OT: come for the disregard for public health, stay for the casual homophobia!

[Matthew Hiller]

I went out for a quick spin this morning in Central Park; midmorning hours can be best for this, especially on a coolish and overcast/could-rain sort of day.

At one point on the west drive I noticed I was getting passed by a very-slightly faster rider. (Passing on the right; that's how one generally does in Central or Prospect Park.) This part of the drive has 3 lanes; the middle is the general bicycle lane, with slower bikes staying left. But to avoid crowding pedestrians in the leftmost lane I've been generally assuming a middle/right lane alignment. Also, I don't *generally* ride with a mask if I expect to be able to keep distance from others, definitely applied to this ride.

Anyway, I notice the rider passing me isn't giving a full 6 feet, more like 3. Not going over into the right-hand service lane at all. He's not wearing a mask either, but this is pretty much immaterial to me anyway. I comment (not aggressively!) "hey, that pass is a little close". Apparently I've been baited because he says back somewhat expectantly "wait, what's that?" We're already losing conversational proximity, so I shorten what I was saying to "6 feet!"

He comes back with (in what's by now clearly a thick Aussie accent) "Oh please. Wear your fucking mask, then, c-cksucker!"

He stays within my line of sight another good 7-8 minutes -- he's not that much faster than me -- he executes another gratuitously close pass after another minute, then cuts 2 feet in front of a group of pedestrians crossing the drive on the perpendicular. (On reflection, they had a red light and us a green, but that's not a License to Dick either.)

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Now in point of fact I'm not actually worried about risk of transmission outdoors from a 3-4 second passing interaction. But I know there are some people out there who are. So if there's ample space to take when passing someone else, it's extremely poor form not to take it.

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IF I'd been in the mood to escalate, it might've been fun to adopt my thickest NewYorkese accent and come back with "Geddoudahea! Go f-ck a kangaroo awhr somethin'!" But there was no real need.

[Brett Lider]

I LOL'd

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[Dan Yang (Millbrae lurker)]

It does feel like people are getting more aggressive to others

We did a family bike ride at the Great Highway on Sunday.  There were two lanes each way, and that is plenty of space for runners, pedestrians, tricycles, scooters and bicycles to get around each other with safe distancing. most people were wearing face covering, but not all.  A few idiots went the wrong direction, which made it less safe.  I was riding with my 3 year old to keep him safe and this guys was riding in the wrong direction heading straight toward us.  Trying to ensure he did not run over my 3 year old, I called out "wrong way" and his was response was going the right way and called me a "d---head".

Still, it was probably the least stressful family bike ride I had since SIP.

[Ken MacInnis]

There's always going to be people that do things the wrong way for the attention it gets. I both run and bike, but people that continue to run in the bike lane when I'm coming head on drive me nuts. I've definitely played chicken with a few in the Presidio over the years.

 You've got the sightline, you're legally supposed to be on the sidewalk: you move. If you think the sidewalk is going to blow out your knees, I've got news for you about how forgiving pavement designed for 2 ton vehicles is. Fix your form.

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[Matt Egan]

I've been observing lots of stuff like this lately.

Crossing the bridge has seemed more dangerous without the tourists? I don't really like passing on the GGB, I'll only do it if I'm stuck behind someone _really_ slow, there's nobody in front of them that I'm going to get stuck behind next, and there's ample room in the oncoming lane. Two weekends ago I was stuck behind someone a bit slower (maybe 12mph) on a commuter bike, with about 5 people stuck behind me. This guy (without calling out or sounding a bell) from six people back launches into a complete all-out stand-up sprint. Meanwhile there's a group of 4-5 people coming towards us at a fast pace.He dodged back in front of the person on the commuter just in time. I'd say he came no more than a foot or two from causing a 10 person pileup. The people coming at us yelled out at him. It certainly doesn't help that the GGB workers seem to be playing a game of "how narrow can I make this path before someone gets impaled?"

I passed Sir Sprints-A-Lot around the first curve of Hawk Hill. At the summit, I tried to break out my best alpha-male personality and ask him to consider behaving differently next time, but he brushed it off saying that "oh, the guy coming the other way attacked, he started sprinting towards me bro". I think I ended up apologizing to the guy for bringing it up.

