Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[RWright]

I have come to blows once or twice, these days I tend just to shake my head.

The best thing. If I were to run into this situation again I would probably just keep riding and not giving him the gesture of my thoughts of his driving.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I see a lot of bad driving, and a lot of bad cyclists, I am not the best rider by any stretch of the imagination, but I try and think about my safety and others, getting het up about things, means you arn't concentrating on the next danger.

 

[RWright]

I try to do the same Nigel, this guy just caught me at a bad time I guess. This was in the busiest street in my Town. People here never see bicycles, I thought about it as I was talking to him and listening to what he thought was the way things were. We are in the stone age here as far as cycling compared to there, at least in my town. It is going to be hard on the drivers if bikes ever start becoming a more mainstream mode of transportation here. Some towns are more used to it now but my town is a blue collar type town, bicycles are just something for kids to most people here.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I think things are going to change, I heard that energy resources might start to be rationed in this country early next decade. Having worked in the transport industry, I have seen a lot of waste, and i sure most of you can see the same. The earth herself only has so much fossil fuels, and I know things are changing (and I am not going to go on about global warming as I have my own views on that and they are some what different to main stream thinking).
There are currently 6 people in this house, one a child of 11, the amount of waste that is produced really gets to me, i try and reuse/recycle where I can, but when it really is an up hill struggle trying to educate young adults and older adults I do really despair about the future. It's not our generation thats really going to suffer much, though i suspect the last 10 years or so of my life might be difficult energy wise, it's not until most people have children it effects them. i saw on my sisters F.B. she did a round trip of 210 miles for a coffee on her motorbike, so the kids thing might not effect all of us as she has 5.
Sorry to ramble on this was meant to be about some cities/towns in the states not used to bicycles.

 

[Nomadski]

I wasn't packing heat. I do have weapons and a concealed carry permit though.

Why do I picture you as Dog The Bounty Hunter now? Fully lycrad up with a couple of six shooters at the hip and a sawn off shotgun on the downtube.

 

[Nomadski]

I think things are going to change, I heard that energy resources might start to be rationed in this country early next decade. Having worked in the transport industry, I have seen a lot of waste, and i sure most of you can see the same. The earth herself only has so much fossil fuels, and I know things are changing (and I am not going to go on about global warming as I have my own views on that and they are some what different to main stream thinking).
There are currently 6 people in this house, one a child of 11, the amount of waste that is produced really gets to me, i try and reuse/recycle where I can, but when it really is an up hill struggle trying to educate young adults and older adults I do really despair about the future. It's not our generation thats really going to suffer much, though i suspect the last 10 years or so of my life might be difficult energy wise, it's not until most people have children it effects them. i saw on my sisters F.B. she did a round trip of 210 miles for a coffee on her motorbike, so the kids thing might not effect all of us as she has 5.
Sorry to ramble on this was meant to be about some cities/towns in the states not used to bicycles.

I'm not exactly Mr Green, but we as a species really do need to wisen the hell up. It ain't going to be a meteorite that wipes us out that's for sure!

 

[Steve Donovan]

Another ride, another couple of hills successfully climbed.
Just a quickie ride tonight, but 950ft climbed in only 4 miles. Then 950ft down again on the way home.
Bit by bit I'm conquering all the various hills around Halifax. Feeling good.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I'm not exactly Mr Green, but we as a species really do need to wisen the hell up. It ain't going to be a meteorite that wipes us out that's for sure!

Thing is as species we would most likely survive that (size depended of cause), lets face it we have populated everywhere on the planet and adapted. We are intelligent, we are quite amazing, and on the whole quite lazy, and its this last bit that will be our downfall if there is one.
The Sun herself is going through change at the mo, it is possible there maybe a mini ice age waiting to happen, like in the 17th century, these changes have been sort of predicted/surmised since the 90's that i know of, it may be this that is causing the change in weather patterns, but also remember that what we recall as a species is minute to the length the planet has been here, and we dont know everything about climate change, this is not to say we should carry on regardless, i am going to shut the f up.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Another ride, another couple of hills successfully climbed.
Just a quickie ride tonight, but 950ft climbed in only 4 miles. Then 950ft down again on the way home.
Bit by bit I'm conquering all the various hills around Halifax. Feeling good.

