They say, as they've been saying for years, that they're going to put in a transit line between Hot Springs and Little Rock. If that were to ever happen and they had stops between then I would probably ride a bike and use that. It would certainly beat the forty to fifty bucks on gas every week. But I don't see that happening any time soon.

Albuquerque is a very bike-friendly city (thanks largely to our former mayor, who was an avid biker and made it a large priority,) but there are a large number of bicyclists around here that think the line dividing the bike lane from regular traffic is what they're supposed to ride on, rather than the bike lane itself. This is actually worse than no bike lane at all, because these bicyclists don't keep an awareness of traffic around them while riding there, assuming they have a right-of-way that they don't.

Eh, I live in a sprawling midwestern city. If you ever have the pleasure of visiting a sprawling midwestern city, the kind that really only exploded in the 50s-60s during the post war boom times, you'll find that the inhabitants tend to consider non-car-drivers as weirdos or hobos. There's a sort of sneering attitude toward people on bikes and on foot who aren't decked in exercise gear. Because if it's not for exercise, why the hell wouldn't you use a car to get where you're going? Obviously it's out of poverty or out of some pinko environmentalist clap-trap.

Not that everyone thinks like this, mind you. There's a population of bikers here. And again, the city is making some efforts toward shared road space.



Oh good, another pet peeve. Bikers who make it worse for everyone else by not obeying traffic laws. Swell.

To be fair, both of those actually are the leading reasons you're a cyclist, aren't they?

Well, sure, but I don't need my poor pinko ass honked or cursed at for just trying to get home. I'd prefer silent disapproval.

Oh good! I was starting to worry that my silent disapproval of you might be offensive. Glad you're OK with it. (tongue firmly in cheek just in case it isn't obvious)

Freaky, are you saying it's OK to randomly honk at hobos and people with whom you disagree politically?

I believe some bikers bike either because it's good exercise or because it's fun.



What, there are driving manuals that actually claim that? That's crazy!

The rules in my part of the world are that a biker must stay on the far left of the road, and never ride two abreast (unless there's a cycle path next to the road, in which case said biker is required to ride on the cycle path; cycle paths being rather distinctive and not the same as ordinary pavement but also regularly used by pedestrians). This makes it easy for bikes to be overtaken. (Things are a bit different during major cycle races; roads may actually then be closed to cars entirely for the duration of the race) Motorbikes have different rules, and are supposed to be treated more or less as very narrow cars with some minor exceptions.

(Note that we're a drive-on-the-left country).

I don't know how common it is for driving manuals to actually tell cyclists to ride in the middle of the road, but there is a school of thought amongst traffic experts in the US that bicycles should be treated just like any other motorized vehicle. Some cycling enthusiasts go so far as to claim that cyclists deserve "equal rights" to any car and that segregating cyclists into bike lanes is a form of discrimination which (according to their theory) makes life even more dangerous for them, because then drivers stop paying attention to them. Therefore, bikes should behave on the road as if they were cars, meaning occupy a full lane, stop at traffic lights, use turn signals, yadda yadda. I think they're on crazy stupid gas.

I am almost completely certain that that would be illegal over here. Technically speaking, it is discrimination, but then again so is not allowing a blind man to drive a bus; discrimination is not always evil, there are sometimes excellent reasons for it.

Is there an antidote for crazy-stupid gas? (Sane-intelligent gas, perhaps?)

As far as I'm concerned, If it out-masses me by an order of magnitude, or is moving an order of magnitude faster then me, it has right of way. This rule applies to all things in general, and not just traffic.

Oh no, not at all.

The hobos have it bad enough. We should let them have a little peace.

I was speaking specifically of weatherwax, who has at times indulged us with some information about her situation, and not of bicyclists in general.

I feel I should point out that bikers and cyclists are not the same thing. Bikers are hairy and ride motorcycles; usually large cruisers. Cyclists ride pedal-driven bicycles.

Cycle paths are great when done properly; unfortunately they're often not and this makes me glad that we're not required to use them when available in the UK.

Warrington cycle campaign's Cycle Facility of the Month provides many such examples.

True to that-Whitehorse tried to become more bike-friendly and, literally, stopped halfway through. As in, there are bike lanes that abruptly disappear halfway up a block and turn into street parking.

It's like they started laying out bike lanes, then a city planner said 'You know what? This place has the highest concentration of full-size trucks and SUVs on the planet. Spraypainting some lines on the street isn't going to do a damn thing about that, not when half the population lives up two miles of steep hill and can only actually ride a bike 8 months a year anyways.' (Since, starting about October, bike lanes become snow dumps).