The Chainlink

You blew the red light east bound on Lawrence at Damen at 5:26 pm this evening.

 

There was enough time for the biker in front of me to make it half way into the intersection, northbound on Damen, before you came whizzing past my front wheel.

 

I yelled "You're an idiot!" at your big haired chick, self, and you looked back at me. I meant it!

 

I woulda testified for any of the cars, that managed to not kill you, if they had.

 

Keep riding like a tard!

love,

gabe

 

Witness bad behavior during your commute? Feel free to post. Maybe that lovely human can read it and think they are famous. Maybe you can also inspire the whole generation of kids to shower but we can start with small things.

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Thanks for the comments; I was feeling a bit shocked at the negative responses I was receiving.  Yes, James, they do not prevent me from parking there, but it makes it more difficult.  There is not a lot of parking where I work, so those are premium spots.  Thanks!

James BlackHeron said:

I don't see any of those spaces that can't be parked in.  

But I do agree that those are ass moves.  All 3 of them are obviously trying to save the space.   

Then again, they can have those crap spaces in a wheelbender rack.  There is no proper way to lock to them unless you have a U-lock that is 30-inches long.   Let them have them.  Are there no other places to park?  I wouldn't want to park in a wheelbender rack for more than a few minutes to run in and get something from a store.  It's not a good locking solution for leaving a bike unattended unless you really don't like the bike. 

i work by a school and the students do this.  that doesn't stop me from locking my bike there.  good luck on jimmying your lock out from under my massive bike.  

I also have to wonder if those locks are there so their owners can get a second U-lock to span all the way to the frame.

James BlackHeron said:

I don't see any of those spaces that can't be parked in.  

But I do agree that those are ass moves.  All 3 of them are obviously trying to save the space.   

Then again, they can have those crap spaces in a wheelbender rack.  There is no proper way to lock to them unless you have a U-lock that is 30-inches long.   Let them have them.  Are there no other places to park?  I wouldn't want to park in a wheelbender rack for more than a few minutes to run in and get something from a store.  It's not a good locking solution for leaving a bike unattended unless you really don't like the bike. 

You're not going to convince Jim and James they are jackasses.  Get the building to come 'em off.  

Take control of your life, Laura!  ;)

Laura C said:

Here you are dear Chainlinkers: a requested photo of the locks.

I have seen a lock on the giant inverted U where I park that is now the standard rack around the city. Its not a problem and not in the way.  However, on that rack its an "I'm important and nobody else matters" move.  Yeah, you can squeeze in a bike but do you want to? Its like the person who takes a seat and a half or has their bag on a seat on the train.  Sure, we can squeeze in next to them but we often don't bother.  Who elected you King or Queen? 

 

Sometimes people don't realize how inconsiderate they have been. You can consider passive resistance by placing a note,  poem or otherwise, advising them of their lack of manners and reminding them that you will have the lock removed in ____ days...or simply as mentioned above, simply get the building to remove the lock.  Or, perhaps you can invite Notorious Dug and his grinder to test the strength of the locks. The video could be posted here.

I'm currently too jacked up on adrenaline to type in the 3rd person.

I'm heading home on August and just past Western I see there are two cars parked in the bike lane up ahead.  Just taking off from the stoplight a few cars pass me and I can tell there's a van along side me approximately matching my speed and I figure they are just being nice so I wave for them to go by thinking I'll just stop in the bike lane and wait for the 3 cars.  It's a politeness roadblock and she keeps slowing down to give me room to cut in front of her before passing the cars in the bike lane, so I take the lane, sprint past the cars and pull into the bike lane.  As soon as I get into the bike lane the car behind the van (a little Geo Tracker style vehicle) races to the van's right, into the bike lane and ahead of me.  At first I think it's just a guy who's really in a hurry and is pissed off she slowed down to let me pass the parked car.  But as I try to maneuver out of his way it becomes clear he is trying to block my forward progress.

I unclip my left foot and touch down just short of the stop sign.  The lady in the van is sitting at the stop sign, the Tracker is in front of me in the right turn lane area with a few feet just behind him and maybe 15 feet from the stop sign.  A tall sinewy Puerto Rican male (aproximately 6'2) gets out of the car and runs at me screaming.  The first thing I notice is that he's swinging a hay maker at my head, so I quickly back up so he doesn't take my head off, unclip my right foot, and  put my bike in between us to try to maintain distance.  The conversation follows:

"Sir? What did I do?" 

"You. You stay in your lane of next time I kill you!"

"I'm sorry sir, did I cut you off?"

"You stay in your lane, little man, black, or next time I kill you."