So what your saying is you climbed 950ft in two miles or four miles, either way it very very good.

 

[RWright]

Why do I picture you as Dog The Bounty Hunter now? Fully lycrad up with a couple of six shooters at the hip and a sawn off shotgun on the downtube.

no lol, was on my townie in regular shorts and tank top shirt. I am not small, this guy just though he was a bad ass, he soon realized that I didn't think he was. I don't carry firearms so far, but there have been some black bear sightings near where I ride. I have had to back a dog or two down out in the sticks before too. Most will back down if you get aggressive toward them. I do carry a small pocket knife and pepper spray when I go for long rides out in the deep sticks, in case I meet a dog that won't back down.

 

[Steve Donovan]

So what your saying is you climbed 950ft in two miles or four miles, either way it very very good.

950ft in just under 4 miles. Then all downhill on the way home. Living where I do, I need to come to terms with the fact that if I want to cycle anywhere then I need to learn how to climb.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

950ft in just under 4 miles. Then all downhill on the way home. Living where I do, I need to come to terms with the fact that if I want to cycle anywhere then I need to learn how to climb.

So 950ft in 4 miles, the best I have done is about 75ft/mile your doing 3x that

 

[SWSteve]

Did my normal 16 mile track then decided to ride my townie to the post office to send my heart rate monitor in for a replacement, it has been giving crazy readings and I was tired of fooling around with it. While in town I had my first encounter with a driver. I was going through an intersection in front of him, riding close to the white line as is required here by law. He tries to get by me and cut me off. I kept pedaling, he gets on his horn and I didn't like it so he got the middle finger. He comes straight after me. I get thru the intersection and pull over and he is rolling his window down cursing so I get off my bike approach the truck and said "you are going to do what?".

His eyes get big because I guess he didn't realize this wasn't a kid he was dealing with. So he starts backing down and tries to tell me I am on a bicycle and I have to stop and all sorts of other things one would expect from an ignorant red neck trying to get out of his latest mistake. He said you didn't give any signal, I said I was going straight! I then start correcting everything he just tried to tell me and let him know that a bicycle is considered a vehicle just like his truck. I do actually know the law. It was my first go at educating drivers around here on bicycle safety, for the most part they are very good, this particular guy had to learn the hard way. It was sort of interesting.

Classic NC, first Cam is off in loads of ads telling everyone to take part in 'Play 60' then all the residents kick off because you're being active.

I recommend everyone watches this, it's one of the best QBs in the NFL (if not the most comercial) having a bit of banter with a kid.

@RWright I'm expecting to be able to PM you about NFL once the season starts again

 

[SWSteve]

[quote="RWright, post: 2545647, member: 23332" We are in the stone age here as far as cycling compared to there, at least in my town.[/quote]

Come to the UK, the only time I am not hated when with my bike is when I am hunting for Gromits....motorists are complete bumholés

 

[RWright]

Classic NC, first Cam is off in loads of ads telling everyone to take part in 'Play 60' then all the residents kick off because you're being active.

I recommend everyone watches this, it's one of the best QBs in the NFL (if not the most comercial) having a bit of banter with a kid.

@RWright I'm expecting to be able to PM you about NFL once the season starts again

Yep pm me anytime. I have not been as up on things as much this year as normal. I have a lot of reading and catching up to do between now and Sept.

Today was only about the 3rd time I have had any problems with drivers, it is always in town that I do have problems but that is to be expected I guess. I was a little aggressive with him to start with and need to work on that. Like Nigel was saying, it takes a lot to try and stay on top of things as it is, distractions like that are not a good thing for cyclist, best just to move on and stay aware.