Great highway is also a minefield for someone trying to get a cycling workout in right now (lots of kids/casual cyclists swerving left and right taking up the entire 2 lanes), but I'm not sure it's really appropriate to expect that we can get a PR on Great Highway right now.

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[Darrin Ward]

there may not be tourists (though oddly I did notice a couple of blazing saddles bikes on ggb on Saturday - though that is an assumption all bs bikes == tourist), but I do notice a new group of people.  a big group of people that are new to riding outside (cause their gym, crossfit studio, etc is closed).  nothing wrong with this.  but I found myself either getting swarmed by sir sprints a lot and their friends which made me feel a bit uncomfortable or trying to remember there a whole group of people not used to outside traffic rules.  I felt a tad uncomfortable which I am not used to on the road.

I think the honest weirdest thing I am seeing is people running in the middle or a roadway (like down the center line) with cars on it.  I have seen this on the non closed off part of jfk and I am really confused by it.

okay one other weird thing.  the people wearing masks on bikes but without helmets.  i've seen that a few times now.

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[Matthew Hiller]

Well, the helmet protects yourself, the mask is more about protecting others, right? They're just very civic-minded is all

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[Matthew Hiller]

Also on the point of "new to riding outdoors", now that you mention it I did get a little bit of a SoulCycle weasel vibe from the guy. The lack of helmet and poor road etiquette even aside from the sub-6-foot passing buffer, and the fact that he was on a straight-bar road bike, and was wearing something wicking but not a proper bike jersey, all seem like they're of a piece with that.

On Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 4:52:58 PM UTC-4, Darrin wrote:

there may not be tourists (though oddly I did notice a couple of blazing saddles bikes on ggb on Saturday - though that is an assumption all bs bikes == tourist), but I do notice a new group of people.  a big group of people that are new to riding outside (cause their gym, crossfit studio, etc is closed).  nothing wrong with this.  but I found myself either getting swarmed by sir sprints a lot and their friends which made me feel a bit uncomfortable or trying to remember there a whole group of people not used to outside traffic rules.  I felt a tad uncomfortable which I am not used to on the road.

I think the honest weirdest thing I am seeing is people running in the middle or a roadway (like down the center line) with cars on it.  I have seen this on the non closed off part of jfk and I am really confused by it.

okay one other weird thing.  the people wearing masks on bikes but without helmets.  i've seen that a few times now.

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[Zoe Hoster]

Matt, your story reminded me of a skyline ride from years ago. California had just enacted the 3-foot rule for passing bikes in the road. A driver passed our group at close range, somewhere around the SF-Daly City border. You yelled "3 FEET!"  and pointed menacingly at the car. 

I only hope your "6 feet" yell was with as much vigor and gusto. 

[Matthew Hiller]

Hah, I'd nearly forgotten about that!

More gusto for the "3 FEET!" yell, definitely. I wasn't angry with the Aussie guy and still thought ('til he turned insulting) we might've been having a dialogue. It was more that he did something thoughtless rather than something clearly dangerous, and might like to have been informed. Or so I'd thought. :)

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[Nathan Dushman]

I fortunately haven't generally had a problem but I did have one crazy experience a few weeks back. I passed a parked car, windows closed, on a dead-end street that turns into a trail. Just as I entered the trail I heard a car door open and a woman yell something about "Stay 6 feet away from my car!"

Possibly she was yelling at someone else, but it was a quiet street and I didn't see anyone else there. I didn't go back to find out, though.

On Friday, May 8, 2020 at 12:28:19 PM UTC-7, Matthew Hiller wrote:

Hah, I'd nearly forgotten about that!

More gusto for the "3 FEET!" yell, definitely. I wasn't angry with the Aussie guy and still thought ('til he turned insulting) we might've been having a dialogue. It was more that he did something thoughtless rather than something clearly dangerous, and might like to have been informed. Or so I'd thought. :)

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[Matthew Hiller]

If this happens you're supposed to herd the driver back to her car and then circle around it like a shark, right?

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[John Murphy]

Hock a loogie and wipe it on her door handle 

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