"On your right, a**hole!"

Rant/does anyone feel like this/halp advice plz

I've been in a terrible cycling funk. This year is the least I've ridden my bike within the past 10 years. I'm just so turned off from the misbehavior of drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. My bikes sat for the majority of the summer, and it's so unlike me to not want to bike. Am I being defeated and weak, or am I being rational, that it's not worth biking if I don't feel confident about it? It sucks. I've been hit once. I've been in more close calls than I can remember, like many of us. My girlfriend was in a hit and run and ended up in the hospital a few years ago. So many cyclists are being killed or badly injured with no justice. Chicago kinda sucks in my perception. If you're still happy to ride, I'm jealous, I really envy your confidence.

I bought a new bike last week (mad props to Manuel at Johnny Sprockets!!!) and I was amazed by my level of excitement to have motivation to ride a lot again! Yet, I didn't ride it for a few days. Feeling silly about it, I kitted up and finally got on the bike and rode the LFP.

As soon as I get on, I end up trailing a slower cyclist hugging the left part of the lane, riding the middle line. He looks back for a second and seems to slow down waiting for me, and I call out "on your left!" telling him I'm about to pass. Makes sense, right?

Right after, he yells out, "IT'S ON YOUR RIGHT, ASSHOLE". wtf? Sure you can pass on the right when necessary, but there were too many pedestrians to do so safely. Since when do you by default pass on the right? I didn't even think at all and I flipped him the bird as an instant reaction. I consequently felt bad for doing that, but it was so natural haha. I guess I do that to drivers yelling profanity at me too easily, so as soon as I hear someone yell something negative at me while I was on the bike, the finger goes up. But...it was to another cyclist. A meanie. A baddie. That sucked. I don't want to flip off other cyclists. Come on, dude. It's bad enough.

Since when is "on your right" the default? Is it just conditional, choosing which side to pass? "On your left", is standard for the most part, right? I'm just upset.

Chainlinkers, I'm so turned off from cycling here. Help. I want to love bikes again.

-_-

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Permalink Reply by Ryan D on October 12, 2016 at 3:42am

Except in the original post I believe he said he was riding on the Lake Front Path (LFP), so it would take an extremely cautious cyclist to worry about getting doored there...

Permalink Reply by Alex on October 12, 2016 at 3:57am

Hm, I'm conflicted. I see both sides--wanting to pass a cyclist that is making it difficult to do so, and also avoiding getting doored.

We're discussing both car-free paths, and bike lanes on the road, with or without cars parked. I think it really comes down to the context. As a very general rule, when passing, you should USUALLY pass on the left with a clear announcement. This is assuming that you have checked that it's safe for yourself and you're not gonna endanger the person you're passing, etc.

As for being passed, the rules are less clear. They seem to be unwritten for passing, so they're even more unclear for being passed...at least, I've thought about it less. David, you make a good point about having yourself in a safe spot to avoid getting doored. The person trying to pass you shouldn't endanger you. That being said, I also feel that it's also your responsibility to allow the other person to pass you safely, which requires attentiveness. I remember in drivers' ed the instructor said it's a 50/50 rule in merging onto a highway. It is person A's responsibility to merge safely onto the highway, and person B's responsibility to allow a safe merge. This requires patience and communication which is of short supply on the road as we've all seen.

And like I said, there's always so much context required to make a judgement call anyway!

Permalink Reply by Maurice on October 12, 2016 at 9:21am

LOL.  Next time, please read thoroughly before replying in a knee-jerk fashion.

  

The OP and my post are expressly about cyclists who ride "the middle line" on the LFP and PBLs.  The conventional lanes you're talking about with parked cars on the right don't have "middle lines."

  

A guy riding the middle line while traveling southbound on Dearborn isn't avoiding imaginary doors.  He's just clueless and inconsiderate.

 

I never pass on the right in a conventional bike lane.  I just wait until it's safe to take the lane and pass on the left. 

Permalink Reply by Alex on October 12, 2016 at 4:00am

Milwaukee is rough. Sometimes I miss living over there, sometimes I don't. Shoaling is such a huge problem on that route. It's just so crowded. It's great that so many cyclists use the route, but it leads to frustration. Traffic!! It's bad in a car, and bad on a bike.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on October 12, 2016 at 5:26am

I went up Lincoln last night to do some shopping and noticed the same thing. I got shoaled twice by the same rider and some people will do the damnedest weaving around into oncoming/opposing traffic to not stop at those six-way intersections.

One of these mornings I'll need to get an extra early start and head over to Damen/Milwaukee to see just how bad things are there.

Permalink Reply by David P. on October 12, 2016 at 6:32am

No. It is the responsibility of the person making a pass to do so safely. Some dude was riding in a safe position - if you want to pass him, wait until traffic is clear and do it in the main lane, or wait until it is safe for him to move right.

Permalink Reply by Alex on October 12, 2016 at 6:43am

I think I agree very generally...though we don't know if she was getting shoaled by him repeatedly or what the traffic situation was like. I don't think being the "person being passed" doesn't mean you have no responsibility outside yourself. what you think?

Permalink Reply by David P. on October 13, 2016 at 5:21am

Maybe she was getting shoaled or maybe not. If so, then he was arguably being inconsiderate, but I think "wanna pass! move over!" is unnecessarily aggressive. Regardless of that, whether he had shoaled her earlier is not really relevant. A cyclist (like a car driver) should behave safely and predictably (and, ideally, courtesously!), but it is always the responsibility of someone making a pass to do it safely, or to not do it until it can be done safely. Imagine that, instead of one cyclist passing another with the above verbal exchange, it was a car driver passing Leah while laying on the horn because she wouldn't move over. The danger factor is obviously different, but they are both bad passes.

Permalink Reply by Cheryl on October 13, 2016 at 5:22am

Agree. If I can safely move right for someone passing, I will. But I'm not going to move into the door zone just so someone can pass. 

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on October 19, 2016 at 3:16am

I think you are correct on this.

Permalink Reply by Alex on October 12, 2016 at 4:03am

I think you're right and unfortunate that it's just the way it is. After a while, you see all the issues and experience all the annoying things over and over and just expect it to happen every ride. I think I've just nearly ran out of patience from all the standard BS, and I'm trying to find some sort of cycling catharsis.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on October 12, 2016 at 5:28am

You forgot the 'lone bad-ass' (walker or runner) that has to be on the middle line.

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