the Tour de Fat in San Francisco yesterday.
(Photo © J. Maus)
As you know, I’m down in California (Marin County) on a family road trip. We’re following The Sprockettes on their 2008 tour.
Yesterday was the first big stop. The ladies entertained thousands who turned out at for the Tour de Fat at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Today we’ll spend time with family and friends and then later tonight we’re headed to a dance party/SF bike culture party. Should be interesting.
But what I’d like to know is, what’s going on in Portland?
Did you and your family take part in Friday’s Kidical Mass ride? Have you seen any of the track racing action out at the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge?
Chime in below to share your bike adventures, or just write in your thoughts about current goings-on around town (the latest road rage stories, stop light stings, etc…).
Thanks for reading.
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Oregonian article today about a third fight between a cyclist and a driver. All of these fights started with someone deciding to lecture a stranger on the right way to ride a bike or drive a car. No execuses for violence, but lecturing strangers is always a bad idea. There are too many people out there with short tempers.
there was a traffic enforcement operation on friday afternoon over on broadway. 3 motorcycle cops waiting in a parking lot just south of where you come out from Flint St. from Vancouver, waiting for cyclists to blow the stop sign. someone gave me a shout about stopping just before I came to the intersection. at first, I thought it was just someone telling me how to ride, but after I saw the cops, I realized he was warning me of that. whoops, thanks dude. saw two people being issued tickets, while the 3rd officer was waiting.
yay for all this media attention forcing the police to pay closer scrutiny to us.
I usually ride away from anyone in a car talking shit at me. You usually can\’t outrun a car with a bike.
\’A bike courier on his way home from work got into a scuffle Tuesday night with a man riding in a car who yelled at him for not wearing a helmet.
The North Portland confrontation, the third bizarre road-rage conflict in recent weeks, occurred about 6:30 p.m. It ended with police citing the bicyclist on criminal mischief, and arresting the car passenger, who works for the downtown Bike Gallery, on a second-degree assault accusation.\’
Didn\’t Yates work at the Downtown Bike Gallery as well? Guess I won\’t be spending any money at the Bike Gallery anymore…
Get a helmet? So the cyclist wasn\’t even breaking the law this time when some idiot in a car decided to yell at him.
Article:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/07/another_driver_another_cyclist.html
I know this may not fly with some of you, but I feel that the police enforcing laws of the road with cyclists is a good thing. the rules are there to protect us and with sooooo many people now biking (in Hillsboro, where I am) that may be the only way people new to cycling learn to follow the rules. That isn\’t to say I never blow a stop sign here or there, but I ride on the right, use lights at night, behave like a vehicle and that has never gotten me in trouble.
as long as this doesn\’t become lopsided with cops busting bikes and not paying as close attention to cars, we\’ll be ok.
All of these fights started with someone deciding to lecture a stranger on the right way to ride a bike or drive a car. No execuses for violence, but lecturing strangers is always a bad idea.
Just a thought – but aren\’t events like Critical Mass basically a way to lecture strangers about how to drive a car?
hello, I\’m new to having a bicycle. And I find that there is not enough in formation for newbies for any area having to do with riding.Some is common sense but some is experience. It would be nice to know things like How not to get your bike stolen? How to lock it up properly? Where is it safe or unsafe to go with your bike? What your tire pressure supposed to at? Is there a seat that doesn\’t hurt women?I don\’t know I just feel a bit lost with this whole experience of riding.I\’m disappointed in the shop I bought my bike at for not taking any interest in my inexperience with riding..The internet is great but it would have been nice if that shop was more interested in my safety now just my $$.
Keeping Portland weird…
\”He said he usually wears a helmet but had taken it off that hot night to cool down.\” Obviously, that didn\’t work.
A call-out over a helmet is extremely petty, but to continue to circle back around repeatedly to damage a car is seriously stupid. One pass with his u-lock to the side mirror would have gotten his frustrations out quite clearly – then get the heck out of there. But, no, now he has a gash in his head from his own u-lock.
What ever happened to the good old fashioned middle finger?
