Something new

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

I took my first ride inside the pack today at a local bike shop's Saturday morning ride. The whole group goes for quite a few miles before breaking up into A, B, and C groups. I was totally comfortable on the V today - as comfortable as I used to be riding in a pack on a DF. I have about 18 years of group-riding experience, so it's just a matter of doing it on a V now. So that's another first for my personal V experience.

But to ruin the experience (yes, this involves a pickup truck driver, of course), the entire group was flipped off by a pickup truck driver who was in the oncoming lane, holding his arm entirely out the driver's side window, flipping off the whole large group. We were adhering to traffic laws, but Michigan is not known for being cycling-friendly. Even so, I've never seen anything like that before. Was he objecting to our healthy lifestyle because he has large investments in big tobacco and now cannot retire early? Was he trying to communicate his IQ? Usually a driver will just try to sneak up from behind, blow his horn, and see how close he can get his mirror to the cyclist. Although, there are some creative variations. One time a few years ago, a friend was pelted in gravel as a pickup truck pulled onto the shoulder and spun its tires to throw gravel at the cyclist. And then there is the fat woman in a Cadillac who screamed out the window, and then when chased through town by a cyclist, drove to the police station to try to get help - but no one was at the police station (how embarassing for her). And then there are all the people who just scream out the window unintelligibly and get stuck at a traffic light (very poor planning skills). Oh well, at least the crazies are in the minority. To be fair, the majority of drivers are considerate. And I am loving my Vendetta more each ride even though there is too much road rage out there this year already.

How are the other states for road rage? Maybe I'll go south for the winter months.

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Was he trying to communicate his IQ?

I think this is most likely the case. Although given his low level intelligence, and not very good with counting. He probably was really trying display his IQ as ten and got confuse when he put the first finger in front of himself.

Although, there are some creative variations.

Here is a pretty creative one that happened to me last summer. Guy in big white dually pickup truck comes up on me slowly, goes around me slowly, pulls in front of me slowly. Then gases it...it was a diesel pickup truck from the obvious obnoxious billowing black smoke coming from his tail pipe. I was suddenly blinded, and could not see past the boom and lost in the big black cloud of smoke. This was on a 2 lane highway with no bike lane or shoulder. It frightened me that a car from behind would not see me and run me down...he put me in harms way. Looking in the mirror when I got home, I was amazed to see my face had black soot allover it, except the area my sunglasses covered.

 

[battleaxe0]

Don't come down here now! The last Michiganer to ride down here in Summer melted to the pavement - bike and all. We were finally able to scrape him off when our 2 days of winter happened in December.

Overwhelming majority down here smile and wave back. Had some drunk college kids yell incoherently as they passed once, but it was hard to tell if they were trying to be encouraging or insulting. Only been run off the road once - SUV towing a boat gave me 3 feet when he passed, but didn't account for the boat when he swerved back.

 

[thwaters]

"Rolling coal", as the diesel "trucker-wanna-be's" call it, is a national pastime here in Texas: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/27/illinois-bill-rolling-coal-illegal/ While most drivers here are courteous to bicyclists, some of my former science students love to roll coal -- on me when they get the chance! It's a red-neck thang. Just down the road from me is a custom diesel shop with a huge dyno for all sorts of illegal power-chip mods to their pollution controls. Smokin' pedestrians (very few of those in rural areas) and "greenies" - Prius drivers, bicycle riders, etc. -- is a "rite of passage" for teens and 35 yr. olds who never grew up! Most folks 'round here think global warming is a hoax for politicians to gain more clout -- and rebels hate that! Funny thing is, I grew up a redneck, and now I'm frequently seen all over the county on my Cruzbike!

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

"Rolling coal", as the diesel "trucker-wanna-be's" call it, is a national pastime here in Texas

Holy Coal Rollers Batman, that's just disgusting. I suppose that will be the next big thing here since it's already next door (Illinois). I thought oncoming pickup trucks that pass in my lane on a road with no shoulder and run me into the ditch was bad enough. Now they're going to give me lung cancer and temporary blindness too? I guess I'll just have to move to the south of France in the winter. Geez Louise.