"I'm sorry sir." (palms facing him, looking submissive) "Sir, please, what did I do?  I'm sorry if I cut you off"

"you little man, black. Stay in your lane or next time I kill you."

The whole time I'm in complete confusion.  As I'm typing this I can only assume that he thought I was somehow threatening the woman in the van.  I guess this because the woman in the van did not move from the stop sign where I was confronted until after the man left.  It's possible she was also in shock as this whole interaction occurred very quickly (maybe a minute, minute and a 1/2).  Another fact that I found really odd was after he left there was a young woman walking on the sidewalk that asked if I needed any help (having witnessed the encounter).  In the 20 seconds it took to have the conversation with her and get back on my bike there was a PoS mini van that stopped in the same place the Tracker had stopped and then "burnt out" from the stop sign.  I've been commuting on this road (mind you not at 9pm that often) for years and this seems like pretty odd behavior.  

It's the first time in quite awhile that I've had someone try really hard to run me down, he zigged and zagged at least 6 times to ensure I didn't get past him and in the end his car was almost pointing the wrong way in traffic he had the wheel cranked so hard to ensure I didn't get by.  Then the first thing he did was throw a punch... I was just moments from pulling out the U lock and going on the offensive but in hide sight I didn't know about his van of friends behind him and keeping my cool probably saved my life.

I didn't get a plate and barely have vehicle descriptions but damn... that was some crazy shit.

Happy Friday!

To the woman in the '90s Elantra at Milwaukee and Armitage on Friday morning, who ran the red light when the left-turn signals went green and drove straight at me: it is not OK to move merely because the car next to you began moving. Instead, why not look at the traffic lights above you and see whether your is green yet? One day you're going to total your car doing thigns like that; I ony hope you don't hurt anyone else when you do. And to the woman in the Tiguan behind her who followed her through: really?!? The number of people who piggyback their judgement on top of that of the driver in front of them is remarkable, especially in left turns.

To the 4-5 eastbound cyclists on the Kinzie bike lane around 8:50 a.m. who blew through the stop at Clinton, failing to yield to the left-turning car that had the right of way: despite your stupid, dangerous behavior that gives bike-haters additional ammunition when complaining about cyclists and bike lanes, you all were at the same red light at Kinzie and LaSalle that I was (and I did stop for that car). Blowing the stop = no gain.

To the guy who crossed in the middle of the street on Wells tonight on my commute home without looking for bikes in the bike lane, you are an idiot!! I was riding north right past Eugenie St. and you walked right out in front of me without looking.  I stopped and let you walk but told you next time you should look. You told me you look for cars. I told you that bikes are traffic too. I hope next time you look for bikes too not just cars!! Or maybe the next cyclist you cross in front of should just hit you! 

Jeez, Derek!  That's a horrible story.  I'm glad you didn't fight.  If a fight breaks out, even if you're defending yourself, the cops can think that you're the aggressor.  It takes a lot to sort things like that out.

 

I was in a similar situation with a guy swinging at me.  Somehow I kept my wits about me.  When I saw the fight coming I took off my helmet right away.  I didn't want the straps to be a handle for the guy to start whipping me around with.  The guy kept lunging and threw a few swings.  Instead of swinging back, I just dodged and backed off, even though I could have easily tackled him.  This kept up for about 30 seconds until we attracted a lot of passers by and the attacker backed away.

 

If I participated in the fight, it would have looked like I was beating him up and the bypassers might have subdued me.  I'm a lot bigger than he was and it would have just looked bad.

 

I like your idea of keeping a bike between you and the guy.  That's supposed to be used against dogs too.  Same thing in your case!

I have been driving a bit the past few days and wanted to put up a few notes.

1. To the dude all wrapped up winter style with ski goggles at dusk northbound on Damen turn on your lights. I saw you had them. Whenthe sun starts to go down and car lights go on you become invisible to me in the car. Your all Ninja like and going to get hurt.

2. To the young lady northbound on Damen please angle your headlight down, your strobe like light was like a Japanese cartoon. Seriously you almost gave me a seizure as it flashed and flashed and flashed... Seriously please angle your lights down, please.

To the lady in the silver mini-wagon, stopping at the 4-way stop at Fulton and Elizabeth (8:20ish a.m.): yes, you stopped before I got to the crossing. Yes, technically you had the right of way. But when you see me slowing waaaay down and looking right at you and you then stop again, it SEEMS OBVIOUS that you're letting me go through the COMPLETELY EMPTY 4-way stop. So yelling out your window after you pass me that I should "follow the rules like everyone else" is more than pointless, it's just plain stupid. 

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