Maybe the BTA or the city could develop a Bike Watch. Riders out and about, armed with educational packets to be KINDLY given to those riders that seem to have trouble with the concept of traffic rules. The same information should be given by bike shops with every new bike purchase.
A friend of mine, who last rode a bike back in the 60s recalls in her bike education in school that bikers should stop at every light and walk their bike across the intersection. There are probably a few motorist that cling to such antiquated ideas.
In several of the instances, the person in the car doing the lecturing has actually been actually a biker themselves! I have to agree with the sentiment, though…when bikers blow through traffic control devices (when there are cars present) and generally aggravate drivers, it makes it that much harder for cyclists to get the respect that we NEED from drivers, seeing as how bikes are at such a huge disadvantage compared to cars.
it *is* kind of ironic that *both* of the people in cars whove shot their mouths off at cyclists in these incident were bike shop employees/bikers themselves (im not even getting into them both being from the same shop, though thats humorous in itself…)
so, to all of those sometimes-riding-a-bike-sometimes-driving-a-car types out there, a simple message:
HEY. when youre in a car, telling a cyclist how they should be behaving, the cyclist is going to look at you, and think to themself, same as they would with any other driver telling them how to do things from inside the deathbox: \”shut the hell up!\”. at that moment in time, you are NOT a cyclist, giving perhaps friendly advice to another cyclist – you are a car driver or passenger, butting in somewhere your 2 cents probably doesnt buy as much as it usually would.
capiche?
it doesnt excuse the reactions of the cyclists in these incidents, but its a good thing to keep in mind.
and frankly – passenger who hit adam over the head with his own ulock? have fun with that assault charge. however utterly lame him scratching the door was, you should think about how easy it would have been for that nice little scar hes gonna have to be a lot worse.
what to do
Bike Gallery has a few free seminars on cycling. Like basic maintenence, shifting and the like.
While you are at the seminar you can ask about your other concerns.
hth
Keep in mind, in both incidents, the cyclist-in-the-car only said something after the cyclist-on-the-bike cut off the cyclist-in-the-car.
I suppose all the \”keep your mouth shut\” advice that\’s been dished out applies equally when somebody in a car cuts off a cyclist?
What to do?,
email me – downloner(at)yahoo(dot)com and I\’ll flood you with bike links from Portland bike classes, to message boards, to event lists. There are plenty of resources for PDX on the net, but finding them all can be tricky. Hopefully they will connect you with the information and people you appear to be looking for.
As for me, I spent the weekend at the da Vinci Days in Corvallis. It was more fun than you can shake a motorist at.
What to do?,
email me – downloner(at)yahoo(dot)com and I\’ll flood you with bike links from Portland bike classes, to message boards, to event lists. There are plenty of resources for PDX on the net, but finding them all can be tricky. Hopefully they will connect you with the information and people you appear to be looking for.
As for me, I spent the weekend at the da Vinci Days in Corvallis. It was more fun than you can shake a motorist at.
\”Keep in mind, in both incidents, the cyclist-in-the-car only said something after the cyclist-on-the-bike cut off the cyclist-in-the-car.\”
Huh? It says nothing in the linked article about the cyclist cutting off the car:
\”According to police and witnesses, Adam Lewis Leckie, 23, was riding his bike north on North Mississippi when Patrick McNeil Schrepping, 30, shouted: \”Wear your helmet!\” from a car heading south.\”
Since they were traveling in opposite directions, I doubt the cyclist cut him off. Sounds like another self righteous idiot playing vigilante for the nanny state.
And actually, in the first \”Yates\” incident, he didn\’t get cut off either. He was just passed at a red light.
So I think you\’re wrong on both counts.
What is in the freaky water at the downtown bike gallery?
Hello, I\’m new to having a bicycle. And I find that there is not enough in formation for newbies for any area having to do with riding….
Take a look at the brochure below. At the bottom of it you will find contact information for a very nice person at PDOT named Janis who can help you out. You can call or email her. She\’s really encouraging!
