unusual Size (POUS )

Another situation where I wish I would have the wherewithal to approach a driver calmly... That driver being a motorcyclist who passed me in the car parking zone at 30 mph as I rode up Liberty ave in the bike lane. I was so beside myself when I caught up to him that all I could muster was a thumbs up and "way to go!"

I think that same guy did the same to me. I was so startled that I nearly fell over.