Controversial Opinion: we cyclists are too preachy

We cyclists are way too damn preachy... I realize I'm being preachy myself here but what I'm getting at is I think a lot of us miss the point that there's value in "negative space" so to speak- the equivalent of civil liberties - freedom for the sake of freedom- being open minded and not having hard and fast rules for all things cycling.

When society fully embraces biking maybe then would be a better time to be all "this is the right way and wrong way to bike", until then we live in a car culture which is horrible for the environment. Bikes are so much less of a strain on society and take up so much less space and don't contribute to traffic congestion or carbon footprint in any substantial way. Biking is about freedom and independence. Biking needs to be incentivized and not self policed or otherwise strictly regulated.

Think of the portlandia sketch where the cyclists stage a protest by jamming up an intersection yelling "bikers rights! Bikers rights! " That's how we come off sometimes to non bikers.

And I think it can also be intimidating for people just getting into biking when it seems like the seasoned riders look down their nose at them in an elitist fashion, wagging their finger and saying "you need to pass on the left! You're going the wrong way! Get off the sidewalk! Stop shoaling!"

I get the sense that many look down on those with cheap cruisers, or mountain bikes, those with cable locks instead of u locks, etc. As if there's this natural evolution where everyone would eventually ascend to the hallowed halls of road bikes.

I don't think there should be so many hard and fast rules to govern biking, I mean, for example, let's say there is no bike lane, a busy street, its an industrial area with a wide sidewalk, and you're going extremely slow on your bike on the sidewalk - what's the big deal? If you hit someone, you'll certainly be at fault, but if you don't- no harm no foul. Keep an open mind!

Let's say biker A is in front of biker B and A is towards the left, going slow, leaving plenty of room to pass on the right but no room to pass on the left... Is it really such a big deal if B then passes him on the right (giving A plenty of room in case he veers)? Is it necessary for A to make aggressive remarks to B thereafter? I once passed a guy on the left (yes left) and he wanted to pick a fight with me and started yelling profanities simply because I didn't give him a verbal head's up and say "on your left!" I mean, really?

Let's say two people are biking and biker A is faster than biker B. They keep coming to stoplights and taking off at the same time as a result. But biker B has gears and is able to accelerate faster while biker A is on a fixie and takes time to get up to speed. Is shoaling really uncalled for here- especially if there's enough room for both to share the lane and biker B is not really preventing biker A from passing him again? And even if it is "shoaling" is it really worth it to give biker B grief with some term that he may not even know since he's just starting out biking? Can't we as bikers pick our battles a little better?

When I talk to people just getting into biking I never tell them "this is what you need to do"- I just suggest things but I also say "do what works for you- get comfortable". I think it's important to create a friendly welcoming atmosphere for all cyclists and not take this aggressive stance to make them feel like they don't belong- they are not one of us- they are doing something wrong.

*puts on flame retardant vest*

I may be struggling to articulate my point here but I hope some see what I'm getting at.

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Permalink Reply by Haddon on May 3, 2015 at 6:52am

I think that it's not that bikers are too preachy it's that many/most people are.  On average people are very quick to tell you how they have been imposed upon.  It takes some patience to put up with all the other people in the world, when a person is doing something imposing (even if unknowingly) you can A) say something B) grit and let it slide.

Many/Most(?) people are of group 'A' where they need to tell the other person why they have been slighted or put upon.  When a person is being an idiot and you take route 'B' you are made powerless for a moment as you bend to accommodate the other person. This ensures a functioning civilization but on an individual level it can get irritating. Just 10 minutes ago I was at the maxwell street market and 3 women where side by side with their rolling roadblock of pushing baby strollers.  On one hand they were impervious to the people getting clogged behind them but on the other hand I'm going go out of my way to say something to some moms on their day out with their babies?  I let it slide but was quietly irked.

It actually goes one level past that, where a person blareing music at full volume feels imposed upon if someone asks them to turn it down "It's my music, don't you tell me to turn it down, who do you think you are? You're not my mom."

There was/is the whole thread here of people wanting to bust people wrongly parked in bike lanes.  It's the same "What? I have to go all the way out of the lane? Call the cops and get that person towed"  Meanwhile someone somewhere else is developing an app to bust cyclists doing all the dumb stuff we do, (I am forever going the wrong way down one way streets and rolling through the red at dead intersections) and this just ends up with people being all short and pissy and getting indignant on each other and making the world more crass and rude. 

It also odd in that it removes ones own personal power, if rather than talking to the person about parking in the bike lane and zip a pic off to the cops then you are placing cops as the arbitrator, the authority figure.  Then the drivers snap pics of bikers and send them to the cops and everyone becomes like squabbling children complaining to the adults.

I don't think its cyclists that are hard on each other but its a common trait across society. 

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on May 3, 2015 at 9:43am
*Cycling is freedom
*Keep an open mind and enjoy
*Life is opinionated and controversial
*Rules are guidelines for a civilized society
*Squabbling is a common trait in many humans
*The definition of the proper acceptable bike style is ridiculous
*All cyclists belong and are accepted in our community
Permalink Reply by V W on May 3, 2015 at 11:13am
"Let's say biker A is in front of biker B and A is towards the left, going slow, leaving plenty of room to pass on the right but no room to pass on the left... Is it really such a big deal if B then passes him on the left (giving A plenty of room in case he veers)?"

(Whoops I meant is it really a big deal if B passes on the right in this hypothetical... Too late to edit)
Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on May 3, 2015 at 12:08pm
No, it's not a big deal, but to be consistent, you really should pass on the left.

VW, it's never too late to edit your own discussion topics. On the upper right of your discussion topic area there is a box that says options. Tap on it and another box pops up with *edit discussion, *close discussion, *+tags. Tap edit discussion and go in and correct any mistakes. Then you have to tap the save box on the bottom to save your corrections.
Permalink Reply by Thomas Bruzan on May 3, 2015 at 12:21pm

That was a very wise post VW. 

Permalink Reply by MLK on May 4, 2015 at 6:24am

For me it's more about safety -- people expect me to pass on the left, so I would just wait until I could pass on the left. If I'm being honest, I'm patient for my own sake -- I've seen people swerve all over the place, so I'd rather not creep up on someone on the right only to have them barge into me. I feel like one of the biggest parts of defensive cycling (and driving, and walking..) is to be predictable. Passing on the left helps with that!

Permalink Reply by V W on May 4, 2015 at 9:13am
I understand and agree with why we have the rule I just think not every rule makes sense in every situation and it's not always worth it to give someone grief over every victimless infraction.
Permalink Reply by V W on May 3, 2015 at 1:08pm
Thanks for the input on editing posts Tom AK and thanks for the compliment Thomas Bruzan!
Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on May 3, 2015 at 6:17pm

Great post.  In short, don't sweat the small things!

Permalink Reply by David P. on May 4, 2015 at 3:34am

As Grant says, "just ride!"

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on May 5, 2015 at 2:17pm

VW? Well dude, I drive a BMW, and as an owner of the Ultimate Driving Machine, I own the road and nobody tooling around in a mere VW is gonna tell a BMW driver what to do. Geez, the preachiness of some people. Now if you had called yourself Porche or Audi, I might grant you a little more credence here.

Permalink Reply by Dean Bekken on May 5, 2015 at 2:40pm

I wouldn't hold out much hope about the Creedence

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