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=148455
Don\’t believe the hype! The mainstream media are succeeding in creating a sensational battleground here in the most bike-friendly city in the US!
Remember the bike rally after the tragic deaths last year? Jonathon really inspired me with his advice to \”Be an ambassador for the bike community\”. Since then, I\’ve worked hard to create harmony with motorists. Maybe they\’ll see the next cyclist as a human instead of an obstacle.
Also, regarding the old classic flipping of the bird, although I\’m guilty 1000x and also for breaking mirrors (in the past), flashing a PEACE SIGN does wonders to calm tempers and could even save your ass.
Advice for the newbie: use your spidey senses. That means awareness in 360 degrees around you at all times.
I really think we should have open public discourse between people on the street. This whole idea of \”keep your mouth shut\” is almost as bad as the idea of \”start a fight with anyone for anything\”.
Shouldn\’t we be able to talk to each other and sometimes get cursed out in public? I know have been on both ends of it and rightly so. People sometimes need (un)pleasant reminders when they are endangering lives. None of my confrontations have ended in violence and it seems that the confrontations that do are a very loud minority of incidences as they make good news (thanks oregonian).
So please keep speaking your mind, but try to be respectful and always non-violent. I do believe that the root of the violence is not in the fact that two strangers are talking, but how they talk to each other.
re: traffic enforcement on Friday-
The Flint and BWay action was part of a larger operation that seemed to move around the neighborhood. It got me a few blocks away, at the corner of N Williams and N Center Court Dr (this is the little cut-out section of street for bikes that want to turn left from Weidler onto Williams).
On Friday, I was part of a group of about 10 cyclists approaching this intersection, and about 10-15 officers on motorcycles were waiting down the block on Williams to catch people not stopping at the stop sign before entering N Williams ave. The group of cyclists went through the stop sign at about 2 MPH, and 8 of the 10 were pulled over. All were given tickets.
I\’m not at all opposed to traffic enforcement operations, and yet this one stung more than others – I think that it is because this intersection is exclusively used by bikes – the road itself is one-way for cars going the other way, and it has a small section of bike-lane for those people taking that tricky left onto Williams. Beyond that, while I was being issued a ticket, I observed 3-4 cars take a \”left on red\” from Weidler onto Williams without stopping at the red light, and though there were 5-6 officers still waiting on their motorcyles, none of the officers made an attempt to stop cars that were failing to obey a traffic signal. Furthermore, I questioned the targeting of this intersection, as it has not seemed to me to be a \”problem\” intersection (such as Flint and Broadway is) in the past – perhaps I am wrong and I would be happy to hear accident statistics and revise my opinion about this – does anyone know where to get stats like that?
Finally, I have known traffic cops in different areas for years, and all of them talk about the deterrent effect of warnings and well-planned police presence. If you want to stop people from speeding in a car, all you have to do is park a cop car in a highly visible place, and drivers\’ speed decreases for a dramatic distance beyond the actual cop car. Similarly, cops who I know frequently stop drivers who were breaking the law in a low-impact way (e.g. going 60 in a 55 zone) and issue them a warning – the message is clear, and the goal of altering driving habits is generally acheived as well as by issuing a ticket.
I have not observed warnings being granted to cyclists in similar types of circumstances, and the operation on Friday was harder for me to take than others. It felt exculsively targeted at cyclists, it felt like a sledge-hammer way to deal with a minor problem, and I feel that it did more to inflame the current tensions on the road than it did to calm them.
One positive note – all of the officers I observed were professional and polite, and while the cyclists were all upset about the tickets they got, I saw no one lose their heads. Ultimately, that\’s what we need out there – people just being able to talk to each other, even when talking about something difficult.
Be safe.
The Alpenrose Challenge this weekend opened my eyes to the amazing fun that is track racing. I can\’t believe the lack of attendance though on Sunday morning there were like 20 people there. What too far to ride your fixed gear? sheesh. No I\’m just kidding but really any chance you can watch track racing it should be a popular as NASCAR.
Roma @16.