 

[BentAero]

How are the other states for road rage? Maybe I'll go south for the winter months.

Going south for the winter is a great idea to escape cold weather, but don't do it for the courteous motorists.

Being a Michigan native, I've ridden many a mile there.
If I can remember them all, I've ridden in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, and of course, North Carolina.
I'll take Michigan motorists over Bubba and Cooter here in the south any day. I was shocked when I moved here how 'unfriendly' motorists are toward cyclists here.
The deplorable rough roads in Michigan however, you can keep.

 

[LarryOz]

I was shocked when I moved here how 'unfriendly' motorists are toward cyclists here.

Yeah - "unfriendly" motorists, coupled with "unfriendly" roads, no wonder I enjoy riding my KICKR indoors so much!
It really irritates me greatly (feel road rage coming on here... hold me back...) - they go to the trouble of repaving a road, but still just paved a couple of "inches" for the "bicycle lane".

 

[JOSEPHWEISSERT]

no wonder I enjoy riding my KICKR indoors so much!

Larry, can you show us a picture of your V on a KICKR trainer? That is, assuming that's what you're doing.

 

[MrSteve]

I took my first ride inside the pack today at a local bike shop's Saturday morning ride. The whole group goes for quite a few miles before breaking up into A, B, and C groups. I was totally comfortable on the V today - as comfortable as I used to be riding in a pack on a DF. I have about 18 years of group-riding experience, so it's just a matter of doing it on a V now. So that's another first for my personal V experience.

But to ruin the experience (yes, this involves a pickup truck driver, of course), the entire group was flipped off by a pickup truck driver who was in the oncoming lane, holding his arm entirely out the driver's side window, flipping off the whole large group. We were adhering to traffic laws, but Michigan is not known for being cycling-friendly. Even so, I've never seen anything like that before. Was he objecting to our healthy lifestyle because he has large investments in big tobacco and now cannot retire early? Was he trying to communicate his IQ? Usually a driver will just try to sneak up from behind, blow his horn, and see how close he can get his mirror to the cyclist. Although, there are some creative variations. One time a few years ago, a friend was pelted in gravel as a pickup truck pulled onto the shoulder and spun its tires to throw gravel at the cyclist. And then there is the fat woman in a Cadillac who screamed out the window, and then when chased through town by a cyclist, drove to the police station to try to get help - but no one was at the police station (how embarassing for her). And then there are all the people who just scream out the window unintelligibly and get stuck at a traffic light (very poor planning skills). Oh well, at least the crazies are in the minority. To be fair, the majority of drivers are considerate. And I am loving my Vendetta more each ride even though there is too much road rage out there this year already.

How are the other states for road rage? Maybe I'll go south for the winter months.

Road rage is everywhere.
Disengage your emotional brain and amp up your reflexes: Most road ragers just rage harmlessly,
but a very few will act out physically.

Local rage, here in Eastern TN., is expressed via ultra-close passes and, as in TX, rolling coal.

I like to think that a person pointing an inverted middle finger in my direction -you know, 'flipping the bird',
is soliciting me for sex.
See, one translation of the meaning of the middle finger is, "F*CK YOU."
So, in that spirit, both being occupied riding my bike and heterosexual, I usually smile and shake my head, "no."
Most of the time, I ignore them. That usually works out better for everyone.

But there was this one time in Florida, when an impatient, self-important macho dude finally
exploited a break in traffic and passed me in my rental car....
As he passed me, he slowed down, flipped me the middle finger and said the words -I read his lips.
So, naturally, I smiled, nodded my head and said, "O.K." with the hand-sign.
He went NUTS.
Apparently, he was unarmed, because I'm still alive... but I laughed and laughed and laughed.
Never do what I did.
It's so wrong.

 

[Eric Winn]

Larry, can you show us a picture of your V on a KICKR trainer? That is, assuming that's what you're doing.

Here is mine:

Some from my initial build. I don't use the stand in the back, I was just experimenting at the time.

Here are a lot of screenshots of the Wahoo Fitness App screens when I was setting up my KICKR the first time:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjFe2hin

This particular one is the Wahoo Utility App to check that everything is working although you can control the resistance level if you want: