The Chainlink

Not about pedestrians, not about motorists, just about our fellow cyclists. We are all so different that stuff is bound to frustrate when we approach riding in such different ways, explain to those we think are less experienced, etc. Ok, tell us your stories, tell us your pet peeves, we're all friends! 

I'll start out with a pet peeve of mine... The cyclist that blows past me so close to me I felt the wind of their SWOOOOOSH as they fly past me but they say nothing to warn me. We're in tight quarters in the bike lane. Buy a bell and/or tell me you are there! 

p.s. sure, your pet peeve may be the forum post that's been done before but I kinda feel like this tucks into other topics so this time I'm giving the pedal pet peeve front and center.

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Shoaling and salmoning, obviously. :)

My downtown riding right now is all on DIVVY, as much as possible in the "protected" bike lanes. Those lanes aren't overly wide, so it really grates me when people salmon in them. Where the f**k am I supposed to go to safely get around these stupid fish?

Peevishly, y'rs,

Skip

my technique is to nose my bike toward the curb or car, with the rear wheel still angled into the lane.  Make them swerve into head-on traffic to get around me, because I won't do it.

usage of lights on the lakefront at night.

please, lights do not need to be aimed straight forward, they do not need to be at their highest output setting, and can we kill the seizure inducing strobe effect?

of course this is trumped by the ninja lances who won't use lights at all...

I generally stop at the white line, especially when there are pedestrians in the crosswalk. Why do some cyclists insist on blowing through the crosswalk, narrowly missing the pedestrians by mere inches, only to stop on the other side of the crosswalk? You're not going anywhere. The light is red, and the cross traffic is bumper to bumper. Why are you putting the pedestrians at risk with your thread-the-needle stunt?

^This is a good one. Very annoying behavior. We should be as courteous to pedestrians as we want drivers to be to us.

guilty! full disclosure: I don't do it if pedestrians are in front of me but I do go to the other side of the walk at a red (maybe a back tire in the cross walk but plenty of room for pedestrians) so that cars can see me. When I am parallel to the cars, there's a possibility of them turning right without seeing me or moving to close to the bike lane. 

It's ok. You can judge me. ;-)

No issue if a) there are no pedestrians are in the crosswalk, or b) one stops before the crosswalk, and then slowly moves through the crosswalk when pedestrians are not present.

The other day I saw a cyclist fly through at high speed in a gap that was no wider than 3 feet.

I agree with all of this.

As Argonne says above, I agree it's OK and safe in the non-pedestrian context!

Just repeating this: 

We should be as courteous to pedestrians as we want drivers to be to us.

YES!

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