You think I\’m wrong, likely because you\’ve read the linked report. While I\’ve read the linked news report, I\’ve also read and/or seen more than one news report on the separate incidents.
In both instances, the cyclists in the car claimed that the argument was precipitated by the cyclist on the bike cutting them off. Those accounts were carried in at least one, but not all, news reports on the separate incidents.
If anyone has the right to yell at another cyclist, it\’s another riding cyclist. Usually from behind, while stopped at the same red light that the cyclist just blew…in front of ten cars, with the drivers rolling their eyes and thinking- there you go a-hole…that\’s why we have all these problems.
Roma, read the PDX Tribune and KGW reports. They both reported that the latest incident began with the cyclist cutting off the driver.
I just read that an acquaintance of mine in South Bend, Indiana, died after a week in an induced coma. He was biking to school and was on the \”hit\” end of a hit and run. Suffered a traumatic brain injury. The driver turned himself in and has yet to be charged.
So sad.
Be careful out there.
What I Did This Weekend–
Rode. Lots.
We went down to Champoeg park on Saturday and rode about 33 or so miles around the countryside. Saw lots of other cyclists out there, mostly closer to the park. Rocked my new FC jersey (Pink WIN). We average 16.2mph, that\’s my fastest average. We had a nasty headwind, but I was able to draft off my riding partner (I tried to return the favor, but he\’s much stronger than I am so didn\’t get to take long pulls.) so was able to save my legs for the rest of the ride. Other road users out there were fantastic! Patient, safe, nice… I love the country.
Sunday, we started out from home and went around our Roy Rogers-Tualatin Sherwood-Durham-Hall-back home loop. Boy were my legs tired by the end of it! I guess I went a little harder on Saturday than I thought.
Watched the tour both days; that mountain stage yesterday was painful to watch!
Oh, and my latest milestone: rode 6 days in a row, 4 as commuting and 2 as recreation. Yay me!
rixtir:
I read those articles and the cut-offs don\’t sound plausible at all. In the Belmont incident, both vehicles were travelling in the same direction, and neither was trying to turn or change lanes, so there\’s no opportunity for cutting off. In the Mississippi incident, they were headed in the opposite direction, IIRC, and also not turning.
Regardless, the point Joel was making is that if you\’re a cyclist who happens to be in a car, don\’t think your comments to a law-breaking cyclist will be taken in a different light than if you were a full-time motorist. I don\’t think he\’s saying always keep your mouth shut; just don\’t be surprised if your admonishment is not responded to in a favorable sense.
In the second case, NO LAW WAS BROKEN! – until the fight broke out, of course. So, that\’s a great time to keep one\’s mouth shut.
One has to ask before one decides to offer unbidden advice to a stranger: what good will it do? In some cases, it might. I often call out wrong-way riders and let them know what they\’re doing is dangerous to themselves as well as me. There\’s a chance it\’ll sink in. In both the cases under discussion, I just don\’t see how anyone\’s behavior is going to change. The shout-outs are more to placate the anger the shouter feels than anything else.
Rixtir,
You are wrong, neither incident began with the cyclist cutting off the driver.
They did both however become escalated only when the driver did not mind his own business, and yelled out of their car window
In one case the biker ran a stop or red light, which was witnessed by the driver (Yates) who was at the stop. Going straight and passing someone else going straight, when you run a stop is not cutting someone off, it is just being kinda stupid….
And of course Adam was yelled at by a car that was going the opposite direction, and straight. The altercation happened like ten minutes later, in another location.
And, to \”Targeted and Ticketed\”,
You say you saw 10-15 Motorcycle police men, then you ran a stop sign with a group of ten or so, and you got ticketed?
After reading your report on the incident above, I have to say that:
I am very surprised you were able to write it in a readable and eloquent manner, as the fact that you say you saw a sting ( a big one at that) then chose to still run a stop sign shows a severe lack of intelligence. Not only for you, but for all those riding with or near you.
I hope you just typed it wrong, and did not indeed see the sting before the ticket. But, that is not how you presented it to us here.
