Thursday, May 18, 2006

Biking etiquette and musings thereon...

I was so happy that it finally stopped raining! I could get back on my bike, and actually get some exercise. I have been having trouble waking up in the mornings this past week, and I wonder if it's due to the sharp decrease in my exercise from the rain (no biking and no golf!).

Yesterday evening I was really psyched to push some pedals, and rode my bike to my acupunture appointment. I was a bit annoyed when I was riding, becuase on three occasions, other people on bikes passed me, without giving me any kind of warning at all.

*I* always yell "on your left" when I'm passing another biker, and generally either yell or use my bell when I'm passing a walker / runner (sometimes I don't if the pathe is super wide and they're staying over to the right, otherwise I will). My feeling is that you never know when someone is going to make a sudden move, and I'd much rather be safe than sorry.

When I rode in to work this morning, I rang my bell to let a female jogger know I was passing her, then we both ended up stopped at a traffic light ahead. We chatted a little bit about the use of bells / yells - she said that in her experience almost every woman biker would do one or the other, where as only about 1 in 10 men would. I thought that was really interesting. Is it that men feel more in control and don't worry about a sudden move? Are they just less considerate? She also thanked me, and said that the warning is much appreciated.

My other pet peeve about this whole endeavour, aside from other cyclists passing me without warning is joggers / walkers / rollerbladers (the last are the worst because they take up so much room) who have their music on so loud they can't hear me! Again, not very safe. For either of us. I once yelled at a rollerblader, because I was trying to pass her and she couldn't hear me - when I finally just did it, she hit me with her swinging hand, and then had the audacity to give me a nasty look.

Then I have a whole different set of pet peeves when it comes to dealing with cars, but I'll leave that for another time.

Any other pet peeves on the subject to share?

6 comments:

Paige said...

it freaks me out when i see people listening to music when they are running/walking/biking or rollerblading, I would rather see or hear the tragedy coming.

Glad to see all is well with you and the babe!

Chee Chee said...

I don't exercise outdoors very much but at the gym I hate when there is tons of free cardio equipment and someone has to chose the bike/treadmill/elliptical trainer right next to mine. Breathing room, please.

BTW -- I am glad that you are doing well despite the bad weather. The news reports look awful.

MsPrufrock said...

I must be immensely ignorant, as I'm just curious how you cycle when pregnant. I think my stomach would get in the way. Well, I'm probably just saying that because I'm too lazy to bother cycling anyway.

Cyclists are reviled here in England it seems. Quite often they ignore cycle lanes and instead favour cycling on the pavement next to pedestrians. Unfortunately, pedestrians don't always assume there will be someone on a bike coming up behind them and often mayhem insues...

Anonymous said...

Your athleticism never ceases to amaze me, Nico!
It has been so long since I have been on a bicycle that I can't really think of any cycling-related pet peeves, but my *driving* related peeve is people who use the shoulder to cut ahead in line in slow traffic. That is CHEATING. I generally try to angle my car so that they can't get past me...

Suzanne said...

How about this for bad cycling etiquette - car pulling out directly into the path of the cyclist. My brother got hit by a car this week while commuting home from work. He wasn't too badly injured but his bike was totaled and luckily the police cited the idiot driver.

Thalia said...

You are an impressive woman, keeping it up with the cycling. My exercise regime hit the skids during the IVF cycle and hasn't recovered. I'm glad it continues to give you so much pleasure.