Once again, you run a stop sign/red light, and get caught, you deserve a ticket. I mean, really, you deserve one even if you don\’t get caught, but that is neither here nor there.
However you do not deserve to bitch about it.
Icarus, both motorists reported being cut off (well, actually, Yates said that the cyclist nearly collided with him. That may not actually be a \”sut-off.\”). Unless you were at the scene and witnessed the ENTIRE sequence of events, you are going by what somebody else reported.
So if you\’re only basing what you know on what you read, how do you know that the reports I read and/or saw are wrong, and the reports you read and/or saw are right? How do you know, for that matter, that McAtee didn\’t both run a stop AND nearly collide with Yates?
Yates reported a near-collision. If you didn\’t see that report, and only saw the report that the cyclist ran a stop, how does that make me, who DID see that report (via phone interview, on KGW the night the story broke), wrong?
Peejay, sure, it\’s possible that one side or the other is lying. It\’s also possible that the media don\’t really explain every detail. I witnessed one incident in which two bikes and a car were traveling in the same lane, same direction, and the bikes cut the driver off, by making a left turn, from the right hand curb, against the driver\’s right of way. I witnessed a separate incident in which a cyclist cut off a MAX train that was traveling in the opposite direction. The fact that the story doesn\’t explain that a near-collision preceded the shouting match, or that the story doesn\’t report the details of HOW a near-collision took place doesn\’t mean that it\’s not plausible, or didn\’t take place.
In regards to the legality of riding without a helmet, there\’s no law that says an adult has to wear a helmet. For that matter, there\’s no law that says an adult has to be fit. When some driver cuts off a cyclist, the word \”fat\” is a commonly-heard utterance. That\’s about as relevant to the argument as \”get a helmet\” is. People say things when they\’re angry; sometimes they shake their heads about it later. Sometimes not. If we\’re going to point out in all seriousness that riding without a helmet is not illegal, what\’s next? Drivers pointing out that being a \”fat-ass\” is not illegal?
rixtir you should just admit when you\’re wrong and let it go
Tell you what BURR. If somebody can provide some credible evidence that I\’m wrong, I\’ll think about it. But just saying \”you\’re wrong\” is neither evidence nor credible.
where\’s the \’credible evidence\’ that you\’re correct, other than your \’report\’ of that \’fact\’?
I will say this– peejay may be right, there may have been no turn against Yates. I was probably wrong to call it a \”cut=-off.\” In the phone interview, Yates said McAtee was riding erratically and nearly collided with Yates. It may be that that reported near-collision was not a turn against Yates, The fact that they were traveling in the same direction doesn\’t mean, however, that McAtee wasn\’t riding erratically, or that he didn\’t nearly collide with Yates.
You know, the last time a driver nearly hit me, I called her a \”stupid f…\” Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.
But I didn\’t. The words escaped me without me having to even think about it. And you know what? When I look back at it, I realize should have done better that that.
Icarus said \”you\’re wrong,\” that there was no near-collision and/or cut-off, based on the news Icarus saw, which did not report a near-collision and/or cut-off. I saw that news, as well as some other reoprts which did state that the incidents were precipitated by near-collisions and/or cut-offs.
But if you want to say that I\’m lying about seeing those reports, be my guest.
I didn\’t say you were lying. but perhaps you\’re stretching the truth in your self-righteousness
Hi Icarus-
Points taken, and I agree with most everything you say. For clarification, the intersection has a tall building that prevents the viewing of the parking lane on Williams until you are through the stop sign. The cops were in that lane about 100 feet or so from the intersection. So I did not see the cops before entering the intersection, and I apologize for any lack of clarity in the writing.
I also agree that if you (or I) blow a stop sign, then you (or I) deserve a ticket. It\’s not the ticket I feel bitchy about – it\’s the specific targeting of cyclists at the same time that cars are violating similar laws with impunity that seems wrong. So it\’s not the enforcement that bugs me, it\’s the differential application of the enforcement. That\’s all I intend to bitch about, and while there are bigger problems out there in the world, I felt that it was worthwhile to discuss it because I fear that enforcement actions, when applied differentially like this, have the potential to make the targeted group more angry, and that seems counterproductive given the current situation.
Be well, and keep talking (even if it\’s to castigate me as a menace to society).
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2008/07/the-myth-of-the.html
I highly doubt someone who rolls a stop sign at 2 mph on a bicycle is a menace to society or even a traffic safety hazard in the least.
This is just more heavy-handed selective enforcement targeted at cyclists who are in no way being unsafe, by the PPB.
The fact that they were clearly ignoring similar violations by motorists is plain view just stinks to high heaven.
So you rolled through the stop sign at 2mph and got a ticket?
Here\’s what Jonathan said in the comments of a previous post:
\”Folks, the whole \”you need a foot down or it\’s not a stop\” idea is an urban legend.
FACT: Most sensible police officers do not require you to put your foot down at stop signs. If you slow down, look both ways, and only proceed once it\’s safe, you are very unlikely to get a ticket.\”
When police target cyclists like this, unless you put your foot down and completely stop, you\’re going to get a ticket. So I don\’t believe it\’s an \”urban legend\”, as this group of cyclists proved. And based on the few police actions I\’ve witnessed, this is the rule, not the exception.
r, that\’s as interesting article! Thanks for the link!
Getting back to the original post by J. Maus…. what did you guys do this last weekend?
Two bicycle advocates get into brawl in latest car vs bike dispute
05:37 PM PDT on Friday, July 18, 2008
By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff
The latest rage-fueled incident involving a bike and a car ended in a brawl between two bicycle advocates, police said Friday.
It began on North Mississippi Avenue Tuesday evening when Patrick Schrepping, a bicyclist who does not own a car, was being driven in a friend’s SUV.
Bicyclist Adam Leckie allegedly cut off the SUV, so Schrepping yelled at Leckie about what he’d just done and the fact that he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
***from KGW.
Stretching the truth?
KGW reported that it started when Leckie cut the car off. Portland Tribune reported the same thing.
KGW reported that Yates said that McAtee was riding erratically and nearly collided with him.
Whether or not these were reported is question of fact that is independently verifiable. Anybody with a search engine can see which one of us is \”stretching the truth in []our self-righteousness,\” and which of us is restating what the media reports were reporting.
Kt,
I don\’t think all this discussion is all that off-topic from the original post (if that\’s what you\’re saying), considering that this is in the original post:
\”… or just write in your thoughts about current goings-on around town (the latest road rage stories, stop light stings, etc…).\”
I say this to encourage the discussion on any and all bike news, because – with Mr. Maus out of town and not making many posts – I\’m jonesing for it. 🙂
I am a rider…but all of you who blow lights, signs, don\’t wear helments, etc make we want to stop. Why?? Because I get blamed for your actions. The problem is that most of you are also on this site. It is sad, something I love will be taken from me because of your attitudes.
Realize this….we dont pay taxes on roads, cars who buy gas do. Lets be thankful that we get some great lanes, bike boxes for FREE.
My wife and I did the MS 150 out of Sweet Home, Oregon. Great weather and a great ride!
I would like those intrepid commenters who are still on this thread to read this article, which posits that our whole system of cluttering up the roads with signs is the problem, and it just gets in the way of letting people make sensible driving and riding decisions. This is not a libertarian \”let everyone do what they want and it\’ll all take care of itself\” argument. Please read it. I await your comments.
Rixtir-
i posted that for you, b/c, like you, I had also read in several places that that incident involved a cut-off. I don\’t understand why you didn\’t post it many posts ago, when you were being called a liar.
Alert!!!!
Breaking News!!!
Niece and nephew learn to ride without training wheels in same afternoon!!!!
I could not be happier to be involved in this process of evolution.
Click on the link in my name to see a video of Lilly\’s first couple of rides.
Or cut an paste the hell out of this…
http://bowelsofjohn.blogspot.com/
(This may be repeated as the comments I have left here earlier about this are not showing up….)